7.9% fee far too high!

[aeltaarion]

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.

[*new2vintage]

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.

[aeltaarion]

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

[putney32]

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.

[davewil1964]

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%

[phorum_junkie*]

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.

[syrupsmummy]

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.

[wilzencomp]

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

[dylan11235813]

tweet this....

[tall_bearded]

"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.