Ebay rips off small sellers!

[mizcuriousteddies]

I am a new seller, I have another account with excellent feedback, but I wanted a new one to sell my teddies on. Ebay holds the my payements from customers for 21days, plus I must have an account over 90 days and sell over $250. Ok, wish they told me that before I made my first sale. Twenty or so sales later, with excellent feedback, they are still holding my money the max time.

I contacted them well after I received feedback for an item last week, and asked my funds be released. I am allowed to do that once the person has their item for three or four days depending on who you speak to at Ebay. They said my funds would be released within 24 hours. Waited a bit longer, contacted them and they said the funds would be released asap. A few hours later I got the money.

Yesterday, I contacted them and asked for funds to be released, he PROMISED it would happen. It didnt...I contacted them again, and the supervisor told me they could not release my funds because my items were in transit. Not those items! I gave them the item numbers already...sigh! I asked, repeatedly, why my funds were not being released, but he refused to answer me and kept saying my items were in transit...

Four hours I have spent with them explaining that I really needed the funds to be released, as promised, because I didnt want to follow up yet again!! I have a disabled partner and children, Ebay is causing us to starve. I explained all that...repeatedly...I have taken my items I was selling down and will close my account asap. BEWARE of Ebay!

[enigmabear]

Most People here give honest answers based on facts 

if you would rather only hear what you want to hear, call the eBay cs overseas call center who specialise in sweet replies even if they The are not actually correct

[countessalmirena]

@mizcuriousteddies,

You're obviously finding it tricky with eBay's new-ish rules and policies.

I will agree that eBay's policies are not as easy to navigate as they could be. However, you can find them by searching through the Help pages. To get you started, here's the eBay rules and policies page.

Here's the page concerning Pending payments.

There are some excellent threads on the Selling board which discuss some of the things that you as a seller should familiarise yourself with. It's no sinecure selling on eBay, and I'd definitely encourage you to make yourself aware of the pitfalls. See also this thread for information about setting Buyer Requirements.

Don't be dismayed by the tone of replies; long-time sellers are often exasperated when they see people posting about selling issues that are stated in the current User Agreement. Sometimes it seems that the same issues are posted about again and again, and very often it comes down to eBay members not properly reading the Terms and Conditions.

It's agreed that some of the selling issues are difficult to deal with, and manifestly unfair. However, that doesn't obviate the need for sellers to be aware of those selling issues. Hopefully some of the links I've provided here will help you to make informed decisions in selling on eBay.

For a start, can I suggest (very strongly!) that you don't start items at 99 cents? The day of heady auction bidding wars on eBay is gone, and frequently the starting price of an item is going to be the selling price. You need to work out what sort of margin you need, taking into account the selling fees and all of your costs. Ignore eBay's suggestion about starting items at a low price to encoiurage bidding; it's bad advice.

You say that the CS rep told you that the items were in transit. Presumably you didn't send by a tracked method where delivery could be confirmed... You'd also be taking forever by selling at 99 cents to reach $250 in sales (part of how eBay define an "established seller").

I know you've said you have taken down your listings... Perhaps you will relist in the future, having prepared yourself more thoroughly with the current eBay requirements and policies? I hope you can manage to do so. Best of luck in the future.

[imastawka]

Further to my  comment about the sale of 99 cent bears, the FVF's and Paypal flagfall would total nearly $2 - postage being $14.70 of which the OP pays 10%

What funds are left for ebay to release?

And then there's the cost of the bears in the first place.

OP, start your auctions at least at a price where you are going to make a profit, in case there is only one bid.

[*tippy*toes*]

First off, stop playing the disability card. It's the quickest way to get no help. We don't care what your private situation is like.

Second, stop calling eBay to release your few dollars. You need to call PayPal and they will release the funds while you are on the phone if the tracking shows as delivered.

Third, if your "excellent" account is so "excellent", link the 2 together, ensure they both have the same PayPal email address, then ring PayPal and tell them you are already an established seller and to lift the hold. If they don't, open a dispute with the FOS and they will force them to lift it.

See? It's not that hard.

Oh, and as others have said, stop ripping yourself off and listing your items at 99c with up to $17.50 postage. How are you supposed to feed your family when you are paying eBay way more than what you are earning?

Edit: eBay is not ripping you off. You are ripping yourself off.

[shoppingbag*]

You may think that you are punishing eBay by closing your account, but it's hardly likely they will even notice or go out of business because you have left. We all abide by the same rules, whether we like them or not. It really doesn't take long for your funds to be released straight away. eBay is still the best selling platform around, so if you really want to sell, this is it. Going elsewhere is only going to be counterproductive. I suggest you rethink the situation before closing your account.

[yoda-binks]

ebay do rip off small sellers as they charge a percentage on postage as well even tho they do not cintribute to the postage so you actully get less for selling the item than you thought if you dont adjust your postage to account for it yes there a rules bur ebay change it all the time to look after the buyers and big buisness and dont give a **bleep** about the small seller  and yes i have been on ebay a very long tome.

[davewil1964]

Fees on postage have been around for several years. It is hardly a sudden or constant change, now.

[cybagirl]

I know the fees on postage have been around for a long time. But it doesn't make it right that they charge fees on postage. I rarely sell on here anymore as the fees are over the top and it's difficult to make any money after all is said and done.

It's more a buyers market these days because of all these expensive fees and I find it much easier to sell on Facebook market place as I can sell my items for the price I want and I don't have to factor in paying greedy eBay fees into the price.

So can you explain why and how they can justify fees on postage which has nothing to do with them? Apart from the obvious and that being another money grab.

[davewil1964]

Because they provide a postage service at a discount to the equivalent AP service.

This was all done and dusted when it was brought in.

Try searching the boards to READ (not bump) what happened at the time.

[ilce]

The original reason was greedy chinese sellers were selling items for $1 with a postage cost of $20, $30, $40, $50 whatever they wanted to cover the real cost of the item. They did this as a way to get around paying commission as postage wasnt included in the fee calculation.

So ebay now include item and postage combined to work out commsision fee so that loophole is gone. In the end it made them a good profit. They will never remove it unless everyone gives free postage. (Which they also are working towards)