Should ebay profit from a FVF on postage costs?

[mamacas65]

Bad enough for the big sellers and their bottom line but what about the poor sods selling an item for a dollar with a postage cost of $7.20?

They'll end up with 18c after ebay have done their bit and then have to pay 50c to paypal.

Not only has he made nothing but is, in fact, 32c out of pocket!

Ebay govern us to not profif from postage and are quick to chastise the over-chargers but is it now the kettle calling the pot black when, for so many sellers, the FVF on the postage will be greater than that of the actual item?

For me there is only one conclusion..........

It sux like a Dyson!

[porcelainforyou2]

Oh goody! I can't wait for my free set of steak knives (I can't afford a new set myself since having to pay the FVF on iAustralia Post's postage...)

[porcelainforyou2]

That's odd, Jim - You led to me to believe that you do exactly what I do - namely use a "low feedback" / low volume ID for posting, to avoid or decrease the effect of malicious repercussions  - and now you are criticising me for doing exactly what I suspect you are doing!

RE:

i always find the number of posts a member has made a far more accurate indication of their experience. At least at giving advise. Given that a seller could, for example, have over 3000 feedback as a seller, but have never had an issue. Then 7 years in suddenly they get a bee in their bonnet, find the boards and expect anybody with less than their alleged feedback (not declared in their posting ID) to know nothing.

For example.

[digital*ghost]

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@porcelainforyou2 wrote:

Re: 

eBay employees must declare themselves as such, and their posts are indicated by a bold blue border, plus this icon: 

If they employed secret 'plants', then they're not doing a very good job if they can't convince you to change your mind, so either way it would seem it's eBay's loss. 

I suspect that eBay would have a very hard job of "changing the mind" of any sensible seller re their FVF on Australia Post's postage. 

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I was more specifically and strictly addressing just the 'eBay employee' bit that sometimes gets bandied about whenever someone posts a comment that comes from a slightly different perspective than another person who is, typically, ticked off at eBay - a perspective that can be perceived to be in favour of eBay even when it's not particularly for or against - sometimes people are just pointing out a less subjective POV (less subjective than your own, at any rate, as everyone else's opinons generally have to be 😄 ). 

Take me for example, I can't necessarily say I always have an objective opinion - I know I don't - but I am a relatively well-rounded eBay user (so says I  ), just in that I am a buyer as much as I am a seller (store on another ID, not exactly high volume, around 200 or so transactions a month), and a relatively frequent forum poster. When eBay make a decision about something, I do make a concerted effort to try and understand what they're driving at (i.e. the end goal of the decision, not just the immediate effect on me and/or others), and I don't do it to try and understand eBay, apologise for them or defend their decision against people who have a problem with it, though on the odd occasion I have been accused of all the above when I post my thoughts on such matters, I do it because if I can get a handle on why eBay are pushing me toward something (rather than just getting annoyed at the pushing), I can make better and more suitable business decisions, even if I side-step a few pushes. 

You don't have to agree with or approve of eBay's decisions in order to understand them, and if you understand them, it's possible to benefit from those decisions even if you don't conform with all of them. 😉

[davewil1964]

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@porcelainforyou2 wrote:

That's odd, Jim - You led to me to believe that you do exactly what I do - namely use a "low feedback" / low volume ID for posting, to avoid or decrease the effect of malicious repercussions  - and now you are criticising me for doing exactly what I suspect you are doing!

RE:

i always find the number of posts a member has made a far more accurate indication of their experience. At least at giving advise. Given that a seller could, for example, have over 3000 feedback as a seller, but have never had an issue. Then 7 years in suddenly they get a bee in their bonnet, find the boards and expect anybody with less than their alleged feedback (not declared in their posting ID) to know nothing.

For example.

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My name is Dave, not Jim.

I was pointing out that you do this but criticise others for doing exactly the same. Some would consider that hypocritical.

[jensmanchester-australia]

I suspect that eBay would have a very hard job of "changing the mind" of any sensible seller re their FVF on Australia Post's postage.

There are many "sensible" sellers who have being paying FVF on postage costs for many years as they have chosen to offer a postage included business model. Many of these sellers were doing it even before ebay started to encourage sellers to go down that path and many of them, including myself, have found it has worked successfully.

It doesn't work for everyone but for others it does.

Not everyone would be paying 9.9% on postage costs - FVF's range from 4% to 9.9% depending on whether or not you have an ebay store and also the type of product you sell.

Do I have a conflict of interest - definitely not. It was my choice to use this business model and for me it has worked.

[porcelainforyou2]

The proverb that springs to mind is "Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".

[porcelainforyou2]

I agree with what you have said, and your third paragrapg says it all, namely

"It doesn't work for everyone but for others it does."   (i.e. the 'business model' of including the postage in the fixed price or auction starting price)

I acknowledge that it does work for those sellers who sell items that can be sent at a fixed letter rate, large letter rate or < 500g parcels that post for a flat rate of $7.20 to any postcode in Australia.

It does NOT however work for buyers of multiple items from those sellers, as combined postage discounts (other than by bank deposit, money order or chequeto the buyer) are not possible for items for which the listed postage is 0.00 (& PayPal partial discounts do not work long term either, for reasons explained in other posts).

It most definitely does NOT work for sellers of packaged items > 500g, where postage varies widely, depending upon destination postcode.

It most definitely does NOT work for "local pick up buyers", who must either pay the "postage" incorporated into the sale price, with the same problems refunding to them the postage component of the sale price (for those who bother to buy the item in the first place despite the inflated price which includes postage).

It most definitely does NOT work for the probably vanishingly small proprtion of sellers who list with worldwide shipping using the inbuilt Australia Post postage calculator, due to the FVF on Australia Post's very high (by international standards) international postage charges. Just removing the postage calculator from international postage has problems of its own, which I have stated in other posts.

eBay could solve some of these problems by installing a "percentage" rather than an absolute $ value field in a "postage & handling" fileld, or in the "seller charges" field in the invoice, which would automatically add 4% or 9.9% or whatever to the actual calculated postage cost. This would not however solve the "combined postage problem", nor the "local pick up buyer" problem.

The only "business model" approach that I can think of is to wait until June 15th, then go into seller account and add up all of the separately itemised "FVF on postage" amounts, then divide that by the total number of items posted, to get an average extra cost per item for the FVF on postage, then adding that amount to every listing fixed price or auction starting price, to 'spread the impost' over all buyers (akin to private health insurance premiums etc.) Again, however, that solves only one of the many problems and only for the seller. It does NOT solve the problems for the buyer, namely combined postage discounts for multiple purchases or "local pick up buyers".

The only methods  in the mean time to handle the high FVFs on international postage is to either restrict listings to Australian buyers only, or to allow international buyers but remove the international postage calculator and rely on postage quote enquiries from o'seas, which allows the seller to add the 4% - 9.9% at the time of providing the emailed postage quote.

If anybody else has any suggestions as to how to solve the myriad of problems created by the FVF on postage for all but a minority of sellers, please let me know! I am currently racking my brains, now exposed to the cold as I have already torn out all of my hair in frustration!

[clarry100]

We operate on the "FREE" post model.

Works for us.

[porcelainforyou2]

Do you sell only or mainly items with 'fixed' postage (i.e. postage not affected by destination postcode) - i.e. letters, large leters or parcels <500g, or do you use AP satchels only?

Do you sell to international buyers, or only to Australian buyers?

(please see my recent posting of 3 hours ago, if you have not already read it)

[porcelainforyou2]

Do you sell only or mainly items with 'fixed' postage (i.e. postage not affected by destination postcode) - i.e. letters, large leters or parcels <500g, or do you use AP satchels only? Do you sell to international buyers, or only to Australian buyers? (please see my recent posting of 3 hours ago, if you have not already read it)