Ebay fees :(

sisterpine · #21 03/16/10, 09:49 PM

If folks do not want to play by the rules, that is their choice. I prefer to play by the rules and at this time I may be beyond my price point if I use Ebay. This is a choice i need to make for me and my business. Those who are comfortable getting around the rules...that is just the way you do business.

ErinP · #22 03/17/10, 10:04 AM

I agree.

But at the same time, it would be downright foolish to make the rules MORE restrictive than they actually are.

Bountiful Ranch · #23 04/01/10, 01:37 PM

Ebay actually made me use a different email address because my email was to close to my user name.

I think I give my soap away on Ebay so I only use it for advertising here and there.
I list maybe once a month several bars with the hope that they like the soap and start buying off my website. Of course I get those that order off my website and remind me what I sold on ebay for. At first I was a dummy in that area but now I say that is the price and they are buying still.

I do not understant etsy and I am wondering about Amazon.Anyone with experience?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErinP

The way I read eBay rules, you are expressly forbidden to mention your store by name, link directly, or to state your store's address.

HOWEVER, near as I can tell, it's legal to tell people that you have a non-ebay store.
My listings, for example, now say: eBay rules forbid linking off-site, or even referring you to my store's address, but I can't help it if you might do a basic Google search on my store's name. Nor can I help it if you then discover that I carry all the same fabrics on my website, but at 10-25% off my prices here!

Is it legal? I dunno yet! lol
But, technically I haven't broken any rules.

tarmogoyf · #24 05/12/10, 01:39 AM

I've found that its never been cost effective for me to open a store. maybe if I was doing several thousand dollars in sales a month. but not with just doing a couple hundred. as thats like having to give away the first $16.00 I make a month to ebay, plus reduced listing fees on top of that. and now with items being able to be listed for 30 day spans, I dont see the point of even having a store.

also, if anyone wants to do exact calculations on things. here is the best fee calculator that I've found:

http://www.rolbe.com/ebay.htm

romysbaskets · #25 05/12/10, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bountiful Ranch

Ebay actually made me use a different email address because my email was to close to my user name.

I think I give my soap away on Ebay so I only use it for advertising here and there.
I list maybe once a month several bars with the hope that they like the soap and start buying off my website. Of course I get those that order off my website and remind me what I sold on ebay for. At first I was a dummy in that area but now I say that is the price and they are buying still.

I do not understant etsy and I am wondering about Amazon.Anyone with experience?

Hey Bountiful Ranch!
I did try etsy....at Christmas time with my seashell ornaments. I sold them on craigslist and right here on HT. I am much happier doing my modest sales this way. Not a single ornament sold on etsy. I grew tired of ebay although I followed every rule, never even charged a handling fee and really was above board. For what I sell it is not a good fit. I heard that from others who have tried etsy incidentally. You may want to check out www.davesgarden.com I have seen soap there, not sure of the business you would do but it is free to list and they charge 3% of the sale price. Which is pretty good for the little items I thought. At least you know what it will cost and only if it sells. My sister in law loves Amazon but their fees are not cheap. Again the fit for me was wrong. You have to qualify to sell toys at Christmas! She had to wait one year of sales to get in on the Christmas sales? I have never heard of such a thing. I like it simple....the people here are wonderful. I know craigslist you get spammed but hey, free is awfully nice! I meet such good people with my items, always in a safe local spot....a coffee shop in a library....

Best of luck to each of you! It is not easy out there for anything but niches are very nice to acquire as some of you have!

chicamarun · #26 05/12/10, 09:31 AM

I used to do eBay full time. I was working 80 hours a week and a Gold and sometimes platinum power seller (I have the t-shirt to prove it! LOL)

We stopped full-time when we moved to the farm - and we did some of it for 1 more season but that was about it.

We were having some of the same problems - the fees etc. I was paying up to $400/month in fees because of the stuff I sold. If I were to have a store front (actual building) - I know my lease would be more than that and I wouldn't sell nearly as much.

In the 5-6 years of full time selling we had 1 serious problem which wasn't even caused by us - I had shipped it via a UPS store insured etc and it arrived "damaged" though UPS said when they finally got the guy to allow them to come pick it up (per their insurance policy rules and if he wanted his money back they got the item) they said it looked fine and worked - but THEY paid just to get him off their backs!

This is the way I look at it and still do if we decide to start selling on eBay again.

1) Do I sell enough to cover my costs? If not - do I need to raise my pricing and can I?
2) Would I sell as much if I sold it somewhere else? (I will tell you right now I never look at etsy or any place other than eBay or Amazon for 95% of my stuff)
3) Is it worth my time to sell it?

Then if you decide you WANT to sell on eBay - you really should play by their rules because no one is forcing you to sell their and they do have (in my opinion) an incredible marketing place.

sisterpine · #27 05/12/10, 08:36 PM

Well said! I agree totally, it is a choice now and has always been a choice. I get very irritated when I am looking for an item on e-bay and see it selling for a buck with 29.99 for shipping of something like a pair of earrings! sisterpine

Ken Scharabok · #28 05/12/10, 10:34 PM

eBay initial attitude was it was the responsibility of the buyer to understand S&H charges prior to purchasing. Then they realized how much revenue they were losing in the type sale you mentioned.

Now a buyer can rate a seller on five aspects, one of which is reasonable shipping charges. eBay monitors the overall percentage and can suspend or terminate a seller with poor ratings.

I recently had a sale of a propane forge to someone in AU. Shipping charges would equal the cost of the forge. I gave him the option of canceling the sale and he did.

I sometimes get an irritated buyer would thought the shipping charges were too high (I charge actual plus $1 handing per shipment). I can't control the rates of USPS or UPS.

rcornish · #29 06/14/10, 09:32 AM

Selling on eBay is a balance act to be sure, between eBay fees, PayPal fees, shipping charges and leaving enough to make a profit as well. Certainly over the years the continued upward pressure on fees charged by eBay has driven off many a fine seller and left buyers with a lot less choice of what used to be a good thing. On the other hand, those users who brag here in an open forum of how they are screwing eBay and everyone else in breath and the next condemn eBay for being so greedy and that is the justification for not adhering to the rules and even social decency I put one step below eBay own greed driven hunger. Just my two cents mind you... But if you are going to use someones processes you agree to be bound by the rules involved. If it is not a set of rules you can live with that it is time to move on to something else. And for the record, eBay has always been very open and upr front about rate changes, giving plenty of advance notice.

luvzmybabz · #30 07/18/10, 08:26 AM

I started selling on ebay early in 2001, and did great with my nickels and dimes. But then they started raising fees and so I started to decrease my business and when the recession hit I ended up using ebay for tax purposes but you can only use a business like this for losses for 3 out of 5 years. I have not sold on ebay for 2 years now not worth the hassle to lose money taking into effect that I use gas to go to estate and garage sales to find inventory and all my time and even tough I loose money I can not take a lose on my taxes. I do have a bit of stuff left that I have been considering listing just to get rid of it as there are a few things left that I might actually make a profit on. The fact that ebay now owns paypal and when they tried to force you to only take paypal, many fought this and obviously won as Inow see many auctions with MO or check options but Ebay lost us a lot of customers when they tried this, now do not let you leave bad feedback for non paying buyers while you have to fight them for the fees back. There will always be thouse that buy from china and sale with really doing nothing but sitting at the computer but for those of us that worked hard to build ebay up ( ebay used to be the GO To PLACE for vintage and glassware, now you have to sort through the junk to find anything) just not worth the hassle anymore.

southerngurl · #31 07/18/10, 01:04 PM

I quit using it long ago for selling and hardly use it even for buying these days.

I'm on craigslist more than anything, though they drive me nuts to because they WILL NOT get one in our area. All of them are 2 hours away in different directions so very annoying. They do not appear to monitor their forums where people are asking for more locations.

Beaners · #32 07/19/10, 08:43 AM

I wish I had seen this thread when it was first posted. I also wish that a certain old thread, probably on the poultry board, hadn't been pruned at some point. It was a discussion about eggbid that included a member saying that they created other accounts on ebay to bid up the prices of the things they were selling. They claimed they were doing it because ebay made the fees so expensive. (Nevermind that it was their customers they were actually cheating.)

Kayleigh

Ken Scharabok · #33 07/19/10, 08:52 AM

EBay reortedly has a program which compares the cookie of the one doing with listing with the cookier(s) of those doing the bidding; If you are caught bidding against you own item, you can get permanently kicked off eBay.

It has been a while now since I've heard of a group of guys from TX who were rigging bets. Say Party B bigs very high against a particular arrowhead and wins. Payment is made. However Party A then bids high against an arrowhead of Party B. This went on between several individuals. All of their arrowheads were fakes (recent reproductions). If a legimate bidder stepped in, they member(s) of their group would quite bidding.

Jo in PA · #34 08/20/10, 10:11 AM

I have been selling on ebay for several years. I use to have very good sales. Ever since they imposed the new fees and since items are no longer listed in stores, my sales have dropped drastically. I have no idea why the fees would affect my sales. Anyone else notice that their sales have dropped in the last couple of months?

Bandit · #35 08/25/10, 06:18 PM

I thought I was the only one here that was negative about Fee-Bay ?
Me , I love and use Craigs List .
We just sold a item for $ 1200 . cash in the hand , not in No Pay Pal never never land .
with 8 offers , from $ 300 to $900 , with 4 @ $ 1200 . This on a $ 5.00 investment .
Bob

GoldenCityMuse · #36 09/02/10, 09:31 AM

ecrater.com is a pretty reasonable site. No listing or selling fees, just pay the google checkout fees.

here is my site:
http://insulator-king.ecrater.com/

GoldenCityMuse · #37 09/02/10, 10:28 AM

Oh, and I have made 88 sales with very little effort on my part. If I was really working diligently, I would have several hundred sales. But I am very happy with the ones I have made!

longhorngal · #38 09/02/10, 01:07 PM

What are you all still doing at Ebay? Come on over to Bonanzle! I'm new there but already have had 6 sales and I'm small time. Very helpful people-totally different from Ebay.
Just follow my signature sig link.

GoldenCityMuse · #39 09/02/10, 07:41 PM

http://www.powersellersunite.com/

This is a really great site that lists all the viable alternatives to eBay. Good forums, and decent dialogue. You can get a lot of 1st hand info about what sites work best for you.

SquashNut · #40 09/13/10, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigmudder77

every thing goes up but what you make

i screw ebay every way i can $10 item with $140 handling fees i get charged the fee for the $10 from ebay and pocket the $140 with no charge

also do it with the shipping and handling

any way to screw them over works great for me since they charge me almost $100 for selling a $600 item its crap go to craigslist and deal with the stupid people and spam but its free to post so thats a good thing

i am a buyer and a seller on e-bay and i won't buy auctions that are set up like this. I think if you want to be dishonest like that with e-bay, you might treat me that way too. JMHO