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Main Section => Welcome to our virtual Pub Meeting ... => Topic started by: oilstain on May 24, 2021, 08:04:10 AM

Title: eBay rip off
Post by: oilstain on May 24, 2021, 08:04:10 AM
Sorry to go OT but a word of warning
I guess like a number of people on here I sell unwanted items on ebay to boost my pension.
Ebay now it seems have stopped using paypal and taken thre payments system in house. I had my one of my best ever sales last week for £518.54 inc. postage, The customer paid ebay last Wednesday, ebay have still not sent me the money unlike paypal which was almost instant and the customer is unhappy as I have not sent the purchase but unsure if I should take the risk?
Also shocked by ebays new fees charges, from a £518.54 sale, I will get £448.76 >:D
(They did update me with this news but not the cash)
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: Craig T on May 24, 2021, 08:29:01 AM
If you have the notification they have paid you should send the item.

I sold some stuff recently and it was the first time in a very long time I had sold anything so they withhold the payment until there is notification that the item has been delivered. I sent the item on a service with tracking, inputted the tracking number into ebay and soon as the item was marked as delivered, the payment was sent to me.

Subsequent sales have seen the payment received instantly so it was a one off, security thing to make sure you are a legitimate seller.

Craig.
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: oilstain on May 24, 2021, 08:56:14 AM
^^^ now ebay are stopping useing paypal but there own system it seems every payment to the seller will take days and NOT be instant, all in the new small print >:D
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: lurch032003 on May 24, 2021, 08:58:45 AM
Hi the new eBay rules gives the buyer a choice what method they wish to make payment of item bought , when I read the changes it sounded like there (eBay) would be quicker emmm nope , I also noticed I hope it not just me with bad luck but a lot of none delivery’s of items or been given tracking but find it’s delayed due to courier I called one to find out they had no such item !!! But git my money back of each item , I do contact sellers and give extra week or so if nothing arrived by due dates , I suggest contacting eBay about the payment method and if or when money will be released to your account as the money pays fir the postage and packing materials hence you need payment first .
I stopped selling on eBay as it was bad enough with PayPal fees .
Just my tuppence on it all.  😊
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: oilstain on May 24, 2021, 09:08:41 AM
^^^ I did contact ebay but they do no see a problem if it takes a week for me to get paid and have to pay postage upfront :wooly-jumper

(I may be sounding tight but in this case of a item sold going to europe and the buyer specifing carrier at £54 which he paid for I wanted the money upfront before I sent and payed the £54)
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: scottuh1 on May 24, 2021, 09:38:13 AM
I hate to say it and apologies but you may find you’ve agreed to the terms and conditions on eBay so I think you need to post the items off ASAP. If the buyer opens a grievance it could take even longer for you to get the money. As a general rule eBay will always side with the buyer. Best of luck. 👍
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: Wittsend on May 24, 2021, 09:48:06 AM
I thought eBay and PayPal had the same owners  :stars

Ebay are constantly changing the terms & conditions - to their advantage.
Sellers lose out to buyers.

The simple answer is not to sell on eBay - there must be other outlets.


:cash  Kerching
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: andyjb on May 24, 2021, 09:54:26 AM
In the new payout pages you can set to be paid daily or just Tuesdays The last few items I've sold I've got my money a couple of days later They took just under £7 on a £50 transaction So about the same as when it was ebay and paypal I think.
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: scottuh1 on May 24, 2021, 09:56:25 AM
May be we should start a ‘series2abay’?! 🤣
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: Moogling on May 24, 2021, 10:07:42 AM
Yeah i realised this recently,  cancelled a sale, removed the listing and sold it on gumtree for less ( but more than i would have after ebay fees)

Ebay is over.
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: ChrisJC on May 24, 2021, 10:15:24 AM
I thought eBay and PayPal had the same owners  :stars

They divorced some time ago.

Chris.
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: Robin on May 24, 2021, 10:21:44 AM
I thought the charges were approximately the same as the old Ebay + Paypal charges, now combined into one.

I do find it strange though, that they expect you to send items without receiving payment.
As said ^^^ funds used to appear in the paypal account straight away, so why can't Ebay do it?
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: oilstain on May 24, 2021, 10:24:16 AM
I thought eBay and PayPal had the same owners  :stars

  Kerching
I'm told they sold off paypal and it seems you now want to shop ebay sellers useing it
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: JonA on May 24, 2021, 12:52:39 PM
My son sells stuff periodicaly on ebay, but only lists when they have one of their offers on for listing only fee/no selling fee  ... saved about £300 in fees last week by doing this .... pays to keep an eye on the fees and offers
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: Rog-from-Bix on May 24, 2021, 01:29:19 PM
Yeah i realised this recently,  cancelled a sale, removed the listing and sold it on gumtree for less ( but more than i would have after ebay fees)

Ebay is over.

I have found the opposite, but I only list when the send me a max £1 or £3 or other offer on selling fee, my total fees for the last month works out at 3% of my sales total with no paypal fees to pay. For worldwide exposure I think that is cheap. 
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: Clifford Pope on May 24, 2021, 01:35:21 PM
Paypal's good for buying small things, but too risky (and expensive) for selling.
I now only sell for cash on collection.
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: AlexB on May 24, 2021, 03:02:03 PM
My take on it is that ebay now have my bank details to take a direct debit from whereas on paypal, they could only take what was in there

I could be wrong on the above, but regardless, it doesn't make selling on ebay any more pleasant
Title: eBay rip off
Post by: Larry S. on May 25, 2021, 05:11:29 PM
SWMBO has been pushing me to sell things on eBay for years; she use to, but stopped when it got overwhelming.

I've been thinking about doing this, more seriously, in order to help fund Rover repairs and a few other things.

Based on this thread I started doing more research into becoming an eBay seller.  What I have learned is rather surprising.

#1 - they split ways with PayPal in 2015, yet some sellers are still being told to create PayPal accounts.  A person who opened their seller account was told they needed to do this the last week of April this year.

#2 - they require access to your bank account so there will be no delays in recovering money for their fees.

#3 - good luck getting your money anytime soon: https://is.gd/ghSDxe

#3a - dozens of sellers are reporting that eBay is holding funds for 21 days regardless of the amount, even if ALL the criteria under 'How to get your money fast' section (link above) has been met.  In several cases the amount was less than $250.  Main excuse given for this: "in case the buyer complains and wants a refund".

#4 - shipping.  If you notice, the high shipping rates are usually associated with eBay shops and individuals with a long seller history, or are a Top Rated Seller, Above Standard, or Standard status and use eBay labels for shipping.  There's a price to pay for all of this and it's passed on through 'shipping and handling' fees which are rolled into the 'shipping costs'.  I have seen this myself recently - I paid an incredibly high shipping cost to a seller who had an eBay store, was a Top Seller AND used eBay labels; I then bought an item (bigger and heavier) from a seller who didn't have a store, wasn't a top seller and didn't use eBay labels - the cost was less than half.  The shipping distance to me from each one wasn't enough to make any difference - less than 100 miles.

The above is information found via eBay itself and the several complaints registered with them.  The following info comes from websites that monitor e-commerce trends and such.  Each of them have pointed out that eBay is no longer transparent and it is incredibly hard to get any concrete information out of them.  They said that you can ask the same questions to several customer service reps and get a straight answer.

First thing they said was that all of the main changes in re "paying funds to sellers" occurred in 2019 and most sellers got no notifications about it, or the notifications were buried in the fine print's fine print (they know most people do not read the fine print or understand it).  They then went  into lengthy detail how murky the information was and that even they - e-commerce professionals - were having a hard time understanding the new rules and regulations.

The speculations are the most interesting, and if you follow the money it makes more sense.

PayPal held buyers/sellers money in trust/escrow type accounts.  Typically these are non-interest bearing accounts, but in some States, Countries, Territories and such they can be interest bearing.  Regardless, eBay had to pay PayPal service fees and such and they were passed on to the consumer.

Now that eBay no longer uses PayPal they hold all the money.  I have been trying to figure out what types of accounts eBay uses to place all of this money that is 'on hold' in but haven't figured it out; even the e-commerce community has tried.  They are probably trust/escrow accounts, yet where they are located makes a huge difference.  Roughly $86,000,000/£61,000,000 passes through eBay's hands every day; they get about 15-20% of this through fees and such.  However, if that amount of money is placed in an interest bearing account...  there is a trading/finance term I can't remember at the moment - it deals with large amounts of money being deposited just long enough to bear interest.  Several are speculating that with PayPal out of the way eBay is being able to do this a lot easier now.  Basically - they are holding on to buyers'/sellers' money long enough to accrue interest.

Of interest....  most of the big changes occurred in 2019 and were implemented before the first quarter of 2020 - almost as if someone knew the World was about to go into lockdown and e-commerce would skyrocket. 





Title: eBay rip off
Post by: Exile on May 25, 2021, 05:17:49 PM
Interesting stuff Correus. :cheers
Title: Re: OT ebay rip off
Post by: Larry S. on May 25, 2021, 05:28:42 PM
Interesting stuff Correus. :cheers

Thanks.  I use to be in the business back in the day.  It stymies my mind just how much has changed and just how many more loop holes their are.  The laws, rules, regulations and such have become so convoluted you just about need a law degree to enter any agreement.  I left the legal/finance world because of this, I didn't like how everyone was trying to "get one over" on everyone else - it was bothering me too much. 
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: A-Ro on May 25, 2021, 05:54:42 PM
there is a trading/finance term I can't remember at the moment - it deals with large amounts of money being deposited just long enough to bear interest. 

We knew it as tom/next or simply overnight.
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: geoff on May 25, 2021, 05:56:33 PM

eBay makes a point of saying they accrue no interest from monies held over during transfer to clients bank account ... hmmm.  ???
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: Wittsend on May 25, 2021, 06:08:46 PM
I wonder how much tax they pay ?
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: oilstain on May 25, 2021, 06:16:38 PM
I wonder how much tax they pay ?
About the same as me I would have thought :whistle
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: GlenAnderson on May 25, 2021, 06:23:11 PM
I had something similar recently where I had to pay £150+ for shipping to Japan three days before the money was in my account. It's all very well saying that we agreed to the terms and conditions, and I do accept that up to a point, but what if I had not been able to actually finance the postage costs for that period?

However, I still haven't found anywhere with the exposure that ebay can generate. The item I sent to Japan sold for significantly more than I thought it would, and I can't think of any other selling platform that would have put it in front of my customer - and he was genuinely likely to have been the only person in the world that wanted it. I was lucky to benefit from a free listing offer and 99p max selling fees, which I always keep an eye out for. As an unexpected bonus I clicked the "guaranteed delivery" option with Parcel2Go too, which meant when FedEx sent it by a circuitous route and it took a fortnight longer to get there than it should have, I got my £150 carriage cost refunded too.

So, there's ways and means around the issue if you look.

Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: Rog-from-Bix on May 25, 2021, 07:09:00 PM
I had something similar recently where I had to pay £150+ for shipping to Japan three days before the money was in my account. It's all very well saying that we agreed to the terms and conditions, and I do accept that up to a point, but what if I had not been able to actually finance the postage costs for that period?

However, I still haven't found anywhere with the exposure that ebay can generate. The item I sent to Japan sold for significantly more than I thought it would, and I can't think of any other selling platform that would have put it in front of my customer - and he was genuinely likely to have been the only person in the world that wanted it. I was lucky to benefit from a free listing offer and 99p max selling fees, which I always keep an eye out for. As an unexpected bonus I clicked the "guaranteed delivery" option with Parcel2Go too, which meant when FedEx sent it by a circuitous route and it took a fortnight longer to get there than it should have, I got my £150 carriage cost refunded too.

So, there's ways and means around the issue if you look.

Well done getting the shipping fee back not come across the delivery guarantee I will keep an eye out for that.

 As a general point Ebay is just another tool  and like all complex tools you have to learn the best way to use it to get the best results . re ebay payment system they are now charging 12% plus 30p fees ( if you dont use a limited fee offer) this is actually slightly cheaper than paying the previous  ebay fees then the paypal fees on top.
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: landycyd on May 25, 2021, 07:35:00 PM
Interesting article, I have stopped using eBay since they dropped PayPal, I have no intention of giving my Bank details to them (eBay).
However the discussion on fees gave me cause to do a quick Excel chart to see how the commission figures quoted compared to the old system. 
It came out like this:- Sell for £1 commission 42.9% (43p). Sell for £500 commission 12.96%, (£64.80) so we were being ripped off all the time. :thud
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: GlenAnderson on May 25, 2021, 10:32:18 PM
I don’t think we’re being ripped off per-se. I agree that fees can be unexpectedly high if you’re unable to take advantage of the offers. However, if the resultant sale price is higher than achievable elsewhere, then that offsets the fees.

I sell a few bits through Facebook marketplace. It’s free, but stuff needs to be cheap to sell well on there, and it’s best for heavy/bulky/lower value stuff that’s going to be a nightmare to post. eBay is, IMHO, still the best platform to sell small, high value, hard to find items. Better £300 less fees on there than £50 and no fees elsewhere.

We forget how far we’ve come. I used to scour the free-ads papers and the Exchange & Mart for Land-Rover parts, and used to go all over the place to buy lots/vehicles/parts/clearances and it was a complete lottery that took an inordinate amount of time. These days a quick internet search and you’ll find the bits you need, maybe in a shed in Hungary (or New Zealand), and it can be with you a few days later without you leaving home.
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: gvo416j R.I.P. on May 26, 2021, 11:08:40 AM
I don’t think we’re being ripped off per-se. I agree that fees can be unexpectedly high if you’re unable to take advantage of the offers. However, if the resultant sale price is higher than achievable elsewhere, then that offsets the fees.

Although I have had a few issues with them in the past  --

[when payment was through paypal, particularly charging fees on postage costs - that was definitely OK for paypal to do as they handled the whole payment but nowt to do with them, probably illegal for quite a while until they amended the terms and conditions and possibly even after that although no-one was prepared to take them on in the courts]

-- I mostly agree. They are favourable in line with most other commercial means of selling and arguably you get more exposure to buyers.

Most other auctioneers fees range from the 15% to 20% plus tax, with reductions for very expensive items, but even with the internet, they are still relatively parochial in their coverage/exposure to the internet search engines and it can be difficult for anyone wanting a particular item to locate their listings on their auction sites.

As an example I give this https://www.easyliveauction.com/auctioneers/johngoodwin/ - posted on here a few days ago.

Out of my area and never heard of them. I could pay to get a specific search engine for auctions/auctioneers, but as an experiment I tried to find their listings through a couple of general search engines. Not featured at all as far as I could find whereas any item on bidspotter, ibid, ibidder, ebay, and amazon listings is easy to search on any mainstream search engine.

As an aside, I listened to it online and the landrover vehicles appeared quite expensive, but the landrover spares were mostly dirt cheap. I would have attended but have a lot of things on this week and collection had to be by Friday noon. Judging by the buyer number commentary, most went to a single buyer present in the room  - was it anyone on here I wonder ??
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: stuart on May 27, 2021, 07:29:36 PM
its all bad , im being scamed by soem one via paypal  and thear card who says after 90 days something is not as described , looks liek im gonna be screwed , i will however go to small clames coutr
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: oilstain on May 28, 2021, 07:53:26 AM
^^^^
Ebay works well from a buyers and sellers points if both the buyer and seller are fair and honest but unfortunately if one of the parties are out to cheat the other that is when the problems start and you can’t relay on ebay for fair and impartial assistance.
Ebay fees being another issue………….. >:D
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: Rog-from-Bix on May 28, 2021, 10:33:32 AM
I have been sent a very nice money off offer on listing fees for this weekend not sure if it is a general offer but if it is it may be time to list some items.
Title: Re: eBay rip off
Post by: GlenAnderson on May 28, 2021, 01:31:26 PM
its all bad , im being scamed by soem one via paypal  and thear card who says after 90 days something is not as described , looks liek im gonna be screwed , i will however go to small clames coutr

May I ask how much is at stake?