Just got a message from eBay that they removed my item because it had "Make an offer" in the description and this was breaching their "policies". In fact I did have the item previously listed as a "Buy it now" and forgot to proof read the description as it didn't make sense after I "sent to Auction". WEll a silly blunder it may have been, but I had a pretty wordy email from them on how doing this and that and making offers outside eBay and all is considered unfair amongst other lines that were quite presumptuous on their part, such as: "These practices are considered a way of avoiding eBay fees. Listings that try to avoid fees put sellers who pay their fees at a disadvantage. Also, they can create a poor buying experience."
What the blazes? ARe they the police? What happened to the good old easy going eBay of yesterday? and what about how much we all pay when selling now? Isn't it about time for everyone to wake up and demand a reverting back to fairness and fair fees, without the pretense of giving free listings and all that being "good compensation" for the amount you pay on final values? Come on people, you are really getting the wool pulled oer your eyes. Do the maths, look at how much more you pay over all now as opposed to when the sellers fees were 4.7% and there was no such thing as a fee on the postage as well. Even Paypal went up too. Did the value of providing a monetary highway go up, or did it get more expensive for them to run their servers? Bull! They are making squillions more now than ever, so if anything, since they get more traffic than everyone else, they should be reducing the cost of listing and selling if anything. They are all acting like banks!
So I sent them these following words to consider. I suggest a few million more people say something before all of your rights dissapear and you are just milked for all you can bare to let go of. Seriously!
In response to:
"MC018 Your listing has been removed: Direct Sales"
I have reviewed the item that was listed as not within eBay policies. This was including the phrase "make an offer". I apologize that this was an oversight as the original listing which was a "Buy it now or best offer" type, I sent to auction without realizing that the wording breached the policies of eBay.
It is relisted as a revised version.
I do however regret that I don't agree with all of the accusations in the warning message, and further to that, I believe that eBay procures far too much in the way of "fees". The recent hike from around 5% to around %10 of the final value was a shock to many, since for high priced items, eBay makes insane profits. Also I believe that it is dishonest and money grabbing opportunism to include a fee on top of postage and freight costs, as most people realize that that service is not really a part of the purchase and do not want to pay additional fees on their postage but only what it literally costs. This means a further deferral in most cases of the additional fees to the seller, who if they are just a back yard blitz seller of their personal items, are mined for their goods value as well as their spare change too. It doesn't stop there, but since eBay has procured Paypal as well, they now receive fees three times on only ONE sale. How much do they think is really fair to sting people for simply using their handy service which runs on the smell of an oily rag, basically electronic blips and keystrokes, and who rarely enforce any breach of the law when a buyer decides to renig on their purchase.
I regret to say that I feel their is a very large imbalance of service verses costs on eBay, internationally and on the home front. It's about time people woke up to it!
regards,
An annoyed loyal seller for more than a decade.....
