FVF on postage

[matchboxmick]

I was considering selling a large part of my collection on Ebay and not really sold much for a long time now. When I checked I found out that my FVF is now consisting of a percentage of the final cost ( fair enough as this is where Ebay earns its money)  but also they now take a percentage of the postal cost and as most of mine would be international it means I get some hefty charges stuck on me as a seller.

What I ask is 

1. is this even legal ? Postage/handling is between me and the buyer not Ebay who have nothing to do with it unless I use their GSP which given their rates there is no chance of me ever using or for that matter buying from anyone who offers it as postage.

2. If it is even legal then sadly its the end of selling for me and now only the occasional buy given current postage costs worlwide escalating - boy these postal companies sure know how to kill the goose that lays the golden egg by increasing costs astronomically ( bit like Ebay getting rid of all the small moms & dads selling cheap items who made Ebay big and rich originally )

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

As always, it was implemented because of 'tards gaming the system, in this case to avoid paying Final Value Fees.

Example: Billy Bogan lists a $1000 camera. Ebay at that point were only basing the Final Value Fee on the cost of the item. Billy doesn't want to lost 10% of the $1000, so he lists the camera as $20 "Buy It Now, and $980 postage. It sells, the buyer gets the item, Billy Bogan gets his money, and eBay get a Final Value Fee on $20 instead of $980.

Imagine that only happened, say, 100 times a week - adds up to a heck of a lot of money eBay were dipping out on. So, they decided to base the FVF on the toal invoice rather than any one component. The only ones who are complaining are those who were happily gaming the system and now have to pay their full whack, and those aren't good at factoring costs into their selling prices.

[melbourneclearance]

That's the official ebay story to get sympathy, but it's certainly convenient to boost ebay pockets. They could also have easily forced everyone to enter the dimensions and weight of every item and calculated postage automatically without having to charge FVF on postage. But why do silly things like that when they could double the profit overnight by charging FVF on postage?

[davewil1964]

They used to limit the maximum shipping price for books. Presumably there were other categories policed similarly.

Now they don't have to.

[melbourneclearance]

Yes, the FVF on postage is a win-win for both ebay and ebay.

[padi*0409]

Before the FVF came in on postage I saw a seller in Korea who had $200+ for postage on all their items, I reported them to eBay and guess what? They did absolutely nothing about it...............surprise surprise................

[melbourneclearance]

Oh, sellers getting away with humongous postage was definitely a problem. I remember the days. But for Australian sellers at least, the postage calculator works reasonably well. It tends to stuff up when people buy multiple bulky items, but all in all it is workable. Ebay can just force the Aussie sellers to always use postage calculation and not charge FVF on postage. But pigs will fly first, I know.

[oldmatesgarage]

Did you get paid or even a discount on any fees for reporting them to Ebay because you were trying to help them out and did they say "Thanks" to you?

If not the powers that be have Won by conditioning people so that we don't need police because they've got most people Policing for them and it doesn't cost them a cent which is Great for their Bottom line in my opinion.

[padi*0409]

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@oldmatesgarage wrote:
Did you get paid or even a discount on any fees for reporting them to Ebay because you were trying to help them out and did they say "Thanks" to you?

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I didn't even get a reply beyond an email acknowledgment that the report was given by me.

[countessalmirena]

I think it's fair to remedy that with an award.

Oops, no, wrong one.