eBay Shafting the Sellers Even More in 2009

[leschwaar]

Originally Posted by Andrew Scherer

Instead of being angry about his you guys should be *GLAD* Ebay is making ridiculous changes that further damage their business.

The more and more they screw up, it opens the door for niche auction sites which can take away their business.

Some ingenuity and a little action and YOU can be the owner of such a site, raking in some bucks.

Something to think about, I have been for the past few months.

Definitely. The sooner Ebay burns, the sooner the smaller sites will start to see some daylight.

[jamsferguson]

I think Ebay is positioning themselves perfectly for the wave of new sellers who are looking around their house desperately trying to raise a few bucks by selling some of their accumulated consumer "STUFF" as this recession deepens.

[IMChick]

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

For those who think all eBayers pad the shipping and handling charges....I pack the item beforehand and before I list it and then weigh it. I go to the USPS website and see what the cost to ship it is, that is the exact fee I charge. No handling fees, no extra shipping charges.

Now, I did that with the book I was talking about in my first post of this thread and the cost to ship the book was more than eBay allowed, so, I had to pay the difference just to ship the damn book. How is that fair?

I think that buried in the fine print of the new shipping policy is the exception that you need. I don't know where I saw it bit I did look it up a few months ago because I was concerned about this, too. Basically if the item is over the weight for the item number in one of the book, dvd, cd etc categories that they are trying to clean up the shipping on, you are allowed to charge those overage charges IF you can substantiate the weight and the overcharges in your listing. At the time, I thought that all I would need is a sentence that says 'this item is over the weight guidelines for this category and will be charged at the actual shipping costs. It weighs X, including actual weight and shipping materials. Actual cost, Y.' And they would let you do that if it's not the majority of the shipping exceptions in your auctions. Check the fine print. It doesn't make any sense to charge the flat rate for a paperback (with a several dollar profit built in by ebay for you as an almost windfall) or a huge heavy coffee table book. Ebay doesn't expect you to pay the difference--at least I hope not. On the other hand, I have purchased paperbacks from Amazon, too, and the same seller will NOT combine shipping on the items and each goes as a flat rate. This really ticked me off when I got two one cent paperbacks in the same package that cost me $8 flat rate. So I guess it goes both ways. I was one of the sellers who charged actual costs for shipping. Actual (wholesale costs) for packaging materials if a lot was required, like a huge box with bubble (not a padded envelope), that cost me money to provide. I was also one of the buyers who stopped looking at ebay for some categories that notoriously would have $53 shipping. Guess the angle they all figured on how to not pay higher listing fees or final value fees and keep the profit on the shipping sure did backfire on us honest types. On the other hand, ebay's half dot com has been using flat rate shipping since it's inception.

[Pat Blank]

Originally Posted by IMChick

On the other hand, I have purchased paperbacks from Amazon, too, and the same seller will NOT combine shipping on the items and each goes as a flat rate. This really ticked me off when I got two one cent paperbacks in the same package that cost me $8 flat rate. So I guess it goes both ways.

I sold books for many years on ebay, and switched to amazon last summer. I like amazon better. Amazon's policy makes it nearly impossible to combine shipping, since it's amazon who does the billing, not the seller. I can refund the part of the shipping charge that I receive, but amazon keeps their part.

I sell less and less on ebay. There's still stuff around the house that I'd rather get some money for, than throw away. But it's becoming a big hassle. Oh, well, we can talk about the old days as much as we want. Best to everybody on wherever they continue to sell!

[Charles E. White]

Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood

Also, delivery confirmation. I can mail something like a CD really cheap, but if I want proof of delivery to avoid being ripped off by the buyer claiming it was not received, I have to pay for a much more expensive shipping method.

Chris, if you're sending first class, of course, you know you can't add a delivery confirmation, here is the way to get around this...add a piece of paper so it has a bump in the package, then you can send it first class parcel and add a delivery receipt.

[IMChick]

Originally Posted by Charles E. White

Chris, if you're sending first class, of course, you know you can't add a delivery confirmation, here is the way to get around this...add a piece of paper so it has a bump in the package, then you can send it first class parcel and add a delivery receipt.

Very clever. Thanks for that tip. If i need to get delivery confirm, that's the level I ship at, and that level only, like priority and up. But depending on what market I think I'm attracting then I don't bother. It has pretty much killed my legitimate use of media mail for that reason, though.

[hotlinkz]

I wish I had a couple million to start an auction site. FeeBay is easy pickings at this point in time.