Do all sellers add the fees onto the price of postage. I’ve just had a seller argue with me

[11dustyattic]

Ebay also know how much money I have in my nominated bank account. Is that legal? Probably not but the government does too. They also listed my phone number as an Ebay number! Wow that was a doozy. Very embarrassing since it was during a job interview that they asked me why my number came up as Ebay? My jaw just about hit the floor. I called white pages to have it removed and they said Ebay would have to remove it since they put it there. Wow! They're a law unto themselves. They rule the world lol

[crikey*mate]

Exactly, imastawka. Thanks for c&p that info. It can't be made any clearer than that.

@rabbit- *shrugs* I don't know the answer to that question, you will have to ask eBay why they've worded it that way? Perhaps those words have been chosen to reflect the difference in time that the fees are applied? I don't know, now I am just guessing but the answer is definitely NOT that eBay charges a (n illegal) fee on postage.

That belief is simply not true. It is not legally possible for it to be so.

*shrugs* call it what you like, I really don't care tbh. I'm regretting ever having entered this conversation at all. I had a brain fart and thought that I'd try and be helpful so that people could put the fee in the appropriate place rather than incorrectly attributing that cost to postage expenses.

It IS NOT a postage cost or expense either in Accounting or any Australian Law be it taxation, contract or other.

[davewil1964]

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@crikey*mate wrote:
Exactly, imastawka. Thanks for c&p that info. It can't be made any clearer than that.

@rabbit- *shrugs* I don't know the answer to that question, you will have to ask eBay why they've worded it that way? Perhaps those words have been chosen to reflect the difference in time that the fees are applied? I don't know, now I am just guessing but the answer is definitely NOT that eBay charges a (n illegal) fee on postage.

That belief is simply not true. It is not legally possible for it to be so.

*shrugs* call it what you like, I really don't care tbh. I'm regretting ever having entered this conversation at all. I had a brain fart and thought that I'd try and be helpful so that people could put the fee in the appropriate place rather than incorrectly attributing that cost to postage expenses.

It IS NOT a postage cost or expense either in Accounting or any Australian Law be it taxation, contract or other.

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As brerrabbit said, it is clearly marked in all eBay invoices as a separate line item if you have postage separate in a listing. eBay charge FVFs on the total amount, including postage, which means they charge a fee on postage.

Maybe if you sold, or looked at your invoices if you do, you would know that. Rather than coming in all guns blazing when you don't seem to have the facts at hand.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@crikey*mate wrote:
Yes, I am aware that eBay changed their fee structure in Spring 2013.

eBay DO NOT charge a fee on postage. That would be illegal (at least in the UK and Australia anyway)

They charge an overall fee calculated on the total price of the contract that trading parties created whilst using the eBay platform.

Any other interpretation or claim is just not true. You may think it's true. You might even believe that it's true, but that doesn't make it so.

Just like PayPals fees are calculated according to the total price of the transaction, so too are eBay's (Aust and UK - I have no knowledge of other countries.

Think about it rationally for a moment. If eBay was in fact doing something illegal and had been doing so for almost 7 years and given the amount of angst, handwringing, public threads of outrage and complaints that have ensued since this fee structure was released, don't you think the ACCC or UK equivalent would have intervened by now?

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*Sigh*.

I don't know what rock you've been living under, but May 6 2014, eBay kindly introduced a FVF on postage costs. Check the Autumn Seller Release for 2014, it's all there. There was much outrage, and rightly so. People threatened to leave eBay in droves (most of who are still selling). I didn't threaten to leave, but I certainly wasn't happy about it.

People contacted the ACCC and their reply was that it was perfectly LEGAL. There are plenty of posts about it, including the offical post from the forum Admin person at the time. I'm not going to link all the posts here, because some numpty will read it and then reply, bumping it back to the top. Search for fees on shipping or fees on postage. There are like 30 pages of results. 

You're welcome.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

*Sigh*

I don't know what rock you've been living under, but May 6 2014, eBay kindly introduced a FVF on postage costs. Check the Autumn Seller Release for 2014, it's all there. There was much outrage, and rightly so. People threatened to leave eBay in droves (most of who are still selling). I didn't threaten to leave, but I certainly wasn't happy about it.

People contacted the ACCC and their reply was that it was perfectly LEGAL. There are plenty of posts about it, including the offical post from the forum Admin person at the time. I'm not going to link all the posts here, because some numpty will read it and then reply, bumping it back to the top. Search for fees on shipping or fees on postage. There are like 30 pages of results. 

You're welcome.

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tippy, I found this one that isn’t on the Buying or Selling boards, but members should not post on it as it is old.

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Australia-Seller-Release-14-1/ACCC-Investigation-into-ebays-postage...

chamo started the thread and there were 170 replies, with some spirited posts back and forth.

Many of the posters on that thread do not post here any more  

[fatlind1993]

Is that even legal Ebay makes money on Au post back plus they set the charging costs and after fees we are short on postage costs and if we charge buyer more using flat rate they complain

I complained to ebay and they jystifued saying sellers charge more for postage than item cost to avoid fees but since ebay now have control over Au post charges they should remove that fee and limit postage overcharge by seller but they wont do that as they make money out of blue and no one is chasing them

Its time to move to Etsy or Amazon where fees are half what ebay charge

They wont change that unless ATO or ASIC chase them or they start losing sellers due to high fees

Unfortunately there is no similar site like ebay for long time to raise competition till that happen we have to cope with it

I was thinking opening such bussines lol but no funds

I thought Elon Mask would do that when Pay pal abd Ebay split but he went in totaly different direction

At least we have to be happy sales are not vad on Ebay and no scammers or time wasters like in marketplace or gumtree which is also owned by Ebay

Coorporations cant fight them

Cheers

[sugar249]

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@fatlind1993 wrote:

Is that even legal Ebay makes money on Au post back plus they set the charging costs and after fees we are short on postage costs and if we charge buyer more using flat rate they complain

I complained to ebay and they jystifued saying sellers charge more for postage than item cost to avoid fees but since ebay now have control over Au post charges they should remove that fee and limit postage overcharge by seller but they wont do that as they make money out of blue and no one is chasing them

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Besides this being a 4 year old thread, and the world is a changed place.    It is up to the seller what they charge,   and Ebay where and how they charge the fee's.  All legal,  but if you like I have a direct line to Judge Judy.