Ebay fees on postage - Is this legal

RFW

burnleymik wrote: »

Some harsh responses in this thread.....

I think OP has a fair question to ask if eBay are ok to charge a premium on a service they have no involvement in and unfortunately they can.

It isn't really a fair question, it's a stupid question, it obviously isn't illegal and I can't see how anyone could think it was. As for charging for a service they have no involvement in, that would apply to all the transaction, not just postage. They have no involvement in the items I buy to sell, no involvement in the profit I make, no involvement in the envelope I use to send it in, no involvement in the ink I use to print the labels, no involvement in the postage. All they do is let me advertise/sell product on their site and charge me for it.
I'll let you into another secret, Ebay earn money on the Royal Mail, Parcelforce and CollectPlus services that they sell through Paypal.
If you think the fees are too high (and for the current service, I most definitely do), sell elsewhere, plenty of free places to sell and fee services.

QuackQuackOops

vinylmusic wrote: »

Why do these threads always seem to stray from the point with often annoyingly childish remarks. with some comments I would expect from 10 year olds

Probably because a lot of OPs ask questions without thinking and then pout and stamp their feet when no-one else agrees with them and then they start insulting everyone else by saying they are stupid and childish for not understanding.

QuackQuackOops

vinylmusic wrote: »

Not to mention the billions they make in profits
Oh and the part of the service they offer the ability to charge for P&P is their other arm, namely Paypal which they also charge for
Between ebay and paypal I have to add another 15% to my postage charges to cover those costs. Not just 10%

Paypal is a completely separate company and you can#t lump them together as one.

Paypal charge for the moving of money, that's it. They don't care where it comes from or how its broken down.
You use Paypal, you pay for it.

RFW

burnleymik wrote: »

Just on the legality, is the 10% fee on P+P equivalent to a tax and as such isn't it illegal to tax a business expense?

No. Can we stop asking if it's illegal, it isn't. Try immoral, unfair, annoying, exorbitant or any point in between, the legality of it, need not be questioned. If it were illegal someone other than boys and girls on internet forums would have picked up on it by now.

jclc

vinylmusic wrote: »

Why do these threads always seem to stray from the point with often annoyingly childish remarks. with some comments I would expect from 10 year olds

Because there are a load of annoying immature people that don't read posts properly and seem to get a kick out of posting inane crass comments !! Perhaps they think it makes them sound clever ?
I can sympathise with you here because I've suffered myself recently at the hands of these sort of people before.
Take my advice - treat any such comments with the contempt that they deserve and don't get into any tit for tat arguments - it's not worth it.
Just wait for the comments on this post - you'll see what I mean ! It'll prove my point.

campdave

vinylmusic wrote: »

Why do these threads always seem to stray from the point with often annoyingly childish remarks. with some comments I would expect from 10 year olds

AKA "why doesn't everyone agree with me". Where's the basis for it ebay levying a fee on postage being illegal? There was a lengthy thread with plenty of ridiculous analogies at the time it was brought in. Plenty of people threw their toys out of the pram, threatened legal action and still the question comes up.

RFW

campdave wrote: »

AKA "why doesn't everyone agree with me". Where's the basis for it ebay levying a fee on postage being illegal? There was a lengthy thread with plenty of ridiculous analogies at the time it was brought in. Plenty of people threw their toys out of the pram, threatened legal action and still the question comes up.

Not to mention petitions and a Philadelphia lawyer or two.

jclc

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Another thing... when the seller says Postage and Packing is "free". It isn't. They secretly added it on to the item beforehand and you have absolutely no idea what it is.

In many cases you could make an educated guess at the postage costs if you know roughly what the size, weight etc.. is of the item you are buying.
If a seller overcharges on postage then often, (but admittedly not always), it's obvious.
At the risk of sounding like a "goody two shoes", I don't make any profit out of postage on items I sell. I use Royal Mail's web site to calculate postage based on size and weight and that's what I charge. When it comes to posting the item and I discover I've miscalculated and well overcharged them,then I'll refund the buyer the difference.

lejog2003

jclc wrote: »

In many cases you could make an educated guess at the postage costs if you know roughly what the size, weight etc.. is of the item you are buying.
If a seller overcharges on postage then often, (but admittedly not always), it's obvious.
At the risk of sounding like a "goody two shoes", I don't make any profit out of postage on items I sell. I use Royal Mail's web site to calculate postage based on size and weight and that's what I charge. When it comes to posting the item and I discover I've miscalculated and well overcharged them,then I'll refund the buyer the difference.

How about reading ballisticbrian's post correctly? You don't know what other sellers (heaven forbid perhaps less virtuous than yourself) have added to their prices to cover postage if free postage is offered.

This is meandering way off-topic so I'm out of this one.

vinylmusic

jclc wrote: »

In many cases you could make an educated guess at the postage costs if you know roughly what the size, weight etc.. is of the item you are buying.
If a seller overcharges on postage then often, (but admittedly not always), it's obvious.
At the risk of sounding like a "goody two shoes", I don't make any profit out of postage on items I sell. I use Royal Mail's web site to calculate postage based on size and weight and that's what I charge. When it comes to posting the item and I discover I've miscalculated and well overcharged them,then I'll refund the buyer the difference.

Thats interesting. I do esactly the same, well Almost. I count the cost of actual postage, packaging such as a jiffy bag and add on 10%. No one has ever complained since I do no more than cover costs and I have glowing 100% feedback