Is Ebay a rip - off?

[invisiblepiper]

Did some sums this morning , having posted an item to a bidder -and I have decided just to give all stuff to Oxfam from now on - not just some of it.
I sold a dress on Ebay for 99p.
Add the postage - which I price accurately - the buyer pays what it actually costs me.
So I make 99p? WRONG -
Insertion fee -17p
Selling fee - 9p
Paypal fee - 30p - for the honour of receiving my money - which includes the postage! Paypal is pushed as the only way to pay safely!!!
So I am left with the princely sum of 43p for all my laying out. photography and time spent online.
I'm going back out to the garden..............................

[Green Aura]

I presume that a lot of people add something to their p+p charges to cover some of this. That would explain why some charges seem so ridiculously high. I've only sold a couple of gig tickets on ebay and handed them over in person, but as a regular buyer I'm constantly amazed at the variance in charges - but I guess ebay don't get a cut of the postal charges.

Don't stop selling invisiblepiper. Up here in wild and woolly North Sutherland I rely on ebay for loads of things. Who knows I may even have bought off you in the past.

[Graye]

I buy (and occasionally sell) lots of things on EBay - sometimes from/to "professionals" and sometimes to ordinary users like myself. Sometimes it's a risk if you put something up for 99p and that's all you get but I think you could look at it another way. Firstly should you put the starting price a bit higher? If someone wants whatever you are selling they will usually be prepared to pay a bit more than 99p. Secondly, look for free listing days, that will save part of the costs. Thirdly, consider asking for payment by cheque. It takes a little longer to clear etc and for the customer to get their goods but if you specify cheques payment in the listing bidders know the score. Finally, put a little extra on p & p to cover "handling", ie your charges!

I generally buy all Xmas and birthday presents online and have them delivered to the person concerned as we are usually out of the UK. I use my mother's address for delivery of most other stuff and pick it up when we next visit. Don't give up, it's fun and very useful. I've only had one "bad" experience and that was my own fault for buying something (it was only a few pounds anyway) despatched from the Far East which never did arrive. They managed to disguise the source very well, saying it was in London etc but I should have thought a bit harder as there were clues in the listing...

[StripyPixieSocks]

I always add the insertion charges on in the P&P as in my business, it costs me to buy the packaging, and it costs me for petrol and time to get to the post office etc... this is what postage & Packing is.

You have to make sure your overheads are covered as with any sale :)

[Mrs Moustoir]

Ebay have recently increased their seller fees for low value items - there has been a lot of discussion about it on their forums and also on Tamebay. I think they want to encourage the volume sellers and price out the little guy.

Shame - as I use ebay quite a lot to buy and sell some of my kids clothes and I've got some real bargains - but only ebay really make anything out of it.

[Russian Doll]

i belong to another forum who after saying they were so wound up with ebay started there own ebay site,,,it only costs a flat fee of 10 p to sell on there....not sure if i can post a link but if mods say i can then i will

[Rosendula]

i belong to another forum who after saying they were so wound up with ebay started there own ebay site,,,it only costs a flat fee of 10 p to sell on there....not sure if i can post a link but if mods say i can then i will

If for some reason you're not allowed to post the link, will you PM me with it please?

[invisiblepiper]

Thanks for the responses! - i think my big bug is with the commission rates whipped off by Pay Pal - 10% on top of the Ebay charges for the priviledge of handling your money.
Pixiesocks - I guess I need a better business head!
Mrs Moustoir - I hadn't realised about the increases - interesting comments.
Graye and Green Aura - I won't give up.
Russian Doll - I would also be interested in that site - if you can PM me too please!

[Annpan]

Russian Doll - go ahead and post a link,

We like links, (as long as it isn't spam, p8rn or incessant advertising) and it is good to have recommendations.

Do not fear the mods , we are just normal ishers like you (actually, is there anything normal about ishers )

[MrsD'ville mkII]

I make judgements as I go along about eBay, depending on what I want to buy/sell and its availability near me. We're pretty remote here, nearest proper shopping centre is almost an hour away and that's Hereford, so with the best will in the world there's little choice and no guarantee we'll find what we want. Given the distance and the time taken schlepping round only to find all the branches of x or y are too small for what we want, I'm willing to pay reasonable postage and packing charges for the time and hassle it saves me. Reasonable is the word though, so I'm careful who I buy from.

If I'm selling I only bother now for higher value items, eg we sold our car via eBay a few months ago. Pretty much everything else I give away via Freecycle for first choice, then charity shops if no-one else wants it or I just want to be shot of something right there and then. Sadly I really feel it isn't worth it any more for the kind of small things I used to sell which is a shame as it can be so useful.

[Russian Doll]

We are pleased to announce that we have just launched our very own version of eBay. The Mummy's Club Auctions. TMC Auctions is available for all members, their friends, their friends and even their friends... As a celebration of the launch we are giving every new member a promotion code giving you 5 free listings. The Promo code is: aee7987f1217

TMC Auctions can be found at http://tmcbid.justjaneys.co.uk you will need to register and confirm your registration by email.

here ya go guys ..it only opened yesterday but the owners of the forum are a great ouple who really wanna make it work as they hate ebay lol so well be putting all our kids and hubbys crap on there lol
Sent at:

[the.fee.fairy]

I used to sell things through a couple of communities on Livejournal - TSUK and something else that i cant remember the name of...

It was free listing because you were using your own LJ account, and they had a feedback system.

It was mostly for clothing, but some people sold bags and the odd electrical item as well.

[SarahJane]

I have never sold anything on ebay but I have bought a few things. Only this week I bought a dvd that I really wanted and managed to get it for 1p !! Plus p&p. Needless to say I am delighted!

[Green Aura]

Oh SarahJane, half my house has been kitted out by ebay - in fact they sent me a present last year for being such a good customer! How embarrassing is that?

You do have to be careful, p+p can be extortionate - we've been quoted £165 to deliver a roll of lino - I think that basically they can't be bothered to send things to the Highlands so they bung a ridiculous price on and if the customer's willing to pay it they're quids in - if not it doesn't matter.