eBay is Such a Ripoff!

[SHIVA]

I hadn't used eBay in a long time, but recently sold a riding jacket there.

1- eBay charged me a fee of about 10% of the cost of sale
2- Paypal, also owned by eBay, charged me another fee of about 3% for the transaction.

In all for a jacket that I sold for $665, I paid about $85 in fees. That is a complete ripoff!!!

I will never use eBay again! I rather wait longer and sell on our communities classified section with no fees.

[imeyers]

Could not agree with your more. Recently sold two bikes and sold all the extras for them on ebay. The fees between paypal and ebay were ridiculous. Their argument it that it is still cheaper than any auction house. I dont care. Never again. You are right on the money. It is roughly 12-13% of the sale when you consider every fee. Listing, final value, and paypal fees. I will only use ebay for purchases from now on.

[SHIVA]

well, true it's about 12% in main fees, however, there are other fees too, such as image uploads and adding features to the auction that will bring it up easily to 13%+. This is the biggest rip off I have seen in a long while.

[throttlemeister]

While I understand your frustration, both Ebay and PayPal cost should not come as a surprise to anyone dealing with those companies. They list the charges on their respective sites and you should make a decision on those added costs before you sell something there. Personally, if I sell something using either, I add the cost to my minimum price and if that ends up too expensive for people I keep it or sell in through other means.

Only the sun rises for free every morning. Everything else, Mastercard.

[SHIVA]

Only the sun rises for free every morning. Everything else, Mastercard.

that's not the point and no one in this thread is looking for a freebie. But 13% in fees is simply outrages! And no they don't make this clear, nor obvious. Your point would be true if there is a large banner saying on every page we charge you 13%. Then I would say, you have a point. They are a major ripoff! Absolutely outrages fees. it should be 3% fee for selling an item and 2% for paypal for a total of 5%. Not a percentage more! This is one of the biggest ripoffs I have seen on the web and I've been on it since it started.

[immunity]

Thats why i was turned from .de to .co.uk because they had 3% ebay 3% paypal (6%) instant of 13% :/ but now they have increased it too ...

[Eka]

not excusable at all. There is plenty of free sites to sell stuff free and those makes money through adds. I would never pay more like 1% profit to anyone from service what you actually great all by your own work.

[icedfusion]

ebay + paypal have a huge audience. It is this audience that you are selling too and for that you pay a premium. There is no other site that has so many buyers/sellers and that is why they can get away with it. Some places have tried to startup rival sites, but people just do not use them.

Yes, it is a rip off and that is why I would never sell anything on there.

ice.

[SHIVA]

There is no other site that has so many buyers/sellers and that is why they can get away with it.

There are totally out of control. There is no excuse for 13% rates. This is, again, the biggest ripoff I have ever seen from a legit site on my 17 years of being online. Number of people does not justify the rates. 13% is beyond outrages.

[SHIVA]

Update: I complained to eBay and they dropped the fee. Basically it went from $96 in total to $39. Now that's not bad!

[ssduc]

While I understand your frustration, both Ebay and PayPal cost should not come as a surprise to anyone dealing with those companies. They list the charges on their respective sites and you should make a decision on those added costs before you sell something there. Personally, if I sell something using either, I add the cost to my minimum price and if that ends up too expensive for people I keep it or sell in through other means.

Only the sun rises for free every morning. Everything else, Mastercard.

Ebay has the courtesy to let their customers know they are a ripoff. That doesn't mean they are not a ripoff.

Ebay stinks. I'll still buy, but only for awesome deals. I never sell on Ebay anymore.

[ssduc]

Update: I complained to eBay and they dropped the fee. Basically it went from $96 in total to $39. Now that's not bad!

This is almost worse, because now the seller has no idea how much the fees will be. What was the basis of your complaint?

[SHIVA]

What was the basis of your complaint?

well, I have been on eBay since 2001, but I rarely use it. and I had in the back of my mind their old rates which were actually somewhat reasonable. when I saw that I was paying $85 (plus some other fees) for a $665 BMW Streetguard 3 Jacket sale, I really was fuming.

The basis was a very very unhappy customer. and not taking no for an answer.

[johncrosby]

I have used Ebay on countless occasions to de-clutter the house, just as much as generating some cash. In terms of reaching out to potential buyers for even the most obscure items ebay is second to none. It has the broadest reach of any mainstream auction service I've ever found. If the costs were generating excess revenues, new competitors would enter the market and compete away these excesses. This is the essence of a capitalist market system. It may not be perfect competition, but the barriers to entry wouldn't be that onerous if it was such an excessively prosperous entity. Just my humble opinion as a historian of markets. Feel free to use bargain basement, cheapskate auction sites with about a hundred members if that's your thing. You may be waiting a while before you get your first bid. If time is money then that waiting is yet another cost to be factored in.

John

[SHIVA]

I was truly shocked that eBay would charge 13%. I have said this many times above, there is no excuse good enough to substantiate such a blatant thievery. The word outrageous doesn't begin to cover it.

[David_S_Walker]

All,

I have used the Classified Adverts where you set the price but can also receive offers that you can place on eBay.co.uk to sell my Laverda Jota recently and have had success. I paid £14,99 to place the advert and nothing on comletion of sale. I also refused to accept Paypal unless fees were covered by the buyer so that worked for me especially as the motorcycle fetched over £12k.

This obviously gives them money up front I suppose.

I also read in some journal in the UK that now stuff was more expensive to buy on eBay than in the highstreet shops which was due to the 10%+ final value fees, Paypal and if you don't list on a free day the original listing costs.

I think they use their dominant position to their advantage which may bite them back in the future - Not sure how but one can hope.....

Best regards,

David

[motorbikez]

it should be 3% fee for selling an item and 2% for paypal for a total of 5%. Not a percentage more! This is one of the biggest ripoffs I have seen on the web and I've been on it since it started.

You would never make a penny/cent at that fee rate.


I don't think ebay costs are particularly high considering the coverage you get. In the the UK you get standard auction houses both physical and internet based charging the seller and purchaser in some cases as high 20% on top of the hammer price.
Now that is outrageous.

In most cases in the auction business (UK )the standard charge is 15% plus VAT which equates to 18% for both buyer and seller pretty steep.

[SHIVA]

In the the UK you get standard auction houses both physical and internet based charging the seller and purchaser in some cases as high 20% on top of the hammer price.

so, regarding this point, when I think of a physical auction house, I think of selling something of special value. or of a estate being sold off. but eBay is about everyday ordinary stuff, that's why it's specially painful.

In my case, although eBay dropped the main fee after I complained, I sold a BMW jacket for $665, it cost me $40 to send with tracking and insurance for $700, and I had a bill from eBay for $96.00 which covered a lot of small fees too, such a number of pics loaded, buy it now price and so on and on top of it all I paid Paypal (eBay Co) $20.

96+40+20= $156. That's about 23.5% in just fees surrounding a simple transaction. So, from a sale of 665 I only received 509. Hence my shock! If I were patient (and I would have been had I known their new fee structure) I would have eventually sold that jacket on our community's totally free classifieds for no fees. I would have even bypassed paypal and would accepted a personal check from within the states. it's not a question of being frugal, if we were we wouldn't be riding BMWs, it's just the way certain things simply do not make sense and makes you feel you've been rubbed.

[Mirage_ZA]

in retrospect, the larger they get, as you get more exposure, the higher the fees. In SA eBay just could not take off due to BidorBuy - they rule. Charge is around 10%.

[Ivan996]

It's not exactly being robbed or ripped off...it's more like Ebay has "a captive secondary market" whereby they allow buyers and sellers to set the price without price fixing--then take their cut.

If you tried selling your coat on Amazon it would be a 10% fee + $.05 per pound so maybe ~$45 for both your transaction cost and the shipping cost? Not sure but it is much less than Ebay...I think Amazon prices themselves well under their market value in order to get more market share.

Ebay/Amazon brings you the seller a bunch of buyers so that must be worth something. Ebay thinks it is worth 23% of the price of the goods.

[SHIVA]

If you tried selling your coat on Amazon it would be a 10% fee + $.05 per pound so maybe ~$45

well amazon is a different story. amazon is a retail store that happens to be online and stores typically try to run on 30 to 35% markup margins. that's a totally different animal. I sell CDs on amazon and know their procedure. I have no complain there.

what surprises me is reading some of you actually supporting these outrageous rates being charged by eBay. there is no excuse for it. it's a consumer ripoff as many on this thread agree.

I can see why some commented that it's a good to be buyer on eBay, because all the fees are slanted to the seller.

[Ivan996]

Shiva, Amazon also allows you to sell used items not just new items.

It's not that we support or approve of the fees charged by ebay. It's more like we understand the market place and the dynamics of supply and demand. We're fatalistic about what the seller can charge and what the market can bear.

For example, we can say in the USA that we find medical care costs to be outrageous yet we still pay them because if we don't...we'll die! Unfair? Yes. Profit-driven? Absolutely! But we'll pay them because we have no choice.

I'm guessing that Ebay just keeps raising fees until their traffic goes down, then lowers them. Technically Ebay doesn't even fix prices (price elasticity) but rather sets the cost of production for the seller. You'd almost have to look outside of economics and look towards game theory...specifically the Nash equilibrium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium). Because basically Ebay wants to fleece you without killing you off so while they are looking to their own profits they must also give you concessions. I'm guessing for very large volume Ebay sellers their fees are low...probably extremely low...because they get a favored status from Ebay.

Personally I'd just hook the jacket on Craigslist and get cash. I've had a lot of luck selling stuff on craigslist for a very fair or even a good price.

Just to let you know I don't have a degree in economics or even studied it; it's just a passing interest in economics, statistics, and game theory. But my sister is an investment banker, my mother is a CPA, so I've picked up some stuff through osmosis. But I could just be bullshitting.

[SHIVA]

you make 3 good points:

basically Ebay wants to fleece you without killing you off.

I'm guessing for very large volume Ebay sellers their fees are low...probably extremely low...

I've had a lot of luck selling stuff on craigslist

Craigslist is a shining example of what the web is supposed to be about.

[ssduc]

you make 3 good points:

basically Ebay wants to fleece you without killing you off.

I'm guessing for very large volume Ebay sellers their fees are low...probably extremely low...

I've had a lot of luck selling stuff on craigslist

Craigslist is a shining example of what the web is supposed to be about.

I'd say it's an example of what the web is about, best and worst.

[Ivan996]

Never pick up chicks from Craigslist. I did last week, actually twice; very bad experiences.

--First chick was easily 200 pounds. Easily. I know my bike is bad-ass but when she came out I realized it wasn't bad-ass enough because when she sat on it the rear went all the way to the bottom. Being the good-natured fool I am I rode to Chilli's with her practically doing a wheelie she was so fat. She then ordered the extra extra crispy chicken with cheese fries and cheese doritos, then mentioned she had lost 80 pounds. Her portion of the bill was $25! Of course I paid the whole bill but how the hell does one eat $25 worth of food at Chilli's?! She offered sex but I'm sorry guys I just couldn't do it without massive doses of !!SPAMMER!! DELETE THIS THREAD and maybe not even then even if I browned-bagged it.
--2nd chick was tall, easily 6 feet, taller than me, much thinner, not bad looking at all. Got a few drinks, got a hotel room AT HER SUGGESTION, started to get it on but she keeps changing her mind, dunno what she wants. Since nothing was going to happen without a lot of effort I left...I think women always have the upper hand when it comes to sex so sometimes it's best to just cut your losses and leave. $80 down the drain.

Both were a total waste of time and money.