Latest Ebay Screw (in case you didn't know)

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Beginning soon, sellers will no longer be able to charge for Insurance. No option available. Sellers are expected to bear the expense themselves. The logic behind this is that sellers are expected to be responsible for the item until it arrives at the buyer's door. tell that to the post office. So..if you add it to the shipping charge, you run teh risk of a low seller rating in shipping charges...and if you add it to the item cost,ebay gets a cut of it. people are not liking it and all ebay can say is the same old crap.

I tell ya, folks...somebody at ebay must have gotten a head injury somehow. It's getting harder for a seller to make money.

[Guest sciondrgn]

I stopped using eBay along time ago.

The Seller responsible part has been that way for a long time now it's just eBay didn't make it very clear.. I had a case where I purchased a radio and the seller just had a flat rate of shipping and did not offer insurance through the auction. The Radio came in but the box was all beat up and the radio inside damaged. I contacted the seller who told me tough. I filed a claim with pay pal/eBay and they sided with me and advised The Seller is responsible for safe delivery of the item whether they charge for insurance or not.

eBay has just gotten tired of dealing with claims more than likely.. There have been plenty of times I've purchased an item with several dollars for shipping and another buck or two for insurance and when I get the package the seller paid $0.45 with no insurance. People abuse the system so eBay tightens down and it affects the honest sellers out there. 

[BannerJohn 1,324]

ok..I get your point but say I add the insurance to shipping cahrges..that opens me up to a low DSR rating for shipping charges. NOW ebay has decided that you can't have any more than .25% of your DSR ratings in the low end. You can have 100 neg feedback but as long as the perecenmtage is low enough..you are ok.

I just think it sucks. Ebay is forcing sellers to bear the cost of insuranhce instead of giving teh buyers a choice.

[Guest sciondrgn]

yeah I don't agree with them taking that option out all together but there is just to many people that abuse the system sadly..

I haven't sold anything on eBay in over a year now. It's just gotten to cluttered up with junk

[haumana 1,221]

I wish someone would come up with an eBay alternative. And please don't tell me that Craigslist is it, because on eBay I don't get people haggling me about the price.

I have sooo many issues with eBay, but right now they are the only game in town. A huge money maker would be to come up with another auction type of site ... since Yahoo! kind of failed miserably.

[bamafan2277 50]

Amazon offers something kinda like ebay. Has anyone sold anything there?

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I've listed on 3 other auction sites,and never sold a thing.

[spacegraphics 0]

Looks like until someone else comes up with a better business model, eBay will stay on top. Trouble is that they have been through all the problems and have either come up with the best solution, or have taken money from a lot of the wholesalers that sell cheap Chinese crap that will push out all the smaller sellers which was whom eBay was founded for? I sold a few items on eBay, but after paying eBay and PayPal I didn't make out all that great.

[kctrader 10]

Beginning soon, sellers will no longer be able to charge for Insurance. No option available. Sellers are expected to bear the expense themselves. The logic behind this is that sellers are expected to be responsible for the item until it arrives at the buyer's door. tell that to the post office.

Like mentioned above, seller's can charge for shipping by adding it to their shipping and handling.  I've done it that way for years.  My shipping DSR is 4.9.  As long as you ship FAST, most buyers are going to be happy. 

For 75 cents (or less) you can insure up to $100 with a 3rd party insurer, (or charge the extra 75 cents, put it in a jar and cover any losses yourself.)  Few buyers will even notice the extra buck if you get the item to them quickly. 

With PayPal's rules, sellers have always been responsible for the package until it gets to the buyer's door.  This doesn't change that.  eBay has made a lot of stupid changes, but I don't see this one as that big a deal.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I wish I was that lucky. I charge EXACT shiping cost and my shipping cost DSR is 4.8.Which means some jerk or two thouight it was too high.

But get this...people have mentioned to ebay that they disable the DSR for shipping charges if you offer FREE shipping,and so far, they are saying no. Is that dumb or what? You can offer FREE shipping and if a buyer is pissed at you for some reason, can still leave one star under shipping charges.

[midwaste 4]

You guys can try Etsy.com, but it's still absolutely flooded with people and their shit.  Naturally, if you want the major traffic, you are going to have to deal with the major competition.

I've never seriously considered Ebay, there is just too many sellers on there and too few buyers.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

It's going to take someone like Google to have the serious cash and know how to ever compete with EBay.  I would love to see someone do it though!  a friend played around with ebid but they really can't compete with the big dollar ebay

[grumpybadger 0]

I gave up with eBay, they are just too damn expensive for me. I tend to use eBid instead now, which doesn't have the same traffic as eBay but is up and coming bit by bit. I'm sure it will become more popular now, as more and more people become disillusioned with eBay.

I noticed a few others on here that use eBid too, Speedoggy for one.

[Gadget Man 0]

Ok, I understand all the complaints about being Sellers on eBay but, as a buyer, I complained to eBay for years about the feedback.

I did not believe it was fair for buyers.

Here is my main complaint: I win a bid and pay using paypal (say $40 for item and 10 S&H = $50) as soon as the auction is done. Do we agree that MY half of the contract has been filled? Then 2 weeks later your still waiting for your item. After 3 weeks your item arrives and it is either wrong, used (when it said new) etc...... so you make every attempt to contact sell with no answers. Now I go to paypal and open a case and I send the item back (at my expense $10.) and 10 days later I get my money (minus $10 for S&H) $40. So a $40. item just cost me $20 in S&H when it wasn't even my fault! Then to top it off the Buyer puts a NON PAYMENT against me to recoup his eBay fees and gives me negative feed back! Now..is this fair?

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

No is not right,,,  I guess you have not done business lately on EBAY...   Sellers have not even been able to leave a negative for buyers in over a year..   There is no negative button for sellers anymore and hasn't been for quite awhile..   It's either postive feedback or leave feedback later for sellers to buyers feedback ,  So, as a seller we can get screwed by buyers also,  

[BannerJohn 1,324]

No is not right,,,  I guess you have not done business lately on EBAY...   Sellers have not even been able to leave a negative for buyers in over a year..   There is no negative button for sellers anymore and hasn't been for quite awhile..   It's either postive feedback or leave feedback later for sellers to buyers feedback ,  So, as a seller we can get screwed by buyers also,  

This is the dumbest thing ebay has ever done (among many dumb things) I have actually had a buyer threaten to leave neg feedback if I didn't give him something for nothing. In other words, he was able to hold my feedback hostage.

I've been screwed by BUYERS more than SELLERS. There are plenty of crooks out there and by eleminating the NEG feedback for buyers...ebay just made it easier for a buyer to be a crook.

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I have had threats a couple of times from buyers,,  at the bottom of the EBAY message is report the message and you can report the email for  MEMEBER ATTEMPTED TO APPLY FEEDBACK EXTORTION FOR UNREASONABLE DEMANDS. I do not tolerated EVER being threatened....  and you copy and paste their email and send it. There are buyers that just can't be satisfied. No matter what!!!

I did that,,  and I never replied back to the  buyer again ..and I never got a negative either.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

yeah...I got my FIRST negative from that jerk..after giving a full refund..and ebay wouldn't do a damn thing about it. 2000 positives and one asshole ruins it all and I don't have a penny of his money. That's ebay for you.

[haumana 1,221]

eBay sucks on sooo many different levels (sigh). I certainly hope that Google is/will consider an auction setup to compete against eBay. Can't we get the some kind of government agency to intervene because eBay basically has a monopoly when it comes to online auctions? 

[Gadget Man 0]

I can see your point. I have only done a little selling on ebay and never had a problem. I can see how  people (buyers & Sellers) can really screw each other! Now I guess more the seller!

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

eBay sucks on sooo many different levels (sigh). I certainly hope that Google is/will consider an auction setup to compete against eBay. Can't we get the some kind of government agency to intervene because eBay basically has a monopoly when it comes to online auctions? 

Monoply?  If you search online auctions and  auction websites,  auction stores,,, there are a tons OUT THERE...  there is no  Monoply,  it's EBAY'S advertising that draws the crowd..  EVERYBODY knows the word EBAY..  And that is where consumers will go first.  I have tried to sell in other marketplaces/ auctions  the problem is there is NO TRAFFIC..  BECAUSE  the traffic is in EBAY.  WORLDWIDE. 

[haumana 1,221]

eBay sucks on sooo many different levels (sigh). I certainly hope that Google is/will consider an auction setup to compete against eBay. Can't we get the some kind of government agency to intervene because eBay basically has a monopoly when it comes to online auctions? 

Monoply?   If you search online auctions and  auction websites,  auction stores,,, there are a tons OUT THERE...   there is no  Monoply,  it's EBAY'S advertising that draws the crowd..  EVERYBODY knows the word EBAY..   And that is where consumers will go first.  I have tried to sell in other marketplaces/ auctions  the problem is there is NO TRAFFIC..  BECAUSE  the traffic is in EBAY.  WORLDWIDE. 

(Sort of my point) Exactly! Yes, I am aware that there are other places to auction junk, but unless there's a big name that can bring the game ot the public, such as Google, then I would consider them (loosely) a monopoly. Yahoo tried and failed, and they have a pretty big brand. The closest thing to a working and fair website is Amazon, and that's not auction based.

No traffic = no buyers = no money = no joy. (sigh)

[haumana 1,221]

Does anyone know when this policy is supposed to take effect?

Hmm... So I'm guessing then it will really be up to the sellers to decide if they want to insure their shipments or not, however, regardless - the seller will need to incur the cost of replacement/refund should the item not get there, or get there damaged?

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I'm thinking Jan 1 but could be wrong. Check the ebay updates.

[Cre8tiveCutter 7]

eBay sucks on sooo many different levels (sigh). I certainly hope that Google is/will consider an auction setup to compete against eBay. Can't we get the some kind of government agency to intervene because eBay basically has a monopoly when it comes to online auctions? 

:::::::cough::::::cough! Dont you think the government is already trying to control way too much? LOL!