eBay sticks it to the little guy... again! (eBay Final Value Fees - Now Including Postage!)

figarow on 27/03/2014 - 10:59
Last edited 27/03/2014 - 11:49 by 1 other user

Just when you thought eBay couldn't get any worse we find that greed knows no bounds in the latest eBay assault on sellers. Now thanks to the unsatisfied greed of eBay sellers must also pay fees on the postage price of their listings. This will push many sellers to close up shop. eBay likes to say "make it free postage", problem is free postage means the seller must pay all the fees to eBay meaning the postage costs of the item is also being taxed to eBay. Not fair? You bet it's not fair!!

Official eBay email Announcement of the changes…

In an increasingly dynamic ecommerce environment, we're committed to driving your success on eBay. As a leading Australian shopping destination, eBay must continue to adapt for the benefit of all users, sellers and buyers.

There are a number of important updates and changes coming in the Autumn Seller Release, a quick overview of each are set out below.

From 6 May 2014 selling fees (final value fees) will be charged on the total cost of a sale, i.e. the sale price + postage cost.

With more than 60% of items sold on eBay.com.au already offering free postage, the new way of calculating final value fees means all sellers pay a fee based on the total sale price, whether postage is included in the cost of an item or charged additionally. Customers love free postage and we know it can help increase the likelihood of a sale. If you can't make it free, make sure it's reasonable.

If you currently offer free postage on most of your items, this change will have little or no impact on you".

General Discussion

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Comments

  • shrek4 on 27/03/2014 - 11:20
    +39

    Guess the policy us designed to stop sellers selling a $10 item for $2 plus $12 postage where postage was say $4.

    Thus, they only pay fees on the $2 sale price. Postage gouging to save on fees has been going on for years. Can't blame ebay for trying to plug that hole.

    • brownbag on 27/03/2014 - 11:24
      +4

      agree - it sounds fair to me. If they're just adjusting prices to allow for postage and the total price paid on average doesn't increase, then it is much more fair for those of us who estimate our postage costs accurately.

      • RockyRaccoon on 27/03/2014 - 11:26
        +30

        If was truely for your benefit, they would make a small adjustment to the fees on the selling price to offset the extra revenue they get from the postage rorters.

        • brownbag on 27/03/2014 - 11:28
          +6

          Good point. If they haven't done that, then it sounds like they're taking the opportunity to increase their fees while trying to look like a good guy.

      • ESEMCE on 27/03/2014 - 11:47
        +17

        That's why they say they're doing it, but the reality is that the ONLY winner here is eBay who will make more money..

        Sellers will either make less if they absorb the extra fee or more likely Buyers will pay more cause Sellers pass on the fee.

        • austrajoni on 28/03/2014 - 22:07
          +7

          Sellers and buyers should support Quicksales, I sell on there and find it's good but slow at times and at other times it's great. It's free to list, free to edit, relist and there's no final value fee. If we all go there, it will prove serious competition to eBay who are now TRIPLE Dipping.

        • lousy on 29/03/2014 - 02:33
          +2

          agree to boycott ebay in support of alternative such as quicksales, lets just hope that they dont get bought out by ebay like their last competitor!

          http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/06/1060145721367.html

        • [Deactivated] on 30/03/2014 - 23:46

          Yeah I am gonna cancel my eBay account, their sellers fees are just too high now it's just not worth it anymore.

      • brentsbits on 27/03/2014 - 17:32
        +1

        That's a plausible reason but the reality of it (from a seller's point of view) is that if you offer free postage your item gets displayed higher in the rankings, so that's the incentive to do it.

        Now you just have no option. EBay is doing to to firstly grab more fees but also at some stage you can bet that they will launch some marketing campaign where "Everything is free postage" or something.

        • 2ndeffort on 27/03/2014 - 23:11
          +3

          Spot on, worst thing that ever happened to smaller sellers was the 'best match' default settign for searches. I reckon most buyers dont know what it is and how to change it. Essentially, a large part of 'best match' is that the seller is the best customer of eBay ie they pay the most fees. They try to dress this up by saying that the apply a quality control over sellers and tie their listing in best match to their feedback score etc but a lot of the time best match is really the folks that pay the most commission.

          I rarely find bargains on eBay anymore. I find loads of stuff at RRP or slightly below. Occasionally there is something interesting but not too often. I used to be a power-seller turning over a few $K per month. Stupidly I've kept the shop open to retain all of my feedback scores etc, I think I might shut it up now, costing me $$ to keep it open.

        • Speckled Jim on 28/03/2014 - 10:05

          I rarely find bargains on eBay anymore

          Bought Project Gotham (2002) for $1.30 the other day. Postage was $1.20.

          When feeBay introduced mandatory direct-debit for fees, I stopped selling there. Luckily, I had just a handful of items remaining which I sold on forums.

        • itsfree on 28/03/2014 - 11:11

          they will launch some marketing campaign where "Everything is free postage" or something

          Yep. They're forcing us to make them look good.

        • lousy on 29/03/2014 - 02:35

          close the shop , just keep your account to retain your feedback

      • onlyletters on 30/03/2014 - 22:16
        +1

        Sellers are trying to save on fees to offer you cheaper prices, now sellers will pass the fees onto you, lets here you defend eBay now!!

    • KBZ on 27/03/2014 - 14:39

      Or maybe the item is el cheapo to produce or is not really highly valued i.e. old second hand phones etc but the exorbitant cost of postage makes it so.

    • Geewhizz on 28/03/2014 - 08:41

      Guess the policy us designed to stop sellers selling a $10 item for $2 plus $12 postage where postage was say $4.

      What I think it comes down to is yes, it has been done for this reason, so those who have circumvented fees this way have now cost the little guys that have always done things above board. It's unlikely to change the way these type of listings are posted though, because it minimises the cost to those sellers of paypal refunds.

      It's clearly going to increase postage costs though for the buyers.

    • jakeau on 29/03/2014 - 11:17
      -1

      Yeah, back in the day I listed a phone $1 Buy it now, $299 postage. Can't blame me, I was a battling teenager trying to make a dollar.

      • imcold on 29/03/2014 - 15:27
        +1

        but if the phone gets lost when sent via registered post its insurance value is $1

        • JimmyF on 30/03/2014 - 14:59
          +1

          No, its insurance vale would be whatever you put it down on the reg post form! In the old days, its use to be the first $100 was free, then $1 per extra $100 after that.

        • jakeau on 31/03/2014 - 15:37

          380 is on the level!

    • PoxyRadical on 30/03/2014 - 01:16

      They already added postage price limits years ago to stop that.

  • RockyRaccoon on 27/03/2014 - 11:25
    +3

    "In an increasingly dynamic ecommerce environment, we're committed to driving your success on eBay. As a leading Australian shopping destination, eBay must continue to adapt for the benefit of all users, sellers and buyers.

    How untrue….

    Must have hired Kevin's old spin merchants (Before the Lefties go up in arms, Tony's are still employed)

    Its to plug holes in Paypal's revenue as Shrek4 says, but its not for seller's or buyer's benefit.

    • brentsbits on 27/03/2014 - 17:32
      +1

      of course, Paypal will still demand proof of shipment for an item that has free postage.

  • mini2 on 27/03/2014 - 11:25

    I see where this is heading. Hypothetically if the seller wants to avoid FVF on postage, he/she could ask the buyer to separate the payment for the item and the postage. New round of funny looking eBay description I guess trying to inform the users to do this while circumventing eBay monitoring this kinda behaviour.

    It's not like they don't make enough as it is…FVF + listing fee + whatever else to promote the listing + PayPal.

  • banzini on 27/03/2014 - 11:48
    +19

    absolute scam

    • Windows7forever on 29/03/2014 - 15:47

      Couldn't agree more. They are pigs.

  • whodidthat on 27/03/2014 - 11:51
    +1

    Yup, we're covering all the sellers ebay has lost plus freebies & special deals offered to China based sellers and diamond grade sellers (ie The Nile).

  • whodidthat on 27/03/2014 - 11:52
    +15

    ebay says….If you don’t or can’t offer free postage on your items, consider how you can reduce your postage expenses to minimise the affect the change may have on you.

    I just wonder how much skin you can take off a bone?

  • Daabido on 27/03/2014 - 12:12
    +19

    I have said for almost a decade that eventually eBay will have the same fees as real auctioneers, around the 20% mark and it's getting there when you calculate PayPal into the equation and this latest increase of a charge on postage. Combined with the outrageous Australia Post increases over the last few years, it's not worth it anymore.

    • brentsbits on 27/03/2014 - 17:33

      Paymate is still an option to use with eBay and for high volume sellers it's surprisingly economical.

    • centrelink on 28/03/2014 - 09:50
      +1

      Australia Post is still losing money even with the increase in price.

      The increase in price is also happening at the end of this month…

      lame… we have to get punished for something another country pushes into..

      • ESEMCE on 28/03/2014 - 11:39
        +2

        Aus Post are making record profits and have done so since Internet shopping took off.
        They're "making a loss" on standard letters, but this loss is more than offset (as shown by their annual profit) by Parcels.

        • Pacify on 29/03/2014 - 14:42

          And thats why the Libs wanna privatize it, so the parcel unit can be sold off >_>

        • 11112007 on 31/03/2014 - 07:28

          'record profits' - you have no idea what you are talking about. Show me these figures for 'record profit'?

        • Speckled Jim on 31/03/2014 - 23:03
          +1

          Bloody hell crazycs, it's been widely reported for over a year! It had particularly heavy media cycle rotation while the dollar was in parity with the $US last year, along with the Retailers Association calling for GST reform on overseas purchases.
          They were tightly interwoven.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/03/2014 - 12:16
    +4

    Hey anybody tried selling with Fishpond?
    I'm tired of FeeBay, about time some other decent company came up against them.
    Is it really that hard for somebody to develop something like eBay?

    • figarow on 27/03/2014 - 12:36
      +2

      It's easy to develop a site like eBay, heck I could do it. What is needed however is a LOT of money behind it. IMHO only a large corporation or high roller could provide competition for eBay. eBay is like Coles supermarket with no Wollies, Aldi etc to keep them honest, imagine how much Coles would charge if they were the only one? It would take tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising to properly launch and maintain a website to drive some of eBay's traffic. The reason so many small sites fail is lack of traffic, many have tried but all have failed and eBay knows it, they are a greedy king.. who pretends to care but really only cares about extracting more money from people.

      • austrajoni on 28/03/2014 - 22:09

        I sell on fishpond but they also take a cut of the postage fee. It's easy to list up on there, though.

      • Pacify on 29/03/2014 - 14:42

        maybe alibaba needs to go global

        • scotty on 29/03/2014 - 21:30

          Aren't they looking at IPO at NYSE? Definitely going global soon.

        • effgee on 30/03/2014 - 21:05

          isn't that what aliexpress is ? I've bought plenty there, just the feedback system is not as reliable as feebay

    • aocal on 28/03/2014 - 09:23
      +3

      www.quicksales.com.au allows you to sell for free, no fees at all except if you choose to use Paypal.

      • SirFlibbled on 28/03/2014 - 14:12
        +1

        sadly for some odd reason every time I've been to quicksales, the same items (from what it appears to be the same sellers based on pics and descriptions) are priced higher.

        If sellers sold at the same price as Ebay (or a bit less seeing they aren't paying fees) I'd be there in the flash.

        • austrajoni on 28/03/2014 - 22:10
          +3

          I do sell on QS cheaply and have done since 2006 because there are no fees, I pass on the savings to customers.

        • SirFlibbled on 29/03/2014 - 22:51

          Good to see there's some sellers with brains. Sadly when ever I've looked that hasn't been the case so I simply stopped.

      • centrelink on 28/03/2014 - 15:14

        waiting to be able to sell on amazon.. this sucks

      • bb_hunter on 28/03/2014 - 20:21
        +3

        I been selling on Oztion before quicksales bought it. It was good, low fees but moved Ebay when they offer 40 free items per month.
        One thing people overlooked is that if you offer free postage and client asks for a refund you loose the shipping chager as well.

    • mini2 on 02/04/2014 - 00:15

      Remember sold.com.au from way back? Fairfax isn't exactly small timers but even with their financial backing and a newspaper front to help promoting it, they too ended up shut up shop AND (IIRC…) sold it to Yahoo who in turn sold it to eBay.

      http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:IG1Uian86I4J:www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/06/1060145721367.html+&cd=16&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au&lr=lang_zh-CN|lang_zh-TW|lang_en&client=firefox-a

      • zhenjie on 02/04/2014 - 11:02

        Actually that sale to eBay didn't go through. It was kept in Yahoo's domain portfolio for a while until recently., Yahoo recently put it up for auction and it sold for just $14k USD

  • MelbBargainChaser77 on 27/03/2014 - 12:33
    +20

    The almost 10% fee they charge a seller isnt enough? Mongrels. PURE. CORPORATE. GREED

    • centrelink on 28/03/2014 - 09:55

      Well… which company isn't greedy?

      I think we commoners are always trying to say stuff to make ourselves feel better.. but at the end of the day I think we are all part of it..

      Take me for example.. I used to be one poor ass sorry person. I used to scab and make do with everything. I started a business in the hopes to make average income (and by average I mean around going from 20k a year to 50k a year).. I succeeded but I am never satisfied.. my success in the business makes 50k seem crap… few years later I'm making 6 figures now and yet.. i am still not satisfied.. back when i thought 50k was more than plenty, its not.. greed has taken over me and the desire for more money keeps growing.. i don't think i will even be satisfied with 8 figures…

      dam you human ego.. dam you..

      I remember the day youtube started to play ads on their videos and people started to complain.. but to me I was like.. so Youtube wanted to make billions.. who can really blame them?

  • whodidthat on 27/03/2014 - 13:26
    +4

    Oztion had the ideal opportunity to really make a difference back in 2006 and they failed! Quicksale made little difference of the site either.

    • figarow on 27/03/2014 - 13:29
      +5

      These smaller guys need to form together and pool their resources!!

    • scotty on 27/03/2014 - 15:21
      +4

      QuickSales made their seller-fee almost free last year and made almost no impact as well. What's needed is habit change for the consumers. Although whenever eBay teamed up with big retailers to push out some super deals, we'll be back on it again :(

      • SirFlibbled on 28/03/2014 - 14:13
        +1

        As I mentioned above. The change also needs to be from sellers. Prices on Quicksales are the same (often more) than on Ebay. If sellers cut their prices so they were making the same profit from both sites, more users would head over there to buy.

    • brentsbits on 27/03/2014 - 17:34

      The problem is that those sites don't get enough buyer traffic and thus sellers don't bother to go there. eBay has everyone over a barrel at the moment.

      • whodidthat on 27/03/2014 - 19:49
        +1

        The reason they don't get the traffic is because of poor site promotion. Should have vastly improved since 2006.

        Most of these ebay changes wouldn't be "so bad" if Australian TRS got the 20% FVF discounts that USA get!

    • StuffnStuff on 31/03/2014 - 11:10

      I've tried selling the same item on Ebay, Gumtree, Oztion, Quicksales etc. As much as I hate Ebay, they come up trumps each time. 2nd in line is Gumtree (also owned by Ebay).
      Whilst I hate their fees, they do invest in making items appear at the top of searches…such as google. So if someone is google-ing "Item abc", chances are your item will be in their results.

      On the plus side, Ebay users are registered so most of the time when someone buys, they will follow through with the sale. Unlike Gumtree and others where you get a lot of tyre kickers / scammers and time wasters.

      I guess you get what you pay for.

      I still hate EBay, but a necessary evil I guess.

  • plmko on 27/03/2014 - 13:36
    +4

    Ebay doesn`t care about the small guys anymore, they are after big corporates or big proprietaries to list their. The free shipping system, is clearly geared towards those players because they have bulk charges anyway.

    IMO Ebay honestly doesn't give a flipping bird about it`s sellers, they have not reason too. They can pull all this BS with "free shipping" and it will attract the hordes of buyers/scammers. Sellers will still flock to Ebay because there's money to be made. Investors will be pleased.

  • spychiatrist on 27/03/2014 - 13:59
    +3

    You still have scumtree, says feebay Australia.

    • figarow on 27/03/2014 - 14:32
      +2

      eBay owns Gumtree that is why Gumtree now charges to do virtually anything on the site. The only reason they don't charge for a listing is because people will go elsewhere for a free classifieds listing. Here is a list of what eBay have acquired over the years.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_eBay

    • King Tightarse on 27/03/2014 - 17:17
      +15

      IMHO Gumtree is a horrible place, full of crooks the desperate and the dodgy.
      Feels like wandering into Cash Converters.

      Haha neg all you want.
      Last time (the only time) I used it to buy a portable aircon, the seller freaked out from my questions, wouldnt give their address then started asking which police tasksforce I was from.
      Gumtree = many stolen goods.

      • porkupine888 on 27/03/2014 - 23:15
        +6

        disagree matey - i have sold quite a number of stuff on gumtree and all either good / 2nd hand / sealed and brand new stuff, nothing dodgy; i'd rather say : more timewasters that ask too many questions and then turn around and act like their measley offer was a million bucks; so yes, more like cashies for cheapos that can't afford to buy stuff that SOME honest people actually try to sell…

        • King Tightarse on 28/03/2014 - 00:32
          +6

          Sure like any sweeping statement there are exceptions - honest people, straight shooters etc. Mostly weirdo's though and definitely not for some reason those selling portable aircons.
          I asked "crazy" questions like "do you still have the receipt?" and "Is it under guarantee?" Nuts stuff like that.
          Could virtually hear the bong in the background.
          I am glad you agree it feels like Cash Converters, it really does.
          A losers paradise.

        • kwaker on 28/03/2014 - 09:18
          +1

          Lol so true. I do agree the time wasters are very frequent there. I just don't answer them, you can spot the stupid questions.

          If sellers say its basically new and only used a couple times then I ask for receipt or I'm not going to pay the near new price tag (usually just means its about 1-2 years older and used that much longer than seller claims but they want more money)

          Serious buyers just show up they don't waste time asking questions.

        • Speckled Jim on 28/03/2014 - 10:17

          Sold two items via GT last week without a drama. The second item was a DVD player and I kept showing the guy its various functions. He just wanted to leave, but I insisted he see it all worked.

          I placed trust in a GT seller in western Sydney last year. Paypal for payment (only $25) and he actually posted it to me.
          Risky? Sure. Lucky? Call it a calculated risk.

          But I should probably quit while I'm ahead.

        • tebbybabes on 28/03/2014 - 17:20

          I too have sold a few things on gumtree. Haven't had a bad experience yet. And it was all 2nd hand stuff that was very niche. Like 10 year old PC gear.

          I've also sold 2 flat screen monitors to happy customers. Stuff that was just gathering dust that I didn't have the heart to throw away as they were still in pretty good working order.

          I did have someone ask about a printer then change their mind, but it wasn't difficult or annoying at all. I guess I've been lucky.

      • bb_hunter on 28/03/2014 - 20:24

        I sold 2 cars, one oven on Gumtree without any problem.

  • bsk on 27/03/2014 - 14:33

    very unfair, how does Fishpond work? have heard that some people are using facebook

    • danyool on 27/03/2014 - 23:36

      yes, there are fb groups, eg North sydney region buy sell swap. Don't use it much, and not really an e-bay alternative, as it's mostly people selling second hand stuff, not new stuff, HDMI cables, etc.

    • itsfree on 28/03/2014 - 11:29

      There is also the official Facebook Marketplace (run by a third party called "Oodle" now though).

      yes, there are fb groups, eg North sydney region buy sell swap

      Yep those groups are crap. And last time I checked Marketplace, there just seemed to be a heap of con artists on there.

  • King Tightarse on 27/03/2014 - 17:15
    +3

    Never has a company more sorely needed some even competition and a solid kick in the gonads.
    Phuck them. But where else can we go? And thats the problem. They are a freaking monopoly.
    At this stage of the game only a major international corporation could take them on.
    Facebook, Google etc and god I hope they do.

    Pure greed.

    • whodidthat on 27/03/2014 - 19:52

      Quite a number of us asked Google a few years back, they said no.

    • itsfree on 28/03/2014 - 11:26

      Facebook

      They tried. Ended up selling it to a third party.

    • austrajoni on 28/03/2014 - 22:14
      +1

      Go to quicksales and give it a go, the more of us that list and buy there, the better.In NZ Trade Me showed eBay the door…

      • whodidthat on 30/03/2014 - 09:17

        I tried, believe me I tried! For 3 years.
        I even got involved in publicising the site, still didn't work.

        • austrajoni on 31/03/2014 - 12:26

          Keep trying, I manage to sell successfully on there by listing 100s of items across as many categories as I can.

    • Books quicksales on 29/03/2014 - 13:33
      +2

      Give quicksales another go, both for buying and selling. What have you got to lose?

    • Pacify on 29/03/2014 - 14:56

      Alibaba could easily expand into the australian market, they already have more revenue then ebay and amazon combined

    • brentsbits on 27/03/2014 - 17:37
      +12

      Dude, you will just see them charging $201 for it now. It will make precisely ZERO difference to you. Absolutely no difference whatsoever. What it DOES do is line eBay's pockets more. Which as a business they have every right to do but it's unethical what they are doing because instead of people listing the real cost of postage (which most do) they will be listing the cost of postage, plus 9% to make up for the fees.

      What this has done is actually make that $1 + $200 postage item cost you $219 now, to account for the additional fees that will be paid.

      • Letrico on 27/03/2014 - 18:15

        That is totally fine by me if they decided to charge $201 for it. Btw the item was worth somewhere that value and he was just fee dodging.

        I do sell stuff frequently as well and I actually find it doesn't affect me much. There are a specific profit margin per item sold and frequently postage quote is lesser than expected anyway. I only charge a flat shipping price that is usually the same amount or more and I just cover the few dollar extra.

        Seller are free to increase the price based on the fee BUT it still depends on the buyer to accept the inflated price or not that is why there are competition listings of the same product of various prices.

        eBay is sort of a free market and there is no way to control the price regardless there is fee or not. Most people that mark up to cover fee have high profit margin and if they do inflate the price. Don't buy from them.

        Hopefully this will help in decreasing the crazy illogical shipping price of $7 for a pen. At least with a logical shipping price we know what the seller want from the item. If it is too expensive, look elsewhere. I don't have to remind you since you are in Ozbargain website but since when do we complaint about high prices while we are too busy looking for a bargain?

        • brentsbits on 28/03/2014 - 03:22

          You are right only to an extent. If people were fee dodging in order to make an extra $18 of profit then yes, this fee hike will likely have not much effect on those items.

          However, at the lower prices (cables for a dollar etc.) the margins are so low that if they were doing that fee dodge it was likely the only thing that made the item profitable and in that case the price will rise accordingly.

          I do see your point but eBay is not a free market at all. The market pressures are entirely artificial and introduced by eBay. A free market is self regulating, eBay owns, runs and enforces the market, it's the exact opposite of a free market.

        • sparkles on 30/03/2014 - 10:56

          Anyone doing the "right" thing will now have to increase the postage cost by 10% to account for the extra fees. Buyers should be unhappy with this change too. The only winner is eBay.

          For example if I sell a single DVD, the postage would have be $2.00. It will now be $2.20. After the Aust Post increase it will be $2.40.

      • twinbag on 30/03/2014 - 17:30

        Actually they'd have to list nearer $220 to make the same profit.

        Always amazes me when buyers neg on postage fees, like they would rather pay a higher total cost so long as shipping was free.

    • King Tightarse on 27/03/2014 - 17:38
      +5

      If you see that you can always report it as fee avoidance.
      Pissweak reason for this fee increase.

      • brentsbits on 27/03/2014 - 17:43

        It's true but honestly, why would you bother reporting it, it allows the seller to reduce their price further and the buyer still wins.

        • King Tightarse on 27/03/2014 - 17:50
          +1

          If some guy is charging $1 for a laptop with $200 postage, sure I may well report him.
          All the rest of us have to pay our fees. Why should a sucker like that get away with it? AND pricks like that are part of eBays justification for fee increases such as we are seeing.

        • brentsbits on 27/03/2014 - 18:10

          They would have done it anyway. That stuff has been going on for years and years, it's just their next thing they think they can get away with doing without harming their business too much.

          I'm not saying that what that guy is doing is right but I can definitely see why he would do it.

        • itsfree on 28/03/2014 - 11:22

          They automatically detect this now anyway.

        • effgee on 30/03/2014 - 21:14

          finally. I've reported so many overt the years, I mean how hard would it be to have a simple ratio of postage price/total sale price, and weed out the main offenders ?

    • whodidthat on 27/03/2014 - 19:52

      Apart from China based sellers

  • Tragus on 27/03/2014 - 17:29
    +1

    Ebay and Paypal are taking the piss with their fees. Not a whole lot we can do about it though.

    I do find it interesting that every email that comes from Ebay comes up with a little green shield in my hotmail account. Somehow the one about increasing fees slipped through without this, as if they are intentionally trying to "notify us" without actually drawing attention to the email.

    • onlyletters on 31/03/2014 - 08:26

      I think its time OzBargain opened an eBay-like website and bring all the sellers over!!

  • [Deactivated] on 27/03/2014 - 17:29
    +1

    what a joke

  • brentsbits on 27/03/2014 - 17:42
    +4

    eBay continually does this kind of stuff to screw the seller.

    This isn't even as bad as removing the ability of sellers to leave honest feedback for buyers. Buyers will threaten with negative feedback to get their way, despite what you may have written in the listing or what you are doing is 100% legal. Then when they do it and you submit written evidence that the negative feedback is the fulfillment of a threat (which is specifically against their User Agreement) they refuse to remove it because "Feedback is subjective and based on the experience of the buyer".

    Sellers should have the option of leaving negative feedback for buyers. I can see why eBay abolished the practice, mainly because sellers still (for some unknown reason) have the ability to pre-block bidders with certain amounts of negative feedback in the past month. This means less buyers and less fees.

    This is just another nail in the coffin for eBay sellers.

    It's just not worth the hassle of dealing with the petulant children that make up a noticible portion of buyers on the site. They are so used to getting their own way that they throw a feedback tantrum when they don't get it, with no repercussions either.

    eBay is a pile of crap. I wish I could sell there because I made a living from it but ultimately I'm glad I don't anymore.

  • bluedufflecoat on 27/03/2014 - 18:45

    Is it only for buy it now listings? I think it would be very unfair to a seller if they sell something for 99c then have to fork out up to $10 postage because postage was offered free.

    • Tragus on 27/03/2014 - 19:50

      huh?

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