Selling on Ebay

[BRobson]

I know a few of you sell on Ebay and if its like me it is just getting a few ££££ for clothes that are not worn or dvds etc that are not used.

I noticed on ebay today that from 15th June they are enforcing free P & P on certain items - clothes being one of them. So something you sell for £2 you will end up owing

Here is the list of itemsClothes, Shoes & Accessories:
Women’s accessories
Men’s accessories
Boys’ accessories
Girls’ accessories
Clothing & Shoe care

Video Games:
Accessories
Games
Internet Game Accessories
Merchandise / Books

Mobile & Home Phones:
Bluetooth Accessories
Mobile Phone Accessories
Mobile Phone Batteries
Mobile Phone Cases & Pouches
Mobile Phone Chargers
Mobile Phone Data Cables
Mobile Phone Fascias
Multimedia Cards / Memory
Pagers
Sim Cards

Consumer Electronics:
Accessories
Batteries & Battery chargers
Gadgets
MP3 Player Accessories
TV Accessories

Computing:
Books & Manuals
Cables/connectors
Laptop Accessories
PDA Accessories
Printer Ink & Cartridges
Printer Paper & Accessories

Photography:
Books, Manuals, & Magazines
Camcorder Accessories
Digital Camera Accessories
Digital Camera Batteries
Digital Camera Chargers
Digital Camera Memory Cards
Digital Memory Card Readers
Film
Film Camera Accessories

Ebay have lost my business!!!

 

[PoppyAnna]

Wow, thanks for that Jackie. I'm sure this won't go ahead without utter uproar. Like you say, if it does, they'll lose my business too.
Sad for my children, if I sell their clothes and toys I put the money in their piggy banks for their holidays.

 

[joolz1910]

Hi Jackie, I've just had a look at this, because like you, I sell bits and pieces for a few pounds. I thinks it applies to accessories only - I would have thought that would be things like scarves, gloves etc? eBay and Paypal (same damn company) take the mickey with their charges. It will stop people having a starting bid of 99p. Like you said, if it goes for that and costs you £2 to post, where's the sense in selling?

 

[BRobson]

Wow, thanks for that Jackie. I'm sure this won't go ahead without utter uproar. Like you say, if it does, they'll lose my business too.
Sad for my children, if I sell their clothes and toys I put the money in their piggy banks for their holidays.

My ebay money is used for holidays but have written to ebay. Great if you are a buyer

 

[tennisfan]

I don't agree with it but I know for certain items if you offer fee postage you get a reduction in fees. They have been trying to force out the small sellers for a while.

Unfortunately they know they have the market share of people, other auctions sites can't compete because Ebay are well known.

 

[Boss Hogg]

Must admit I'd seen the banner on eBay but not looked at the detail. A reall odd thing to do, especially after recently announcing free insertion on 99p auctions.

With a lot of the things I've sold recently I've offered free p&p anyway, but they've been items which have been £10 plus and I've done on Buy it Now and not auctions, so I know if it sells I'm happy with the amount I get.

I guess the way around the changes is to start items at the amount it costs for postage plus 50p or 99p (depending on what you normally do).

 

[Cyrano]

call me cynical but I wonder if this is because ebay has spotted that some sellers sell items for very small amounts but then hike up the postage. Ebay only get the fees on the selling price not postage

 

[BRobson]

Hi Jackie, I've just had a look at this, because like you, I sell bits and pieces for a few pounds. I thinks it applies to accessories only - I would have thought that would be things like scarves, gloves etc? eBay and Paypal (same damn company) take the mickey with their charges. It will stop people having a starting bid of 99p. Like you said, if it goes for that and costs you £2 to post, where's the sense in selling?

Oh you are right - I was so outraged I didnt read it properly

Still a blooming cheek

 

[joolz1910]

call me cynical but I wonder if this is because ebay has spotted that some sellers sell items for very small amounts but then hike up the postage. Ebay only get the fees on the selling price not postage

This is true and was probably part of the reason for the 'seller ratings' to include a P&P rating. I don't much mind about p&p prices - if I think a seller's charge is too high, I don't buy from them.

Having said that, as a seller you pay a charge on the whole amount when you are paid by your buyer through paypal - which is, of course, part of Ebay. So we are being charged twice to sell anything.

 

[T16GEM]

I used to sell a lot on Ebay and when the Paypal charges and insertation charges all went up I stopped, I try to only list items that I am pretty sure are going to sell otherwise I always feel like I'm losing out, it may only be 10p here and there but if you list a lot that doesn't sell then it does mount up.

I think Paypals fees are an outrage, I have just sold an item for £135 and the customer phoned me with credit card details rather than using Paypal, I dread to think what they would have charged me on that amount.

 

[mikki.young]

Interesting, the message appears to have disappeared. Now there is only a promo for shops who sell with free p&p getting 20% off final charge from ebay until end of June. Can't find the bit about 15 June anywhere for free P&P for everyone selling.

Edit: Now I've found it by searching deeper but it wasn't obvious. Don't think I'll be selling any books on there in future! Ah well, I don't sell that often anyway. Maybe this will boost the charity shops!

 

[darthtatty]

im sure theyll lose a lot of business.
the problem is (as was mentioned earlier) Ebay do not charge fees on the postage. so sellers were selling items for 99p and then charging £10 postage.
i know its an offence to do this on Ebay, but its what people do.
i used to sell a lot on Eaby but their fees plus Paypal fees are too much.
havent really brought anything on there for ages. i know theres many other sites, hoping some of these will pick up a lot more now

im sure people will just charge a lot more for things.
If i ever did list an item with enforced free postage, i would just state in the listing the items cost £xx.xx amount to post and this has been added to my listing price.

 

[Tillybud]

I received an email from ebay about this today, it's really disappointing. I have to admit that I sell an awful lot of dd's items that she has grown out of, lots are bnwt, etc and I always charge what royal mail actually charge and never make a profit from postage. I guess I won't be listing that much more in the future

 

[pixiepower04]

I've never sold on ebay, only bought but for me postage cost is an issue, if I see an item that someone is selling for say £8.50 and the postage is £1.50 (making £10 in total) I think okay that's good, but if a different seller sells the same thing for £5 and postage £5 (making £10 in total) I will not buy from them and will go back to the first seller.

I've just been clearing out my attic (we have so much stuff up there it's like being in the tardis) and I was considering selling on ebay but with all the horror stories I keep reading about I think i'll do a couple of car boots instead!

 

[Lizzybear]

eBay are definitely trying to push out us hobby sellers, it sucks and I definitely think it'll end up being detrimental to them.. They seem to expect everyone to offer 'M&S style' customer service without the huge profits to absorb any losses through chargebacks etc. the star system really gets my goat as many people (myself included) can't post stuff every single day due to work commitments so we suffer for it with lower placed listings in search results. Paypal are even worse... I sent a valuable parcel tracked to the US once and the person did a fraudulent chargeback (I know she'd received the stuff as she told me so and also the tracking info verified this) I lost over £100 This was a few years ago now but it really put me off shipping internationally, i've only recently started to again in fact and so far so good but I can't help but feel a bit nervous *steps off the eBay ranting soapbox*

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

If this goes ahead i wont be selling my items on there anymore, going to list what i can before this new rule goes ahead.