yet again, more ebay fees...

[fmblizz]

The greety bastards are always looking to bleed us a little more. If anyone ever see's a listing and the seller is FMBLIZZ (thats me of course), be sure to contact me directly and if we can work something out, I will immediately pull my item.

If Ebay doesn't like it they can terminate my account and I'll just open another.

fmblizz

[brianu]

The greety bastards are always looking to bleed us a little more. If anyone ever see's a listing and the seller is FMBLIZZ (thats me of course), be sure to contact me directly and if we can work something out, I will immediately pull my item.

If Ebay doesn't like it they can terminate my account and I'll just open another.

fmblizz

ha... I feel the same. and my ebay name is my name, same as here.

[novkev24]

I just received an email from ebay touting its new change in policy, effective mid april, that will allow all auctions, regardless of starting price, and even with the use of a buy-it-now option, to be posted for "free." yay.

at the bottom of that announcement, however, a couple of additional sentences appear:

"Also, because we know buyers take into consideration the total cost of an item, also starting April 19, to encourage sellers to keep shipping costs low, the Final Value Fee will be applied to the total amount of the sale--including shipping."

when ebay started requiring sellers to offer and accept payments from its partner, paypal, that guaranteed that the paypay transaction fee would draw a percentage from the total amount of money sent from buyer to seller, which included shipping fees. despite that the service was charging me, as a seller, a percentage of a basically fixed amount that I'd only be collecting to use to pay for postage, I tried to rationalize my acceptance of that policy figuring that, ok, the service there is the actual transfer of money, so the percentage is based on the total transferred. fine.

now ebay as well is going to take a piece of those shipping fees. ok, ebay facilitates the auction, so "earns" a portion of the proceeds. fine, that's the service it provides. but how that company can also justify charging the seller a bit more based on taking a portion of the postage fees that are collected as well I have no idea... because, according to ebay, it's to encourage sellers to keep shipping costs low? I'm not sure what one has to do with the other, being that sellers who charge at-cost, or even below cost, for shipping will be hit by this too.

I'm sure there's no shortage of colorful terms with which to describe a company like ebay, nor is there any such shortage to describe the sort of profit-driven business practices and policy changes companies like ebay disingenuously justify as being in YOUR best interest. so I'll let that stand. but I figured I'd post this in case others had not yet become aware, being that many people here use ebay fairly regularly.

I'm wondering if eBay is charging a fee for shipping to keep people honest. I have seen some phonos listed on eBay for a reasonable price, but the seller was asking a ridiculous amount for shipping in order to pad their profit. Unfortunately, those who play fare and ship for the actually shipping price get burned...

[gramophone78]

Since this thread is about Ebay, I have a question..... I have not been much of a seller. However, I have heard more lately that if you sell to a over seas buyer you run a big risk of loosing both your money & item. All the buyer has to say is "I didn't get it". Is this true and if so, how do you protect yourself from this???. Even sending it with tracking (if you can) and insurance seems to not matter.

[Kirkwood]

I have to confess, I'd be interested in hearing about the overseas sales via eBay. I have sold a few things that went overseas---numerous odds & ends went to the UK and Canada, a few things to Australia, and other than the long time it takes to clear customs, have had no troubles whatsoever. I even shipped a Victrola IV to Russia, an Othophonic portable to Luxembourg, and a bakelite-cased 1920s TRF set (radio) to Spain. Aside from getting them packed in boxes large enough to cushion the goods but small enough to comply with the size limits, I have had no troubles to date.

But.

I have been advised to avoid China, Indonesia and the African continent by other sellers, and so that's what I have done. (I shipped a set of Dictaphone business course cylinders to Taiwan with no troubles, however.) Have I been just lucky??