What a crock!! - eBay issue

[mep]

Can you believe eBay cancelled 2 of my auctions with no warning because in my description I asked that winning bidders add 3% to the total purchase price when using paypal. Is this just wrong of me to ask that the buyer pay this fee? I dont think so since paypal is a convenience to the buyer moreso than me.

This is the explanation eBay gave me:

Your listing(s) contained the following information:

"PAYPAL(add $10 to total for paypal fees...paypal charges me 3 percent
for payments),"

The above text is a reference to an additional charge for bidders who
pay by credit card or a separate payment processing service. This
surcharge, which is an added cost to the buyer over and above the final sale
price and reasonable shipping and handling costs, is not permitted on
eBay.

Additional charges that are an added cost to the bidder over and above
the final sale price are not permitted by eBay. Currently, the only
fees that may be added to the final price of an eBay item are reasonable
shipping and handling fees, escrow service fees, and certain currency
exchange fees.

First of all, I would only accept paypal payments as a favor to the buyer since I prefer a money order anyway... & 2nd paypal charges me 3% of every payment I receive through their service which is outrageous. If it was like a $100 sale then no big deal, but when you sell a $1200 item + $100 to ship it 3% is a large amount.

Sorry I'm just venting now, but I feel like this is complete bullshit. The freaking bidder has the power to decide if he/she wants to pay my fees so I dont see the big deal.

Doesn't eBay own paypal? I seem to remember hearing that.

I'm pissed.

mep

[trbobrk]

Originally posted by mep
Doesn't eBay own paypal? I seem to remember hearing that

Yeah they do. They don't want you to charge more than the final bid becasue they get a fee on the final bid price. So what I would recomend is to just add the 3-5% of what you think the item will go for to your 'handling' charge.

[e_fizzy]

Yup, Ebay bought Paypal a while back. Sorry to hear about your problems bro.

[dsigns]

eBay bought Paypal. Now if all sellers charged more to use the paypal service, then less people would be likely to use paypal and they would go out of business...so they're protecting their backs...

[MrFancypants]

It's actually a violation of VISA and other credit cards for you to backcharge their service charges to the customer. VISA will actually put a seller on their shitlist and deny them from being part of their network if they catch them doing this.


- Greg -

[Yahnozha]

use www.bidpay.com - its a western union money order. I had to use this once when buying on ebay since the seller did not take paypal. You pay for the money order online and they send you the MO via mail. The one getting the MO pays for all their fees.

Yeah, the 3% sucks, but add that in the handling fee. I am suck with the same deal with credit cards, they take anywhere from 3%-5% of my sale and I cant pass that fee on or they would deny me service.

[mep]

Thanks for the input fellas...

I guess it just struck a nerve with me since I see so many sellers on eBay doing the same thing as me & charging for the paypal fees but I was singled out. Rules are the rules I supose.

If I was using a business account & making a big profit on merchandise than it wouldn't be a bother to me at all, but selling personal belongings & losing out the ass due to service charges is not cool with me, so I'll just not offer paypal anymore period. Simple fix

There really should be a percentage rate with paypal, meaning if you accept a $50 payment, then a 3% fee applies... if you accept a $2000 payment, 1% applies & etc.

Preciate the words guys... I have cooled off now

mep

[Yahnozha]

Originally posted by mep
There really should be a percentage rate with paypal, meaning if you accept a $50 payment, then a 3% fee applies... if you accept a $2000 payment, 1% applies & etc.

I agree on that one...3% on anything over $1000 sucks ass.

[Chris]

yup.. ebay has had that policy forever!

What I do if I say that I accept paypal is to put in a FIXED shipping fee and make sure the paypal fee would be covered.


I now have 2 paypal accounts (which is allowed BTW) ... One is a personal account (no fees and no credit cards accepted)... and one where you get charged for every transaction.

I often state I can accept paypal if the buyer can paypal without credit card funds.... OR I say they have to pay the 3% AFTER the auction ends and NEVER mention it in the auction itself...

[jbloggs_c]

Asking for an additional fee after the auction is grounds for the buyer to back out on you. Just something to watch out for. As for the fee, I believe it is illegal to ask the buyer to pay it. Basically by paying the 3% fee you are buying the convenience of the paypal service, the same way stores that accept credit cards pay for that service. The idea is the convenience of the service makes more people willing to bid so you may actually end up on top since your final sale price will be higher. If you think your auctions aren't ending any higher just don't accept paypal anymore.

[Chris]

not really... I often have bidders who want to paypal with a credit card... Since I don't state I accept paypal credit card in my auctions, I tell them that I gladly accept money order instead but if they only want to paypal me, that they need to add 3% to cover the fees and I send them the link on the fees to show I'm not scamming...

[jbloggs_c]

The point is they may not have bid in the first place if they knew using paypal is going to cost them more. The convenience of paypal means your auctions get more bids. The downside is you have to pay 3% extra, just like any other person or business that wants to accept credit cards. It violates the agreement with paypal to pass that fee along to the buyer.

[dsigns]

Originally posted by jbloggs_c
The point is they may not have bid in the first place if they knew using paypal is going to cost them more. The convenience of paypal means your auctions get more bids. The downside is you have to pay 3% extra, just like any other person or business that wants to accept credit cards. It violates the agreement with paypal to pass that fee along to the buyer.

The 3% is also how paypal makes their money. Its a service fee. If you dont want to pay to use their service, then dont use their service. Personally, I am more likely to bid on something if they accept paypal cuz Id rather pay that way...

[theneonoutlet]

just like chris said...
dont state paypal as a payment auction and if they ASK for paypal after the auction..give them the choice of using it with the 3% tacked on or just sending a money order.
I have paid "extra" to people before for using paypal and it didnt bother me too much (small stuff though)
I do a lot of ebay stuff and i dont think i'd ever ask for the 3% personally.

[mep]

Originally posted by dsigns


If you dont want to pay to use their service, then dont use their service.

Bingo. Problem solved

mep

[SR20 Inside]

Man fuck that I hate paypal I had an issue with them a couple years ago where someone didn't deliver the product.... had my bank over draw my paypal account for the whole amount so I had a negative balance... paypal would not release ANY information about the seller so I could track him down and shoot him the in the knee caps. I was like alright fuck you, you will never get your money and to this day I have never payed the account off... I think they closed it a few months ago because its been inactive for so long ROFLMAO SO FUCK THOSE BITCHES.

You should reply to the email ebay sent you and be like welll seeing how you bought paypal and you make money with the service if you want me to use it at all in the future you will allow me to do this or remove the 3% fee. I am sure they would come to an agreement with you.

[mep]

Originally posted by SR20 Inside
You should reply to the email ebay sent you and be like welll seeing how you bought paypal and you make money with the service if you want me to use it at all in the future you will allow me to do this or remove the 3% fee. I am sure they would come to an agreement with you.

No I'm not worried about it man... obviously it's just a rule I overlooked.

Ebay sucks so much now, those 2 auctions were the first I've posted in months because everytime a seller offers something at a Buy It Now price, there's about a 8 out of 10 chance that the buyer will not pay. There's nothing fun about ebay anymore. It's pretty much impossible to find any deals there now, & there are about 50 times more stores on there than private sellers... I dont know, I'm just not really interested in using it anymore now. On top of all the inflated fees, it's too much of a hassle dealing with bullshit bidders/buyers who don't pay.

mep

[SR20 Inside]

You know what would bea good business to start? Another auction site with a hell of a lot more security to prevent against bullshit like ebay and to dedicate it to personal sellers not businesses like ebay has become. Seriously that would be awesome.

slogan.... "The online marketplace where you don't have to worry if you are going to get what you paid for."

I work for Discover Credit Card in customer service dept. and I get a few calls every week where people say they didn't get what they paid for with paypal. I think the world is just dying for a competitor.

[G-Forces]

Originally posted by SR20 Inside
You know what would bea good business to start? Another auction site with a hell of a lot more security to prevent against bullshit like ebay and to dedicate it to personal sellers not businesses like ebay has become. Seriously that would be awesome.

How do you achieve this without making it a super hassle for the customers and yourself? How do you verify buyers and sellers. How do you prove that something was paid for and the seller actually got the money? How do you prove that the seller actually shipped and the buyer isn't lying that they didn't get the product?

These are the things that you have to think of and unless you act as an escrow services for every little piece of merchandise that comes through your web site I can't honestly see you doing it any better than ebay at a comparable price.

Guys honestly running servers, hiring CSRs, admins, programmers, lawyers, etc all costs money. Both on account of ebay and paypal. They are running a business plain and simple. If you don't like their terms don't use it.

Take your wheels or whatever you're selling to the local swap meet and see if you can get any where close to what you want for them....that is if you can sell them at all.

I personally love ebay. I've been cleaning out my closet recently and getting rid of a bunch of my old shit I had lying around. I just sent stuff off today to Germany, UK, Singapore, and New Zealand. I got good money for it and here I was thinking it was junk and might not be worth the time to just throw out. Listing fees and a 3% charge are well worth it IMO for basically opening up the entire WORLD for this crap I'm selling.

[BlueEnyaMix]

Man that's just wrong. I also think that lil fuckers that bid and win a bid. Should have to at least pay the sellers fee for hoisting it on ebay, cause now they have to relist it cause the winning bidder didn't buy it.
Like in my case. Where i've stuck my PERFECT condition Turntable on Ebay. First time someone won it. But they couldn't pay they got into a car accident and needed money for a car, and they couldn't work, cause the doods knee was messed up. So.. ok, I let that slide. But the second dood that won. I got in contact with them.. and told them how much it would be to ship to them cause they wanted to know. An they have not gotten back.. Hmmm maybe they were full of shit and didn't have any money in the first place. Cause they had (0) for winning bid experience and transactions.
Well i'm going to Email them again and tell them to either buy the item, tell me if they don't have the money right now, or let me know what's going on, if they dont' want the item. An if they aren't going to buy it that I want them to pay my listing and re-listing fees for wasting my time.
Otherwise [Jane Doe] @ "468 higate dr.,Daly City, CA,94015" is going to get 10 year subscriptions to BRIDE magazine. A very big, thick, and expensive per mag. magazine.