eBay and jacked up shipping fees
Crafty (and greedy) sellers rip off both eBay and customers
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
This one seems to making the rounds a bit as a rant, so please forgive me if you've already been involved in a similar rant elsewhere.
This rant was obviously inspired by a recent eBay transaction, one in which I won an auction that unfortunately included ridiculously overpriced shipping fees for an item that should cost very little to ship (in this case a video game).
Had I been paying attention when I bid on the item, I actually would have passed completely and waited for another seller, but somehow I missed the shipping costs when I placed my bid. The auction price itself was one I was perfectly comfortable with, but the shipping costs were another completely.
In my current example, imagine putting in a bid for an item that should cost approximately $1.00 to mail, and then seeing that the costs you will pay as the winning bidder are $9.99 -- for media mail no less. The type of mail where an item that is shipped is hand-carried and passed from one mail carrier to the next over the course of 2 weeks (or so it seems).
I checked the other available options (at least the seller offered other options) and found that upgrading to first class mail (which should have added about $0.30 to the shipping costs) would add at least one more dollar. Go to priority mail, another $2.00 over that. So an item that should cost approximately $4.00 to ship across the U.S.A. winds up costing $14.00.
The thing is that this sort of shipping cost policy is starting to happen all over eBay. It's happening because eBay charges increasingly higher fees for their auctions. They charge those fees based on how much an auction's final price is. The higher the price, the higher the fee. They also charge set fees for listing to begin with.
Just to have an item listed, whether or not it sells, costs approximately $0.30 - $0.40. From there, depending upon how high the bidding goes, there will be another $0.30 (approx.) plus a percentage of the final bid price added to that fee. So if you are selling an item that you expect will sell for $10.00, you are looking at paying eBay a fee of approximately $1.00 if you successfully complete the auction. If you include a picture in your auction (which is pretty much mandatory, since bidders hate to bid on items where they can't see what they are paying for), then add another $0.75 in fees. If you go with any other options, such as bold face, listing in the gallery, or other such things, then you pay another half dollar here or half dollar there in fees. So on that $10.00 sale, you are giving eBay $2.00 - $3.00 in fees. Talk about taxes!! That's 30% of your sale price handed over to the Virtual Auction House.
Because of these increased fees, sellers have been more and more creative in how they can make money on items they sell. Along the way, sellers figured out that eBay can't charge fees on shipping charges they demand on items they auction. eBay allows sellers to charge buyers (bidders) shipping fees of any amount that a seller wishes to charge. So even if an item should cost but one standard postage stamp ($0.39) to ship, a seller can charge a million dollars in shipping fees if they wish.
This loophole allows sellers to use otherwise unjustifiable fees so they can make back the fees that they are paying eBay. They do this by passing those fees along to customers, even though eBay's own terms of service don't really allow that to happen. Eventually eBay will (most likely) be forced into making changes to the shipping costs that they allow sellers to charge. They may be forced to use estimates of how much an item will cost to ship, and then only allow sellers to charge shipping fees based on some standard table of charges. For example they may estimate that a DVD or video game in CD/DVD format would cost $4.00 to ship by priority mail, and then only allow sellers to charge that much and no more as the shipping fee.
If that happens, then sellers will of course find another way (another loophole) to take advantage of buyers to make up the lost revenue. It's inevitable, since sellers loathe paying too much for the priviledge of selling their items. They want to make money on what they sell, or at least not lose too much money for used items they are selling. That is understandable, but it really does stink that for now sellers are ripping off buyers for these fees and even more profit where possible. I guess many have been through the Ferengi school of the laws of profit.
This rant was obviously inspired by a recent eBay transaction, one in which I won an auction that unfortunately included ridiculously overpriced shipping fees for an item that should cost very little to ship (in this case a video game).
Had I been paying attention when I bid on the item, I actually would have passed completely and waited for another seller, but somehow I missed the shipping costs when I placed my bid. The auction price itself was one I was perfectly comfortable with, but the shipping costs were another completely.
In my current example, imagine putting in a bid for an item that should cost approximately $1.00 to mail, and then seeing that the costs you will pay as the winning bidder are $9.99 -- for media mail no less. The type of mail where an item that is shipped is hand-carried and passed from one mail carrier to the next over the course of 2 weeks (or so it seems).
I checked the other available options (at least the seller offered other options) and found that upgrading to first class mail (which should have added about $0.30 to the shipping costs) would add at least one more dollar. Go to priority mail, another $2.00 over that. So an item that should cost approximately $4.00 to ship across the U.S.A. winds up costing $14.00.
The thing is that this sort of shipping cost policy is starting to happen all over eBay. It's happening because eBay charges increasingly higher fees for their auctions. They charge those fees based on how much an auction's final price is. The higher the price, the higher the fee. They also charge set fees for listing to begin with.
Just to have an item listed, whether or not it sells, costs approximately $0.30 - $0.40. From there, depending upon how high the bidding goes, there will be another $0.30 (approx.) plus a percentage of the final bid price added to that fee. So if you are selling an item that you expect will sell for $10.00, you are looking at paying eBay a fee of approximately $1.00 if you successfully complete the auction. If you include a picture in your auction (which is pretty much mandatory, since bidders hate to bid on items where they can't see what they are paying for), then add another $0.75 in fees. If you go with any other options, such as bold face, listing in the gallery, or other such things, then you pay another half dollar here or half dollar there in fees. So on that $10.00 sale, you are giving eBay $2.00 - $3.00 in fees. Talk about taxes!! That's 30% of your sale price handed over to the Virtual Auction House.
Because of these increased fees, sellers have been more and more creative in how they can make money on items they sell. Along the way, sellers figured out that eBay can't charge fees on shipping charges they demand on items they auction. eBay allows sellers to charge buyers (bidders) shipping fees of any amount that a seller wishes to charge. So even if an item should cost but one standard postage stamp ($0.39) to ship, a seller can charge a million dollars in shipping fees if they wish.
This loophole allows sellers to use otherwise unjustifiable fees so they can make back the fees that they are paying eBay. They do this by passing those fees along to customers, even though eBay's own terms of service don't really allow that to happen. Eventually eBay will (most likely) be forced into making changes to the shipping costs that they allow sellers to charge. They may be forced to use estimates of how much an item will cost to ship, and then only allow sellers to charge shipping fees based on some standard table of charges. For example they may estimate that a DVD or video game in CD/DVD format would cost $4.00 to ship by priority mail, and then only allow sellers to charge that much and no more as the shipping fee.
If that happens, then sellers will of course find another way (another loophole) to take advantage of buyers to make up the lost revenue. It's inevitable, since sellers loathe paying too much for the priviledge of selling their items. They want to make money on what they sell, or at least not lose too much money for used items they are selling. That is understandable, but it really does stink that for now sellers are ripping off buyers for these fees and even more profit where possible. I guess many have been through the Ferengi school of the laws of profit.
Lots of items go un-bought. The items I've won have generally not been bid on by other ebayers. Could it be because they are smarter than me and have actually checked and seen the astronomical shipping fees? Haha.