eBay
Complaint 126598 Details

This is a continuous problem regarding eBay & their sister company PayPal. Pardon the length of this complaint.

I've spoken to many other sellers who have the same issues but like me, most still sell on eBay and not too happy about it. There simply isn't anywhere else to sell where you can get the same exposure as eBay has become HUGE and their buyers are basically herded in by million dollar ad campaigns. eBay is set up to benefit eBay first and the buyer second. Some of my friends have decided to throw in the towel and have just closed up their small home based businesses as they feel they don't have a viable vehicle to sell their items.

eBay charges sellers a fee for everything, every chance they get. For example I just sold a product for $36.00 and the buyer wanted it shipped Priority for $11.35 which was the actual cost that I paid the US Postal Service, with the required insurance we must purchase, to have it shipped to my buyer. The total cost I paid our wholesaler for this item, including shipping was $20.00 It was listed as a fixed price listing for a fee of 20 cents. (I'll go in to why I can't list auction style later in this complaint) Once it sold, eBay charged a Final Value Fee of $3.96 PLUS they now have the audacity to charge a Final Value Fee on shipping the item to the buyer! Another fee of $1.25. THEN, once the buyer used PayPal, which sellers are pretty much stuck with and which was purchased by eBay in order to maximize profits of course, I was charged a PayPal Final Value Fee of $1.67. Not taking in to consideration the basic store monthly subscription fee of $15.95, after all is said and done, my whopping profit on this item was $8.92. eBay took $7.08 in fees on an item selling for $36.00! This new shipping charge scheme is really a thorn in my paw. As sellers, we aren't allowed to make ANY profit on shipping. eBay encourages buyers to file complaints against sellers who they think are. So why then is eBay making a profit on it? They have absolutely nothing to do with that transaction unless they are purchasing my shipping boxes and envelopes, packing my items, purchasing the ink and paper to print the labels, and running it down to the PO!!

Now if I were to add things to my listings such as their so called "value pack" which includes a larger picture, a design template and a subtitle, they'd get another $2.00. Now they are actually making more of a profit than I am! First time in US business history that the middle man is making more of a profit than the retailer and certainly the wholesaler. They really are similar to insurance brokers in this regard. Can anyone imagine if your insurance agent were to make more money on your car insurance than the insurance company itself? Think about it lawyers out there!! Buy It Now fees, selling internationally fees, listing in two category fees....Well eBay, it must be nice work if you can get it and since you have no competitors, I guess you can get away with this. But it doesn't stop there. Oh it gets worse...

I don't list auction style anymore because while eBay advertises that your first 50 auction style listings per month are not charged listing fees, and you will only pay if your item sells and that includes their Buy It Now, they STILL charge the fee anyway. If I would have listed my 36.00 item via auction and were charged for that. I would have been invoiced another 75 cents please. This nickle and dime stuff doesn't sound like much, but believe me, it adds up. It is interesting to note that a seller selling an item starting at $200.00 and going on to infinity, via auction style is only charged $2.00 to list. Quite a difference percentage wise. Gouge the sellers selling less expensive items! It's also interesting to note that sellers selling flat panel TVs, IPads and all other electronics are charged much less on their final value fees than any other category. So I pay 11% in Final Value Fees on my $36.00 little wooden puzzle boxes while Best Buy pays 7% to sell their reconditioned $5000.00 flat panel TVs, and anyone selling a tractor or other industrial equipment pays a flat 20.00 to list and a whopping 1% in final value fees. More than a bit slanted.

Getting eBay to reverse the auction fees when they do not honor their advertised promotion which I see has now turned in to a permanent pricing policy, is IMPOSSIBLE. Calling their customer service number about that is a joke. Nobody knows why I kept getting charged for something that is very brightly advertised everywhere and supposed to be free. One particularly maddening untruth was that I should have received an email telling me this promotional rate doesn't apply to me because I don't sell enough. I have received no such email to this day. Nowhere in their posted terms does it state that this doesn't apply to lower volume sellers. When that excuse didn't fly with me I was passed on to two more customer service reps. The 2nd rep said I'd be credited back the fee the next month. Well that's not true either because this has been going on for months and I have never received a credit. The last one just said she has no idea why I keep getting charged. She apologized, thanked me for calling eBay, asked me if there was anything else she could help me with. Say what?

Yes, I am hopping mad. I can't understand why some savvy attorney doesn't file a class action suit against them. What does it take? This company has gone mad in my opinion. I feel like I am forced to use them to sell my wares. We had a website and have sold successfully online since the mid 90s, but my partner and I have to restructure the business due to serious illness and selling via our site is not an option right now. I have to pay the bills which are piling up. I'd love to be able to get an attorney interested because I think there would be merit in a case, but I'll take any advice as to another auction site that is similar to eBay but less bloated, much less convoluted and whose CEOs and CFOs have a conscience. I'm sorry but purchasing PayPal and then making an immediate announcement that we could no longer offer our buyers alternatives such as AlertPay or Google Checkout, seemed way out of line. That they are now taking a cut on what WE pay the post office is blatantly greedy, IN MY OPINION.

Sorry for the length of this email but this mess takes a lot of explaining