Ebay Charge You a % of your Postage Costs

Mercedes1956

I thought I would bring something to your attention that you may not be aware of. Since Sep 13 Ebay has been adding a fee for any postage that you charge your customers. This means that if you charge a fair postage of say £2.60, Ebay now add a % of that to your monthly fees. I personally disagree with this as they are making money from the money that you received for the cost of postage. They say they are doing this to stop people charging high postage prices, but really it is just another way to make money. Tell your friends and contact Ebay to show you disagree with this. Is this even legal?
I have spoken to Ebay and they say' Well give free postage and up your price of the item', but that way they still get the revenue of the postage from the higher final price.

soolin

Um, did you not see all the notices, the updates and the threads all over eBay about it ? The complaints started about July when they announced it, we even had someone on here claim their lawyers were in touch with eBay and it would not be going ahead.

Basically yes we are aware of it thank you and discussed it for months .

RFW

Mercedes1956 wrote: »

Is this even legal?

Have you tried calling the police? Try reporting HMRC too, they force some traders to charge VAT on postage;)

samsmoot

RFW wrote: »

Try reporting HMRC too, they force some traders to charge VAT on postage;)

Hehe.


Irrelevant to the post, but I've been wondering how auction houses get away with charging VAT on old tat.

Yorkie_Pud

samsmoot wrote: »

Hehe.


Irrelevant to the post, but I've been wondering how auction houses get away with charging VAT on old tat.

They don't. They charge the vat on their commission (to both the buyer and sellers) which is effectively the 'service' they are providing.

RFW

Yorkie_Pud wrote: »

They don't. They charge the vat on their commission (to both the buyer and sellers) which is effectively the 'service' they are providing.

Mostly that. Some may charge VAT on certain items that are not VATable. Buyers should challenge it.
I've been charged VAT on many zero rated items at auctions over the years. It's either the auctioneer erring on the side of caution or them not knowing what is subject to VAT and what isn't.
As far as HMRC are concerned it's more of an offence to not charge it where applicable than to charge it in error.

sillyputty

I was stupid recently and forgot the percentage charge. I sold an item for 99p and it went to Finland, since I only send airmail signed for (which was specified in the listing) I checked the price which was about £10 not including padded envelope. So I charged £10. By the time e bay took their money and paypal took theirs I actually was in minus figures!
Boot sale next time I think!

soolin

sillyputty wrote: »

I was stupid recently and forgot the percentage charge. I sold an item for 99p and it went to Finland, since I only send airmail signed for (which was specified in the listing) I checked the price which was about £10 not including padded envelope. So I charged £10. By the time e bay took their money and paypal took theirs I actually was in minus figures!
Boot sale next time I think!

Goodness gracious, signed for on a 99p item..how do your stars hold up? I am surprised you are still selling.

If you really think everyone is a scammer then please don't bother with a car boot, you really will meet some 'characters' there. I have at least one item stolen every single time I go, often more than one item. Some do it blatantly as well. I feel much safer scam or theft wise on ebay than I do at a car boot, and I get better prices.

sillyputty

I never send abroad unless it is signed for. I put that in the listings always and always offer the buyer a chance to agree to cancel in case they can't read. I also have international bidders blocked but somehow one or two seem to slip through, which is why I bother to put it in the listing.


I don't think I said anything about anyone scamming? (except maybe e bay with their fees!)

My stars are fine, thank you for asking.


I car boot regularly, I love it. I love the banter and the regulars and have fun both sides of the boot. I have only once lost anything but since I am selling stuff that has been given to me and is usually only worth a pound or two I wasn't too stressed about it.

soolin

sillyputty wrote: »

I never send abroad unless it is signed for. I put that in the listings always and always offer the buyer a chance to agree to cancel in case they can't read. I also have international bidders blocked but somehow one or two seem to slip through, which is why I bother to put it in the listing.


I don't think I said anything about anyone scamming? (except maybe e bay with their fees!)

My stars are fine, thank you for asking.


I car boot regularly, I love it. I love the banter and the regulars and have fun both sides of the boot. I have only once lost anything but since I am selling stuff that has been given to me and is usually only worth a pound or two I wasn't too stressed about it.

You sound quite new to selling and as such I would really urge you to check out a couple of pointers. If you have blocked foreign buyers properly in all the correct places they wouldn't be bidding, however although you state you have blocked them you also say you state in your auctions that you only use signed for when sending overseas- which implies you allow them.

I mentioned scamming as I can see no other reason why you would want to use signed for on a 99p item when standard airmail would cover you for loss anyway- have a read of the sticky postage thread, it has a lot of useful information.

As for stars, don't just check your headine dashboard, it is a concern of mine that ebay use the expanded dashboard to 'judge' people and that many sellers, especially inexperienced ones, don't bother checking it. Details are here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/56895243#Comment_56895243

sillyputty

I am not new to selling, thank you for your concern. I check my expanded stars regularly and they are all good.


I have got it blocked in all the right places. I have no idea how they get round it but they do seem to. In the same way that several sellers purport to come from the UK but are actually in China. I did nearly get caught by that recently.


I just blanket air mail signed for for anyone abroad, so far it has worked and since they have always been given the option to decide against buying it seems they are desperate for the items.


I don't get too stressed about e bay, I have taken a few losses one way and another and that's fine. My choice to sell there and accept their rules. I was just cross with myself over the lack of thought from my end over the postage in that case.


If it all ended tomorrow I wouldn't be devastated, I do pity those who would lose their livelihood over a few undeserved low ratings though.