MSE News: eBay sellers beware - its fees now eat into postage costs

Wywth

eggybread1 wrote: »

I use Facebook and Onlinecarbooty.com now. It's just not worth being ripped off by Ebay anymore.

Brilliant.

Save the 10% ebay fees, which is 10% of probably 500% more than you sell elsewhere where hardly any buyer looks, so it's quite a saving.

Oh, hang on a minute ... :cool:

campdave

Wywth wrote: »

As I said I list by cost plus postage so if your 99p item plus say £2 postage is the cheapest, then I'll buy from you, but if somone is selling for £2.50 with 'free' postage, then they will get my custom as they will be first in the list.

And they don't get any negative DSR for postage. Think on.

Well done for ignoring the bit where I said inclusive postage would damage the extra sales I make.

GlennTheBaker

As an occasional seller, I would have to quote £5 P&P for selling an item such as a pair of shoes to avoid making a loss. Just won't bother with eBay any more and I'm sure they won't miss me.

hemophobic

Won't really make that much difference to some people. The things that were 99p plus free postage buy it now will now be £1.50 or something.

When ever I list something on eBay I weigh the item and add on a bit more for the packaging weight and use the royal mail website to find the price before listing it. I didn't even add extra for the materials because they were only 2p and I don't sell often. Next time I will just start my listings at a slightly higher price.

jamie11

I've only ever used ebay once. I never got the goods, the seller got the money.

It was a small amount to lose but it taught me a lesson not to use ebay again, nor any of the quasi-auctions and sales sites across the internet.

Something fishy about this though, charging a commission on postage money spent with Royal Mail just does not sound legal to me. They don't even handle the money.

RFW

hemophobic wrote: »

Won't really make that much difference to some people. The things that were 99p plus free postage buy it now will now be £1.50 or something.

No. People who sold for 99p (or anything) including postage are not being charged extra, so they have no need to increase their prices.

The additional charge is on the postage part of the price. Some sellers will also see a reduction in several listing fees so many sellers who have been selling with no additional charge for postage will be better off.

RFW

jamie11 wrote: »

I've only ever used ebay once. I never got the goods, the seller got the money.

It was a small amount to lose but it taught me a lesson not to use ebay again, nor any of the quasi-auctions and sales sites across the internet.

Something fishy about this though, charging a commission on postage money spent with Royal Mail just does not sound legal to me. They don't even handle the money.

If you pay by Paypal you have full buyer protection and would receive a full refund when claiming non receipt.
The second part of your statement makes no sense whatsoever, quite possibly you've misunderstood what is happening with changes in the Ebay fee structure.

sghughes42

eBay seem determined to push through the Free Postage model. They are doing their best to convince buyers it is better for them while also making it hard for sellers to choose the model that best suits them and their customers by giving far more protection to those who offer free postage.

I used to sell a lot on eBay, haven't done for a few months for various reasons. Many of my buyers bought several items from me. I only charged postage for the item that cost most to post and in general the extra items didn't increase my postage cost so I could see no reason to charge my customers more.

Forcing sellers towards the free post model means people who want to buy more than one item end up paying more postage than they need to.

It is bad for buyers and puts sellers in an impossible situation of either having to overcharge their customers or risking being put out of business by buyers who have been brainwashed by eBay into thinking they shouldn't be paying for postage leaving bad ratings which eBay then use to restrict the seller.

stoneman

But sometimes you have to add postage. I sell things that sometimes people buy in bulk, so have a structure where they get discount for buying more than one at a time. I admit that I used to have a smaller selling price and bumped up the delivery charge to avoid some fees when selling single items, and never have had less than 5 stars for delivery costs. Most if not all people realise why this is done if it's obvious that a small item is selling for .99p with £3 postage. I would have thought that people use the filter to show total cost including postage lowest first.

thescotties

There is no such thing as FREE POSTAGE only INCLUSIVE. It is doubtful that after 6 months it can legally be called free postage according to the ASA. Ebay sellers that offer free postage are already paying this extra fee.
This actually works out to over 11% if you factor in PayPal fees. It is an arbitrary & unfair fee that discriminates against sellers of large or bulky items as they are charged a disproportionate amount of final value fee. It is quite possible to end up paying more final value fee on the postage than the item sold itself.
Ebay are dressing this up as simplifying fees for sellers which is an insult. They are also saying it is good for buyers, I don't know how they work that one out as all it will do is put up prices!!
I think this is going to have a big impact on buyers & sellers as sellers will have no choice but to pass this fee on one way or another. It will also drive a lot of sellers away so less choice for buyers