Holy cow is eBay ripping off sellers! (1 Viewer)

[upNdown]

I’m sure this is no news to many of you, but I’m shocked. They say they take 13.7% of your sale, but they actually take 13.7% OF WHAT THE BUYER PAYS. Which includes shipping and sales tax! Holy shit, what a scam!

I just sold an item for $49. The buyer paid $49 plus $12 shipping, plus $4.88 sales tax. So eBay totals that to $65.88 and takes 13.7% of THAT (plus some other 40 cent fee) from my proceeds.
And of course they hold all the cash until the item is actually delivered, so they’re making interest on all of it for another week.

I know it wasn’t always like that because back in the day there were no fees on shipping and nobody paid sales tax online. I can see them taking a cut of shipping to prevent abuse and circumvention of fees, but how can they justify hitting the seller for a percentage of the buyer’s sales tax? I know it’s my choice to sell on eBay, but damn, that shouldn’t be legal.

 

[Highli99]

You should probably sell your stuff on internet forums instead!

 

[upNdown]

You should probably sell your stuff on internet forums instead!

This is pretty much the only one I belong to, and I doubt there are many Lladro buyers here.
Listen, I get it. I'm paying for the convenience of a nationwide market at my fingertips. I accept that. But I don't have a problem with complaining about the bastards at the same time.

 

[GamingWithChips]

It's the tech playbook.

Introduce a product or service that is good/cheap and loved by many->take over the market->jack up the cost/fees->profit endlessly.

It's why I cringe when I see people relying on ChatGPT or Claude instead of just doing a google search or using a calculator, and then they say "hOw iS tHiS pOsSiBly fReE??"

 

[upNdown]

It's the tech playbook.

Introduce a product or service that is good/cheap and loved by many->take over the market->jack up the cost/fees->profit endlessly.

It's why I cringe when I see people relying on ChatGPT or Claude instead of just doing a google search or using a calculator, and then they say "hOw iS tHiS pOsSiBly fReE??"

You're right. Except with eBay, I'm not aware of any good alternatives or even any bad ones. And, I've got two decades of positive feedback that I wouldn't want to abandon even if I had a decent alternative.
Maybe I should buy eBay stock.

 

[GamingWithChips]

Except with ebay, I'm not aware of any good alternatives or even any bad ones.

That’s the “take over the market” part lol

But ya, it’s insane in general how we’ve allowed companies to do whatever the hell they want. It’s rare to find a company nowadays that doesn’t screw over its users/customers. I tried to explain this to someone the other day that it’s wild that we have the concept of “consumer protection”. We’ve let it get so out of hand that we have to put laws or protections in place so that companies don’t royally screw people over, they just screw people over as much as govts/people will tolerate.

Sorry, end rant.

 

[CraigT78]

You're right. Except with ebay, I'm not aware of any good alternatives or even any bad ones. And, I've got two decades of positive feedback that I wouldn't want to abandon even if I had a decent alternative.
Maybe I should buy ebay stock.

Facebook marketplace!

 

[Tommy]

I remember when eBay gave you $10 credit to list stuff.

 

[Jaxen]

Face.
Book.
Market.
Place.

 

[smashed_potato]

The problem with Facebook Marketplace is that is on Facebook. As @GamingWithChips said this is their playbook. Its even worse in places like Australia cause these companies don’t pay local taxes. This could get really political but I’ll leave it there.

 

[Jaxen]

Yeah but it's one flat fee that undercuts eBay massively. Right after COVID I was working for a golf clubfitter selling his trade ins and whatever components he had. I was selling $300-400 iron sets (used) and we paid FB like $5.

 

[smashed_potato]

@Jaxen No doubt it’s a great platform to sell and move items, I just try to minimise all use of the META ecosystem. I don’t align with how the company conducts itself.

 

[ekricket]

Yeah but it's one flat fee that undercuts eBay massively. Right after COVID I was working for a golf clubfitter selling his trade ins and whatever components he had. I was selling $300-400 iron sets (used) and we paid FB like $5.

Introduce a product or service that is good/cheap and loved by many->take over the market->jack up the cost/fees->profit endlessly.

 

[BNM]

It's the tech playbook.

Introduce a product or service that is good/cheap and loved by many->take over the market->jack up the cost/fees->profit endlessly.

It's why I cringe when I see people relying on ChatGPT or Claude instead of just doing a google search or using a calculator, and then they say "hOw iS tHiS pOsSiBly fReE??"

It’s every business playbook.

 

[BNM]

Would you like some cheese with your whine? Classic CPF go nowhere post.

 

[BNM]

Yeah but it's one flat fee that undercuts eBay massively. Right after COVID I was working for a golf clubfitter selling his trade ins and whatever components he had. I was selling $300-400 iron sets (used) and we paid FB like $5.

Yeah, but it’s on Facebook…didn’t you read what the man said?

 

[upNdown]

Would you like some cheese with your whine? Classic CPF go nowhere post.

I’m not one to refuse cheese.

 

[abby99]

eBay's current list of Selling Fees (https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822#section2) is long, detailed, and part of its TOS. I was shocked!

 

[GamingWithChips]

It’s every business playbook.

That’s just not true at all, but thanks for your input.

 

[FDLmold]

One auction website has a monopoly in each country. Feebay is the one in the USA. Because of the lack of "auction website" competition, they are the least innovative company ever - for example their listing form improves at glacial speeds. They jack up fees *just* to the point where you still use it because you get millions of eyeballs, which you won't get anyplace else. They basically print money, so much so that the Gamestop CEO noticed and tried to buy the company.

 

[TheRealTeddyKGB]

Scam?

The current policy has been in place for many years

 

[Tonysquander]

My rule of thumb is the net is going to be about 85% of list.

 

[acezag]

Listen, I get it. I'm paying for the convenience of a nationwide market at my fingertips.

Correction; a nationwide market with shareholders, and an insatiable hunger for ever expanding profit that, inevitably, must result in scamming.

 

[acezag]

Would you like some cheese with your whine? Classic CPF go nowhere post.

Like all the classics, it has to have at least one person complaining that it exists, therefore bumping it and ensuring more participate.

 

[bergs]

Facebook marketplace is great once you realize that you’re going to have a 8:1 ratio of actual buyers vs would be scammers

 

[buffalojim]

Craigslist is still a thing, no? You don't have all the protections and oversight like eBay but it's there.

eBay is trash for sellers, unless you accept you're getting F'd in the A. It was a gradual enshitification. 25+ years ago was amazing, I was selling bootlegs on eBay, nobody cared, I was happy, my buyers were happy. Couldn't last. Selling or buying bootlegs only ended within the last 10 years I'd say. You used to be able to buy and sell vape gear. That ended. You didn't have to pay sales tax, that ended. Unless I'm super desperate, I won't sell anything there anymore, especially. They changed the way PayPal worked some years ago. Now you can't sell more than $600 worth of shit before Dad gets involved. Constant enshitification, of everything.

Good morning!

 

[ekricket]

It’s America!! Start your own auction site. Get AI to build you a killer interface and then just start taking submissions. eBay didn’t have a million listings overnight. When I first started using it was before the IPO and it was a spreadsheet powered thing. You had tabs across the top to open for current auctions and a special one for “new items listed”. You could literally look at all the new things posted on the site in about half hour.
When you bought something you mailed a check. After the seller got the check he mailed your stuff.
You don’t need much more than that!

 

[upNdown]

Craigslist is still a thing, no? You don't have all the protections and oversight like eBay but it's there.

eBay is trash for sellers, unless you accept you're getting F'd in the A. It was a gradual enshitification. 25+ years ago was amazing, I was selling bootlegs on eBay, nobody cared, I was happy, my buyers were happy. Couldn't last. Selling or buying bootlegs only ended within the last 10 years I'd say. You used to be able to buy and sell vape gear. That ended. You didn't have to pay sales tax, that ended. Unless I'm super desperate, I won't sell anything there anymore, especially. They changed the way PayPal worked some years ago. Now you can't sell more than $600 worth of shit before Dad gets involved. Constant enshitification, of everything.

Good morning!

I've been on and off eBay for at least 25 years, so I've seen the changes. And yeah, I'd agree with constant enshitification! Sounds like you don't use it anymore, but your comment on paypal cracks me up. When they bought paypal, they pretty much forced us all to use it, right? Then sometime in the past 5 or 10 years, I think they sold paypal, because they pretty much forced us all to stop using it. I guess I popped in and sold something at that point, because I later learned that I'd linked a bank account that I no longer use.
Anyway, I sold something a few weeks ago for the first time in a while and I didn't realize that they charge a dollar for setting an auction at three days instead of the standard seven. But the bastards actually charged my account that dollar, instead of taking it out of the proceeds. (Maybe it happened because it was automatically re-listed after it didn't sell the first time?) But at the time, I didn't even realize which account was linked to eBay and it turns out it was this old account with a seven cent balance.
How did I find out? I got a letter from that bank saying I'd been overdrawn for 10 days and to consider the letter a collection notice. I checked eBay and saw that the sale proceeds were scheduled to hit the account the following day, so instead of driving to that bank and handing them a dollar, I just waited another day.
Long story short, they suck.

 

[buffalojim]

I've been on and off ebay for at least 25 years, so I've seen the changes. And yeah, I'd agree with constant enshitification! Sounds like you don't use it anymore, but your comment on paypal cracks me up. When they bought paypal, they pretty much forced us all to use it, right? Then sometime in the past 5 or 10 years, I think they sold paypal, because they pretty much forced us all to stop using it. I guess I popped in and sold something at that point, because I later learned that I'd linked a bank account that I no longer use.
Anyway, I sold something a few weeks ago for the first time in a while and I didn't realize that they charge a dollar for setting an auction at three days instead of the standard seven. But the bastards actually charged my account that dollar, instead of taking it out of the proceeds. (Maybe it happened because it was automatically re-listed after it didn't sell the first time?) But at the time, I didn't even realize which account was linked to ebay and it turns out it was this old account with a seven cent balance.
How did I find out? I got a letter from that bank saying I'd been overdrawn for 10 days and to consider the letter a collection notice. I checked ebay and saw that the sale proceeds were scheduled to hit the account the following day, so instead of driving to that bank and handing them a dollar, I just waited another day.
Long story short, they suck.

Wtf man, that's annoying!

 

[Josh Kifer]

Don't they charge the buyer sales tax then remove it from the sale? That's collected from the buyer if I'm not mistaken....see below on a sale I made yesterday...