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[Vamps]

Ebay fees did go up a lot recently? I tend to wait till it is a free listing day or weekend and then list any Junk I have to sell.

[SheWhoMustNotBeOUTBID]

You do have to be careful with upping your postage costs to cover some of the ebay fee's.  Someone did that with us and we complained as I didn't think it right (and knew damn well it was against the rules) for the seller to expect us to pay her ebay fee's through 'postage costs' even though we were collecting the item lol.  We ended up not buying the item at all as all trust was lost. As a seller, usually, I am careful to charge as minimally as possible for postage fees.

As a seller, I'm afraid, you have to accept that ebay fees will be incurred.  Think also about the costs of running a shop.., far far more than ebay fee's.  My fees run at about 10% or less and to be honest, I have sold mobile phones in quite large quantitities recently and found the fee's to be a lot less than 10%.  I don't think ebay fees are that unreasonable.., it DID allow me to appeal to a very wide audience (I have quite a few regular European buyers now) which i would not find it as easy to get without ebay.

Yes, there have been a couple of times I've been burned through the rules on ebay, both as a buyer and a seller but I know this happens and its just one of those risks you have to accept.  

[Vamps]

You do have to be careful with upping your postage costs to cover some of the ebay fee's.  Someone did that with us and we complained as I didn't think it right (and knew damn well it was against the rules) for the seller to expect us to pay her ebay fee's through 'postage costs' even though we were collecting the item lol.  We ended up not buying the item at all as all trust was lost. As a seller, usually, I am careful to charge as minimally as possible for postage fees.

As a seller, I'm afraid, you have to accept that ebay fees will be incurred.  Think also about the costs of running a shop.., far far more than ebay fee's.  My fees run at about 10% or less and to be honest, I have sold mobile phones in quite large quantitities recently and found the fee's to be a lot less than 10%.  I don't think ebay fees are that unreasonable.., it DID allow me to appeal to a very wide audience (I have quite a few regular European buyers now) which i would not find it as easy to get without ebay.

Yes, there have been a couple of times I've been burned through the rules on ebay, both as a buyer and a seller but I know this happens and its just one of those risks you have to accept.  

Are you still being let loose on ebay......

[philhoward]

You do have to be careful with upping your postage costs to cover some of the ebay fee's.  Someone did that with us and we complained as I didn't think it right (and knew damn well it was against the rules) for the seller to expect us to pay her ebay fee's through 'postage costs' even though we were collecting the item lol.  

Now that's taking the pee...  But i have seen many 99p items with £30 postage to make the £30 value of the item (which does cost 99p to send) as a way of circumventing final value fees.  If it's against their rules (aside from the "excessive postage" one), no-one has told the sellers from Hong Kong yet..

If the item is of such a size that it warrants a courier cost (cos Royal Mail want the earth sometimes), then i'll offer collection - and also cash on collection as an option (seems fair?).  Apparently it's now a rule you HAVE to offer Paypal as a payment option??

[Turk]

If you want to use their commercial service, you have to pay those fees.  If you don't want to pay the fees, there are other outlets

For a trader, ebay is quite cheap - remember a small stand at a show at NEC can easily be £10k for a week

Your other option is pitch up at a car booty on Sunday morning, pitches normall £10 - £20

Your not wrong there, we usually have a stand at the NEC bike show and pay upwards of £30k a week, just for the space. We supply the stand itself.  

[Vamps]

You do have to be careful with upping your postage costs to cover some of the ebay fee's.  Someone did that with us and we complained as I didn't think it right (and knew damn well it was against the rules) for the seller to expect us to pay her ebay fee's through 'postage costs' even though we were collecting the item lol.  

Now that's taking the pee...  But i have seen many 99p items with £30 postage to make the £30 value of the item (which does cost 99p to send) as a way of circumventing final value fees.  If it's against their rules (aside from the "excessive postage" one), no-one has told the sellers from Hong Kong yet..
If the item is of such a size that it warrants a courier cost (cos Royal Mail want the earth sometimes), then i'll offer collection - and also cash on collection as an option (seems fair?).  Apparently it's now a rule you HAVE to offer Paypal as a payment option??

I have bought loads of stuff from HK and not problem with postage rates. Most recently bought 50 miniture batteries, £2.99 for 3 in B&Q. for 00.01p and iirc about £3.50 postage. Also bought loads of Christms lights from Hong Kone and previous batteries. Never a problem with postage rates.  Lets face it, the postage rate is posted, if you are not happy do not buy, I never understand all the fuss.
If you do not like how ebay does business then don't rather use it.

[SheWhoMustNotBeOUTBID]

Yes you do have to offer paypal as a payment option but usually people aren't adverse to paying cash if that's how you want to be paid.

I think you will find the number of extortionately high postage charges items are reducing although I agree they do still exist.  I guess the foreign ones manage to explain it away but well, the choice to not buy from them is obviously there for the buyer.

And yes mike lol, I am still being let loose on ebay.., and for good reason

[Markie]

Its important to remember that postage fees are not postage fees, there shipping and handling charges.

So you can obviously charge more than the postage cost, after all its not the ebay fairy that provides your jiffys, bubble wrap etc.

I am running about £150 a month in ebay fees - but if im spending that then i am making it at front end..I just think of it as moving to 40% tax band  

Important to note that powersellers/ shops and business sellers dont get some mythological preferential treatment....we get charged just as much with the exception of a 20% discount on fvfs each month.

its also important to remember that its not only "bad sellers" that ruin ebay there are some absolute tossers as "bad buyers / liars / scam artists and non payers"

[Elite Pete]

oh yeah granted that the running of an operation like ebay has significant overheads in terms of technology, contracts, staff, global operations etc, but some other multi national organisations would have similar expenses AND manufacturing / 'physical' costs in addition to all those. as a business, you ideally want a product that has no manufacturing costs altogether, and thats almost what ebay has achieved, hence their profit margins are through the roof. of course all this is possible because the likes of you and me want to sell any old tat on there. bread annual 1986 anyone?*

and one mans rubbish is anothers treasure as they say...  

_{*feat the non peter howitt joey boswell. open to offers}  

Remember, ebay give away a lot of their fees to winning bidders - see the link below my sig for how to get up to 40% of ebay's fees when you win an auction

Specifically this link

Here's another similar one www.quidco.com

[TheBoy]

oh yeah granted that the running of an operation like ebay has significant overheads in terms of technology, contracts, staff, global operations etc, but some other multi national organisations would have similar expenses AND manufacturing / 'physical' costs in addition to all those. as a business, you ideally want a product that has no manufacturing costs altogether, and thats almost what ebay has achieved, hence their profit margins are through the roof. of course all this is possible because the likes of you and me want to sell any old tat on there. bread annual 1986 anyone?*

and one mans rubbish is anothers treasure as they say...  

_{*feat the non peter howitt joey boswell. open to offers}  

Remember, ebay give away a lot of their fees to winning bidders - see the link below my sig for how to get up to 40% of ebay's fees when you win an auction

Specifically this link

Here's another similar one www.quidco.com

Yup, a few out there - for me, CashbackKings seems to offer the best deals on what I buy , but pays to shop around a bit