eBay, etc. General Question/Answer Thread

[wishiwasinLA]

THIS!!! .. Nope, you are not alone one bit (I'm in the US); have been selling on eBay for years but I am thoroughly disgusted with what I see happening. First of all, the eBay fees are absolutely OUTRAGEOUS! I sold about $1200 worth of goods for a 30-day period (and many were WAY under what I really wanted for them), and then I get charged by eBay at almost $400!!! What really got me, is that they also now apply a "Final Sales fee" on the freakin' shipping?!?! .. WTF????? I really think I need to seriously look at other outlets besides eBay since many of my items are high-end Jewelry items .. uggh!

Yes the fees are awful. eBay really takes us for a ride Bc there’s really not much competition. I love how Vestaire is easy and sends labels, and you don’t have to deal with crazy scammers. However their fees are even higher. Purchasers never understand why things are marked so high, lol. But yeah.. not as many buyers! I’m curious how long people wait before accepting low offers if at all. I need to work on my patience.

 

[BeenBurned]

THIS!!! .. Nope, you are not alone one bit (I'm in the US); have been selling on eBay for years but I am thoroughly disgusted with what I see happening. First of all, the eBay fees are absolutely OUTRAGEOUS! I sold about $1200 worth of goods for a 30-day period (and many were WAY under what I really wanted for them), and then I get charged by eBay at almost $400!!! What really got me, is that they also now apply a "Final Sales fee" on the freakin' shipping?!?! .. WTF????? I really think I need to seriously look at other outlets besides eBay since many of my items are high-end Jewelry items .. uggh!

I have a couple of comments.

Respectfully, no one "loves" paying fees for any types of services but the venues, contractors, stores, etc. all have overhead, all provide services and their services are worth something. They deserve to be paid for what they provide.

And at 10%, ebay's fees are among the most reasonable and lowest, especially for the amount of traffic they bring to YOUR items.

With that said, I think you've miscalculated either the amount you sold or the fees you paid ebay because for $1200 in sales, your FVF would have been $120 (10%). If you added upgrades to your listings, paid insertion fees, or other add-ons, the fee would rise but certainly not to $400. (There'd have been additional fees charged for shipping if you charged separately.)

As for charging FVF on shipping, you have dishonest, cheating and scheming sellers to thank for that. There was a time when FVF was charged on the selling price and shipping was FVF-free. But many sellers would sell their $1000 LV bag for $99 and charge $800 for shipping. Or their Coach bag would be $9.99 plus $60 shipping.

This went on for years before ebay got SMART enough to figure out a way to combat it. Now all sellers (honest and not) pay FVF in the full payment amount, including shipping.

I'm not a fan of a lot of what ebay does - how they treat their community, the seeming lopsidedness in dispute resolution, the inaccurate and misleading information CS people give callers or a lot of other things but I get the most bang for my buck there and I either suck it up and accept or I walk away. (I posted on the Tradesy thread how I did walk away several years ago.)

Put your money where your mouth is.

 

[CeeJay]

I have a couple of comments.

Respectfully, no one "loves" paying fees for any types of services but the venues, contractors, stores, etc. all have overhead, all provide services and their services are worth something. They deserve to be paid for what they provide.

And at 10%, ebay's fees are among the most reasonable and lowest, especially for the amount of traffic they bring to YOUR items.

With that said, I think you've miscalculated either the amount you sold or the fees you paid ebay because for $1200 in sales, your FVF would have been $120 (10%). If you added upgrades to your listings, paid insertion fees, or other add-ons, the fee would rise but certainly not to $400. (There'd have been additional fees charged for shipping if you charged separately.)

As for charging FVF on shipping, you have dishonest, cheating and scheming sellers to thank for that. There was a time when FVF was charged on the selling price and shipping was FVF-free. But many sellers would sell their $1000 LV bag for $99 and charge $800 for shipping. Or their Coach bag would be $9.99 plus $60 shipping.

This went on for years before ebay got SMART enough to figure out a way to combat it. Now all sellers (honest and not) pay FVF in the full payment amount, including shipping.

I'm not a fan of a lot of what ebay does - how they treat their community, the seeming lopsidedness in dispute resolution, the inaccurate and misleading information CS people give callers or a lot of other things but I get the most bang for my buck there and I either suck it up and accept or I walk away. (I posted on the Tradesy thread how I did walk away several years ago.)

Put your money where your mouth is.

Thanks for all the information; I will have to look at the #'s again, but I was rather surprised with the FVF on the shipping, but I totally understand (sadly) why they did it .. and yes, it STINKS (as they say, it only takes 1 to make it bad for everyone else).

I don't use a lot of the "extra" options on my items because, frankly, I don't want to have to pay extra for them. I used to use them in the past, but I found that the costs went way up from before and I just don't want to incur more cost than I have to. Speaking of "traffic" however; I guess that's what I'm NOT seeing on my items .. and don't really know why. Most of my pieces are well-known high-end Jewelry designers like Irene Neuwirth, etc.; most savvy eBay Jewelry aficionados know about their merchandise. However, I am going to try to recoup as much as I can for the piece, and I have just found that most folks are looking for rock-bottom prices. Any suggestions would be great!

 

[jbags07]

Hello all I have a question regarding shipping. I do not have my auctions set up for international since its such a hassle. I am in the US. A bidder from Italy has bid on one of my handbags, and the auction ends an hour from now. She sent an email and sounds sweet, and really wants my bag, its a Frances Valentine and she can’t get them in Italy.

So..hmmmm. Will i be able to set up international shipping, including vat which is what she requested, after the auction ends since it was not set up to ship internationally?

And how do i get an accurate estimate so i do not lose money? Wrap it all up with tape etc, take to post office, get rate, come home and send her the invoice? Then return to po to mail it i guess...ugh thats why ive never shipped international...

Thanks so much for any ideas or tips! Or should i just cancel the sale? The bag is selling for 150$, not really worth all this hassle...but she seems sweet and very much wants the bag so .....

 

[Catbird9]

Hello all I have a question regarding shipping. I do not have my auctions set up for international since its such a hassle. I am in the US. A bidder from Italy has bid on one of my handbags, and the auction ends an hour from now. She sent an email and sounds sweet, and really wants my bag, its a Frances Valentine and she can’t get them in Italy.

So..hmmmm. Will i be able to set up international shipping, including vat which is what she requested, after the auction ends since it was not set up to ship internationally?

And how do i get an accurate estimate so i do not lose money? Wrap it all up with tape etc, take to post office, get rate, come home and send her the invoice? Then return to po to mail it i guess...ugh thats why ive never shipped international...

Thanks so much for any ideas or tips! Or should i just cancel the sale? The bag is selling for 150$, not really worth all this hassle...but she seems sweet and very much wants the bag so .....

The simplest thing would be for you to cancel her bid, and message her explaining why.

ETA: Your selling preferences should be set to not accept bids from buyers who live in countries you don't ship to, to avoid this problem.

 

[BeenBurned]

Hello all I have a question regarding shipping. I do not have my auctions set up for international since its such a hassle. I am in the US. A bidder from Italy has bid on one of my handbags, and the auction ends an hour from now. She sent an email and sounds sweet, and really wants my bag, its a Frances Valentine and she can’t get them in Italy.

So..hmmmm. Will i be able to set up international shipping, including vat which is what she requested, after the auction ends since it was not set up to ship internationally?

And how do i get an accurate estimate so i do not lose money? Wrap it all up with tape etc, take to post office, get rate, come home and send her the invoice? Then return to po to mail it i guess...ugh thats why ive never shipped international...

Thanks so much for any ideas or tips! Or should i just cancel the sale? The bag is selling for 150$, not really worth all this hassle...but she seems sweet and very much wants the bag so .....

The simplest thing would be for you to cancel her bid, and message her explaining why.

ETA: Your selling preferences should be set to not accept bids from buyers who live in countries you don't ship to, to avoid this problem.

Even if your listings are set to prevent international buyers, there's nothing to stop them from asking questions or to request it. (Many sellers do make exceptions and ebay wouldn't want to block a potential sale!)

My concern isn't with the international buyer (in general) and I've had them from around the world. But my concern is with Italy and won't sell or ship leather goods or designer clothing to Italy because they are extremely strict about the importation of products with (generally) are available within their country.

I'm also not sure whether there's a lot of postal fraud or if it's the government that confiscates items but there's been discussion over the years about problems with shipments going to Italy. Here is a 5-year old discussion.

 

[wishiwasinLA]

Hello all I have a question regarding shipping. I do not have my auctions set up for international since its such a hassle. I am in the US. A bidder from Italy has bid on one of my handbags, and the auction ends an hour from now. She sent an email and sounds sweet, and really wants my bag, its a Frances Valentine and she can’t get them in Italy.

So..hmmmm. Will i be able to set up international shipping, including vat which is what she requested, after the auction ends since it was not set up to ship internationally?

And how do i get an accurate estimate so i do not lose money? Wrap it all up with tape etc, take to post office, get rate, come home and send her the invoice? Then return to po to mail it i guess...ugh thats why ive never shipped international...

Hello all I have a question regarding shipping. I do not have my auctions set up for international since its such a hassle. I am in the US. A bidder from Italy has bid on one of my handbags, and the auction ends an hour from now. She sent an email and sounds sweet, and really wants my bag, its a Frances Valentine and she can’t get them in Italy.

So..hmmmm. Will i be able to set up international shipping, including vat which is what she requested, after the auction ends since it was not set up to ship internationally?

And how do i get an accurate estimate so i do not lose money? Wrap it all up with tape etc, take to post office, get rate, come home and send her the invoice? Then return to po to mail it i guess...ugh thats why ive never shipped international...

Thanks so much for any ideas or tips! Or should i just cancel the sale? The bag is selling for 150$, not really worth all this hassle...but she seems sweet and very much wants the bag so .....

Thanks so much for any ideas or tips! Or should i just cancel the sale? The bag is selling for 150$, not really worth all this hassle...but she seems sweet and very much wants the bag so .....

I'm really not that tech savvy, and international shipping was a bit complex for me for a while, but when I was living in the US I did eventually just use global shipping, and it was good! I can't think of any major flaws other than the usual USPS problems. You basically just ship it to a US hub and Ebay takes it over from there.

 

[wishiwasinLA]

Even if your listings are set to prevent international buyers, there's nothing to stop them from asking questions or to request it. (Many sellers do make exceptions and ebay wouldn't want to block a potential sale!)

My concern isn't with the international buyer (in general) and I've had them from around the world. But my concern is with Italy and won't sell or ship leather goods or designer clothing to Italy because they are extremely strict about the importation of products with (generally) are available within their country.

I'm also not sure whether there's a lot of postal fraud or if it's the government that confiscates items but there's been discussion over the years about problems with shipments going to Italy. Here is a 5-year old discussion.

good info, I've never heard this!

 

[jbags07]

The simplest thing would be for you to cancel her bid, and message her explaining why.

ETA: Your selling preferences should be set to not accept bids from buyers who live in countries you don't ship to, to avoid this problem.

Thank u so much for your reply☺️ I am investigating the global shipping mentioned below, and if i am unable to figure it out i will take your advice and cancel.

 

[jbags07]

Even if your listings are set to prevent international buyers, there's nothing to stop them from asking questions or to request it. (Many sellers do make exceptions and ebay wouldn't want to block a potential sale!)

My concern isn't with the international buyer (in general) and I've had them from around the world. But my concern is with Italy and won't sell or ship leather goods or designer clothing to Italy because they are extremely strict about the importation of products with (generally) are available within their country.

I'm also not sure whether there's a lot of postal fraud or if it's the government that confiscates items but there's been discussion over the years about problems with shipments going to Italy. Here is a 5-year old discussion.

Eeech, i was not aware of all this. I will check out global shipoing, but will likely cancel the transaction. Not worth thr trouble or risk. I appreciate your input. Thank u so much

 

[jbags07]

I'm really not that tech savvy, and international shipping was a bit complex for me for a while, but when I was living in the US I did eventually just use global shipping, and it was good! I can't think of any major flaws other than the usual USPS problems. You basically just ship it to a US hub and Ebay takes it over from there.

Great info, thank u! I will try to figure out how to do this global shipping. It is not an option on my tab when i click send invoice. Thanks so much for sharing

 

[threadbender]

Great info, thank u! I will try to figure out how to do this global shipping. It is not an option on my tab when i click send invoice. Thanks so much for sharing

I think you have to have it set up in the listing to use the Global Shipping. But, am not sure.

 

[jbags07]

Thanks to all who replied! I actually cancelled the sale, then relisted a one day auction with the global shipping option, so tomro i will figure that all out when the auction ends. But it seems to be a good option— i ship it to Kentucky, ebay shipping then takes over. And if it gets lost or stolen then ebay covers it.

Its wonderful having a forum like this, all of you have been so helpful

 

[chowlover2]

I actually sent Intl shpg on my own thru the USPS and it was great. I have to tell you I was leary as I used to work for Fedex and Intl was a PITA to deal with there, Anyway I was selling a very expensive authentic bag when a woman in the Philippines asked if I would consider sending it there. I only had lowball offers in the US and took a chance. I just used the USPS website. They made everything very, very easy. So much more so than Fedex which is what I was used to using. The customer was delighted, and I have no qualms shipping Intl now. And doing it yourself rather than paying Ebay is another giant plus.

 

[jbags07]

I actually sent Intl shpg on my own thru the USPS and it was great. I have to tell you I was leary as I used to work for Fedex and Intl was a PITA to deal with there, Anyway I was selling a very expensive authentic bag when a woman in the Philippines asked if I would consider sending it there. I only had lowball offers in the US and took a chance. I just used the USPS website. They made everything very, very easy. So much more so than Fedex which is what I was used to using. The customer was delighted, and I have no qualms shipping Intl now. And doing it yourself rather than paying Ebay is another giant plus.

Thats awesome. Glad it went smoothly for you. And thanks for the info. I will look on the usps website to learn more about it.