Powerseller Status Unwanted - Misleading / Deceptive Conduct

[weducational]

I've sold 304 items over 4 years on eBay and now I get no more 30 "Free" .10c listings! WHY? Beacuse now I'm a Powerseller!

Wow, earning less than a few thousand per year - not a tenth of the average annual wage over 4 years, and I'm given something i didn't ask for under the guise of it being beneficial for me!!

I don't want to be a Powerseller if it means I have to pay $1.60 to list an item under $40, then 7.9% on the sale, then 2.4% if

buyers use Paypal - that's $5.72 for a $40 sale - 14.3% just gone!! And I'm talking about labour intensive items being sold. No wonder just about every other first aid company now have their kits manufactured in China.

What a con. I thought eBay introduced the 30 "Free" listings in response to increasing the after sale valuation fee. That's what I thought I read when I got their 'fantastic' news about changes. Now they strike modest sellers by making them Powersellers so they can have their cake and eat it too.

So I'm forced to create a new account and start from scratch.

I also don't like the misleading and deceptive statements they peddle of 30 "Free" listings a month. None of these listings are

free. They cost 10c each (screenshot evidence).

When I sought explanation and complained about all this on chat, it took 2 hours to get answers (they said I could link my new and old accounts, which never happened, they didn't listen to resolve, they refused to remove Powerseller status that I did not ask for) and in the end the transcript was never sent to my email box (although I kept a copy manually). Can't trust eBay with this either.

Disgusting! I would say there would be a lot of vulnerable people caught out by this. I wonder how long this will stay on the forum because friends already warned me that eBay take down posts they don't agree with.

[waddingtonfirstaid]

The most misleading and deceptive situation for me has been trying so hard to be a good seller, thinking that eBay's new 'free' listings policy in return for an increase in the final valuation fees on items actually sold, leaves me believing it was all a sham. I see no benefit at all, only a carefully crafted master plan that was always going to benefit eBay and only eBay.  All it does is penalize success and leave people like me thinking they have been duped.

[waddingtonfirstaid]

Put together a kit with over 300 items and you'll soon understand how long it takes. No, we don't roll the dressings they are individually wrapped but we do manufacture some of the kit items and that is a different time factor outside of the kit manufacture time. BTW, I don't appreciate condoscending remarks like that, as I feel you said it to make me appear idiotic, far better to say something constructive or nothing at all if it doesn't add to a rational discussion.

[phorum_junkie*]

Forum Junky - how about you start selling things which take you hours to manufacture then get back to me with your snipey remarks? There are many reasons why items become available online. It's bully comments from people like you that make people feel victimized in forums like these and probably cause people not to speak out at all. You should leave because I'm very good at dealing with bullies. The percentage example I gave was extremely conservativ and I take offense at some of your comments.

To reiterate, Ebay always have their cake and eat it to. I have a new account and I can not give my buyers or viewers an enlarged pic because I do not have enough rep.

Thank you to those who gave the info about the 10c charge. I didn't know about that charge even after spending 2 hours with eBay's help desk = so even the people on the desk and the supervisor watching and menoring over shoulders didn't know about it either! So it sounds like if you are very clever and aware of many of the charges which can creep in, you can list for free.

I. Please do me the courtesy of spelling my name correctly, it is Phorum.

2. this is my posting id. Ibhave been selling on ebay for well over a decade and do, when I have the time, make some of the items myself.

3. Why canbyoubsay whatever you like but if somebody dissagrees with you it is bullying?

4. Leave? I am not going anywhere sunshine!

5. Why can't you display larger pictures? Any seller can put as many pictures as large or as small as they like in the body of the description at no extra cost.

6. You don't need to be clever to keep up with ebay's changes. You just need to read the emails and announcements. That is something you agreed to do and abide by when you signed up for the account. Of course you can list at no cost if you qualify for the free listings, you don't have to be clever to find that out. If there is a charge of 10c at the bottom when you have finished the listing it will say so and you can look back to see where the charge was added.

[digital*ghost]

The most misleading and deceptive situation for me has been trying so hard to be a good seller, thinking that eBay's new 'free' listings policy in return for an increase in the final valuation fees on items actually sold, leaves me believing it was all a sham. I see no benefit at all, only a carefully crafted master plan that was always going to benefit eBay and only eBay.  All it does is penalize success and leave people like me thinking they have been duped.

I can understand how it looks like that, but in truth that's only one side of the coin. It wasn't that long ago the only time you could possibly list for free was via a promotion - many of which you had to receive a special invite for and had greater 'risk' because they were usually only for 99c start price auctions. Now everyone can list for free, at any price, any time, as long as they know how and keep a certain limit on their listing activities - either on one or with multiple IDs. If it were me, with that in mind, I wouldn't think of this as eBay taking something away from me, I'd see it as me outgrowing what is actually a very limited offer, only on one ID though.

There are some sites where you can list for free. It's free for everyone to list, pretty much all the time. There are other sites that charge you to list - they don't give anyone even 1 free listing as an introductory offer, they don't let you create multiple IDs for any reason let alone to take advantage of certain benefits. There are no other sites where a casual seller can get the kind of traffic to their listings that eBay provides without significant additional expense and effort, nor give you a way to indefinitely benefit from that at a reduced cost. I don't like fees as much as the next person, but I'm willing to pay them, as I had to back when - if it were around - I would have qualified for 30 free a month.

[the3coopers]

The Coopers - I'd be delighted to tell you other places to sell but eBay's policy do not permit the posting of alternative selling places. I thought you knew that since you've been around here since the days of the mandatory Paypal introduction policies and many posters had their comments removed or had their accounts suspended when they tried to tell people about alternative avenues to sell.

I know full well that there are other sites. But there is a BIG problem with them, there are no buyers there. It's a ghost town... almost zero chance of making Power Seller over there :^O

I'm not interested in selling on a site that's full of sellers, where the only way of getting turnover is to drop prices so low that other sellers buy my stuff for resale on eBay.

At the end of the day I don't give a toss about listing fees, final value fees, and all that carp. All I care about is PROFIT - that is how I make my decisions about what to list, where to list and at what price to list.

There are some things where eBay is the best place to sell, and other items that are not so successful. By doing Completed Items searches here on ebay you can quickly determine the market price, and decide on a price point. Other sites don't have those tools, so you can never even see how much stuff is (not) selling for.

All you have to do is sell stuff that sells, at the price that the market can bear. Selling prices *(as opposed to listed prices) here are higher than elsewhere, because there is more buyers.

It's not hard, and not rocket science. Nobody is being tricked... the seller has the choice, nobody is being forced to sell here.

Who cares if you don't get 30 free listings... sheesh! You've made heaps of $$ already - don't cut off your nose to spite your face 😉

[madbx]

I've tried in vain for ages to get my Power Seller removed, finally last month I'd crept back under the 100 transactions over 12 months and I still cant get rid of it, I have to wait an extra month!! Very harsh. Think I may try that second account soon.

[putney32]

why do sellers ''try in vain'' to be unsuccessful sellers?

you took ebay up on their offer for casual or new sellers to try their hand at selling, for free listing fee, in order to see if they liked it and were successful at it.

you were... so hoorah, you can now join the ranks of Sellers who Sell (and pay their way)

surely the fact that you are successful proves that ebay is worthwhile for you

[Anonymous]

If your things thake a long time to make, you need to consider whether it is worth it

[Anonymous]

I agree coopers!

Especially if you are on selling limits, and want to continue with a store, you need to get the best profit out of each listing as you can to make the most of it

[the3coopers]

why do sellers ''try in vain'' to be unsuccessful sellers?

Absolute craziness!

I don't want to pay a few $$ in listing fees, and I am too lazy to open a new ID... so I will deliberately sell nothing for a few months so that my turnover drops. That'll save me heaps!

Yeah, that sounds like a plan :^O

Reminds me of these people on Lifestyle Channel (TV) today, They were selling their house but were desperate because they had purchased another house and were paying $1500 per WEEK in bridging finance.

They refused 2 firm offers of $680K, because they wanted over $700K. 5 months later, still not sold so they got the TV people in to fix up the house and paid $15K out in materials.

They eventually  accepted an offer for $695K, which was exactly where they started off from. But in the 6 months of "trying to save money" they lost $36,000 in bridging loan costs because of trying to get an extra $20,000 in the sale price.

That story is a direct analogy to the concept of deliberately reducing sales to lose Powerseller status on eBay. B-)