WTF eBay

Ins0mnyteq

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Messages
1,079
I just recently started listing things on ebay again, and to my surprise, the seller fees are now 10%???? what the fucking fuck! so to sell something for $70, i gotta pay $1 to list it, $7 FVF & 2.9% of the $70 for paypal? how the hell did this happen and no one is bitching?

im flabbergasted, its already hard as hell to sell stuff in this Super price crazy environment.
 
I just recently started listing things on ebay again, and to my surprise, the seller fees are now 10%???? what the fucking fuck! so to sell something for $70, i gotta pay $1 to list it, $7 FVF & 2.9% of the $70 for paypal? how the hell did this happen and no one is bitching?

im flabbergasted, its already hard as hell to sell stuff in this Super price crazy environment.

This happened when eBay gained so much marketshare that it allowed them to buy out PayPal and then block alternative checkouts.

Try and use Google checkout on an auction, it'll be yanked so quick. RevolutionMoney (iirc, that was the name) was gaining serious traction as an FDIC-insured competitor to PayPal with cheaper rates back in the day. When eBay bought PayPal, they effectively killed Revo by blocking their checkout.

In the past month, I've had auctions pulled with ToS violations cited. I pulled up the cited ToS and it clearly showed that not only was I within the rules, but I was following the preferred method (video game download codes). Couple that with their nag bots that take certain keywords in your listing and then nag you about using them (type "Like new" or "Download" in the title). I'm all fine with that, but the sensitivity is way too high as some things will get flagged that aren't even related. Heck, even their own stock pictures now get flagged for ToS violations for being "too low resolution" when it is the image that THEY provided you.

I use Amazon for a lot of listings now, they don't shaft you as bad as eBay.
 
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I just recently started listing things on ebay again, and to my surprise, the seller fees are now 10%???? what the fucking fuck! so to sell something for $70, i gotta pay $1 to list it, $7 FVF & 2.9% of the $70 for paypal? how the hell did this happen and no one is bitching?

im flabbergasted, its already hard as hell to sell stuff in this Super price crazy environment.


dont forget shipping..yes, they charge a fee on shipping also....so if you charge $10.00 for shipping, they take a dollar from that also.....Thieves....

I'm also selling on Amazon now.....
 
I also sell on Amazon. Ebay charges their fees because morons keep paying them.

Ebay is like the ultimate last resort. Forums, CL, Amazon. I also avoid paypal. If a buyer demands it, I ask for gift payment or payment for fee. No, I don't give two shits about the ToS.
 
Ho-lee-crap. I was just about to throw some of my old Core 2 Quad Extremes on eBay...and then I see this. Nnnnnope. I'll go to Craigslist now before eBay. They have become way too anti-seller.
 
I just recently started listing things on ebay again, and to my surprise, the seller fees are now 10%???? what the fucking fuck! so to sell something for $70, i gotta pay $1 to list it, $7 FVF & 2.9% of the $70 for paypal? how the hell did this happen and no one is bitching?

im flabbergasted, its already hard as hell to sell stuff in this Super price crazy environment.

yes, i hate ebay. but they are really the only game in town. it comes out to be roughly 15% all told combined with ebay AND paypal fees combined :(

you can try selling on amazon. I've done it a few times, but they also take a percentage. The fees are a little less than ebay, but they also have more strict rules. for example, a no questions asked, 30 day return policy. you must comply with the 30 day return policy, no way around it as far as i know. For me this is risky. imagine a person having your computer hardware, does something bad and breaks it. they have 30 day window to return it for -whatever reason- and can basically claim any reason. amazon will allow them to ship it back to you.
 
I haven't sold on ebay in years because of all their bullshit fees. Forums or local is all I use now.
 
Ugh, wow. I guess I won't be using eBay at all anymore -- totally ridiculous fees and not to mention all the other crap sellers have to put up with -- pure torture to sell.
 
Forums and Local only for me.

I have always tossed what I can't sell on the forums/locally onto eBay after 2-3 weeks of selling, sometimes sooner depending on the item and how I feel and just get whatever I can from them since the old fee wasn't too bad. (was still a good chunk of money though from high dollar sales)

I will still buy stuff from sellers on eBay however will no longer be a seller. Sellers will increase prices on there goods too but we already knew that.
 
I just recently started listing things on ebay again, and to my surprise, the seller fees are now 10%???? what the fucking fuck! so to sell something for $70, i gotta pay $1 to list it, $7 FVF & 2.9% of the $70 for paypal? how the hell did this happen and no one is bitching?

im flabbergasted, its already hard as hell to sell stuff in this Super price crazy environment.

Its not that high... they basically are forcing sellers to buy a "store-front" for a 15 dollars a month subscription and then it goes to 6% flat rate final values and usually free to list.
buy a store "subscription" for 15 dollars a month... when you're not using it just cancel it..

its 6% flat rate final value if you have a store and listing fees are usually waived so no 1 dollar listing... and also these days i think its about 1.9% to paypal on ebay sales.

editted to say: yes i absolute hate hate ebay and especially paypal even more than ebay... but u gotta do what u gotta do... even after fees for alot of stuff i tend to make slightly more than craigslist.
 
Yep, this has been going on for awhile. Amazon isn't much better either. CL and [H] are full of low ballers sooooo yeah, there isn't much of a difference in how much you'll be getting. Go figure!
 
It's disgusting, I decided to sell on ebay which I completely dreaded doing. Had a couple XFX 290s that I ended up selling for $650 a pop just to break even on the $570 purchase price. I will never sell on ebay again, it's completely setup to screw over the average joe and used as a marketplace for store fronts. It's no longer an auction site, I don't even bid on things anymore I just search for things with BIN's.
 
I've moved most of my tech stuff to Amazon. That and anything over $50 usually.

I keep Ebay around for little things like selling the kid's clothes that were hardly used or never worn. Those go for 5-15 so it's ok
 
CL and [H] are full of low ballers sooooo yeah, there isn't much of a difference in how much you'll be getting. Go figure!

That's pretty much what I've determined also. Yeah, you'll pay 13% or whatever, but you're probably also getting 10% more than you would selling elsewhere plus, for me at least, massively less hassle.

I sold about 1400 bucks worth of camera equipment. Took me about 20 minutes to list it all, had a grand total of two questions amongst the eight auctions, all the buyers paid almost immediately, and even after all the fees I still ended up getting at least 10% more than I would have happily accepted for all the stuff. No problems whatsoever.

Do the same thing on CL and you'll get 50 lowballs, 30 scam emails, have to deal with people that want to call or text you, have to either tell people where you live or hassle with meeting them somewhere. No thanks. For physically large items or items that I don't want to ship for some reason I'll use CL (sold my B&W speakers and my old HT projector on CL), but the vast majority of the time I'd rather use eBay, fees be damned.
 
Ebay are such a ballache, I gave my car away 2 months ago rather than use Ebay to sell it.
Paypal wont even accept my bank account is valid now despite the fact I used it with them many times and nothing has changed. It still works great for everyone else.
They make it so awkward to get any help I thought sod this for a game.
I then used Auto Trader to buy a new car and found they have better prices anyway!

Screw Ebay.
 
that exactly i have deamed it the name E(xtortion)bay.
I use ebay only because i live in South Dakota so their no local market. so i mostly sell clothing and none tech items on ebay. otherwise everything related gets the forum treatment first.
I always figured they do it because they have absolutely no competition. swappa seems to be gaining ground on the cellular end and i applaud them cuz thats where all my cellphone sales will go to. swappa has a nice system they charge 10 bucks flat out and if you want a featured listing you can add 7 bucks.
i like paypal i would do craigslist transaction through paypal if it were more conventional
 
I would rather sell my item %10 less on craig list, have the guy pick it up and pay me cash on the spot then list it on ebay, deal with bids from nigeria, deal with buyers that don't pay, end up paying commision on the shipping fees, package the stuff drop it off at UPS and still pay 13% or more in fees....
 
That's pretty much what I've determined also. Yeah, you'll pay 13% or whatever, but you're probably also getting 10% more than you would selling elsewhere plus, for me at least, massively less hassle.

I sold about 1400 bucks worth of camera equipment. Took me about 20 minutes to list it all, had a grand total of two questions amongst the eight auctions, all the buyers paid almost immediately, and even after all the fees I still ended up getting at least 10% more than I would have happily accepted for all the stuff. No problems whatsoever.

Do the same thing on CL and you'll get 50 lowballs, 30 scam emails, have to deal with people that want to call or text you, have to either tell people where you live or hassle with meeting them somewhere. No thanks. For physically large items or items that I don't want to ship for some reason I'll use CL (sold my B&W speakers and my old HT projector on CL), but the vast majority of the time I'd rather use eBay, fees be damned.

I agree with this. I sell a lot on ebay and it generally goes pretty smooth. Yea, 13% in fees sucks, but I usually get more than on forums. For heavy things I go with CL.
 
I would rather sell my item %10 less on craig list, have the guy pick it up and pay me cash on the spot then list it on ebay, deal with bids from nigeria, deal with buyers that don't pay, end up paying commision on the shipping fees, package the stuff drop it off at UPS and still pay 13% or more in fees....

Ebay actually has a buyer restriction feature that allows you to ban all customers in Nigeria. I've got all of Africa blocked from buying from my store. Pretty easy to do.
 
Yeh the latest ebay fees on shipping is fucking bullshit. They say they're encouraging free shipping but what's the fucking point when they'll just take it out of item you're selling.

Another option is to create a petition, poll of some sort and get as much people to vote no for the latest 10% on shipping charge. There are already threads on ebay support forums discussing this matter.

EDIT: Looks like we already have one for down-under.

http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitio...ell-you-ebay-do-not-provide-the-service#share
 
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Paying 10% of the sale price and actually selling your item is better than having it sit in your closet taking up space, and it's certainly a lot better than posting it on 457397 forums in hopes of someone buying it, dealing with retarded lowballers, and people who dispute transactions.

I gladly pay the eBay fees because eBay protects me and there are like a billion buyers on it. For things that I have a lot of, like a bunch of the Star Citizen stuff I sold, it's super easy to relist, etc.

Yeah, if you only need to sell 1 thing then eBay seems meh, but if you are valuing your time and want hassle free then paying the fees is just the cost of doing business, imho anyway. I sold ~$2,200 on ebay over the past 120 days, and I find it to be a good value for me.
 
I also sell on eBay and as long as I am making money, it works.


I agree on the heavy items going to CL or forum for local pickup.
 
My biggest thing that holds me back from selling is the buyer protection policy where a buyer can claim the product is DOA (even if it is not) and get a refund leaving the seller at a loss. If there was some seller protection from this I would be more likely to want to sell a few items that are currently collecting dust.
 
My biggest thing that holds me back from selling is the buyer protection policy where a buyer can claim the product is DOA (even if it is not) and get a refund leaving the seller at a loss. If there was some seller protection from this I would be more likely to want to sell a few items that are currently collecting dust.

What I do is to take pictures of everything I mail out and I say that the serial numbers have to match if someone wants to return stuff, plus there cannot be any damage to the parts (electronics).

In all these years I only had one case where someone bought a mobo, fried the NB on it (no idea how) and opened a case to get a refund. Ebay sided with me when I provided them all the pics of the board and the POST screen.

I once mailed out a couple 1 GB memory sticks to someone and he said that one of them didn't work, the buyer didn't open a case, he contacted me directly. I refunded in full, it was like $15 total or something, just wasn't even worth the effort to monkey with it.

I never had an actual DOA (I package really well), and I never had a return request even though I offer 14 days and guaranteed not DOA.

I do think that ebay's fees and policies hurt the occasional seller, but if you sell with any kind of regularity it's great. I filed a case against someone who was screwing around with me where I was the buyer, once again, I had good documentation, and I got my money back without much fuss (just had to call them after the resolution time was up and the seller didn't respond).

There are a lot of clueless and emotional buyers on ebay. I recently bought a DVD set at Sam's Club for 18 bucks, watched it, and put it on ebay clearly marked as *used*. Sold for $22+shipping, so if you count opportunity cost I almost made my money back.

Here on [H] I would have maybe gotten $3-$5 for the set, shipped.'

They key to making bank by selling on ebay is to have good descriptions. Lots of sellers just use the ebay mobile app and barely write anything, plus their listing looks meh. I use a template, I write a little about why I am selling and what I thought about the item, and how I think it could be used going forward. Buyers love that. I don't do auctions, it's all fixed price and fairly priced, and I write that I do fixed price so customers can buy immediately rather than having to deal with the inconvenience of an auction.

When I put something up that someone else is also selling I list it for less, not a penny less but like $5 less on a $20 item. The item is worthless to me sitting in my closet, and I'd rather get $15 today than $20 at some undetermined future time which may or may not ever happen.
 
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I use a template, I write a little about why I am selling and what I thought about the item, and how I think it could be used going forward.


Lol, I bet you do

how's the book coming along :p
 
Yeh the latest ebay fees on shipping is fucking bullshit.

It didn't used to be like that, but then you had all the listings for $0.01 final auction value and $10,000 shipping. Since eBay doesn't have a reliable way to determine ahead of time what the shipping is going to be they really had no choice but to include shipping into the fees. But, if you buy shipping through eBay it is a lot less than if you pay for it at the Post Office (for USPS anyway), so that kind of makes up for it.

Lol, I bet you do

how's the book coming along :p

Ha!
I really should self-publish a "How to get top dollar for your stuff on ebay", but if everyone does it then my listings don't stand out. It's just marketing, you can also time it right, i.e. for Valentine's Day can use things like "buy her the <insert item here> she always wanted, she'll have no idea that you got a great deal on eBay", etc.

Obviously she can tell since there's no original packaging, but just getting a LOL out of the buyer will make him/her buy it from me rather than someone else. People are suckers like that.
 
I would rather sell my item %10 less on craig list, have the guy pick it up and pay me cash on the spot then list it on ebay, deal with bids from nigeria, deal with buyers that don't pay, end up paying commision on the shipping fees, package the stuff drop it off at UPS and still pay 13% or more in fees....

I'm still afraid of getting mugged and having stuff stolen selling on CL, even if it's a meeting in a public place. :rolleyes:
 
When I checked and saw they took a percentage of shipping costs, I nearly fell out of my chair. So if the buyer pays 10 dollars in shipping cost for the actual shipping... The Seller will have to pay an extra dollar to make it 10, since eBay took a dollar.

I hope enough people become aware of the fees on top of fees on top of fees or another Auction site can become as huge as eBay so it will be priced competitively. It's pretty much a monopoly at this point.
 
Yeah, some competition would be nice, wouldn't it?

Actually it really wouldn't be nice. As seller I like having all buyers concentrated on one site, not having them spread out across multiple sites. Competition dilutes my customer pool, why would I want that?
 
Actually it really wouldn't be nice. As seller I like having all buyers concentrated on one site, not having them spread out across multiple sites. Competition dilutes my customer pool, why would I want that?

It would be nice if you would stop looking at it from a shortsighted knee jerk stance.

Competition = lower seller fees etc. too. You wanting a costomer base held hostage by one place is not in your besty interest because you too are just as hostage.
 
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