eBay

[Staz]

I had an extra ticket for V festival which I sold on eBay recently. The first winning bidder didn't pay so I relisted it last minute for the same sale price of £170 + £2 P&P.

Just had the invoice through from eBay. Listing fee was £1.29 (the very billy basic page) and the Final Value Fee was £16.99!!!!! That's 10%! AND they have already stung me for £6.05 for the paypal payment!

Since when have the fees been so high? I have sold a few things before and don't remember it ever being that much.

Robbing ****s!

 

[alijames]

Jeez! I just put some speakers and door panels on there, and had not checked the Final value Fee. It's 10% for any private seller up to a maximum of £40.

That's daylight robbery.

Cheers,

 

[voorhees]

most of my selling is done before the auction is finished so most of the time no fees.
also if you have a bit of time you could make a note of the bidders who missed out on the same item sold by someone else and contact them directly then no fees at all

 

[Road Razor]

I noticed Ebay have made other changes but regarding P+P. So, when you list items such as a CD, PC game, computer cables/accessories you now MUST provide P+P free of charge. Ebay claimed this change improves the buying experience of the buyers (ok it also prevents sellers charging unreasonable P+P costs) - true but not in all cases. Many sellers list their items at 99p + a couple of quid postage to avoid paying the listing fee, it also costs money to buy the jiffys, post the item, then cover ebay & Paypal's final fee (not factoring in the market value of the item).

So with this new free P+P rule, to offset your losses sellers need to list their items at a higher cost, exceeding the 99p starting bid, which means paying listing fees. If the item doesn't sell you'll have to relist it and pay those listing fees again until it's sold. New rules = more money for ebay it seems.

 

[JohnboyC]

Yes, I did not realise that, and put on a load of original Hewlett Packard B&W and colour printer cartridges for my "old" colour printer.....most went for 99p each ...and it cost me more in time, money & packaging to send the cartridges....

10% ...thats a LOT - I was going to sell my Audi OEM 18" BBS alloys on fleabay, but I am not paying them 10% (i.e. if they go for £450)

 

[unkle]

I was going to sell my Audi OEM 18" BBS alloys on fleabay, but I am not paying them 10% (i.e. if they go for £450)

If you do ever sell anything on Ebay and the buyer pays via Paypal, its very important to keep proof of postage. The buyer can file a 'item not received' claim within 60 days IIRC and the onus is on you to prove that you posted the items, a few months ago I sold some tatty old phones, the guy left positive feedback and I didnt hear anything from him so I binned the recorded delivery slip, then out of the blue about three weeks after I posted it he asked for the tracking number which I didnt have, he filed a claim against me and paypal deducted £60 odd quid from my account because I couldnt prove Id sent them, TOSSERS!

 

[AndyMac]

It is extortionate now they have a monopoly, but as long as you factor in the 10% then it's still a bargain. I think we all just got used to it being practically free, and if you think what you'd have to pay to advertise it in the old fashioned way, with such a massive audience I still think it is good value. Anything you sell for a decent buy it now price you can always say in the ad "better pricing outside of ebay" at least that way the buyer gets the benefit and not ebay. PayPal, whatever anyone says, is a godsend and cheap at double the price.
With the ticket scenario above, what would your options have been without ebay? You would get half the face value from a tout. But yes it does come as a shock when you get your Final Value bill through if you've sold quite a bit that month.

 

[voorhees]

other option is gumtree

 

[Staz]

Taking Voorhees' idea a bit further could you create a bogus account and outbid everyone then contact the 2nd highest bidder and sell outside of ebay?

Only worth it for the odd big sale of course.

I normally keep the post office receipt until I've heard from the buyer but I didn't realise how easy it was to get a refund!

 

[jojo]

Taking Voorhees' idea a bit further could you create a bogus account and outbid everyone then contact the 2nd highest bidder and sell outside of ebay?

I thought most people have a bogus accounts or good friends who help bump up bids.

I would personally never buy anything offered as a second chance offer, as that's just too dodgy....

 

[unkle]

With the ticket scenario above, what would your options have been without ebay?

For future reference maybe try Gumtree, I just sold some decks on there and it was free and very simple, listed them on there last night about 7pm had three phone calls within the hour, a guy came up from Oxford picked them up first thing this morning job done up yours Ebay+Paypal.

 

[unkle]

Hey sorry to dredge up an old thread but thought this was quite relevant.

I sold two items today on Ebay today and the buyers paid via Paypal. I have just gone to my Paypal account to withdraw the funds and it says that Paypal are holding the payment for 21 days and wont release it before unless the buyer leaves positive feedback or they can verify that the item was delivered.

Quoted from the website:

Here are some common reasons for holding payments:

* You have been an eBay and PayPal member for less than 6 months, and, have limited selling activity, or
* You have an eBay feedback score of less than 100, and do not have a record of good performance or
* You have a Buyer dissatisfaction percentage of 5% or greater than 5%, or
* You have an average Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) of less than 4.5, or
* You have received fewer than 20 Detailed Seller Ratings in the last 12 months, or
* You have a high rate of customer disputes
* You're selling in a high risk category or industry such as, but not limited to, tickets, travel, gift certificates, computers, consumer electronics, or cell phones
* You have a spike in selling activities or begin selling in a category without an established history

Just googled for a bit more information on this subject turns out its a system ripe for abuse, loads of complaints about Paypal deducting funds after the buyer has got the item and filed a dispute.

W@NKERS!

 

[voorhees]

Ebay own Paypal so a wee bit of a monopoly going on

 

[jojo]

Which is why you need to send your items recorded, even if the value is 1p, then you have PROOF you sent it, and you need to keep the receipt for a long time also.

 

[Staz]

Wow that's nuts! 100 feedback is quite a lot!

My dad has some brand new phones he got as upgrades and never used, we considered selling them on eBay but ended up going to Mazuma. ****** glad about that now. They're going to do themselves out of business at this rate.

 

[unkle]

Which is why you need to send your items recorded, even if the value is 1p, then you have PROOF you sent it, and you need to keep the receipt for a long time also.

Yeah I said that in post #6 of the thread

 

[Staz]

http://uk.ebid.net/

 

[Road Razor]

I recommend Micromart www.micromart.co.uk as an alternative for anyone selling computer/software related items. I've sold many items and had no problems what so ever. I would use your workplace as your point of contact & location.

Gumtree isn't bad. I've managed to sell off many items but be very wary of spam and scam emails. I'd set up a different email account for this.

Ebid - none of my items got sold. I suppose nobody wanted old university text books or old printer cables.

Amazon isn't bad. You pay a one off fee once the item is sold, but it's restricted on what you can sell.

Loot.com - nothing but constant spam emails. I don't recommend this.

 

[jojo]

Yeah I said that in post #6 of the thread

 

[NHN]

Yeah I sold an item back in July, sent standard parcel, added insurance even if the ad so I wasnt going to, problem is it went when strikes were starting but was few days before tbh, hence item was lost, worth 3-400, the guy has been a complete backside about it, I said I cant refund until a claim with RM has been finalised which I didnt think was unfair incase it arrived, only now has it gone through, but I sent my receipt to paypal, showed the date, weight, address & insured, but because it wasnt signed for or tracked they dont protect us so he immediately got his money back & no doubt item, I still think he got the item as I havnt had any go missing even in previous strikes.

The guy was sent 2 forms to sign to say non receipt, he hasnt returned either, also he hasnt left bad feedback & he also bought another item of me at the same time for smaller amount, but outside of ebay but sent in same parcel, he hasnt asked for his money back for that, so for me it says alot, he didnt wanna push his luck cause he got the items IMHO, I also for my own reasons dont beleive he has an A3, so even more strange.

The idiot was offered special delivery with a deal but declined, I mean the system is rubbish to protect overall, I now send everything recorded even international, but noticed a slowdown in ebay selling for a number of months now.

I'd be happy to use another site to lower the quite literally extortionate fees ebay charge now along with paypal, I mean 10% on automotive parts, there's no profit tbh & its becoming a joke, reminds me of sky with creeping up fees.

 

[Staz]

I hadn't realised this policy has been in force since last year some time. Perhaps it's not as harsh as it sounds. I sold festival tickets a few months ago, they're fraught with problems, and it never had the money withheld even though according to that list I would fall into that bracket

 

[unkle]

I hadn't realised this policy has been in force since last year some time. Perhaps it's not as harsh as it sounds. I sold festival tickets a few months ago, they're fraught with problems, and it never had the money withheld even though according to that list I would fall into that bracket

I think the new rules only came into force in beginning of September.

 

[Staz]

20th August 2008 mate!

Post 16 in this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1112763

 

[ian52]

I got stung for £80 for an evo 6 intercooler a few years ago by a guy saying he never got the item,this was on the sunday he put the comlpaint in and i only told him it was posted on the friday! i just sent it standard parcels so no traking number. he got an intercooler for free!

 

[FactionOne]

Just googled for a bit more information on this subject turns out its a system ripe for abuse, loads of complaints about Paypal deducting funds after the buyer has got the item and filed a dispute.

They might be making more changes soon too - I don't know whether for better or worse though. I had an email today inviting me to take part in a PayPal survey - mail was legit so I had a look - It explained that during the course of the survey some 'confidential' details of ideas they're considering would be mentioned, and I had to agree not to broadcast the information. I couldn't even if I wanted to though, the next question asked if you worked for a market research company, anything to do with money transfer services etc. etc.

Well, seeing as I work for AGB Nielsen Media Research I got booted out immediately when I submitted a tick in the first box. I wonder if Google knows anything else about the content of the survey...

Regards,

Rob.

 

[Staz]

I have just won an auction and I have no way to contact the seller! If I press the contact seller link I get this:

Am I missing something?? I'm not paying through paypal so how do I contact them?!

 

[lil_coz]

If you click on his username to get to his profile bit, on the left should be:

Items for sale
Add to favourite sellers
Contact member

Coss

 

[Staz]

Yeah I clicked contact seller and that's the screen it took me too!

 

[NHN]

You need to goto your messages page, down bottom on left is a find & contact member or whatever it says, click this & opens a new page that you enter your item number & the username of seller, it then emails you the number held on record for them, now I cant guarantee its a good number but so far 99% of time its worked for me over number of years.

 

[Staz]

I did that also but have had nothing through so far. Thankfully the seller contacted me in the mean time. It's a bit of a crazy rule though.

 

[10blazin]

if you go to the sellers other items and clik on one it will let you ask a question about the item just contact him that way