Does anybody know: is it legal under Australian Law for ebay to impose postage fees on sellers?

[niceandbright]

Does anybody know:  is it legal under Australian Law for ebay to impose postage fees on sellers?

While ebay is a wonderfully accessible global marketplace,  charging far less sales commissions than any actual auction house, the postage fee seems mis-placed.

The postage process actually has no involvement by ebay:  it is between seller buyer and Australia Post.

Seller invoices buyer for postage, buyer pays seller postage,  seller takes item to AustraliaPost, pays same postage, the entire postage charge goes to Australia Post, seller makes no profit from postage charge,  how soes ebay become entitled to charge a fee on something it has zero involvement with?

It's like a GST on something we have already paid a GST on, which is the postage charge.   Government receives GST on postage charge.  ebay receives a commission on postage charge.

I'm not whinging about it not being fair.

I'm asking if it is legal.

[pennyforum14]

Legal?  Yes, according to the ACCC they can do it because they negotiated postage deals with Auspost through the Ebay Postage label system whereby their members can (if they choose) get a discounted rate to offset the fee charged by Ebay and so it is not considered to be third party forcing.

Fair?  IMO definitely not, but there is nothing we can do about it.

[peri-landlubber]

If I am reading your post properly, I think you meant fvf fees or tax on the postage charged by the seller.

I don't know if that is illegal.

[phorum_junkie*]

Do you think ebay would add the charge if they didn't have a team of highly trained lawyers conversant with Australian financial laws?

[niceandbright]

I have nothing to do with ebay postage system.

I was referring to:  seller charges buyer exact postage according to Australia Post, Post Office (physical shop) quote, buyer pays seller that amount,  seller takes parcel to Post Shop, pays that amount.  ebay is not involved in the act of postage, nor collecting postage from buyer because that is collected by Paypal.

It is kind of like imposing a g.s.t. on a service, which they do not provide.

I would love to see this challenged but I have no connections to challenge it.

Somebody might.

[niceandbright]

Please think:   Do you think that there are TWO POSTAGE SYSTEMS   = the ebay postage system which some sellers use.

The Australia Post  Post Shop physical go to the post office and ask the postage, invoice the buyer, buyer pays seller, seller goes to post shop to physically hand over parcel and pay THEM  the postage,  what does that process have to do with ebay so as to warrant a charge on the seller for posting a thing?

How's the gin and tonic going?

[cmcoins2000]

eBay can charge any 'fees' on their site they deem fit.

Not against the law - just amoral.

[niceandbright]

Thanks Penny I hadn't known the ACCC would have input into this, as ebay is foreign owned.   Nothing we can do about it?

Yell from the rafters and all help to find out if it's legal is what we can do.

People have mounted class actions on less.

Just curious.   Might have to ask ACCC for a ruling !

[digital*ghost]

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@thesocialsecretary wrote:

 Might have to ask ACCC for a ruling !

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When the FVF on postage was introduced, quite a few members sent complaints to the ACCC about it. They all received the same reply, which was (in a nutshell) no laws being breached and no investigation. 

I think you will find very few members who would not like to see the fee repealed, but unfortunately it would seem there's very little chance of that unless eBay make the decision to do it themselves. 

[33_rpm]

No laws are broken. By selling on the site you accept the terms and conditions. You are free not to accept these conditions and sell elsewhere. The ACCC could look at the misuse of market power but it is a strict test and ebay would pass it.

Misuse of market power test

The possession of market power of itself is not unlawful.

To determine whether there has been a misuse of market power, the courts will consider three questions:

• does the company have substantial market power? [YES!!!!!!!!!!!]
• is it taking advantage of that power? [OH YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!]
• is it using the power for an illegal purpose? [No]