topic Re: Free Listings in Selling

Free Listings

twyngwyn — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 07:08:09 GMT

http://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/promo/1645

Re: Free Listings

anniebella63 — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 07:35:49 GMT

thanks twyngwyn, something not going quite right with these new freebies, just logged on and found only 1 ID with 50 free listings and 6 free car listings. Other ID's nothing. Logged off then on again and only nothing now to accept on screen, used your link provided and now I have 500!

Don't think they have added on screen correctly. Will try other ID's with link.

Freebies for everyone, think they are trying to be nice with what has been going on lately.

Re: Free Listings

somecoinstohelpcharities — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 07:45:07 GMT

Geez ...seriously what is ebay smoking? I'm sure everyone is going to rush in and sell 500 items onebay for free insertion....just so they can get 500 lots of FVF off you (the seller).. lololol
BAD attempt at making it look like you are doing us a favor FEE BAY lolol

Re: Free Listings

twyngwyn — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 08:20:41 GMT

fvf on postage does not start until 6th May....take advantage now 🙂

Re: Free Listings

4myson2003 — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 21:54:21 GMT

yep...if your a small seller take advantage now cause i see no future for small sellers after may 6

Re: Free Listings

phorum_junkie* — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 23:55:10 GMT

...if your a small seller take advantage now cause i see no future for small sellers after may 6

If your profit margin is so small that you cannot sustain an increase in fees of less than 10% on the average postage of $8 to $12 then why would you bother selling at all?

Re: Free Listings

happy-reader — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 00:22:56 GMT

Exactly my thoughts phorum when I read all these posts. It is annoying to me as it is a bit out of my profits but if that is eating up all of someone's profits it wasn't very profitable in the first place and hardly worth the time to source + list items, drive to the PO etc. I'm using this month to play around with listing amounts and test sales on free postage vs item + post sell to see how it will effect me.

Re: Free Listings

diecastcarsvicki — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 00:52:53 GMT

its not the point of the small amount of fees.

its the fact fees for a service ebay has nothing to do with or supply.

as a seller it cost me nothing because these fees get past on to the buyer.

and the more buyers need to pay the less likely they will still be buyers.

if you feel its right for ebay to rip people off like this for nothing more than greed then so be it many other are not happy.

Re: Free Listings

*crikey*mate* — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 01:00:50 GMT

Every time that eBay makes any change, there is always someone who isn't happy, it's just how it is.

Re: Free Listings

thecatspjs — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 01:53:39 GMT

lol if we all had that attitude paypal would be our only payment option and women would never have got the vote.

Re: Free Listings

diecastcarsvicki — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 01:55:30 GMT

so you think these fees are justified.

people are un happy because we are getting ripped off by fees that ebay dont supply the service.

do ebay pack your items no.

do ebay travel to p/o to post for you no.

what does ebay do to have a claim on these fees nothing.

you can argue that they supply the platform for sellers to list agree but sellers are already paying to use that platform.

for ebay to use the excuse to favour free postage on all listings.

its just not possible is it.

i cant charge a flatrate on an item because postage is priced from state to state.

Re: Free Listings

thecatspjs — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 02:12:05 GMT

The coercive manner that sellers are being "encouraged" to list as free post probably sticks in my throat most of all.

Ehtical sellers who "choose" not to have free post listings due to its deceptive and false message to the consumer will have their listings demoted in searches.

Caving to this type of coersion ...Never

PS eBay thank you for the free listings mainly the auction ones as they normally cost $1.50 on this ID

Re: Free Listings

*crikey*mate* — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 02:17:55 GMT

@thecatspjs wrote:
lol if we all had that attitude paypal would be our only payment option and women would never have got the vote.

At least the men wouldn't have to worry about who was making them their bacon sammiches, eh?

Re: Free Listings

*crikey*mate* — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 02:55:30 GMT

@diecastcarsvicki wrote:
so you think these fees are justified. Well no, I don't want to pay higher fees, but are they justified? I'm sure they are, even if that justification is simply that eBay wants to increase their revenue. It's why all kinds of businesses put their prices up.

people are un happy because we are getting ripped off by fees that ebay dont supply the service. I get that, but that isn't what is happening. I have tried to explain what is happenning, but people just don't seem to want to understand that. I not only asked eBay for their position on this, but I also asked my uni professors, one of who is an ex High Court judge (I'm studying Law/Commerce at uni), so I kinda figured they had a reasonable idea of what they were talking about.

do ebay pack your items no. They don't own, possess or do anything with the actiual items we sell either, yet they still charge a fee for us to sell them. What is the diofference? I even learned recently that some people even sell services on here themselves (hotel acommodation) and it seems psople are ok with being charged a fee on that/those, when eBay doesn't supply those either.

do ebay travel to p/o to post for you no.
what does ebay do to have a claim on these fees nothing. They provide the platform where trading partners negotiate and form the contract for the sale and supply of goods/services. That's what they do. They don't claim to do anything else.

you can argue that they supply the platform for sellers to list agree but sellers are already paying to use that platform. ughh - oops, I did.and now eBay is requiring that they pay more to use the service/platform that they provide. They are now charging for the entire total of the contract formed, not just on part of it.

for ebay to use the excuse to favour free postage on all listings. I have thoughts on that too, but not many seem to like them so....But yes, whilst I understand why they have done this, I do think it is a bit rough. I always have, even when this was an incentive for TRS+

its just not possible is it.I know, for lots of us, this is the case, and hopefully, most others in our respective categories are in the same situation, so it doesn't affect us too much iykwim. One of my selling accounts is in a category that will be adversely affected by the changes, so please don't think I don't get where people are coming from.It is also going to affect a category I buy from quite heavily, so am also contemplating increased costs as a buyer and a seller.

i cant charge a flatrate on an item because postage is priced from state to state.

I get that too, but - here's what i do, and I know it doesn't work in all categories - it never has.

1) I source products that fit into the flat rate satchels and boxes.(or envelopes) I always have, simply because I didn't want the hassles of exactly what you describe, working out different postage for different areas, or packaging odd shaped items.

I specifically don't sell items that won't fit, despite having access to a few corker product lines. I just had to accept, that for me, they just weren't suited to selling on the platfiorm that is eBay or using the postal service. So I had to change and adjust the product that I did sell.

2) I haven't used the eBay post service thingy, but the Click and Send service does offer us a range of flat rate products (satchels and boxes) so that the price is the same regardless of where the item is going (domestically - and there are also some O/S options too)

3) I choose my product around what not only best suits me, but also the platform and method of delivery available to me.

For example, i simply don't sell things like electrical items, or are overly delicate and might not withstand the conditions of Australia Post. I sell things that are reasonably easy to pack and send - just to make my life easy - I HATE packaging sdtuiff up! I want to make that as pain free for me as possible!

When there was a market on here for beanie Kids, I used to trade in those as they are virtually indestructible and were easy to pack and post and were commanding great prices where it was easy to make a decent profit. When that market declined, I looked around for something else.

I do hope that this works out well for everyone, and especially yourself. I understand that there are some pretty dramatic changes ahead for most of us, so here's how I look at it.

We have about 30 days to work out how to make this work for us. To work out how to adapt my business and make the decision if this platform is suited to myself.

If the changes don't go ahead, I can carry on how I am now, but I firmly believe that they will go ahead, as they are legal and I believe they are also sustainable, so I am preparing for the times ahead iykwim.

eBay, for whatever reason have decided to go down this path. They believe it is beneficial for the growth of their business. They wouldn't do it if it wasn't. So they are not going to introduce something that will sabotage the majority of their customers, because it is highly unlikely that they are planning to sabotage their own business.

If that's what happens, then *shrugs*, who really cares, we all just go somewhere else if eBay goes belly up, we really have nothing to lose.

They are big business with access to plenty of marketers, statisticians, legals, geeks and business type dudes from which to draw advice and strategy.

Again, I wish you the best with the upcoming changes.

Re: Free Listings

cezm2012 — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 04:14:42 GMT

I have been selling items in the $3 -$4 range which have to be posted at 500g satchel rate so by the time I add the70 cents to the item cost to cover Ebay fee on postage it really isn't worth it.

Re: Free Listings

*crikey*mate* — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 04:22:15 GMT

Cez, on one account I sell second hand books. Many of them do go for the $4 - $5, so similar price range to yourself and also needing to be sent in 500g and 3 kg satchels, or even the flat rate boxes.

The way I figured it was that every seller of a particular book was in the same boat as myself, in that they too were faced with incorporating the increased price into their product sale price.

So it is still possible and in most cases entirely realistic that it will be worth it as you can and should pass this price rise onto your customewr.

It is no different to a B&M store rising their prices when petrol prices or other supply chain costs increase.

It's just that we are not used to seeing the break down of expenses in a real store, so we don't really scrutinize what the price rise is for.

Re: Free Listings

thecatspjs — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 04:25:10 GMT

@cezm2012 wrote:
I have been selling items in the $3 -$4 range which have to be posted at 500g satchel rate so by the time I add the70 cents to the item cost to cover Ebay fee on postage it really isn't worth it.

Particularly hard if you are selling in markets against international competition that are subsidised by Aust Post delivering international parcels for a pittance.

Re: Free Listings

2106greencat — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 07:36:06 GMT

people are un happy because we are getting ripped off by fees that ebay dont supply the service. I get that, but that isn't what is happening. I have tried to explain what is happenning, but people just don't seem to want to understand that. I not only asked eBay for their position on this, but I also asked my uni professors, one of who is an ex High Court judge (I'm studying Law/Commerce at uni), so I kinda figured they had a reasonable idea of what they were talking about.

and.......what did they tell you ?

Re: Free Listings

davewil1964 — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 09:06:53 GMT

I'm fairly sure, from what Crikey has previously posted, that eBay have ~~right~~ law on their side.

They even got an exemption for third line forcing before the announcement.

i can't remember where it was posted, probably in one of the boards that were set up exclusively for this announcement, and there is no way I'm going looking, but it's there somewhere.

Re: Free Listings

digital*ghost — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 09:56:19 GMT

@diamond-halo wrote:

do ebay pack your items no. They don't own, possess or do anything with the actiual items we sell either, yet they still charge a fee for us to sell them. What is the diofference? I even learned recently that some people even sell services on here themselves (hotel acommodation) and it seems psople are ok with being charged a fee on that/those, when eBay doesn't supply those either.

For a lot of people, this issue isn't about what eBay can legally get away with, it's about what is (and has been for a very long time) considered ethical.

I don't want to get into the back and forth about what the legal difference (if any) between the price and postage components of the contract total, what I am going to do is attempt to tell you why people (not the law) see these as two very different things (since you keep asking why), and why they therefore object to paying fees on the postage component.

For a moment, let's exclude the postage pirates, because I think the majority of eBay sellers price P&H at fair and reasonable amounts, and certainly most of the sellers that will be hit the hardest by this change do (in that they probably couldn't risk inflating the already high postage prices).

The price of an item is dictated entirely by the seller, after consideration of product / business costs, then desired profit. The product cost is 100% static (sales and reductions notwithstanding), i.e. the same to everyone, no matter where in the country or world the buyer is located. Sellers understand and accept that their sale costs are a commission on an item they have (generally) made a profit with, ergo it is considered an ethical and acceptable cost of doing business.

The cost of postage is largely dicated by a third party plus necessary (and actual) costs to package and post an item, does not tend to contain any profit for the seller, and is variable according to buyer location (some may be able to offer flat rate for both domestic and international purchases, but it will still generally mean that postage is variable by location). Most people feel (and I'm using the word feel for a reason) that eBay do not deserve to profit on this component of a sale, when for most it is a "not-for-profit" service in addition to the goods being advertised and sold, and they certainly don't feel ebay deserve to glean a greater profit from this service should the buyer happen to be located in another country (which could mean the difference between something like [arbitrary numbers] a $3 FVF if bought by a local buyer, $8 if bought by an interstate buyer, or $20 FVF if bought by an overseas buyer - unless, of course, eBay give us the same courtesy as the US and only charge FVF on the first, lowest domestic postage option, which would go a long, long way towards customer relations here at this point).

You may not agree with this reasonings, or understand them entirely, but they are just some of the reasons why people make a very clear distinction between product price and postage price.