Greedy Ebay

[max-power-models]

Ok So I sold an item, and of all places it was purchased by a buyer in France. So here is the break down

Sold for $90

Purchased for $75

Gross profit of $15

Minus the following:

FInal valuation fee : $8.91

Fee on postage costs:$3.96 (International Airmail of $40 )

Paypal fee :$ 3.42 As Paypal is owned by eBay

Leaving me a nett profit of negative $1.29

As of now I will not be selling items over 500 grams internationally anymore. and seriously considering not selling international anymore. Its nice to know Australian competitors in Asia can offer free or next to nothing postage to Australia cheaper than it costs an Australia seller to post to the same city.

I find this highly discriminative practice soley aimed at wiping out small to medium sellers in Australia. Unfortunatley no one that works for ebay in Australia has the ticker to take a phone call, as the call centre "cant find a direct line" to the Australian office.

Is it just me that finds this unfair?  They can spin anyway they like but its simply a greedy cash grab in our pockets. 

"The rich get richer, the poor get the picture"- Midnight Oil

[ringinthedingding]

Oh dear, I just noticed that person holding a gun to your head forcing you to sell here.

Well seeing as ebay and their affiliates have repeatedly bought and shut down up and coming competitors to ebay in Australia with the blessing of the ACCC we have little choice. it is called monopoly practices .. but that aside, it doesn't mean we have to enjoy the experience of being Fed over by the corporate elite either .. you may enjoy it though .. lol boo hoo someone doesn't like ebay so lets attack them for retaining a smidgen of morality and exposing bold faced lieing corporate parasiytes for what they really are .. who woulda thought that could happen? ...

[robinsonmarineparts]

The Post, NOT the Poster.

[li.vish]

Hello, everyone. This discussion is getting a little heated. Could we please communicate with a more civil tone. Thanks!

[*crikey*mate*]

isn't that what most businesses do? buy out their competitors? often buy the competitors and break up those companies into chunks and sell the chunks off?

I daresay the people who sold their businesses received the financial gains they were after for their efforts.

Not sure why people think eBay should be exempt from doing what heaps of other corporations do the world over.

There is nothing stopping anyone else from entering the market. There is also nothing saying those people can't sell their businesses.

eBay are not a monopoly by any definition of the word.

Also I am never sure why people begrudge others who manage to build a successful business. Is it a jealousy thing that they could never do it or never wanted to do it, so when someone else does it they begrudge them their success?

[digital*ghost]

I think the main issue is eBay increasing their success financial gain, but not doing enough to ensure the success of the businesses that drives the success of theirs. Increasing the cost to do business on eBay and at the same time implementing it in such a way that creates myriad problems for myriad sellers, but offering nothing in the way of solutions do accomodate the increases / created problems. (I'm talking lack of sophisticated cart / checkout options, some of which are pretty basic to the majority of ecommerce sites).

Do I begrudge eBay success? Of course not, I hope they continue to be for a while to come, but success doesn't come from increased profits alone.

[*crikey*mate*]

I agree - their methods, at least of late have seemed a little screwy to me.

But what can ya do, eh?

I found something called the tender centre today - didn't know they were online - its all pick up stuff, no postage

every item costs the BUYER 20% of the sale price plus $2 over and above what the tender goes for. They do BINs as well.and that $2 is on every item/lot, no waiving a few if you buy multiples

Plus the seller has to deliver the goods to the premises of the tender centre, and if the item doesn't sell they have to collect it again. It can't be listed if it is not in the posession of the centre.

I don't know if the seller also pays a fee.

But when I saw that, it didn't make eBay look so bad, eh?

so imagine that eh? every thing you get you have to also account for an additional 20% of the sale price and $2

[davewil1964]

I certainly don't sell in a niche market. My competitiors are OS with the ridiculously low postage they pay and Australian sellers who seem to want to race to the bottom, price-wise.

I still make sales, though.

[digital*ghost]

---

@*crikey*mate* wrote:

But what can ya do, eh?

---

Sell on (or create) other sites that do meet my needs, for one. I was hesitant to open up my listings on eBay to international trade for a number of different reasons, despite several indications that I wouldn't do half bad - the new FVF certainly didn't do anything to sway me, so I'm listing my items on another site where - while I'm not doing what anyone could consider a roaring trade - I'm doing better than I expected, the move was well worthwhile, and my FVF is 3.5% on the sale price only, with a 20c listing fee per item. It's not "better" than eBay, just different, and meets a need eBay doesn't (for me) right now. And it does mean eBay's missing out on revenue from me. 

As your post shows, there are a lot of business out there that can provide similar services to eBay, and they all have their pros and cons - no one site can cater to all the needs and preferences of millions of different sellers at the same time, so we all have to make a choice about which one (or ones) meet our needs the most. 

But that doesn't mean a site doesn't have a responsibility to their end users, particularly when that site is charging money to use the site. Responsibility is not quite the same as obligation, by the way, to my mind anyway. I don't think eBay owe me anything in particular (above and beyond what I pay for), but I do still think they have a responsibility to make sure the site and user experience is at its optimum. A site that fails to provide some basic functions doesn't just cause problems for a few sellers, the failings are of detriment to sellers and buyers, so will be of detriment to eBay in the long run. While eBay can't (and never will) provide for everyone in every way, they can't maintain success and/or growth if they don't invest a little in some of the things that will improve the user experience for everyone.

[haolove13]

Well I have moved on after Ebay decided to limit me to 0 items per month.

It has been little loss as the last two months was only able to sell one item per month.

Today while talking with customer service on a new site (for me) I discussed my dislike for Paypal and was told that they are introducing non Paypal options for payment as quite a few people have been complaing to them about paypal.

My traffic on this new site is considerably higher than the very low page views I was getting on Ebay and my sales are already happening and there is no commission on sales except for credit card sales. And that is half the rate I used to pay Paypal.

The monthly fee is less than a small shop on Ebay. No restriction on the number of items I can list.

And here is another thought about the morality of this place.

Are you getting a tax invoice for fees on postage and the FVF on same?

Are you getting the true benefit for a business of GST deductions on postage fees paid through Ebay? Despite having to report via ebay of sales but not being able to claim GST on charges.

In reality this is deducting another ten percent from your deductions which contributes to the reduced profitability on Ebay.

How can a foreign (Switzerland ) based company avoid charging and paying GST for a product only available in Australia?

The country is going broke rapidly.

Postage and freight supplied by Australia Post is surely liable for GST and should businesses be charging and receiving GST for allsales.

Surely Ebay would be making sales of more than $ 75,000 per day and it is only counting the items delivered to Australian addresses.

When selling overseas and posting at the post office it was great to be exempt from GST on a few dollars every now and then, but to be milking millions of dollars a day is really not a morally strong way to do business.

Am I the only person who has thought of this?

Pity we have lost SOLD, Oztion, OZEBID and so many others as they would probably be happy to have a tax problem with the ATO.

And I would be happy to have continued dealing with them.  

To all the plants here I hope you enjoy trotting out the same tired responses to the complaints raised by so many people. And keep enjoying your little in jokes with each other . Have a happy little time defending the indefensible.

[davewil1964]

Presumably there was a reason for you being unable to list here anymore. And that is the reason you are leaving.

I won't buy from an unknown seller outside of Paypal, whether here or anywhere else, so you are limiting your market automatically.

GST - ALL postage charges attract a Tax Invoice, if required. eBay never has, so that is no change. BUT those costs are still tax deductions, so at the end of the FY there is no difference. It's a furphy, really.

I dunno about the rest, but OZtion is still around, albeit rebadged several years ago. Shows how much you miss them when if you were a member you would know about it.

Given your inability to posts facts, it might be good, your leaving.