Has everyone just accepted the fees Ebay take from shipping costs??

[o-so-happy]

Have been selling for a long time on Ebay and seen many changes. 2 that I cant get over is taking the power away from sellers to leave honest negative or neutral feedbacks for buyers and the other is charging us fees on freight that I make no money on. Aas everyone knows, Australia Post and couriers due to greed and fuel costs are at criminal prices currently. one example....I sell a large item yesterday for $44.95. $8.80 Ebay fees! $4.84 of that was on the freight. Yes, it was expensive but I dont pass it on to my buyers so I dont lose even more due to rising freight costs! Add on the Paypal fees and there is $13.25 in fees for a $44.95 item. It's crazy. 

[*tippy*toes*]

Please explain how leaving negative feedback for buyers stops them buying, or adversely affects them in any way? They could have 100 negs and you won't know until they have bought from you. A bit late then, isn't it?

[enigmabear]

Well I know that when it came in several years ago,yes I just accepted it and in fact praised ebay for doing it. Ahem

Why do you think everyone just accepted it? because eBay are still doing it,does that mean we must all have 'just accepted it'

No

Just have a look at the boards here how such charges have been discussed ad nauseam

What was their response to you when you brought up the issue with them ?

[collect247]

The $4.84 would have been ebay fees not the freight fees.

And if the freight was say $4 then it would only be 40c fee on freight but going by your numbers the freight you charged was $40?

[digital*ghost]

I can only speak for myself.

I disagree with final value fees on postage costs, but I work with them because the alternative would be to just not sell anything. I'm here to hopefully make a profit at the end of the day, and the only way that can be done is if all costs are covered, even the ones I wish weren't incurred.

Buyer behaviour, more specifically bad buyer behaviour, from my observations is no better or worse on sites where negs can be left. If a buyer doesn't respect or care about the impact of their actions on another person, they also tend not to care about getting some red dots on their profile.

[gutterpunkz05]

Just add on the ebay fees to your postage rates.  As far as AP and couriers greed goes,  I would rather pay their rates and have items

delivered, rather than have them sitting on the shelf,  plus discounts are available. 

I, for one, am more than happy with ebays fees, a lot cheaper than other traditional methods I use.

[tony_180]

You do have choices rather than paying Ebay Fees.

• Don't list on Ebay and dont sell anything
• List on Ebay but factor all costs in accordingly and hopefully people still buy from you. But selling and not making money is no good, so you need to adjuct your sales, costs etc.
• Open a small shop, carry stock and pay a $1000 more or so for rent eacah month but hey, you will save on postage and FV fees 🙂

Ebay is being hit hard by Sale Groups on FaceBook. People selling in groups for their local area. No fees, massive exposure and cash money.

Ebay used to be an amazing selling platform years ago, now, well it sells a bit for me but that's all. The margins are too small, markets are prostituted with online sellers happy to make minimal margins........

Cheers.

[yeoldecoinco]

I don't like a lot of the changes in eBay over the past 20 years either.

But, you learn to live with it, or you find alternative places to sell.

It works for me to have eBay and a Website and do a few fairs/shows.

Doesn't work as well as it used to, but still acceptable. 

Regarding postage: (Note: Sometimes I lose on postage, but often I gain a customer...)

If you want to run a paying business, you have to work out your costs to sell first, to make sure you leave enough margin for the most important person - you!

That means factoring into the price the commissions that eBay and Paypal take on your postage component.

It means looking for cheaper postal alternatives (like stamps at 60-70% of face value, deals with the PO on parcel volumes,  buying postal consumables in bulk at discounted prices, etc)

As for feedback. They won't change their policy to allow sellers to leave negs.  I don't like it either but they won't change it, soooh, we live with it....

[countessalmirena]

There is a value to being able to call out a bad buyer, but you're right; it is unliely that eBay will bring back the ability for sellers to leave any sort of feedback that has even a tinge of red.

[yeoldecoinco]

eBay has more sellers than they know what to do with or show their listings 24/7

In the past 10 years listings on eBay have increased by many millions if not billions of listings..

The buyer is king and nothing will be done by eBay to potentially drive away buyers...

That is life, we go with the flow, or we go insane..