Author Topic: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...  (Read 191876 times)

Offline JediJman

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #615 on: February 15, 2014, 09:53 PM »
Thanks Greg.  My take on offers is that its ideally helping out both seller and buyer.  If you intend to sell an item for $100, you're going to have to pay eBay and paypal fees of at least $5-6.  And after being up a whole week, you have no bids, so chances of selling at that price are greatly reduced.  Then someone comes along promising to buy direct for $90.  The buyer clearly saves $10 vs. the initial price,  but the seller is only getting $4 less than he intended with no fees and no Ebay siding with seller complaints. I typically get buyers to see the light, but amazes me how many people don't get it.
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Offline Greg

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #616 on: February 15, 2014, 10:19 PM »
Thanks Greg.  My take on offers is that its ideally helping out both seller and buyer.  If you intend to sell an item for $100, you're going to have to pay eBay and paypal fees of at least $5-6.  And after being up a whole week, you have no bids, so chances of selling at that price are greatly reduced.  Then someone comes along promising to buy direct for $90.  The buyer clearly saves $10 vs. the initial price,  but the seller is only getting $4 less than he intended with no fees and no Ebay siding with seller complaints. I typically get buyers to see the light, but amazes me how many people don't get it.

Ah, I see where you're coming from. Honestly I skimmed your earlier post (:-[) so I missed that buying direct part. You're 100% right though, making the deal outside of eBay does save fees and should reduce the price. I actually don't think I have gotten any offers for making a deal outside eBay, just offers to lower my price on eBay.

Personally I don't think I would do any off-eBay deals, since I don't know if eBay checks messages and regulates stuff like that (I know they have an annoying disclaimer on all messages). I've been working on getting a small toy business right now, so I wouldn't want to screw things up by getting my eBay account banned or something. I play things overly cautious though, that's just who I am.

Offline McMetal

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #617 on: February 15, 2014, 11:12 PM »
Yes, they frown upon outside deals for obvious reasons ($) but I'm not sure how aggressive they are in pursuing violations, scanning emails and so forth. Nothing would surprise me though.

I'm pretty much the same as Greg, typically I am not interested in doing side-deals as I put I lot of time and thought into my pricing up front and don't have a lot of wiggle room with my margins. Most of the offers I seem to get are pretty far below whatever savings I would recoup in fees too. But I have done it on occasion  and am certainly not averse to people asking.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #618 on: February 16, 2014, 12:46 AM »
Actually you can get turned in by people you make offers to if you piss them off enough over it.  I've noticed the requests from them to turn people in for contacting you about selling off-site, so it's a reason I tend not to do it.

I don't care for Ebay but it's a necessary evil to me at times.
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Offline JediJman

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #619 on: March 5, 2014, 10:45 AM »
Can we change the title of this thread to Everything eBay is a Scam?  I received an invoice from them for 9 auctions I held in January.  My amount due?  $82!!!  Are you kidding me?  Since when do they take 10% off both the final value and the shipping charge?  That means an auction ending for $85 + $15 shipping costs me $10 in Ebay fees plus $5 in paypal fees.  I would be better off marking the price down to $70(!) and selling local.  Incredible.  Great place to buy, ridiculous place to sell.
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Offline DSJ™

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #620 on: March 5, 2014, 11:27 AM »
Since when do they take 10% off both the final value and the shipping charge? 

Since March/April 2011.

Offline Dave

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #621 on: March 5, 2014, 12:28 PM »
Yeah, its pretty sad when you have to mark up shipping just to break even. 

Don't forget your PayPal fees as well.

I'm with you Justin.  If I can strike a deal off-line with people I do it every time, especially if I'm the seller.  It saves you a TON in fees.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #622 on: March 5, 2014, 09:54 PM »
Thing with that is when I see marke up shipping I don't buy.  Even a pretty decent deal I walk away.  I'm sure I'm not alone there.   :-\
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Offline P-Siddy

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #623 on: March 6, 2014, 08:34 AM »
Yeah, I pay attention to shipping costs, too... and not just on ebay.  I used to work at a place where I shipped goods and I couldn't believe how much they were making on shipping... $3-6 on every order.  Not a lot but it adds up in the long run.

Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #624 on: March 6, 2014, 08:38 AM »
For the most part I won't "pay" for shipping on ebay. So if I would bid $x then I actually bid $x - shipping cost. Unless I really want it. So shipping cost stops me from bidding on a lot of things.
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Offline Greg

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #625 on: March 6, 2014, 09:18 AM »
EBay and Paypal double-dipping on fees is very annoying, especially on shipping. With the top-rated discount I'm paying around 10% total in fees for my sales... I imagine fees could get to 15% or more for casual sellers who don't get discounts. I actually switched over to free shipping for all of my lastings last year. I figured there was no sense in leaving myself open to lower feedback ratings on shipping price if I was going to get hit with eBay fees either way. Ultimately I think that move boosted my sales, so I guess it was a win-win for me.

Offline Rob

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #626 on: March 6, 2014, 10:25 AM »
Yeah, its pretty sad when you have to mark up shipping just to break even. 

Don't forget your PayPal fees as well.

I'm with you Justin.  If I can strike a deal off-line with people I do it every time, especially if I'm the seller.  It saves you a TON in fees.

See, I'm almost with eBay on this... you're not 'breaking even' by marking up the costs.  You're just making more. 

When you sell something, you do so knowing full well that the cost of using their platform where you have access to millions of potential buyers is that you pay their fees.  That's just the cost of eBay.  If you don't like that, you're free to use Craig's List or have a garage sale.

I think eBay does a lot of dumb ****, and obviously they're pushing the percentage that they charge and at some point they'll need to increase profits on volume instead of fee percentage.  The charging a fee on shipping is because people were charging $2.00 for an expensive item then asking $30 to ship to avoid fees.

Offline McMetal

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #627 on: March 6, 2014, 02:14 PM »
EBay and Paypal double-dipping on fees is very annoying, especially on shipping. With the top-rated discount I'm paying around 10% total in fees for my sales... I imagine fees could get to 15% or more for casual sellers who don't get discounts. I actually switched over to free shipping for all of my lastings last year. I figured there was no sense in leaving myself open to lower feedback ratings on shipping price if I was going to get hit with eBay fees either way. Ultimately I think that move boosted my sales, so I guess it was a win-win for me.

I ended up doing the exact same thing...plus I was sick of people sticking it to me on combined shipping if they won multiple auctions. I never advertised that but people apparently expect it and at the rate they decide is fair, so it became tiresome quickly arguing with people over that crap.

The fees definitely suck but they way I look at it, I'm making way more off this stuff selling it there than anyplace else I could go, especially places like the local comic shop.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #628 on: March 6, 2014, 03:01 PM »
Auction houses typically charge anywhere from 10% to 25%

Seriously, I know eBay isn't Christie's, but it's not that terrible.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #629 on: March 6, 2014, 07:08 PM »
For the most part I won't "pay" for shipping on ebay. So if I would bid $x then I actually bid $x - shipping cost. Unless I really want it. So shipping cost stops me from bidding on a lot of things.

This is what I do...  I gauge what the shipping added on is, and if it puts it out of my reach of what I wanted to pay in the first place, I walk.  I do this even with online retailers like Amazon or EE as well.  If their shipping jacks it or I can't get free, I bail on the purchase...  It's all consumer perceptions really, but it's enough to make me walk on many auctions on Ebay.  You see something BIN for $10 you really wanted then the guy wants $12 shipping and you know you're getting it in the cheapest shipping method possible?  It's a turn-off to the seller, but that's me.

I never sell stuff on Ebay...  Looks like too much hassle.  I buy, but even that I do less of than I used to.

The other day I was buying a model kit from Asia...  Only way to get these kits, and they're awesome, but incredibly expensive.  I went through a 100 listings easily before I settled on the cheapest one between shipping ($3?  Asia?  Wow.) + BIN price...  I got it for less than $40 where these go for well more than that usually.

Likewise my RC tanks, I get many from Asia and they're huge.  I have to see a shipping I can live with or it jacks the BIN so high...  A friend of mine who sells and is in HK tells me how shipping isn't bad at all if you do it right, but many sellers overcharge because US customers assume it costs a ton to get something from them.  It's all in the packaging and the shipping method, and of course tracking it so it gets from A to B for sure.
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