It's no surprise that eBay is milking sellers to the very last drop. I've
quit using them, when they came up with the excellent idea, that
buyers can no longer get negative feedback - even if they are frauds,
crooks and non-paying goofballs.

As a result I turned to Amazon. Ok, they seem to ask very high
charges, but I can decide on the prices myself and I don't have to run
after my money.

coma, June 24, 2011; 9:33 AM

I stopped offering on Ebay as well (and buy there very rarely now) and use Amazon to sell now, too.

handstand, June 24, 2011; 2:06 PM

Same here...I haven't sold on Ebay for years, and we only use it now and then for getting rare collectibles. Years ago I decided that Ebay has gotten way too big for its britches (as the old saying goes), and they're just poorly regulated for various reasons.

kriegerg69, June 25, 2011; 1:45 AM

eBay announced this before they started doing it. I don't like it, but the way around it is to add a little to the starting price to be sure the cost is covered. I think the reason they did this is because some sellers were charging almost nothing for an item but charging ridiculous shipping fees. I saw some where the sale price was 99 cents, and shipping charges would be $20 for something where the real postage cost would not be more than a dollar or too. In other words, sellers were manipulating the system. Still, eBay has been making itself less desirable and less user-friendly for sellers in many ways.

betenoir, June 25, 2011; 3:13 PM

As a seller, I find it pretty annoying, too. Depending on your shipping cost, it's almost negligible
and easily absorbed. It's just the idea of it I hate.

riotengine, June 25, 2011; 9:32 PM

I'm not a high volume seller but the changes I experienced recently was that they stopped charging me a fee (first 50 items per month now free to list) and added another fee based on shipping amount. I never did the math to figure which way it tilted but I can imagine it was theirs.

Between ebay and paypal it costs me, per transaction, a total of about 13-15% of the price paid (incl. shipping) to sell there now.

You can ship a CD first class for about 1.90 and charge 3.00 on ebay to help cover fees and packaging. Been making packaging out of cardboard boxes from the supermarket and packing in crumpled newspapers to cut down on envelope/bubble wrap expenses.

My suspicions are that this is the first phase of trying to milk more from the sellers and that we will see "phase II" implemented sometime before the holidays...

bellfoosh, July 1, 2011; 11:10 PM

I'm with you Goldberg! Gave up on eBay a long time ago. The site is a greed-driven mud pit and I am quite content to rely on Amazon. I hate to bid anyhow (a sucker's game). Put a price tag on your collectible and if I think it's fair I'll buy - no silly bidders buzzing around an item like hectic moths around a porch lamp.

bipcress, July 2, 2011; 3:35 AM

Ebay has really killed the collectibles/collectors market on a LOT of things.

kriegerg69, July 6, 2011; 2:34 AM

Yeah, the list of eBay atrocities seems to continue to grow. These
guys unfortunately had an awesome thing that they're eventually
going to run into the ground because they can't get out of their own
way. Between not allowing negative feedback for buyers, taking
charges out of shipping now and the latest....you can't tell foreign
buyers that you're not responsible for lost items anymore. As a seller,
I'd say 60 percent of my business comes from foreign sales, but
sometimes their post offices mess stuff up and lose stuff so I'd warn
my buyers that I won't be refunding for lost items. So now eBay
doesn't even allow you to post this in your description or else you
won't be able to achieve a 5 star rating. Ugh... Totally geared towards
the buyer and leaves sellers out to dry. So sick of them, but they're
such a titan that if I wanted to start a store of my own, I'd never be
able to get the same traffic. Sorry..I could complain about eBay all day
long.

shawndumont7, August 10, 2011; 1:51 AM

Yes the greed of Ebay is driving lots of folks away. After talking to them about my bill and why they were charging me for shipping on a FVF I wanted an answer which all their drone could tell me was they were trying to get everyone to ship for free. I had to ask if they were now in the shipping business with UPS, Fedx and the USPS! I wonder if the postal services know about this and why aren't they holding out their hands to Ebay wanting their cut (I think they should). Or better yet open a class action suit against them (Ebay) since they never have to fork out a dime for shipping materials, postage or the gas for a trip to the post office. I wish one of these money hungry lawyers looking for a law suit would jump on the band wagon as I can see all the folks (Millions) from Ebay would be glad to jump on for the ride also...... I for sure would be one of them....... JUST SAY NO to Ebay is the only way to open their Greedy eyes. And look at all the foreign sellers we have on ebay now, it's no wonder our economy has gone to hell in a hand basket we make little to nothing off our items an support country's other than our own. It's really no wonder why our unemployment is so high and our bills just keep getting higher.

cuzdog362, September 30, 2011; 12:14 PM