Author Topic: eBay rant  (Read 27015 times)

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
eBay rant
« on: 23 March, 2009, 09:30:34 am »
I sold a laptop yesterday.  It went for £180 plus £15 p&p.

eBay charged me £0.35p to list it (it would have been much more, but I started it at 99p) and £17.99 "final value fee".  Then Paypal (also eBay) charged me £6.83 to receive the payment.  That's £25.17 fees in all.  Given that I don't overcharge for postage, I'm actually getting £154.83 for my laptop.  Less if I've screwed up on postage.

They're charging me 14% and it's now obligatory to offer Paypal as a method of receiving payment, so you can't avoid it.

After the sale is concluded, both parties are invited to leave feedback for each other, but the seller is now no longer able to leave negative feedback for buyers who screw them about.  Only buyers can leave negative feedback.  They can also comment on communication, description, postal costs etc., with a star rating that's not visible to the seller.

eBay have got too greedy.  Theirs is the ultimate e-business model - they buy nothing, they sell nothing and they ship nothing.  Yet they rake it in.  I wouldn't mind so much, but when a buyer refuses to pay (the last one swears blind he only had the item in his watchlist and never placed a bid, so could I please "cancel the transaction?") I can't do anything about it.  Yet he can leave me shitty feedback!

Yeah, they have a dispute resolution process, but it's awful.  I've had some fees refunded, but it's a pain in the neck and I'd much rather just go back to the way it used to be where the buyer and the seller left each other feedback on an equal footing.  There's no trust left any more.

But that's not all.  When I'm after buying something, I have to wade through huge numbers of commercial offerings to get to the few genuine private sellers who actually have stuff that I might want to buy.  eBay's chock full of fraudsters, scam-merchants and bullshit artists and unless you're very clued up at recognising them, you're going to get ripped off.

Have eBay got too big for their boots?
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

Re: eBay rant
« Reply #1 on: 23 March, 2009, 09:38:25 am »
Ebay don't provide nothing. They provide a service that connects you with potential buyers and advertises your goods. Exactly the same as any other auction house. It costs a huge amount of money to run all those web servers and backend databases. However you may have a point about there fees being too high.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: eBay rant
« Reply #2 on: 23 March, 2009, 09:43:11 am »
I'm completely fed up with it too.  I sold a lens on there last month, the buyer pulled out a couple of days after the close saying he now couldnt afford it.  Wanker. 

toekneep

  • Its got my name on it.
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Re: eBay rant
« Reply #3 on: 23 March, 2009, 09:49:06 am »
Ebay used to feel like a community venture in the early days, it was fun to buy and sell on there. Now it feels like a commercial venture, still useful at times but not fun any more. You can still pick up bargains of course but now it seems like hard work and as for selling, I can't be bothered with it. Shame really but I suppose that it the natural cycle of something that is as successful as Ebay has been.

Re: eBay rant
« Reply #4 on: 23 March, 2009, 10:39:34 am »
Interesting, though. Local newspapers are on the verge of oblivion because their classified advertising has been all but wiped out by tinternet. If ebay moves away from its original premise as a forum for private individuals selling second hand stuff, to becoming an online warehouse sale of unsold stock for commercial sellers (ebay itself has indicated that this is its strategy - but can't remember where I read that) then where do the classified ads go?

I do agree that using ebay to find a bargain is hard work these days. Where's their competition going to come from? Gumtree as an alternative is utter tripe.

Re: eBay rant
« Reply #5 on: 23 March, 2009, 10:40:03 am »
I prefer semi private deals now. Almost everything I've sold recently has either been through here or at the forum at work.


Sir Tifiable

Re: eBay rant
« Reply #6 on: 23 March, 2009, 10:49:18 am »
Interesting, though. Local newspapers are on the verge of oblivion because their classified advertising has been all but wiped out by tinternet. If ebay moves away from its original premise as a forum for private individuals selling second hand stuff, to becoming an online warehouse sale of unsold stock for commercial sellers (ebay itself has indicated that this is its strategy - but can't remember where I read that) then where do the classified ads go?

I do agree that using ebay to find a bargain is hard work these days. Where's their competition going to come from? Gumtree as an alternative is utter tripe.

Note the link to Gumtree at the bottom of the main eBay page, just after Skype and PayPal  :-\

Any guesses as to who owns Gumtree?

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #7 on: 23 March, 2009, 10:59:54 am »
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

redshift

  • High Priestess of wires
    • redshift home
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #8 on: 23 March, 2009, 01:12:50 pm »
Not tried them yet, but there are alternatives, for general and also specialist stuff.  Specialist Auctions have been moving to pick up the knifemaking traders and collectors since ebay hit the 'ban' button, and I noticed that at least one seller I know from ebay has an account on eBid.  eBid's model seems to be based on a 3% final value fee for casual sellers, or a fixed yearly fee for those who take their business there.  Specialist Auctions fee seems to be 3% of final value too.
L
:)
Windcheetah No. 176
The all-round entertainer gets quite arsey,
They won't translate his lame shit into Farsi
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Re: eBay rant
« Reply #9 on: 23 March, 2009, 01:21:47 pm »
We sold the car on eBay, got considerably more than we reckoned we would have elsewhere (the car was worth about £500, and had a dodgy head gasket costing £450 to repair professionally plus potential holes in the radiator, and we didn't have the time, tools or inclination to repair it ourselves. In the end, it sold for a final price of £412). The person collected it and paid in cash so we didn't have to worry about paypal fees, and the eBay fee structure for second-hand cars is quite straightforward.

But I'm finding eBay less good for buying other things - it's all private shops using it as another outlet, charging exactly the same as they do in their online shop.
Have you seen my blog? It has words. And pictures! http://ablogofallthingskathy.blogspot.com/

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #10 on: 23 March, 2009, 01:48:48 pm »
craigslist is getting a lot of traction in some parts of the world as a classified ad-style marketplace.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

RJ

  • Droll rat
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #11 on: 23 March, 2009, 02:01:23 pm »
<snip>
eBay have got too greedy.  Theirs is the ultimate e-business model - they buy nothing, they sell nothing and they ship nothing.  Yet they rake it in.  <snip>

I sold some books at auction earlier this year.  The auctioneers take commission from both buyer and seller in relation to the "hammer price" (what the cove with gavel says "gone" to).  Buyer pays {hammer price + y%}; seller gets {hammer price - x%}; auction house gets {x+y% of hammer price} - let's say around a third, consideradbly more than the traditional shilling-in-the-guinea.

So in one sense the e-bay business model uisn't new.  A good auction house will do more than passively host your stuff.  Whether x+y% is worth it is another matter.

Quote
Have eBay got too big for their boots?

Quite possibly ... 

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #12 on: 23 March, 2009, 07:33:26 pm »
I can live with the fees, but it really pisses me off that sellers can't leave -ve feedback for buyers, no matter how much they piss us around.
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #13 on: 23 March, 2009, 07:41:00 pm »
I have a love/hate relationship with eBay.  I don't like the size of the fees or the way the auctions operate (they're not proper auctions; if they kept extending the auction until 15 minutes after the last bid, maybe, otherwise you might as well just snipe all the time).  On the other hand, stuff normally sells on there and they have 99.99% of potential UK auction buyers, which is unlikely to change anytime soon.  I understand that in some countries Yahoo! got in there first and eBay doesn't get a look in.

It's brilliant as a buyer for NOS or s/h stuff- where would I have found obscure Sturmey-Archer hubs or Benotto handlebar tape 10 years ago?  You do need a well-attuned bullshit detector though, especially if you want to buy a new mobile phone (which I have done three times, all successful).

I suppose it's the Ryanair business model - you really, really have to alienate your customers if they're going to leave.  Mostly they just grumble and stick with it.

Money Central - Times Online - WBLG: Twenty reasons never to fly Ryanair
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Biggsy

  • A bodge too far
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    • My stuff on eBay
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #14 on: 23 March, 2009, 08:00:33 pm »
I'm not happy with the Final Value Value going up to 10% and with no limit, and I'm not happy with the PayPal fees.  However, I do still find eBay extremely useful for selling as well as buying on a regular basis.  Remember that your fees effectively pay for a world-wide advert as well as a very convenient service.

Cheque and postal order are still allowable methods for many categories and listing lengths.  It's only certain ones that are PayPal only - supposedly for security reasons.  Hardly any of my buyers ever opt for anything other than PayPal anyway when I give them the choice.

On balance, I'm pleased that sellers cannot leave negative feedback for buyers.  It has stopped tit-for-tat feedback from professionally bad sellers - a fundamental nasty flaw of the previous system that was very commonly a problem.
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Valiant

  • aka Sam
    • Radiance Audio
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #15 on: 24 March, 2009, 02:52:38 am »
Tis the reason I stopped selling stuff there. Occasionally buy the odd thing. They do take the piss.
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.

Support Equilibrium

Re: eBay rant
« Reply #16 on: 24 March, 2009, 06:47:24 am »
You've missed out the very worst aspect of Ebay selling, having to queue up in the Post Office.
[Quote/]Adrian, you're living proof that bandwidth is far too cheap.[/Quote]

Hummers

  • It is all about the taste.
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #17 on: 24 March, 2009, 07:30:14 am »
Come come.

With out eBay, where would I submit pictures of highly polished brass kettles and dining room tables below full length mirrors...

Hmmmmmm?

H

jellied

  • skip to the end
    • Ealing Bike Hub
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #18 on: 29 March, 2009, 11:51:19 am »
And another thing - they now cap P&P for categories.

Just try to list a bulky magazine collection - choose "magazines" and it says the most I can charge is £2.75, bit tricky given all 75 issues weigh 6KG.

Dig around and find another category for "collections", use their P&P estimator and it comes out with a minimum of £11.40, but the most I can charge is £7.00.

Not happy, I know some people were using high P&P charges to avoid fees, but these were pretty easy to spot.

Sigh.
A shitter and a giggler.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #19 on: 03 August, 2020, 11:44:33 am »
Had a buyer send me three semi-literate messages in quick succession after buying and paying for a fork, of which this is the longest:

Quote
Cancel you have not dispachedyet if you look at the time pressing buttons in bed at 2 in the morning sleeping on my phone,i have no use for this order whatsoever please refund immediately

So, in his sleep, he pressed "buy it now", then "pay now", then "make payment"?

That's the most BS joybidder excuse I've had since, "This is <name>'s wife.  He had a heart attack on the day the auction ended so won't be riding again."
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #20 on: 03 August, 2020, 12:38:06 pm »
Still pished?

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #21 on: 03 August, 2020, 12:53:15 pm »
I sold a laptop yesterday.  It went for £180 plus £15 p&p.

eBay charged me £0.35p to list it (it would have been much more, but I started it at 99p) and £17.99 "final value fee".  Then Paypal (also eBay) charged me £6.83 to receive the payment.  That's £25.17 fees in all.  Given that I don't overcharge for postage, I'm actually getting £154.83 for my laptop.  Less if I've screwed up on postage.

I think when the bill comes in at the end of the month you'll find there's 10% charge on the P&P as well.  I only list when there's offers now. I sold a bunch of stuff/tqt in one month at the start of lockdown, I'm now getting 5% offers come through but I shall hold out for the £1 all in offers.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

Re: eBay rant
« Reply #22 on: 03 August, 2020, 01:09:57 pm »
I sold a laptop yesterday.  It went for £180 plus £15 p&p.

eBay charged me £0.35p to list it (it would have been much more, but I started it at 99p) and £17.99 "final value fee".  Then Paypal (also eBay) charged me £6.83 to receive the payment.  That's £25.17 fees in all.  Given that I don't overcharge for postage, I'm actually getting £154.83 for my laptop.  Less if I've screwed up on postage.

I think when the bill comes in at the end of the month you'll find there's 10% charge on the P&P as well.  I only list when there's offers now. I sold a bunch of stuff/tqt in one month at the start of lockdown, I'm now getting 5% offers come through but I shall hold out for the £1 all in offers.

Given that the original post was 11 years ago,  I'd imagine the bill arrived quite some time ago. ;)

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #23 on: 03 August, 2020, 04:22:26 pm »
D'oh! :facepalm:
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: eBay rant
« Reply #24 on: 03 August, 2020, 04:41:13 pm »
 ;D
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.