eBay fees

[The Admiral]

I don't use eBay at all to sell expensive stuff - but I was just about to list a Concept 2 Rower, which should go for about £750 - £800, when I thought I would check the fees.

Holy Cow! No wonder private sellers seem to have all but disappeared from eBay (a point made in another thread on here about the lack of Private Sale basses). It will cost me about £100 if have a reserve and accept payment via PayPal. Frankly - I'm reluctant to get shafted to that degree, but what are the alternatives? Gumtree, Local Paper, Loot (free ads)?

What does anyone on BC do when they want to shift stuff at the pricier end (other than on here of course)? Any top tips?

Cheers

A

[franzbassist]

My sentiments exactly. eBay used to be a decent site but sellers get pretty much shafted by the fees these days. I suspect your best bet is any rowing forums that may be out there.

I used to have a Water Rower, which was a lovely thing.

[warwickhunt]

I suppose you pays your money...

I have to confess I've not sold anything on eBay for ages. I'm also amazed when folks advertise basses/gear on BC at the same price that they have it listed on eBay; common sense dictates that if it goes on eBay for the starting bid or a BIN, then you get shafted with the fees (as has been pointed out £100 on £800), so why not make a compromise and 'slightly' drop the price on here to generate a sale. Just an observation and not something that I'm 'demanding' people do.

[Mr. Foxen]

I put stuff up on gumtree at a slightly optimistic price, and just wait, no rush to sell. It comes up on google or wherever and people all over the world start asking after it (months after it has sold generally). Sold a Guvnor pedal to a dude in Finland, also had a kid asking if I'd hand deliver to Cumbria, since his dad wouldn't allow a distance purchase, it was a £35 pedal.

Generally whenever I buy something at a significant price, I PM the seller asking if they are OK with Paypal, and when transaction is complete, offer the option of mutual withdrawl of sale, due to logistics issues, instead of feedback. They gave me a whole item, I want them to get the whole price.

[ezbass]

I've stopped selling anything on ebay now because of the fees and the fact that you have to accept paypal, I just buy stuff from there now. To be fair the only stuff I used to sell was bass and guitar gear and then I discovered BC. I'd much rather make a donation to BC than line ebay's pockets.

[neepheid]

Long since given up on selling on eBay. Most sales go through here but I've done Gumtree and the last bass I sold went on Preloved because no-one was biting here

[Cat Burrito]

I've sold a few instruments off on EBay recently. The Ebay listing fees are really heavily advertised but what they don't shout about so loudly is the selling fee AND then of course Paypal take a fee too. To be honest I've written such costs off. Other sites just don't seem to sell. Basschat is the only exception & I always make a point of making a contribution - partly in thanks to the mods but also so I don't get disillusioned when things don't sell & I have to go on EBay. I have a couple of slightly higher value instuments that are in my anti-GAS firing line and to be honest I'll probably just resign myself to taking the hit

[nick]

I still use Ebay for selling any decent old Jap copies I've picked up, that I don't want to keep.
I've found that best bids come from overseas. Sold to Europe,States, Russia & even Australia, for more than what I would have got in the U.K.
So far (for me) it's been worth sometimes biting the bullet on their exorbitant fees.

Not happy about it though. Would like to know of an alternative, if there is one.

Always worth checking though, see what you're gonna cough up if it sells. There are a few rough & ready Ebay/Paypal calculators on the net.
[url="http://ecal.altervista.org/en/fee_calculator/ebay.co.uk/"]Ecal[/url]

Edited August 16, 2010 by nick

[The Admiral]

[quote name='walbassist' post='925374' date='Aug 15 2010, 10:06 AM']My sentiments exactly. eBay used to be a decent site but sellers get pretty much shafted by the fees these days. I suspect your best bet is any rowing forums that may be out there.

I used to have a Water Rower, which was a lovely thing.[/quote]

Thanks for the suggestion, as this has I think proved a top tip. I put it up on the Concept 2 Forum Classifieds for a hopeful price, and a guy emailed the day after. I've agreed to come down a bit for cash, but still selling for more than I expected to achieve as an eBay selling price and I won't be paying £100 to sell it. I'll not count my chickens until I have the readies in my pocket, but fingers crossed, we should be doing the 'Funeral in Berlin' style handover on Saturday. They cost £1,300 new and he's paying a lot less than that for a basically brand new machine, so everyone's a winner. Just need to stop Mrs A buying stuff on impulse now, as that is how we ended up with the rower - unless of course she wants to buy me a Wal.

A

[DirkThrust]

[quote name='The Admiral' date='Aug 15 2010, 09:54 AM' post='925367']
I don't use eBay at all to sell expensive stuff - but I was just about to list a Concept 2 Rower, which should go for about £750 - £800, when I thought I would check the fees.

/quote]

Pretty much the same here. I only use Gumtree or Freeads ( or whatever they're called now)

Although you don't get the same instant exposure as ebay the ad stays in the listings for longer so someone searching for that particular item will find it. The last few high value items I've sold have all sold via Gumtree for the asking price and have been collected without attracting the tyrekickers that seem to inhabit ebay.

[bethnalgreen]

Are you sure it would add up to £100, as the max final value fee is £40. The other bits and bobs plus PayPal would bump this up, but maybe not to £100?

Still too high though!

[The Admiral]

[quote name='bethnalgreen' post='928086' date='Aug 17 2010, 10:04 PM']Are you sure it would add up to £100, as the max final value fee is £40. The other bits and bobs plus PayPal would bump this up, but maybe not to £100?

Still too high though![/quote]

Fair point :

£17.38 to list and put a reserve of £750 on it.

Final value fee : 10% of winning bid, up to a max of £40 - so £40.

Paypal fee : 3.4% on an assumed selling price of £800 = £27.20

So £84.58 then - a bit of rounding on my part, but still a ludicrous amount of money - over 10% of £800.

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='The Admiral' post='928104' date='Aug 17 2010, 10:22 PM']Fair point :

£17.38 to list and put a reserve of £750 on it.

Final value fee : 10% of winning bid, up to a max of £40 - so £40.

Paypal fee : 3.4% on an assumed selling price of £800 = £27.20

So £84.58 then - a bit of rounding on my part, but still a ludicrous amount of money - over 10% of £800.[/quote]

I wonder what costs ebay actually incur servicing a single auction. I'd guess that for most auctions, where there is no dispute to be mediated, the actual cost to ebay is pennies. And even when there is a dispute, we're probably talking minutes of the time of a lowly paid customer service droid.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Annoying Twit

[bethnalgreen]

[quote name='The Admiral' post='928104' date='Aug 17 2010, 10:22 PM']Fair point :

£17.38 to list and put a reserve of £750 on it.

Final value fee : 10% of winning bid, up to a max of £40 - so £40.

Paypal fee : 3.4% on an assumed selling price of £800 = £27.20

So £84.58 then - a bit of rounding on my part, but still a ludicrous amount of money - over 10% of £800.[/quote]



I had no idea that PayPal fees were so high. What a scam!

[Golchen]

Do you have to offer Paypal?

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='Golchen' post='929067' date='Aug 18 2010, 08:55 PM']Do you have to offer Paypal?[/quote]

I believe that is the case or it may be that you can't deny someone the option to pay you that way.

[tauzero]

[quote name='Golchen' post='929067' date='Aug 18 2010, 08:55 PM']Do you have to offer Paypal?[/quote]
Yes, it's an ebay condition. If you try and get round that by saying that you won't take Paypal in the description, your auction could be killed by ebay. I always state clearly that collection is available and cash on collection is welcome.

[The Admiral]

[quote name='tauzero' post='930508' date='Aug 20 2010, 01:42 AM']Yes, it's an ebay condition. If you try and get round that by saying that you won't take Paypal in the description, your auction could be killed by ebay. I always state clearly that collection is available and cash on collection is welcome.[/quote]

I believe ebay actually bought Paypal a few years ago, so they are effectively forcing you to use their own money transfer service, which feels like a questionable practice to me when the fees are so high.

I know a guy who sells a lot of used DJ/audio gear through eBay, but does it by offering comprehensive descriptions and photos, but has his starting bid ludicrously high. He then puts in his telephone number and invites questions. Most people who are interested will call him and say so - but not at that price, and they then go on to do a deal for cash - off of eBay. He never sells an item on eBay - just using it as a 'shop window', and relies on dealing with people who are not impressed by the dire warnings given by eBay about how you will be ripped off by people who ask you to complete the transaction outside the site. There is certainly a chance of that, but by using eBay you are guaranteed to be ripped off by them as far as I can see, so if as a buyer you trust your eyes, ears and experience and are willing to travel to take a look, this may be an option. The fact that he hasn't got to make up the extortionate fees allows him to offer more leeway on the deal, so buyers benefit too. Wouldn't suit everyone I accept, but an interesting tactic.

Also worth noting from the very experienced sellers I have read commenting on the eBay forums, how much the sellers rights have been eroded by eBay's recent changes of policy. They seem particularly unhappy that you can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers, once they have paid, and any complaint investigation seems to be weighted clearly in favour of the buyer, with cases of refunds being made to buyers, and the seller then having to prove that the item was as described/received etc, before they get their money back. It seems far more open to sellers being scammed by unscrupulous buyers - buying, paying, and then raising a complaint to get their money refunded - before disappearing off the site.

See here : You may need to sign in to eBay to read :

[url="http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1200362756&tstart=0&mod=1282138121392"]http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threa...d=1282138121392[/url]

[url="http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1100313423&tstart=40&mod=1281394644265"]http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threa...d=1281394644265[/url]

[tauzero]

[quote name='The Admiral' post='930518' date='Aug 20 2010, 05:38 AM']See here : You may need to sign in to eBay to read :

[url="http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1200362756&tstart=0&mod=1282138121392"]http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threa...d=1282138121392[/url][/quote]
You may also need to lower your litrucy standuds and be prepared to read stuff written by people WHO CAN'T FIND THE CAPSLOCK KEY.

[tom1946]

I used to use ebay a lot but not now the fees are so high, complete rip off, payscam charges you 3.5% of the amount to RECEIVE your money!!!
If I do use ebay I clearly state that I'll take paypal if you pay the fees, if not don't bid.

It is ebays site so if you use it you abide by their rules. I choose now not to use them. I come here and use preloved which can work.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='tom1946' post='931340' date='Aug 20 2010, 08:26 PM']I used to use ebay a lot but not now the fees are so high, complete rip off, payscam charges you 3.5% of the amount to RECEIVE your money!!!
[u]If I do use ebay I clearly state that I'll take paypal if you pay the fees, if not don't bid.[/u]

It is ebays site so if you use it you abide by their rules. I choose now not to use them. I come here and use preloved which can work.[/quote]

... and your sales get pulled how often?

[tom1946]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='931512' date='Aug 20 2010, 11:47 PM']... and your sales get pulled how often? [/quote]

That's just it, I don't


Yet.

[The Admiral]

A quick update : just delivered the Rower and picked up £800 in return. I would have had to sell on eBay for nearly £900 to achieve that result net of fees, and the ones I have been following on there recently have been hitting £750 - £800, so I'm well pleased. Many thanks for the suggestion to list on a Rowing forum - the guy is delighted, as it saved him about £500 on a new one, and it was barely used. Everyone a winner.

Except eBay of course.

A