Ebay’s New Shipping Policy: Ripoff to All Sellers!
This article explains ebay’s new shipping policies for sellers and the unfairness of them.
Am I the only person very upset about Ebay’s new shipping policies for those of us who sell online? I can honestly admit that I am extremely fed up with these policies and am losing money on every item I have been shipping. Ebay claims that before these changes went into effect that sellers were way overcharging on their shipping rates which may have been true with certain sellers but what about the honest sellers out there with actual costs on their shipping rates? Why should you penalize every seller for what some people do? Plus shipping costs are always listed on each auction so buyers are aware of the costs before they even bid. If buyers find the costs ridiculously high than they can choose to bid on another auction for the same item with lower costs. Isn’t this something that every buyer knows already?
Now I have been selling items on Ebay for about 10 years with most of them being books. Before these changes went into effect over the past year, I would ship all of my items USPS media mail with delivery confirmation. I would also have to purchase boxes or padded envelopes, packaging fillers (peanuts, bubble wrap, etc) and tape. I do not own a store and am a private seller so I would not keep abundant supplies of these on hand but would purchase when needed. Media mail usually ranges somewhere around $3.00-$4.00 a package and delivery confirmation is another $.65. With all of the packaging supplies needed, I would usually round out each package to ship for $6.00 with of course discounts on multiple items won and items shipped together. As you can see from this example I would certainly not be overcharging and sometimes would end up losing small amounts from setting the price right at $6 especially if the book was on the larger size or heavier than most. Now let’s take a look at the new shipping policy. To ship the same book now, Ebay will not let me charge more than $4.00 no matter what reasons. Ebay now makes you select the exact shipping method you will be using and assigns a value that you cannot exceed. What Ebay is failing to take into account is the delivery confirmation charge for these packages and also any packaging materials you have purchased. These costs are now being eaten by the seller thereby lowering their profits. Isn’t it bad enough that we get charged first for listing the item and then charged again for selling it and now we have to absorb extra shipping costs?
I really think that Ebay needs to revert back to their old way of letting the buyer determine the shipping rates or at least set some kind of range for them to use. Whatever they do, they need to ensure that buyers are not getting ripped off in the process.
6 Comments
Nice article. Very informative.
Hi. Yesterday, 8/25, I relisted an item from about two months ago. Up poped an note telling me effective 10/21 a “new” shipping policy goes into effect. Your shipping has to be included in the price of the item. No option for insurace, either you do or you don’t, but it has to be included in the price of the item. So from now on, the same shipping charges will apply to all over the United States, even it it’s sent down the street from where you live. So when they take their percentage it will be on the cost of the item, insurance and postage. Oh, I can’t wait to see the “feedback” buyers leave on me.
When I read the new rules, the top of my head almost came off. Talk about facist. We all need to find a new selling outlet and let ebay go down the tubes. If it wasn’t for us sellers they wouldn’t be where they are, rolling in all the dough we bring in for them.
Very True, plus there is no protection for vendors Visit http://www.anythingButEbay.com for alternatives
I don’t agree with the information you provided. I have been buying and selling for years but stopped in 2005. I began selling, (only) again in 2009. I charged $5.00 shipping on a set of very collectible darts. The actual shipping charge was around $3.00 so imagine my customers surprise when he opened the parcel to find the dart set AND $2.00 cash as a shipping cost refund. I did the same with a collectible Zippo lighter that was listed with a $6.00 ship cost. Two bucks refunded.
My point is that I have not encountered what you describe.
True that!!! I shared some of the same thoughts last night. If you care to take a look, here’s the link:
http://webupon.com/money-making/ebay-is-not-macys-thoughts-from-a-weary-seller/
I sold in the old days of eBay and did great, however those days have been gone for about 7 years. After about 2002, the markets became strangulated with competition, PayPal (eBay’s Gestapo), began freezing seller accounts for simply protecting their online business through responsible prudency – in short, became a buyer’s market and the Seller better beware. In the beginning, eBay used to post – Buyer Beware. My point is, eBay has been losing Sellers for many years now and attempts to compensate with adding “junk fees” to the seller through either listing fees, PayPal fees or otherwise. eBay is the only business which I am aware which has been allowed to limit competition by not permitting other online payment companies to compete. In short, this tactic by eBay to control the amount you are allowed to charge for shipping, s just another tactic to control the manner in which you conduct commerce on eBay. eBay does not like the “real world” business practices which apply to their virtual marketplace. They continue to punish the Seller’s with their ludicrous junk fees, leaving the Seller with only one reasonable alternative – raise shipping. This is the same philosophy applied in the real business world. However, unlike the real world, eBay is now controlling your shipping costs, as they do not want to send a message to Sellers that you have had no alternative but to raise shipping costs due to their greed. Why would anyone want to do business on eBay anymore in this day and age?