topic Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable! in Selling

Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

modelnerds — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 07:56:21 GMT

I know this has been in place for a while, but it really irks me that the greedy powers that be in ebay need to slug sellers even more, because their new policies have caused a dip in listings and subsequently sales.

Seriously, taking a fee out of the postage amount! What the hell?

Shame ebay!

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

kopenhagen5 — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 08:00:49 GMT

It was most likely done to curb the cheats that spoilt it for the rest of us.

Listing items for 99 cents with $500 for postage to circumvent fees.

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

cq_tech — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 09:38:23 GMT

Kopes, that was nothing more than BS propagated by eBay in a blatant attempt to justify their greedy cash grab on the postage component of our sales. A few naive people believed it but the vast majority saw it exactly for what it was; legalised theft by Donahoe and his cohorts before he was booted over to Paypal to do the same bloody thing there.

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

lyndal1838 — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:09:03 GMT

And I don't understand why sellers are getting so upset about it.

Any seller who is not covering their costs by increasing their prices deserves to lose money.

Once the prices are increased it is the buyer who is paying the ebay/paypal fees. There have not been too many buyers starting threads about it.

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

cherry*135 — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:13:57 GMT

Ebay online postage labels give 10% discount on postage for commonly used satchels and some AP boxes.

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

lyndal1838 — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 11:11:07 GMT

So if sellers are increasing prices and using the ebay postage labels then they have no reason at all to complain, do they?

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

k1ooo-slr-sales — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 11:41:13 GMT

Those that have a legitimate gripe with fvf on postage are those that post overseas. They need to charge postage that will cover them for eBay and PayPal protection and then they get slugged 9.9% on top of that. They add the fee amount to their postage charge and their buyers give them low DSRs for postage because it costs so much and they cop a defect.

eBay, put a nominal cap on the fvf on postage for international postage e.g. max fee payable on international postage is $2 which means if you pay anything over about $20 your do not get charged additional fees on the postage.

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

saarzi — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 12:10:05 GMT

Ive had my account for 15 years. Back in the day, sellers would sell something for $5, and charge $25 in postage (domestic!). Literally.

They did it to get around Ebay fees. This was the normal thing to do.

Basic maths tells you that Ebay would have gone under with this happening as frequently as it did. They introduced postage fees to stop this from happening and create a stable business plan.

If your business plan is not going well with these fees (which in total, are average in the market - I know because up until recently, I wrote business plans and did financial analysis and contracts for retail / tourism and corporate industries), then you need to change your business plan - that isnt Ebays fault.

If youre not really into the *selling* aspect of all this, and dont really understand business plans, or tracking everything in an excel sheet seems too much work, then Ebay may not be the place for you (often the ones who say, but im just a hobby seller!). Yes, these type of sellers will struggle. Ebay isnt geared towards these sellers. Thats why they have Gumtree. Different business plans for different dynamics. Maybe theres another marketplace out there somewhere that would suit what you do better. The biggest and boldest isnt always the right one.

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

egglesdtp — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 14:53:46 GMT

@gtx305 wrote:
Ive had my account for 15 years. Back in the day, sellers would sell something for $5, and charge $25 in postage (domestic!). Literally.
They did it to get around Ebay fees. This was the normal thing to do.

And your evidence for this?

Basic maths tells you that Ebay would have gone under with this happening as frequently as it did.
They introduced postage fees to stop this from happening and create a stable business plan.

I beg to disagree. It was a money grab by ebay pure and simple.

If your business plan is not going well with these fees (which in total, are average in the market - I know because up until recently, I wrote business plans and did financial analysis and contracts for retail / tourism and corporate industries), then you need to change your business plan - that isnt Ebays fault.

If youre not really into the *selling* aspect of all this, and dont really understand business plans, or tracking everything in an excel sheet seems too much work, then Ebay may not be the place for you (often the ones who say, but im just a hobby seller!). Yes, these type of sellers will struggle.

This is irrelevant to paying fees on postage.

Ebay isnt geared towards these sellers. Thats why they have Gumtree. Different business plans for different dynamics. Maybe theres another marketplace out there somewhere that would suit what you do better. The biggest and boldest isnt always the right one.

Gumtree is useless. Full of tyre-kickers, people who say they will come and collect and never show up, people who offer peanuts instead of a reasonable offer

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

egglesdtp — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 14:55:22 GMT

@lyndal1838 wrote:
And I don't understand why sellers are getting so upset about it.
Any seller who is not covering their costs by increasing their prices deserves to lose money.
Once the prices are increased it is the buyer who is paying the ebay/paypal fees. There have not been too many buyers starting threads about it.

If only it was that simple. Because if (small) sellers have to raise their prices to cover the fees, then their items are less likely to sell. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

colic2bullsgirlore — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:06:43 GMT

@kopenhagen5 wrote:
It was most likely done to curb the cheats that spoilt it for the rest of us.

Listing items for 99 cents with $500 for postage to circumvent fees.

propogated by ebays sock puppets and astroturfers.. like much of the stuff on these forums

.. which is then picked up by legitimate posters who then carry, fly and champion ebays flag.......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29

Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g. political, advertising, religious or

public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participant(s).

It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations more credibility by withholding information about the source's financial connection.

The term astroturfing is a derivation of AstroTurf, a brand of synthetic carpeting designed to look like natural grass, a play on the word "grassroots."

The implication behind the use of the term is that there are no "true" or "natural" grassroots, but rather "fake" or "artificial" support, though some astroturfing operatives defend the practice

On the Internet, astroturfers use software to mask their identity.

Sometimes one individual operates over many personas to give the impression of widespread support for their client's agenda.

Some studies suggest astroturfing can alter public viewpoints and create enough doubt to inhibit action.

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

colic2bullsgirlore — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:15:13 GMT

As an example prior to the fvf on postage a book that weighed over 500 grams but sold for under $10 (millions of books fit

that profile) had the fvf based upon the $10 or under sale. A 3kg bag costs $13.40 so that for those millions of books that fit

that freight profile the fvf profit doubled

........ even though freight had been already capped (years before) in the books category.....

how does that fit into your propaganda Kopes?

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

colic2bullsgirlore — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:23:42 GMT

There are currently 20,698,917 books and mags listed on ebayau. If just 1,000,000 of those books fit the over 500 grams or

over large letter size. Ebays final value fee on those specific books was more than doubled overnight

Re: Final Sale fee on Postage is Unconscionable!

coylum — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 04:48:31 GMT

I agree with this totally. I recently sold an amplifier for $180 and then realized the buyer was in the States. I increased the postage cost to cover insurance tracking etc but forgot the fee. The postage cost was $167 so the postage final value fee virtually doubled my fee paid to ebay. Until they change the fee structure I will add a fixed handling cost to International postage calculator of around $30 to cover tracking and fees - I can always credit the buyer if this is way too high!