kroogur Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Is there any law that says another company can't start up a fresh internet auction site? If ebay crashes or shapes up i could care less some healthy competition would be a good thing. Things i 'd like to see: A properly functioning feedback system for example if both parties are happy then cool good feedback ensues but if a neg is left there will be a dispute system for this and the auction site will decide if the neg is valid if not then it does not get filed thereby eliminating retaliatory negs. A built in shipping calculator for all major forms of shipping to cut down on shipping gouging and there will be no option to add "handling fees" all you get as a seller is the starting price, and the exact shipping, if it is discovered that the weight was incorrect ie: adding excessive packing to weigh down the package then the seller gets charged back for it. If you sell and your item doesn't go for mega bucks it's not your responsibility to gouge the buyerIt's the risk you take as a seller. I think a pay system like Paypal can work but there should be an equal amount of protection for the seller perhaps a free or lowcost track system to verify receipt of item thereby reducing buyers scamming sellers. Any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buyatari Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Here's an interesting comment that was posted to eBay's forums: Ebay has become far too arrogant recently, imposing "brilliant idea" changes to things that have worked perfectly well for years and don't need to be changed (see my thread on the idiotic new checkout page). They expect a huge negative response to these feedback changes and they intend to weather the storm. They will not listen to criticism; they are superior to all of us. They will only listen when their stock plunges to $15 and they start panicking; then they won't be so superior. Question: how many thousands upon thousands of old user ID's which the worst sellers on eBay long ago abandoned because the feedback was so terrible (hundreds, if not thousands, of negatives), will instantly become golden 100% positive user ID's (with all of those negatives hidden in detailed feedback)? Think about that. All of the sellers who literally worked for years to maintain a 99.9% rating have been bitch-slapped by eBay: an awful seller with 1,500 negatives on an abandoned user ID now has a better feedback score! Ebay is now an arrogant, incompetent company, seemingly intent on driving away the very people that made it into a multi-billion-$ monopoly in the first place. ..Al where is the link to this? Our bitching does no good here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Is there any law that says another company can't start up a fresh internet auction site? If ebay crashes or shapes up i could care less some healthy competition would be a good thing. Why would there be a law against that? There are tons of auction sites on the internet, but most are specialized in a specific area (and many of those do quite well). There have been some attempts to make broader auction sites, but those have not fared well. Such as Yahoo! Auctions, which was shut down last year. Amazon.com had auctions at one point as well. It's just very hard to compete against eBay as they are a huge juggernaut. However, there are so many people disgruntled with eBay now that the time may be ripe for another company to launch an auction service. Everyone yammers at Google to do so, and you have to wonder if they've been working on something behind the scenes (one can hope!) ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 where is the link to this? Our bitching does no good here Main link to their forums: http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/ For instance, lots of bitching in their Feedback forum: http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=113 Don't know which thread the above post came from--it was forwarded to me by someone who's been reading eBay's forums, and he's quite furious with eBay himself (he's already called them twice). ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buyatari Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Is there any law that says another company can't start up a fresh internet auction site? If ebay crashes or shapes up i could care less some healthy competition would be a good thing.Things i 'd like to see: A properly functioning feedback system for example if both parties are happy then cool good feedback ensues but if a neg is left there will be a dispute system for this and the auction site will decide if the neg is valid if not then it does not get filed thereby eliminating retaliatory negs. A built in shipping calculator for all major forms of shipping to cut down on shipping gouging and there will be no option to add "handling fees" all you get as a seller is the starting price, and the exact shipping, if it is discovered that the weight was incorrect ie: adding excessive packing to weigh down the package then the seller gets charged back for it. If you sell and your item doesn't go for mega bucks it's not your responsibility to gouge the buyerIt's the risk you take as a seller. I think a pay system like Paypal can work but there should be an equal amount of protection for the seller perhaps a free or lowcost track system to verify receipt of item thereby reducing buyers scamming sellers. Any other ideas? Anyone who can add should have no problem with shipping charges. Don't like the price don't bid. Ebay even allows you to sort items by price with shipping costs included to make it easy for the lazy. That "problem" has been solved. Getting ripped off means you don't get what was listed in the auction. Or you had a buyer do a credit card chargeback after he recieved his item. If the shipping costs are listed then sorry Bud you didn't get ripped off. People bitching to eBay about stupid crap like this is what starts them making all these changes. The shipping costs for the most part are to offset the fess ebay keeps increasing. In fact ebay sent out an email listing this as an option to sellers to offset the paypal fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The shipping costs for the most part are to offset the fess ebay keeps increasing. In fact ebay sent out an email listing this as an option to sellers to offset the paypal fees. I've always felt that sellers should absorb eBay's fees as part of the price of doing business and that this should come out of the price of the item, not by gouging buyers via shipping. I've always charged exact shipping and absorb any fees and packaging costs through the final item value. Did eBay really send out an email suggesting that sellers raise their shipping costs to offset PayPal fees?? ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buyatari Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 (edited) The shipping costs for the most part are to offset the fess ebay keeps increasing. In fact ebay sent out an email listing this as an option to sellers to offset the paypal fees. I've always felt that sellers should absorb eBay's fees as part of the price of doing business and that this should come out of the price of the item, not by gouging buyers via shipping. I've always charged exact shipping and absorb any fees and packaging costs through the final item value. Did eBay really send out an email suggesting that sellers raise their shipping costs to offset PayPal fees?? ..Al Well there are many companies outside of ebay that charge a handling fee. In fact most big compaines do. A few offer free shipping from time to time but many charge over and above the shipping costs. Bidders have the freedom to choose as long as its clearly listed. To force a non handling rule is too hard to enforce and too unfair in some cases (arcade machine for example). Al for you this may be the best policy but not for all sellers. You are dealing with picky collectors who get all upset about the finest of details. Charge one cent over cost and Jetset would start a ban Al thread. Did eBay suggest sellers increase shipping costs to absorb fees? Yes they did. When paypal first arrived on the scene some sellers charged a fee to those who used it. After this went on for a bit ebay prohibited this practice and sent sellers a notice of this. You were given alternative methods to absorb these fees. Offer a discount to those who did not use paypal and to "charge a handling fee" were 2 of them. Ohh and for those of you looking for a Google auction service. http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/sig...cgi?ga05&51 Edited January 30, 2008 by Buyatari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroogur Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Don't like the price don't bid. Myself like alot of folks turn to ebay when we want something very specific, things that are no longer available anywhere else so we have no other options if we want something otherwise unobtainable. sometimes you get a fair deal but often i have received small light items that i was charged $10 or more for shipping and when it arrives i have seen $1-$2 printed on the shipping label Even if it was a buck or two over actual shipping i wouldn't mind so much but good lord some of these sellers are brutal. I don't sell alot on ebay but when i do i charge exactly what it costs to ship it's the fair and customer friendly thing to do. Gouging is a very ugly business practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroogur Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Ohh and for those of you looking for a Google auction service. http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/sig...cgi?ga05&51 Thanks for the link i done signed it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Is there any law that says another company can't start up a fresh internet auction site? If ebay crashes or shapes up i could care less some healthy competition would be a good thing.Things i 'd like to see: A properly functioning feedback system for example if both parties are happy then cool good feedback ensues but if a neg is left there will be a dispute system for this and the auction site will decide if the neg is valid if not then it does not get filed thereby eliminating retaliatory negs. A built in shipping calculator for all major forms of shipping to cut down on shipping gouging and there will be no option to add "handling fees" all you get as a seller is the starting price, and the exact shipping, if it is discovered that the weight was incorrect ie: adding excessive packing to weigh down the package then the seller gets charged back for it. If you sell and your item doesn't go for mega bucks it's not your responsibility to gouge the buyerIt's the risk you take as a seller. I think a pay system like Paypal can work but there should be an equal amount of protection for the seller perhaps a free or lowcost track system to verify receipt of item thereby reducing buyers scamming sellers. Any other ideas? There HAS to be a handling charge as the seller has to pay the guy who packs your item and pay for the supplies/boxes/packaging to get the item to the buyer in one piece. So if an item cost me $35 in shipping I would charge the buyer $45 to cover my costs. The box alone usually costs me $6 and I have to buy 500 of those at a time to get that price. I am not eating it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The shipping costs for the most part are to offset the fess ebay keeps increasing. In fact ebay sent out an email listing this as an option to sellers to offset the paypal fees. I've always felt that sellers should absorb eBay's fees as part of the price of doing business and that this should come out of the price of the item, not by gouging buyers via shipping. I've always charged exact shipping and absorb any fees and packaging costs through the final item value. Did eBay really send out an email suggesting that sellers raise their shipping costs to offset PayPal fees?? ..Al Wow I hope so, I cant absorb that much in charges. My ebay fees alone we over $2000 last month, We spend $500 a week just in bubble wrap. Ebay is becoming crazy. I guess there is no free lunch so we have to raise prices.. I wish there were another option. No way the seller absorbs the packaging and employee cost. The buyer bought the item the buyer pays the cost. I dont gouge but I do include that cost along with the actual shipping into what I charge to ship the item. It my case most items are large. Either 40+ lbs or pallet shipments over 200lbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroogur Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 There HAS to be a handling charge as the seller has to pay the guy who packs your item and pay for the supplies/boxes/packaging to get the item to the buyer in one piece. So if an item cost me $35 in shipping I would charge the buyer $45 to cover my costs. The box alone usually costs me $6 and I have to buy 500 of those at a time to get that price. I am not eating it All depends on how you go about it, how much you sell and how much you want do for yourself, i never have any trouble finding free boxes simply by either getting them from work, going around to other businesses and asking, same again on packing materials re-using popcorn, newspapers,bubble wrap etc. is a great way to save money and it costs most business money to throw that stuff away so they are usually happy to just give it away. I pack my own stuff so that saves money as well. Sounds like you are a high volume seller so i imagine you you would have more overhead that the "part time" seller. High volume sellers usually aren't dealing in exceptionally rare items so i tend to buy those items from places like Amazon who has very reasonable shipping rates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kroogur Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Wow I hope so, I cant absorb that much in charges. My ebay fees alone we over $2000 last month, We spend $500 a week just in bubble wrap. Ebay is becoming crazy. I guess there is no free lunch so we have to raise prices.. I wish there were another option. No way the seller absorbs the packaging and employee cost. The buyer bought the item the buyer pays the cost. I dont gouge but I do include that cost along with the actual shipping into what I charge to ship the item. It my case most items are large. Either 40+ lbs or pallet shipments over 200lbs. See thats in perspective for me for items that large i can understand paying more for shipping for such items, i'm trying to figure a way to target people charging $10-$12 to ship a single DVD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Wow I hope so, I cant absorb that much in charges. My ebay fees alone we over $2000 last month, We spend $500 a week just in bubble wrap. Ebay is becoming crazy. I guess there is no free lunch so we have to raise prices.. I wish there were another option. No way the seller absorbs the packaging and employee cost. The buyer bought the item the buyer pays the cost. I dont gouge but I do include that cost along with the actual shipping into what I charge to ship the item. It my case most items are large. Either 40+ lbs or pallet shipments over 200lbs. See thats in perspective for me for items that large i can understand paying more for shipping for such items, i'm trying to figure a way to target people charging $10-$12 to ship a single DVD Yeah, I agree, shipping 40+ pound items or entire pallets is entirely different than shipping the smaller items people around here typically deal with on eBay. There's no excuse for charging $10 to ship a single DVD or any other small items under a pound. I would never pay that much for a regular online store and I certainly wouldn't pay that on eBay either. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buyatari Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Wow I hope so, I cant absorb that much in charges. My ebay fees alone we over $2000 last month, We spend $500 a week just in bubble wrap. Ebay is becoming crazy. I guess there is no free lunch so we have to raise prices.. I wish there were another option. No way the seller absorbs the packaging and employee cost. The buyer bought the item the buyer pays the cost. I dont gouge but I do include that cost along with the actual shipping into what I charge to ship the item. It my case most items are large. Either 40+ lbs or pallet shipments over 200lbs. See thats in perspective for me for items that large i can understand paying more for shipping for such items, i'm trying to figure a way to target people charging $10-$12 to ship a single DVD I just can't see how anyone who has used ebay for a month or longer would bid on a dvd with $12 shipping unless they REALLY wanted it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Beard Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The box alone usually costs me $6 and I have to buy 500 of those at a time to get that price. :!: :!: :!: :!: What kind of boxes are you buying that are so expensive, especially in that quantity!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The shipping costs for the most part are to offset the fess ebay keeps increasing. In fact ebay sent out an email listing this as an option to sellers to offset the paypal fees. I've always felt that sellers should absorb eBay's fees as part of the price of doing business and that this should come out of the price of the item, not by gouging buyers via shipping. I've always charged exact shipping and absorb any fees and packaging costs through the final item value. Did eBay really send out an email suggesting that sellers raise their shipping costs to offset PayPal fees?? ..Al I lived in the UK until a few years ago and shortly before I left eBay UK changed their rules to state that sellers could not increase shipping costs to cover eBay and PayPal fees. Did this happen internationally as well? The UK rules clearly do not allow for adding eBay fees to shipping/handling costs (UK Shipping Policy) - "Handling Fee: Actual packaging materials costs may be charged. A handling fee in addition to actual postage cost may be charged if it is not excessive. Sellers who want to be sure they are in compliance with this policy may charge actual postage costs plus actual packaging materials cost." Interestingly, the US rules US Shipping Policy do not include the last sentence from the UK rules (above): "Handling Fee: Actual packaging materials costs may be charged. A handling fee in addition to actual shipping cost may be charged if it is not excessive." There is all this discussion on sellers' price gouging via increased shipping costs - well what about eBay price gouging via the new final value fees? The charges were excessive before - now they are prohibitive to all but high volume high price sellers (unless you're willing to make no money from your sales). I for one will now be listing as much as I can before 20th Feb and then exclusively selling via the AA and DP forums. Only downside is that I will miss the ding dongs who drive the prices up on my eBay auctions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemoncurry Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The box alone usually costs me $6 and I have to buy 500 of those at a time to get that price. :!: :!: :!: :!: What kind of boxes are you buying that are so expensive, especially in that quantity!? Yeah, I would think most boxes in that quantity would be closer to one tenth that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The box alone usually costs me $6 and I have to buy 500 of those at a time to get that price. :!: :!: :!: :!: What kind of boxes are you buying that are so expensive, especially in that quantity!? Yeah, I would think most boxes in that quantity would be closer to one tenth that much. Given that the OP stated he's shipping 40+ pound packages and entire pallets of merchandise, I'm guessing these are very large and heavy-duty boxes. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemoncurry Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 (edited) The fees aren't going up that much, people. Edit: I'll elaborate later, I had some numbers listed but I think I found errors, shouldn't go with my 2AM scribblings, I'm whipping up a spreadsheet now to tell the whole story... Edited January 30, 2008 by lemoncurry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemoncurry Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Given that the OP stated he's shipping 40+ pound packages and entire pallets of merchandise, I'm guessing these are very large and heavy-duty boxes. ..Al Oh, yeah, most boxes wouldn't work for that I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Beard Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The box alone usually costs me $6 and I have to buy 500 of those at a time to get that price. :!: :!: :!: :!: What kind of boxes are you buying that are so expensive, especially in that quantity!? Yeah, I would think most boxes in that quantity would be closer to one tenth that much. Given that the OP stated he's shipping 40+ pound packages and entire pallets of merchandise, I'm guessing these are very large and heavy-duty boxes. Gotcha. I missed that part I guess. I just saw those numbers and jumped out of my seat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetset Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 The shipping costs for the most part are to offset the fess ebay keeps increasing. In fact ebay sent out an email listing this as an option to sellers to offset the paypal fees. I've always felt that sellers should absorb eBay's fees as part of the price of doing business and that this should come out of the price of the item, not by gouging buyers via shipping. I've always charged exact shipping and absorb any fees and packaging costs through the final item value. Did eBay really send out an email suggesting that sellers raise their shipping costs to offset PayPal fees?? ..Al I'd love to see this supposed email. especially since Ebays TOS prohibits excessive shipping and "handling" charges, them suggesting or even openly allowing this is in direct conflict with what they have established. The fees aren't going up that much, people. Doesn't matter. The minute ebay, aka "the evil monopoly" raises their fees, the panties get all bunched up, and we get a 10 page rant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Man, the eBay forums are on fire! Some of the comments in the Powersellers forum are great! :D I'm laughing my ass off. eBay is going to have to respond somehow to this backlash.. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerwannabee Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 (edited) The fees aren't going up that much, people. Listing fee + Gallery + FVFs: $9.99 item actually decreases, $1.07 to $1.02 $29.99 item, $2.67 to $3.36 $79.99 item, $5.44 to $6.12 If you are a Powerseller above 4.8 DSRs, you will get a 15% discount off FVFs, so your final costs will be $.89, $3.01 and $5.50 respectively. Well, what happens if you did not use a Gallery picture. what are the increases then? here you go $9.99 item $.72 to $1.02 thats a 41.67% increase $29.99 item $2.32 to $3.36 thats a 44.83% increase $79.99 item $5.09 to $6.12 thats a 22.24% increase Think about it this way. Ebay in effect has said "We are forcing you to now pay for the gallery picture, and not only that but we are jacking up the rates as well and then we will straight up lie to you and tell you how we are lowering the prices and giving you a free gallery picture. And even with the free gallery picture the rates are still going up. $9.99 item $1.07 to $1.02 oh yeah a whopping 4.7% decrease $29.99 item $2.67 to $3.36 even with the free picture that is a 25.84% increase! $79.99 item $5.44 to $6.12 so if you sell a big ticket item they will only increase it by 12.5%! But lemoncurry if you read the posts you will see that most of the outrage is the fact that they also decided to make it so that the seller can never give a negative feedback to a buyer for any reason whatsoever. And then there is the 21 day holding of the money by Paypal. So in effect sellers are not just upset they are getting screwed by Ebay, that happens all the time. Sellers are upset because this time they are getting gangbanged by Ebay. Edited January 30, 2008 by homerwannabee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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