Ebay fees on postage - Is this legal

vinylmusic

The point I was trying to make out of all this is:
If one bank tried to buy out all the competition, or if train or airline company wanted to dominate the travel market or if a single energy company was able to take over we'd all cry out unfair competition and the regulators would break them up. If they didn't prices could go sky high.
Ebay have done just that, they've taken over the online auction market and they've used their dominance to have their own way in every aspect of the business. There's no regulator in this case and they've gone on to dominate the market worldwide.
Strangely enough no one with any clout seems to want to stand up to them. They've well and truly got us all by the short and curlies for want of a better expression

RainbowDrops

RFW wrote: »

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.

This was what I was thinking when I posted earlier.

Yes, the 10% fee is annoying, but it's just that: a fee, not a tax, not an illegal shakedown.
We have a choice whether or not to use ebay, and despite its downfalls, it provides a massive audience to sell nearly anything, so it's pay fees, or don't sell at all in some cases.

RFW

vinylmusic wrote: »

The point I was trying to make out of all this is:
If one bank tried to buy out all the competition, or if train or airline company wanted to dominate the travel market or if a single energy company was able to take over we'd all cry out unfair competition and the regulators would break them up. If they didn't prices could go sky high.
Ebay have done just that, they've taken over the online auction market and they've used their dominance to have their own way in every aspect of the business. There's no regulator in this case and they've gone on to dominate the market worldwide.
Strangely enough no one with any clout seems to want to stand up to them. They've well and truly got us all by the short and curlies for want of a better expression

The problem with that as a theory is that "the online auction market" is not the same as banking or trains or airlines. They only dominate the market that they created, before Ebay there wasn't an online auction marketplace (well maybe a small one immediately prior to Ebay). 20 years ago if you wanted to sell your own goods you used free ads, classifieds, car boot sales or whatever, all of which still exist.
They only monopolise those sellers who want to use it, it could be argued that they have done their utmost to drive those sellers away and continue to do so. One way was to have Gumtree, their own free ad site. They don't monopolise online selling or buying, Amazon have at least as big a share and there are lots of others.

burnleymik

RFW wrote: »

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.

I remember all these types of replies when the Mobile phone operators initially started hiking their prices up mid-contract....

It's only if people start questioning these things that sometimes a breakthrough is made.

So, unless I mis-read you and your are a legal expert on the matter, don't state your opinion as fact. We will only know the answer if someone goes ahead and actually challenges the charges.

vinylmusic

RainbowDrops wrote: »

This was what I was thinking when I posted earlier.

Yes, the 10% fee is annoying, but it's just that: a fee, not a tax, not an illegal shakedown.
We have a choice whether or not to use ebay, and despite its downfalls, it provides a massive audience to sell nearly anything, so it's pay fees, or don't sell at all in some cases.

Exactly. It's an unfair monopoly

RFW

burnleymik wrote: »

I remember all these types of replies when the Mobile phone operators initially started hiking their prices up mid-contract....

It's only if people start questioning these things that sometimes a breakthrough is made.

So, unless I mis-read you and your are a legal expert on the matter, don't state your opinion as fact. We will only know the answer if someone goes ahead and actually challenges the charges.

Let me know how you get on. I'll give you a lift to court if you like.

There were several people who claimed they were challenging this in the courts a few months ago, never heard from them again.

There are also other companies who charge sellers fees on postage, Amazon for one, they have been doing it for a lot longer than Ebay.

I'm happy to continue to state my opinions as fact when my opinions are, in fact, fact.:p

campdave

burnleymik wrote: »

I remember all these types of replies when the Mobile phone operators initially started hiking their prices up mid-contract....

It's only if people start questioning these things that sometimes a breakthrough is made.

So, unless I mis-read you and your are a legal expert on the matter, don't state your opinion as fact. We will only know the answer if someone goes ahead and actually challenges the charges.

Sounds like you think you have a case. Good luck. Or are you just hoping someone else will do it for you?

soolin

I think I have done the 'are eBay fees on p and p illegal' topic to death especially after the fiasco this time last year, approximately, when a regular user gave us an assurance it could not possibly go ahead as her lawyers had told her so.

However, from a business point of view I would express a caution that any seller using any service makes themselves aware of the changes that occur. The fees are getting high on eBay, the glitches becoming a real nuisance- however , it is up to us sellers to keep Abreast of what eBay are doing- they send enough announcements and there are enough groups and forums discussing these changes that it shouldn't be a shock a year in.

We cannot ever assume that things go unchanged, we must be aware f what are charges are and all the expenses.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

However, from a business point of view I would express a caution that any seller using any service makes themselves aware of the changes that occur.

I think that gets to the heart of what a lot of the problem is. Sellers, especially private ones, expect to have the same kind of consumer rights they would have as a buyer. That implies a level of protection and support that isn't there. Sellers need to find things out for themselves and often have to suffer in silence.

If you've ever owned/rented a shop or warehouse you'll have been hammered by business rates, a usually exorbitant charge by a council for little or no return and a totally unavoidable one. Unfair charges are all around us, some we can do something about within the law, some we can only do something about by going elsewhere, the rest we have to put up with.

lovinituk

vinylmusic wrote: »

Exactly. It's an unfair monopoly

Its not a monopoly. There are many other auction websites starting up all the time. Ebid has been around as long as eBay. The thing is, they either don't market themselves well enough or buyers choose not to use them. That's not eBays fault.

Amazons Marketplace fees are far higher than eBay/Paypal and they have been taking a cut of the postage for years longer than eBay. Although I suspect you don't care about Amazon because you don't use it to sell!