topic Re: 7.9% fee far too high! in Selling

7.9% fee far too high!

aeltaarion — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:45:01 GMT

This is a complaint to eBay.

I've just sold 2 things on eBay for the first time in a while, one of them went through without a hitch, the other one the buyer is trying to defraud me by masquerading as PayPal - trying to get me to send the item without paying.

Now on the auction that did go through fine for $575 AUD, PayPal took $14.10 and I thought okay that's probably just the eBay fees and the PayPal transaction no big deal there.

But then I was shocked to realize eBay charges 7.90% of the auction as a fee! - a further $44.24 AUD.

So my total amount was $575.00 AUD, subtract $58.34 AUD in PayPal & eBay fees and I was left with $516.66 AUD.

Now when I posted the auction I did realize there would be a fee but in the past when I've used eBay it was only ever $10 or $20 at most per auction, so to suddenly be slugged in total nearly $50 for this 1 auction alone is outrageous.

So on the other of the 2 auctions the guy who won was trying to con me into sending the item without paying - for this eBay charged me AU $37.60 which after 4 days I can go through a process of claiming it has not been paid and possibly get it credited back to me.

eBay is becoming a cesspool of fake buyers and there is not enough being done.

eBay forces sellers to accept PayPal who then if the buyer chooses to pay through is provided with your PayPal E-Mail address and this is how they get my/your address to masquerade as PayPal.

Given the large fees you guys are taking why don't you do more to stop this!?

For instance don't EVER provide buyers with my E-Mail address, force people to only communicate through eBay and if they win PayPal should provide the buyer with a 1 time use E-Mail address for payment for instance "259295732fdsa9e@paypal.com" which can only be used to accept the payment internally and route the payment to the actual sellers account, this would block 99.999% of the fraud on eBay if you insist on forcing sellers to accept PayPal.

It's not good enough that we give you guys such a large cut and you still let us get conned. Shouldn't happen.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

*new2vintage — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:55:35 GMT

Ebay staff don't read the Discussion Boards. You can give Live Help a copy of your message but don't expect them to be very helpful.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

aeltaarion — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:57:50 GMT

Oh great LOL - what exactly DO they do with all our money apart from sit around and let us get conned by people...

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

putney32 — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:40:07 GMT

you really need to read the rules and regulations and how to sell bits before you list to sell, you would then have know exactly how much ebay and paypal charge on each transaction.

your next surprise may be when you try to post with express... phones and anything else with a lithium battery can only be sent by Road with Australia Post, with a road transport sticker attached.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

davewil1964 — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:47:53 GMT

And nobody has ripped you off. You twigged, as all prudent sellers do.

Do you suggest eBay should vet every member before they're allowed to buy something? How much do you think fees would be if they did?

A lot more than 7.9%

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

phorum_junkie* — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:15:57 GMT

So your total fee for selling was about 10%. How much do you think you would have paid if you had sold it in an auction house? How much do you think you would have got if you had been restricted to just people in your immediate area because you posted it on a community board because it cost you nothing? How many people, complete strangers, do you think would be willing to part with that much money if they couldn't have Paypal protection?

All the fees were there for you to see before you listed so you chose to avail yourself of ebay's services. Nobody twisted your arm and forced you to sell it here.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

syrupsmummy — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:51:22 GMT

Over the years many people complained that insertion fees are too high and eBay US has free insertion fees etc.

The result is eBay AU is giving away 30 free listings per month to non-powersellers, non-business and non-store owners. But they made FVF high.

I'm not sure they changed because of complaints or they changed it to follow eBay US

If you think eBay AU charges FVF too high, check this eBay US fees.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

Their auction FVF is 9% flat rate.

For fixed price listing for clothing is 10.0% of the initial $50.00, plus 8.0% of the next $50.01–$1,000.00.

I'm quite happy with 7.9% FVF with Australian eBay. I hope eBay AU doesn't try to do the same as eBay US.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

wilzencomp — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:28:29 GMT

ok you paid around 10% fees now let me see what it would have cost you selling it in the newspaper

1 week $40 to $70 for a 3 line add

2 weeks x2

at a auction 15% sellers fee + Gst = $94

on gumtree = Free

so I guess that FVF is looking rather good now

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

dylan11235813 — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:15:43 GMT

tweet this....

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

tall_bearded — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:06:55 GMT

"So your total fee for selling was about 10%. How much do you think you would have paid if you had sold it in an auction house?"

If you had sold it at an auction house you would have been charged a lotting fee and percentage of the sale price which normally means the auction house takes about 20%. So what do you get for your 20%?

The Auctioneer has a network of buyers who are interested in specific items (eg early Royal Nippon) and will personally call them to tell them an item within their special interest has come in for auction.

You are usually responsible for arranging for the goods to be delivered to the auction house, but once there, their safe keeping is wholly the responsibility of the auctioneer. That is, if it’s stolen or damaged after you hand it over, it’s the auctioneers problem not yours.

Most auction houses now have on line bidding facilities, which has significantly increased the prices people are getting for the items put up for action.

Any financial institution charges are the responsibility of the Auctioneer who usually passes them on to the bidder by charging a surcharge.

The auctioneer is supposed to be the expert. Therefore if the item is miss-described in the catalogue and as such commands a higher price than it should have, the problem belongs to the auctioneer, and not to you.

Finally, and most importantly, the auctioneer is acting as your agent, an agent who have a vested interest in obtaining the highest price for your item.

Now let’s look at eBay and what you get for you 10%

They are not you agent. Therefore it is you, the seller, and not eBay who are wholly responsible if something goes wrong between the time you list it until you’ve packed it and handed it over to the carrier.

You, the seller pay all institution fees, which you can only recoup by increasing the listed price which mean an increase in final value fees paid.

EBay only provides the venue. You do all the work.

So is eBay worth the extra 10%. Depends on the product you sell.

As a venue to sell replacement china it’s a dud, with most having moved on to their own web sites.

As a venue to sell out of print books it’s also a dud, as most sellers have moved to specialist sites dealing with this specific commodity.

However if you want sell Chinese junk, which is either fake, or has programmed obsolescence built into it, eBay is the place to be.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

phorum_junkie* — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:12:39 GMT

However if you want sell Chinese junk, which is either fake, or has programmed obsolescence built into it, eBay is the place to be.

I sell very successfully on ebay without listing any fake, junky or obsolescent items as do many other people. Ebay is also the first place I look for rare books and replacement china when I am in Aus.

For a very valuable or rare item most people on the boards advise people to look at a B&M auction house, horses for courses but even with a network of clients no auction house is going to have the worldwide exposure that you can get listing on ebay.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

nifty_sven — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:20:16 GMT

what has me stuffed is as a new member you ticked 'agree' to the terms and conditions when you signed on, and now your are bitching about the agreement YOU agreed to??

Get serious!

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

flashback_deals — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:17:13 GMT

Another thread about fees too high:-D

I will keep it simple: I would rather pay a total of 11.3% (ebay and PayPal fees) and have a worldwide potential customer base than sell in an auction house where they take 20% and only locals go to

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

thesoulyearns — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:33:55 GMT

I honestly have never been to an auction house (or simply can't remember going to one) but I imagine that many things get sold for a good price. Even with eBay, there's no guarantee of a sale as you're competing with so many of other sellers.

Having said that, if you know how to offer something that people will buy, then yes the 7.9% fee is nothing. If you think the fee is too high, either adjust your prices/selling practices or don't do business with eBay. A big company like eBay won't change their fee rate much, as they already offer lots of other incentives.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

flashback_deals — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:45:48 GMT

Some things go very low.

I find secondhand dealers who have a shopfront store just bid up up and up if people are bidding against them so they push the bidding to a price they would sell it at in their shop.

Usually antiques, CDs, DVDs sell quite well - even junky LPs the past few months

Sometimes auctioneers will say something like 'couch is worth $3000 new' and 2 got no bids at $100 last weekend so are they really worth $3,000?. secondhand dealers would grab them if they were at $100!

Websites that say like 'RRP $99' and advertise it at $25 are just as bad because you can look for the same product on eBay and you will usually see it for the same selling price at $25 as them. DD is a bad one for that

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

lisakpatton — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:02:42 GMT

I think the US fees are absolutely ridiculous. I wouldn't mind them so much if there weren't insertion fees or at least only paying insertion fees once per item. For those of you who say, oh but they give us 50 free a month, give me a break that's far from what we deserve after the other things we have to put up with such us DSR's, Shipping Fees, Paypal Fees, Feedback One Sided System, Buyer Protection Issues.

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

cq_tech — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 00:00:13 GMT

TB, you should really change your name to long_winded.. I think it is a far more fitting name

Depends upon whether you prefer accuracy in a response as opposed to brevity. 😐

I for one greatly respect TB's well-researched knowledge and appreciate the time he takes to post what he does, which is ultimately for the benefit of everybody else anyway.

If his posts annoy you that much, there's always the 'ignore' button. 🙂

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

davewil1964 — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 01:53:21 GMT

I think the US fees are absolutely ridiculous. I wouldn't mind them so much if there weren't insertion fees or at least only paying insertion fees once per item. For those of you who say, oh but they give us 50 free a month, give me a break that's far from what we deserve after the other things we have to put up with such us DSR's, Shipping Fees, Paypal Fees, Feedback One Sided System, Buyer Protection Issues.

I don't mind at all because I'm not in the US. maybe that's why you get so many NPBs? When they realise you're on the other side of the world?

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

thesoulyearns — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 03:48:23 GMT

Some things go very low.

I find secondhand dealers who have a shopfront store just bid up up and up if people are bidding against them so they push the bidding to a price they would sell it at in their shop.

Usually antiques, CDs, DVDs sell quite well - even junky LPs the past few months

Sometimes auctioneers will say something like 'couch is worth $3000 new' and 2 got no bids at $100 last weekend so are they really worth $3,000?. secondhand dealers would grab them if they were at $100!

Websites that say like 'RRP $99' and advertise it at $25 are just as bad because you can look for the same product on eBay and you will usually see it for the same selling price at $25 as them. DD is a bad one for that

On TV there's the occasional ad for Quicksales and they are sending the message (without directly stating) that that you can buy an iPad for under $100 (I forget the actual price). Their catch is "upto 95% off retail" and obviously they are basing that off something that did sell for 95% off... but it almost definitely was not an iPad. Yet, it's the subconscious message, without actually stating you can get the iPad at under $100. It's the "thought" of getting it (or "any of their products") at 95% off...

Re: 7.9% fee far too high!

tall_bearded — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 21:05:45 GMT

PJ, you may be satisfied with the limited business opportunities that eBay now affords, but most serious sellers aren’t, and that is the reason why, when it come to out of print books and replacement china so many have left, be it to other specialist sites or by opening their own web shops. By serious sellers’ I mean sellers who make a living from selling things instead of those who use eBay to supplement other forms of income; and had I not retired, I would have, as so many of my associates (competitors) have already done, left eBay years ago.

For instance, when it comes to older out of print or rear books eBay is the last place the serious buyer now looks. As an example look up “Hunters History of British India”. On eBay there is one early edition listed from a seller located in Australia and another two listings for reproduction copies available from a seller in the US. Now if you do a search on just one of the dedicated book selling sites you end up with 150 copies of this title listed. Finally though the two early editions listed on eBay are priced at below half their true value, they have been listed for well over a year and have not yet sold. So much for the benefits of worldwide listing exposure.

As for replacement China, a few years ago the china category was one of the most vibrant on eBay with up to million local listings. Today it is a mere shadow of its former self. As an example do a search for Mikasa Paprika. A few years ago there would have been literally hundreds of local listings. Today there are 4 local listings and 6 from a seller in the US.

So what happened, when eBay increased its store cost from 11 cents a listing to 40 cents, just about every serious book and replacement china seller left the site and few if any returned, nor will they ever return.

As for my reference to Chinese junk, you should really do your research before you type, because I used the words “programmed obsolescence” not obsolete.

Now I note you sell clothing. So where does it come from. Is it manufactured locally or in China, India, Bangladesh or some other third world country, because if it is, then it more likely than not has obsolescence programmed into it

As to what this term means, simply Google “Programmed or Planned Obsolescence”.