Ebay Now Adds Shipping to FVF

Just got a email from the "seller update" ebay sends & this caught my attention...

Not cool..sometimes I have packages that are heavy & large & $20 or more shipping is the only option.

Bad enough I cant charge more then $3 for shipping dvds...most of my dvds are TV show dvd sets and those are oversized & cost way more then $3.

 

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It should help out the people charging normal shipping fees, not the ones that sell 1 cent items plus $39.99 shipping, etc.

 

Ebay will find any way to make a buck off the seller. Why don't they find a way to give the seller a break and get higher prices for their items. When bids come in at the last minute the auction time should be extended to allow more bids. That's a no brainer ebay.

 

Of course, they'll be lowering their overall rates to make this change cost-neutral for good citizens and revenue-neutral for the company, right? Right?

*crickets*

 

Feebay at it again, And not for the last time.

 

Another e-bay ploy to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the seller i will let you fill in the blanks !!

 

I disagree. You are focused (and rightly so for your business) on just the sellers perspective.

The "no brainer" part is when sellers implement the incredibly high shipping costs to circumvent ebay's fees. I think ebay and paypal is a rip-off, not denying it. BUT they provide a way of selling to the lazy and cheap. Don't think so, drive around to all the coin dealers in your area or have a garage sale, or set up a booth at a flea market. Better yet, pay an auctioneer to sell your stuff. There are many alternatives....they all require effort and undetermined amount of "COST".

You also get lazy BUYERS on ebay. They don't go to auction and fleamarkets.

For the extend a time part..........HA!............Buyers are looking for deals and the excitement of bidding. Extending the time of an auction for each bid could drag a single auction on for HOURS. Who except the SELLER waiting for profit has time for that?

There ARE venues for this type of selling. Go to auctionzip.com and they will gladly take your stuff for exorbitant fees and a 21% buyers premium to the buyer. =less money for the seller

 

I NEVER was good at "Wheel of Fortune," usually tuned in to see Vanna!
Steve

 

There are eBay sellers who sell for low prices to avoid fees, and who assess enormous shipping cost to make up the difference.

The thing is, eBay is assessing all sellers a fee, and as noted above, that weighs most heavily on honest sellers whose shipping costs are legitimately higher than average.

 

You didn't mention the other part of the eBay email though. They are no longer charging any listing fees, no matter the starting price, and buy it now is free too. I think this is great for a seller. I have a lot of things I want to list but I didn't know if they'd sell and didn't want to waste the listing fees, so they're just sitting around. And if this stops people from charging $6 economy shipping within the U.S. for a single coin (which I saw on several auctions I was looking at last night) I think that's a good thing too.

 

We all know why Ebay did this... but it still is not right. It's no big deal for small items but larger items that cost more to ship, well it is unfair to the seller. On second thought it's unfair to the buyer who will pay for it anyway as prices go up, up, up.

 

This new fee policy COMPLETELY SUCKS!

Think about it. eBay requires PAYPAL which already assesses a 2.9% fee on your shipping charges and they've now added 9% in front of that! While this decision may not hurt them right now, it might in the future should some other venue become available.

So.......what are the alternatives? Teletrade charges an 8% Sellers fee. Of course, that only saves money on items selling for > $62.50. If the item sells for less, then its a $5.00 minimum charge.
The upside is that Teletrade incurs the shipping and handling fees and sellers no longer have to worry about packaging up sold items and incurring the costs associated with shipping.

The downside is a 5% fee if your items do not sell.

What to do, what to do?

Perhaps a FLAT $7.50 shipping on everything from postage stamps to dollar rolls?

 

Smart buyers figure in the cost of shipping when bidding on (or buying) an item; smart sellers will incorporate the shippng costs into their auction and offer "free shipping". Problem solved.

 

Anyone looked into eBid?

 

While the "theory" is sound, it simply does not work for Modern coins.

Unless of course you like giving stuff away.

 

Ebay should only apply the FVF to shipping when shipping exceeds the selling price IMO.

-LTB

 

I kinda thought the same thing. How do you figure cost of shipping into an "auction". "Buy-It-Now" sure, but you lose the upside if any.

 

Set a minimum starting bid. You can build the shipping costs into it.

 

There are apparently plenty of people who do. I still see "UNSEARCHED ROLLS OF HALF DOLLARS" going for $9-10 plus actual shipping, which means the seller is getting less than face value, and the buyer is paying more than face value.

 

It's a push to get auctions sellers to upgrade and get a store.... I just don't sell enough to do that, and I always sell in the auction format with no BIN's or other stuff,,, just a pure simple auction that always starts at .01 and with 2.95 shipping ..... with these changes I'll just increase my shipping to cover the loss