@cq_tech wrote:
@gtx305 wrote:
Ebay did that because people were selling items for $1 and charging $20 postage to avoid fees.No, that was simply the pi$$-poor excuse that eBay used in an attempt to justify their disgusting and unwarranted imposition of 9.9% FVF on postage in addition to the item. If what you've asserted above was true, then why is it that in AU we pay that extra amount on all postage, both domestic and international, yet in the US, they're only charged the extra on domestic postage, while international postage is totally exempt from the additional 9.9%?
The most telling thing that shows eBay did not introduce FVF on postage due to postage piracy is in the FAQs regarding no longer counting postage cost DSRs in a seller's performance rating (that alone undermines the FVF being due to postage piracy IMHO).
eBay's own statement is that postage rating DSRs weren't much of an indication of buyer dissatisfaction anymore, saying that - in a nutshell - even when a buyer rates a seller with low stars for postage cost, it doesn't affect whether or not they continue to buy on eBay.
In other words, while we do see that some buyers get quite ticked when they find out their sellers didn't pay as much as they did for postage, postage piracy in itself was not a big enough issue for eBay (or buyers) for it to be something eBay wanted to police in any way, nor punish sellers for.
The really funny thing is, eBay claimed that it was the increase of sellers offering free postage that contributed to postage costs (and buyer opinion of them) not having an overall adverse affect on the site.... 
Um, someone should remind eBay that buyers can't rate seller's postage cost DSRs when it's free post, so it's not possible for free-post items to provide any data whatsoever regarding whether buyers keep buying on eBay after they've rated a seller low for P&H costs.
