Ebay lowering insertion fees, and raising final value fees!

[DreamTR]

eBay

 

Average total pay: $125,889

For: Software Engineer

Best Companies rank: 68

 

The online auction giant is an award-happy place. In 2006, 2,471 bonuses totaling $3.3 million were handed out to employees, and special stock awards were made to 97 percent of employees (top executives were excluded).

[ninermaniac]

Man, talk about trying to fix a problem (retaliatory feedback) the wrong way.

 

..Al

 

True, but you can thank the dishonest sellers for that. If there weren't so many that used feedback as a bargaining chip there would be no need for this type of fix. I know many of you are looking from a sellers perspective, but the current system does nothing to truly inform a buyer who their dealing with. There are plenty of skanks out there with 99.9% feeback only because they withheld feedback, and the buyer was afraid to give honest feedback for fear of a retaliatory neg.

 

Why they couldn't institute a system where feedback only showed after both parties gave feedback I'll never understand.

 

Your views are always one sided.........if u sold as much as i do you would know some of the things buyers try to pull. That is why i still refuse to leave feedback until the buyer leaves feedback for me. I do understand its more reasurring to a buyer when feedback has been left before u even get your item, BUT there are a lot of scamming buyers out there that think since feedback has been left for them .........thats there great oppurtunity to blackmail for a refund for an item they get but claiming they haven't. You must be very naive. I don't know how else to understand how u are badgering sellers......yes there are bad sellers too. I have one negative feedback that stuck on my account and that was as a buyer. I have had several instances where i got other negatives but the few times that had happened it was from retalitory feedback ....since i left them honest neutrals and negatvies, and all those people i have dealt with have had many many negatives........with a really bad reputation. You can view the sellers feedback that left me my negative and see that they have multiple negatives. I am sorry if my methods of waiting until the transaction is fully complete (the seller letting me know they got their package by email or by leaving me feedback doesn't appeal to you, but that is the way i choose to handle things as controller of my account. I will say i do somewhat agree with what u siad about the feedback not being visible until both people have left their feedback .....that would be a good idea. I do like to be honest on my feedback and i have held back on leaving some bad feedback for some transactions in fear of retalitory feedback myself. I will tell you an example right now........i recently bought a CIB game from a seller pkymun and on a wet rainy day i get a bubble mailer in the mail open it up and its the CIB game i ordered from the seller all smooshed and damp from the rain. I do business both ways so i understand buyer and seller points of view. I have had some bad experience and good experiences with both ends. Just because a seller doesn't agree with your feedback beliefs doesn't make him/her a skank ........the world doesn't revolve around you i am sorry to say.

 

Shawn

 

One sided as are yours.

And apparently...it's not only me that finds playing the feedback hostage game unappealing. And how you do business is your choice. Maybe you don't do it out of deception, but way too many sellers do. So many in fact that ebay is doing something about it to protect (and attract) buyers. See, that's the whole problem many sellers forget. No buyers=no $$ for sellers or Ebay. So to protect themselves from that one rare buyer who might give a problem after the fact, sellers started waiting for feedback. What did that do? Pissed off buyers and turned them off of ebay. What would you rather have? More buyers than you know what to do with, albeit with the off chance you might get unfairly negged? Or, have feedback for use as a bargaining chip rather than n appropriate way of thanking a customer for their business, but no customers?

I guess...it doesnt matter. The buyers apparently have spoken up either directly to ebay, or through there just being less of them.

In the end I'm sorry if you take it personally. But the practice of forcing buyers to thank you first for the privilage of being allowed to buy your stuff is goneski.

 

The sellers are the ones who pay eBay fees and also the ones who help eBay increase shareholder wealth. The increase in final value fees will make it very difficult for sellers to make a decent profit as the profit margins are squeezed even more.

 

Years ago I used to leave positive feedback for my buyers prior to receiveing feedback. I would get buyers all the time who claimed that their items didn't arrive (even when I had tracking) or other BS problems. Once I started waiting to leave feedback most of my problems with buyers seemed to go away. eBay is screwing the sellers over big time with the increased final value fee and the blocking of sellers from leaving nothing but positive feedback. I am sure that we will see buyers getting positive feedback with comments such as scammer, sent a bad check and other negative comments.

 

eBay is advertising that they will offer upto a 15% discount on fees for PowerSellers. If you read the fine print it becomes obvious that the majority of PowerSellers will not qualify for the 15% as it is based on the detailed feedback rating system that eBay put into effect last year.

 

Maybe I will be wrong but I feel that eBay has made a huge mistake with these changes. eBay has had incredible success over the last 10+ years but you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you. eBay is screwing over all of the sellers who pay eBay's fees. There is only so many times that you can keep screwing someone over before they find an alternative.

 

Well said. Given your points of view. You should join the forums in the eBay community.

[Albert]

eBay

 

Average total pay: $125,889

For: Software Engineer

Best Companies rank: 68

 

The online auction giant is an award-happy place. In 2006, 2,471 bonuses totaling $3.3 million were handed out to employees, and special stock awards were made to 97 percent of employees (top executives were excluded).

Damn.

 

..Al

[Osbo]

I don't think I'm the only one waiting for Atariage Auctions, why keep feeding the eBay beast?

[Jess Ragan]

This is completely asinine. No negative feedback for buyers? NONE? There was always an imbalance between buyers and sellers in the past, but this is NOT the way to fix it.

 

The scammers from Nigeria are gonna love this. Everyone else is going to be walking funny for a week.

[Buyatari]

I'd love to see this supposed email. especially since Ebays TOS prohibits excessive shipping and "handling" charges, them suggesting or even openly allowing this is in direct conflict with what they have established.

 

Well then they must not consider a handling fee which covers paypal costs "excessive".

 

I'm not sure but I think I've just been called a liar. I don't have the email anymore this was years ago. There was no reason to save it. If eBay stores all past announcements then you can find it there I'm sure. Or someone could post an auction charging for Paypal and we could complain about it and see what current email eBay sends the seller. It may be different now but the email they sent out specificlly stated this was an option sellers could take.

 

This is close to proof as there is right now. I'm sure this has been updated several times since but go look up the policy on paypal surcharges.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-surcharges.html

 

Now click examples.

 

I bet if you search the web someone saved that email.

[mrnukem]

Now would be the perfect time for Google to unveil their online auction site. e-Bay needs some real competition and Google would be the one who would be able to really compete with e-bay.

 

I sell on e-bay and between my wife and myself we have abut 50 items listed at one time. Nothing huge, all small dollar stuff. I don't mind the fee changes as we are still able to make a good profit. The feedback change is what really upsets me. I know most folks are good honest people but it will only take a few buyers who want to abuse the FB system to destroy a sellers hard earned FB record. It is such a bad idea I am wondering what business school these e-bay management people went to? The Velvet Jones School of Buizness?

[Albert]

I don't think I'm the only one waiting for Atariage Auctions, why keep feeding the eBay beast?

Hmmmmmmm..

 

..Al

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

I don't think I'm the only one waiting for Atariage Auctions, why keep feeding the eBay beast?

 

WOW, what a great idea!!!!

[Osbo]

I think it'll be a good idea, look how much stuff users list in the marketplace-auction forums, why can't we auction our stuff in here (I much rather pay Al a commission) than keep on feeding eBay?

[kroogur]

I don't think I'm the only one waiting for Atariage Auctions, why keep feeding the eBay beast?

Sounds like a great idea!!!

[Osbo]

It could be simple enough to the point that instead of 'sniping' (that'll create a huge demand on the server) a seller can accept offers for an item, then at the end, the seller will decide who gets the item. Also it'll be small enough, to the point that if a seller is ripping people off with shipping can loose its selling privileges , things of that nature, like I said before, I rather give Al a commission than helping eBay to get bigger and more impersonal.

[Ikrananka]

......, like I said before, I rather give Al a commission than helping eBay to get bigger and more impersonal.

Hear hear.

Edited January 31, 2008 by Ikrananka

[atarian63]

There HAS to be a handling charge as the seller has to pay the guy who packs your item and pay for the supplies/boxes/packaging to get the item to the buyer in one piece. So if an item cost me $35 in shipping I would charge the buyer $45 to cover my costs. The box alone usually costs me $6 and I have to buy 500 of those at a time to get that price. I am not eating it

 

 

All depends on how you go about it, how much you sell and how much you want do for yourself, i never have any trouble finding free boxes simply by either getting them from work, going around to other businesses and asking, same again on packing materials re-using popcorn, newspapers,bubble wrap etc. is a great way to save money and it costs most business money to throw that stuff away so they are usually happy to just give it away.

I pack my own stuff so that saves money as well.

Sounds like you are a high volume seller so i imagine you you would have more overhead that the "part time" seller. High volume sellers usually aren't dealing in exceptionally rare items so i tend to buy those items from places like Amazon who has very reasonable shipping rates.

I know what you mean, we do try to recycle boxes etc , I steal them from my wife all the time, I even have a guys who does "flawed:" shipping boxes, you know odd size or wrong printing on the box, error runs that sort of thing.

[atarian63]

Wow I hope so, I cant absorb that much in charges. My ebay fees alone we over $2000 last month, We spend $500 a week just in bubble wrap. Ebay is becoming crazy. I guess there is no free lunch so we have to raise prices.. I wish there were another option. No way the seller absorbs the packaging and employee cost. The buyer bought the item the buyer pays the cost. I dont gouge but I do include that cost along with the actual shipping into what I charge to ship the item. It my case most items are large. Either 40+ lbs or pallet shipments over 200lbs.

 

See thats in perspective for me for items that large i can understand paying more for shipping for such items, i'm trying to figure a way to target people charging $10-$12 to ship a single DVD

Yeah, I agree, shipping 40+ pound items or entire pallets is entirely different than shipping the smaller items people around here typically deal with on eBay. There's no excuse for charging $10 to ship a single DVD or any other small items under a pound. I would never pay that much for a regular online store and I certainly wouldn't pay that on eBay either.

 

..Al

I agree Al,

For small items I sell personally of that size I do $6 or $7. Like cd or DVD or some ram, small stuff. Like others have said, I use recycled/free boxes. I totally agree with you on that!

Edited January 30, 2008 by atarian63

[jetset]

I'd love to see this supposed email. especially since Ebays TOS prohibits excessive shipping and "handling" charges, them suggesting or even openly allowing this is in direct conflict with what they have established.

 

Well then they must not consider a handling fee which covers paypal costs "excessive".

 

I'm not sure but I think I've just been called a liar. I don't have the email anymore this was years ago. There was no reason to save it. If eBay stores all past announcements then you can find it there I'm sure. Or someone could post an auction charging for Paypal and we could complain about it and see what current email eBay sends the seller. It may be different now but the email they sent out specificlly stated this was an option sellers could take.

 

This is close to proof as there is right now. I'm sure this has been updated several times since but go look up the policy on paypal surcharges.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-surcharges.html

 

Now click examples.

 

I bet if you search the web someone saved that email.

 

No I didnt mean to call you a liar. You either misread the email, or it wasn't from Ebay.

To be honest, I'd probablly have a hard time finding where I saw that it is against ebays TOS to use shiping to offset paypal and/or listing fees. But really, you'd have to be a pretty poor seller to pull that. That's hardcore deception, and all you'd do is sucker a few people for a short time, and after getting some seriously deserved negs for pulling such a stunt you'd have nobody buying from you.

Why sellers can't take the honest road and use deception never made sense to me. figure in your expenses into the price of the product, and charge actual shipping. Don't bite the hand that feeds you by ripping off your customers. It's just plain dumb.

 

PS...your link pretty much validates what I had said. You can't charge customers an additional fee for the type of payment the make. By hiding it inside the shipping fee you would be doing just that.

Or, did you interpret the fact that they didn't name paypal specificially as free reign to charge a surcharge for customers paying by that method? Please tell me that's not what you are thinking.

[Buyatari]

No I didnt mean to call you a liar. You either misread the email, or it wasn't from Ebay.

 

No way I am 100% sure.

 

I raised my shipping after that. I used to charge exact shipping. I read that email several times and I think I even posted it on one of the forums but I'm not sure which one.

 

Ebay flat out suggested that sellers could charge a handling fee to cover some of the costs of a paypal transaction.

 

 

Did some research.

 

Ok I posted several message boards about the email in the summer of 2003. I don't know if I posted the whole email anywhere but it has to be around if you look.

Edited January 31, 2008 by Buyatari

[homerwannabee]

No I didnt mean to call you a liar. You either misread the email, or it wasn't from Ebay.

 

No way I am 100% sure.

 

I raised my shipping after that. I used to charge exact shipping. I read that email several times and I think I even posted it on one of the forums but I'm not sure which one.

 

Ebay flat out suggested that sellers could charge a handling fee to cover some of the costs of a paypal transaction.

 

 

Did some research.

 

Ok I posted several message boards about the email in the summer of 2003. I don't know if I posted the whole email anywhere but it has to be around if you look.

You may have a point, but if your a power seller, remember these 3 things

If your a power seller

1. You need a 4.8 on all stars to get a 15% Final Value Fee discount

2. You need a 4.6 on all stars to get a 5% Final Value Fee discount

If you are just a regular sellar

3. You need a 4.5 on all stars not too have them hold your money for 21 days if you sell video games.

 

Since one of the stars if shipping, following Ebay policy on this may not be the wisest course of action.

Edited January 31, 2008 by homerwannabee

[pangasinan]

No negative or neutral feedback for buyers - coming in May

Sellers will not be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. Of course sellers will have the option to not leave any feedback if they feel the buyer has not warranted positive feedback.

I must be the only one who this this is a wonderful thing,no more retaliation feedback from rip off sellers.

I have had the need to leave negative feedback on numerous occcasions from sellers who leave out certain item,who send boxed games in fucking bubble envelope and whom are just plain rude to me because i have the goul to complain,but i have chosen not to because i know they will leave me a neg also,even though i have done nothing wrong.As a seller i am totally comfortable with this policy also as i always try and do the right thing and not send on the cheap and not rip off my customers.This policy will weed out the crap sellers and will encourage the good sellers...Praise Ebay.

[Buyatari]

No I didnt mean to call you a liar. You either misread the email, or it wasn't from Ebay.

 

No way I am 100% sure.

 

I raised my shipping after that. I used to charge exact shipping. I read that email several times and I think I even posted it on one of the forums but I'm not sure which one.

 

Ebay flat out suggested that sellers could charge a handling fee to cover some of the costs of a paypal transaction.

 

 

Did some research.

 

Ok I posted several message boards about the email in the summer of 2003. I don't know if I posted the whole email anywhere but it has to be around if you look.

You may have a point, but if your a power seller, remember these 3 things

 

If your a power seller

1. You need a 4.8 on all stars to get a 15% Final Value Fee discount

2. You need a 4.6 on all stars to get a 5% Final Value Fee discount

If you are just a regular sellar

3. You need a 4.5 on all stars not too have them hold your money for 21 days if you sell video games.

 

Since one of the stars if shipping, following Ebay policy on this may not be the wisest course of action.

 

Most power sellers of videogames I see make all the money in shipping and don't need the discount. Whats a 15% discount on ending fees of 99 cents items when they charge $12 shipping?

 

Edit

Whats going to happen is sellers will now pump up the feedback. Since multiples count it won't be that hard to do.

Edited January 31, 2008 by Buyatari

[zach1845]

Shipping Fees have nothing to do with it.

If i want to sell a 20.00 item it can be

19.00 and 1.oo ship

17.00 and 3.00 ship

2.00 and 18.00 ship its all the same to the buyer

the lower the shiping the higher the price.

thats just common sense I always wondered why buyers complain over the shipping price. Its cleary stated and if the shipping price is high more than likely the actualy price of the item was low. or they would not have bought it.

Its all Relative.

 

 

 

I'd love to see this supposed email. especially since Ebays TOS prohibits excessive shipping and "handling" charges, them suggesting or even openly allowing this is in direct conflict with what they have established.

 

Well then they must not consider a handling fee which covers paypal costs "excessive".

 

I'm not sure but I think I've just been called a liar. I don't have the email anymore this was years ago. There was no reason to save it. If eBay stores all past announcements then you can find it there I'm sure. Or someone could post an auction charging for Paypal and we could complain about it and see what current email eBay sends the seller. It may be different now but the email they sent out specificlly stated this was an option sellers could take.

 

This is close to proof as there is right now. I'm sure this has been updated several times since but go look up the policy on paypal surcharges.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-surcharges.html

 

Now click examples.

 

I bet if you search the web someone saved that email.

 

No I didnt mean to call you a liar. You either misread the email, or it wasn't from Ebay.

To be honest, I'd probablly have a hard time finding where I saw that it is against ebays TOS to use shiping to offset paypal and/or listing fees. But really, you'd have to be a pretty poor seller to pull that. That's hardcore deception, and all you'd do is sucker a few people for a short time, and after getting some seriously deserved negs for pulling such a stunt you'd have nobody buying from you.

Why sellers can't take the honest road and use deception never made sense to me. figure in your expenses into the price of the product, and charge actual shipping. Don't bite the hand that feeds you by ripping off your customers. It's just plain dumb.

 

PS...your link pretty much validates what I had said. You can't charge customers an additional fee for the type of payment the make. By hiding it inside the shipping fee you would be doing just that.

Or, did you interpret the fact that they didn't name paypal specificially as free reign to charge a surcharge for customers paying by that method? Please tell me that's not what you are thinking.

[zach1845]

You obviously dont sell on ebay and are now going to leave negative for every little thing if its not perfect just how you imagined it. (Great)

 

 

No negative or neutral feedback for buyers - coming in May

Sellers will not be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. Of course sellers will have the option to not leave any feedback if they feel the buyer has not warranted positive feedback.

I must be the only one who this this is a wonderful thing,no more retaliation feedback from rip off sellers.

I have had the need to leave negative feedback on numerous occcasions from sellers who leave out certain item,who send boxed games in fucking bubble envelope and whom are just plain rude to me because i have the goul to complain,but i have chosen not to because i know they will leave me a neg also,even though i have done nothing wrong.As a seller i am totally comfortable with this policy also as i always try and do the right thing and not send on the cheap and not rip off my customers.This policy will weed out the crap sellers and will encourage the good sellers...Praise Ebay.

[taxman]

No negative or neutral feedback for buyers - coming in May

Sellers will not be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. Of course sellers will have the option to not leave any feedback if they feel the buyer has not warranted positive feedback.

I must be the only one who this this is a wonderful thing,no more retaliation feedback from rip off sellers.

I have had the need to leave negative feedback on numerous occcasions from sellers who leave out certain item,who send boxed games in fucking bubble envelope and whom are just plain rude to me because i have the goul to complain,but i have chosen not to because i know they will leave me a neg also,even though i have done nothing wrong.As a seller i am totally comfortable with this policy also as i always try and do the right thing and not send on the cheap and not rip off my customers.This policy will weed out the crap sellers and will encourage the good sellers...Praise Ebay.

Clearly Ebay wants to weed out crap sellers, but this policy in my opinion will give too much power to the crappy buyers that are out there too.

[jetset]

Shipping Fees have nothing to do with it.

If i want to sell a 20.00 item it can be

19.00 and 1.oo ship

17.00 and 3.00 ship

2.00 and 18.00 ship its all the same to the buyer

the lower the shiping the higher the price.

thats just common sense I always wondered why buyers complain over the shipping price. Its cleary stated and if the shipping price is high more than likely the actualy price of the item was low. or they would not have bought it.

Its all Relative.

 

 

 

I'd love to see this supposed email. especially since Ebays TOS prohibits excessive shipping and "handling" charges, them suggesting or even openly allowing this is in direct conflict with what they have established.

 

Well then they must not consider a handling fee which covers paypal costs "excessive".

 

I'm not sure but I think I've just been called a liar. I don't have the email anymore this was years ago. There was no reason to save it. If eBay stores all past announcements then you can find it there I'm sure. Or someone could post an auction charging for Paypal and we could complain about it and see what current email eBay sends the seller. It may be different now but the email they sent out specificlly stated this was an option sellers could take.

 

This is close to proof as there is right now. I'm sure this has been updated several times since but go look up the policy on paypal surcharges.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-surcharges.html

 

Now click examples.

 

I bet if you search the web someone saved that email.

 

No I didnt mean to call you a liar. You either misread the email, or it wasn't from Ebay.

To be honest, I'd probablly have a hard time finding where I saw that it is against ebays TOS to use shiping to offset paypal and/or listing fees. But really, you'd have to be a pretty poor seller to pull that. That's hardcore deception, and all you'd do is sucker a few people for a short time, and after getting some seriously deserved negs for pulling such a stunt you'd have nobody buying from you.

Why sellers can't take the honest road and use deception never made sense to me. figure in your expenses into the price of the product, and charge actual shipping. Don't bite the hand that feeds you by ripping off your customers. It's just plain dumb.

 

PS...your link pretty much validates what I had said. You can't charge customers an additional fee for the type of payment the make. By hiding it inside the shipping fee you would be doing just that.

Or, did you interpret the fact that they didn't name paypal specificially as free reign to charge a surcharge for customers paying by that method? Please tell me that's not what you are thinking.

 

Its NOT the same, this has been proven wrong.

Typical seller though....saying that when using deceptive methods the ends justify the means.

If shipping is stated at $18.00, and the stamp is $2.00 what's being clearly stated is that the seller is a thief and a liar.

But guess what? The days of pulling that crap are OVEROVEROVER now sellers will have to be honest or they will get a much deserved negative, and they can't pull the retaliation neg out of their butts either.

 

By far the best move ebay has ever made. :thumbsup:

[Atarimania75]

Shipping Fees have nothing to do with it.

If i want to sell a 20.00 item it can be

19.00 and 1.oo ship

17.00 and 3.00 ship

2.00 and 18.00 ship its all the same to the buyer

the lower the shiping the higher the price.

thats just common sense I always wondered why buyers complain over the shipping price. Its cleary stated and if the shipping price is high more than likely the actualy price of the item was low. or they would not have bought it.

Its all Relative.

 

 

 

I'd love to see this supposed email. especially since Ebays TOS prohibits excessive shipping and "handling" charges, them suggesting or even openly allowing this is in direct conflict with what they have established.

 

Well then they must not consider a handling fee which covers paypal costs "excessive".

 

I'm not sure but I think I've just been called a liar. I don't have the email anymore this was years ago. There was no reason to save it. If eBay stores all past announcements then you can find it there I'm sure. Or someone could post an auction charging for Paypal and we could complain about it and see what current email eBay sends the seller. It may be different now but the email they sent out specificlly stated this was an option sellers could take.

 

This is close to proof as there is right now. I'm sure this has been updated several times since but go look up the policy on paypal surcharges.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-surcharges.html

 

Now click examples.

 

I bet if you search the web someone saved that email.

 

No I didnt mean to call you a liar. You either misread the email, or it wasn't from Ebay.

To be honest, I'd probablly have a hard time finding where I saw that it is against ebays TOS to use shiping to offset paypal and/or listing fees. But really, you'd have to be a pretty poor seller to pull that. That's hardcore deception, and all you'd do is sucker a few people for a short time, and after getting some seriously deserved negs for pulling such a stunt you'd have nobody buying from you.

Why sellers can't take the honest road and use deception never made sense to me. figure in your expenses into the price of the product, and charge actual shipping. Don't bite the hand that feeds you by ripping off your customers. It's just plain dumb.

 

PS...your link pretty much validates what I had said. You can't charge customers an additional fee for the type of payment the make. By hiding it inside the shipping fee you would be doing just that.

Or, did you interpret the fact that they didn't name paypal specificially as free reign to charge a surcharge for customers paying by that method? Please tell me that's not what you are thinking.

 

Its NOT the same, this has been proven wrong.

Typical seller though....saying that when using deceptive methods the ends justify the means.

If shipping is stated at $18.00, and the stamp is $2.00 what's being clearly stated is that the seller is a thief and a liar.

But guess what? The days of pulling that crap are OVEROVEROVER now sellers will have to be honest or they will get a much deserved negative, and they can't pull the retaliation neg out of their butts either.

 

By far the best move ebay has ever made. :thumbsup:

 

 

Sorry to bruise your huge ego as a wonderful first class ebay buyer, but all of this bitching you have done about nonsense stuff and the way you back up ebay as though u have stock in it. I don't think there are many GOOD or BAD sellers that would want u as a customer. Saying things like Typical seller is a stereotype if u didn't know. If you think all of these new procedures are an improvement u must be high on something or have a good stock in the company. Sorry but you say the same thing over and over and no matter how many times you say it.........you never make sense.