Ebid don't take a percentage from your shipping costs.

[Musicalbox]

I came over to ebid from ebay about 4 month ago. I got sick of all the changes and fees. I was on ebay for 4 years selling the same things I am listing on here. Recently ebay stated that private sellers would only get 20 free listings per month and then it would be 35p to list an item. After that I thought thats it, its not worth bothering with now. So after my list ended last week, i gave up. I was not only a seller on ebay, but a buyer too, and I spent a lot of money on their over the 4 years I was on. I was quite lucky too in that when free listings were offered to the select few, I always got the offer (mind I honestly didn't know the free listing weekends where by invite, I thought it was for everyone) Soon after my listings ended I got a message from ebay asking me to fill in a four question survey to help them improve their ebay system. One question asked about how I felt about introducing someone to sell on ebay. I hit the lowest mark as NEVER. Guess What? I never got an invite for the free Easter listing this time. lol. So, anyway, I am here. I have two shops. A music shop and a book shop. Unfortunately, after 4 months I have sold 1 CD, but I am not giving up. I have a lot more things to list yet. With not selling I have checked other sellers and seem to be on the right track. My stuff is good quality, some new, and I think my prices, from what I have seen of others, are quite reasonable. After taking postage off the sale I am not making all that much, but every little helps. I don't think I'd ever make a million, nor do I really wish to. It's just a little hobby to me and what i make I use to buy things for my collection. And living on your own keeps me occupied too. Anyone who wants to visit my shops, Musicalbox and Page Turner are most welcome and if you see anything I might be doing wrong, please let me know. Thankyou all.

[johnwash1]

... I was quite lucky too in that when free listings were offered to the select few, I always got the offer (mind I honestly didn't know the free listing weekends where by invite, I thought it was for everyone) ...

Er, no, the free listing weekends were for everyone. I've never had an invite (I don't enable the email option for offers etc) but have listed on the free weekends many many times. They're usually about once a month, and get announced on the site's news only the day before.

Apologies for rabbiting on about ebay, but necessary to correct facts. You mention the recent changes, which I believe will kick in next month, and they just amaze me. Just as I think there's nothing more they can do to shaft the private seller, they invent yet more ways.

Returning to the topic of the thread, 2% is a modest commission and I'd be happy to list with free postage if that encourages buyers. I'm also happy to have people collect in person, so I'm not sure how to handle that if giving free postage... obviously such buyers deserve something off. For items such as magazines the postage element can be quite significant.

[emmily121]

Musicalbox is correct, as from beginning of this year all free listing weekends have been via invitation and they have not been on Announcement.

Some sellers were still able to list without receiving the email invite, maybe like you they had their settings to not accept ebay emails.

For the first couple of months this year I got invite for free listing weekend every weekend, plus the Thursday free 10 day listing, if you were only able to list free one weekend a month that shows you were not getting the invite, which was apparently random.

The one weekend I didn't get the invite, and wasn't able to list for free was after a case was opened against me for Item Not Received. The buyer immediately closed the case and apologised for any trouble he caused, just wanted to ask a question, he didn't know that by simply asking a question it would open a case. It still got me a Defect...

The only way I could get back at ebay re the 10% on P&P was to keep my P&P low at 75p (for Large Letter), all they got/get from me is 0.07 including combined, even if postage costs me a bit more I'd rather pay it myself than give ebay another penny. It takes a lot of pin badges to go over 100g, so it's no problem for me to pay the extra postage. Also, I didn't increase my P&P when Royal Mail increased their prices end of March.

[theElench]

Couldn't agree more with various things already on this thread. Selling on ebay now is like working in a mafia run police state. I think the fee on postage was introduced because of collapse of sales when RM doubled postal charges, so they tried to recoup losses by hitting honest sellers under the excuse of stamping out sellers selling for £1 with huge postal costs. It was only a minority that did this but all sellers pay the bill (to ebays advantage). Ebay now encourage sellers to use "free postage" which hides the cost from buyers, it's better here where the buyer can see what they're being charged.

I think it is totaly wrong to introduce a new (more punitive) system and to include previous FB/DSR scores. I don't sell a lot but when the new system starts I will have an immediate "defect" because last year I was given a neutral FB, which didn't count against me then. I have 100% positive FB and DSRs of 4.9 or 5.0 and I think the one neutral was harsh to say the least.

As for these boards, it is refreshing to get loads of helpfull advice and comments. Over there almost every thread is highjacked by ebay cheerleaders who are sarcastic, talk down to people and pull apart any question or critisism of ebay to show that the questioner is always at fault. I'm sure they are ebay employees because they seem to be on the boards 24/7.

In my category (collectables) Art Deco glass listings are down from 18K two years ago to about 9K now. Like myself more and more sellers, particularly the small private ones, are leaving ebay. Not because they are dishonest but because the carrot is not worth all the stick. The dishonest sellers (and I have come across only a very few in two years on ebay) are still there despite being reported and will still be tolerated because they bring in fees.

Unfortunately although the listings on ebay have fallen the sellers have not moved here. I am a collector rather than a business and would happily buy here if I could but haven't yet found anything to buy. Dare I suggest to ebid that a few cheap (?) local radio adverts might raise awareness of this site.

[emmily121]

You'll find selling here much less stressful.
I've come to the conclusion that I despise ebay and the stress it causes me. oh I'll still list there for my convenience to let my buyers know I'm selling on eBid.
The last straw for me was taking away private sellers 100 under 99p free monthly auction listings and replacing it with 20 free auction or Buy it Now per month at any price. Well ebay will not make much out of me, I'll use the 20 for under 99p items...

How stupid is it to be nervous of opening a message, wondering what problem (made up or real) it's going to be, and how to resolve without a Defect before message has even been read.
I used to post on TOS boards, I've not for a couple of weeks. I don't feel I can say anything nice, so I'd rather say nothing at all. I still read them, read one last night 'where have are all the buyers gone?' hope the answer to that is, sellers are jumping ship and taking their buyers with them.
Hope you can find some items to buy on eBid, it's good to buy, as well as sell.

[rokins_toys]

Bit disgraceful that is. It was the private sellers that made eBay what it is before the small, medium and big businesses started getting on there. I do not visit eBay very often so do not read the forums so I do not know much about what is going on over there with constant changes that only serve to penalise the smaller sellers, whether they be private or business, so I wouldn't mind knowing what changes are coming in, in a few months time, so if someone could point me to the appropriate place to read up on it then I will appreciate it as I am always interested in reading about how eBay screws the smaller business and private sellers.

This will be yet another missed opportunity for eBid to capitalise on eBay's poor treatment of sellers though. eBid needs to evolve if it is to stand a real chance of attracting the majority of those trod upon sellers from eBay and getting them here full time but the customer base for eBid is still significantly small compared to the customer base on eBay.

I often try to buy on eBid first, but I can rarely find what I am looking for here so have no choice but to use eBay for some purchases. eBid needs to change its marketing strategy to attract shoppers and not focus on hidden away on ecommerce business sites promoting for sellers that only reaches an extremely tiny minority in the grand scheme of things. Focus marketing on shoppers in the mainstream and sellers will see the very same marketing so it brings both shoppers and sellers here. Rokin's Toys will shortly be starting an ad campaign online on two of Britain's best selling national newspaper websites, this will not work miracles over night, but if we can keep the banners up on a regular basis and expand into other newspaper websites then it will deliver positive results, either way, it is marketing that will be aimed at shoppers which sellers will also see.

I had a survey sent to me last week from eBay and I filled in about how I only pay 2% FVF on eBid compared to their unnecessarily high and greedy 10% FVF wiping out my margins, how I get 5 free shops when they want to charge silly monthly subscription charges for a single shop. I had a go at them about how they treat sellers, especially the sellers that were the backbone of eBay making the place what it is today, had a go at some of their policies that violate government given rights for businesses, had a go at their fee on shipping costs and how it is unfair to penalise the majority of sellers because of the actions of a minority. I pointed out how unfair their feedback system is penalising sellers through problematic buyers whom can be petty about things. Pointed out how unfair their rating system is for sellers being marked down on things out of pettiness. It will fall on deaf ears of course. eBay has become all about profit to feed the greed of executives and investors now so they do not care about the backbone sellers, all they care about is the huge profits they can reap from bigger business sellers whom pay thousands of pounds per year in fees like Argos do because they are trading on their now. They asked if I would recommend selling on eBay and I just put: "Lmao, not if you were the only place left in this solar system!"

[emmily121]

Next time you're on ebay, click on the Community, then Seller boards or Announcements, find out about the Defects (back dated 12 months for those sellers on 12 monthly evaluation), the shops being reduced from 200 hundred listings for £19.99 to 100 listings. Anyway enough negativity about TOS.

I'm enjoying being on eBid, my dates are a bit confusing. I registered with eBid in 2008, and that's all I did, I didn't actively buy or sell on eBid until 1st May this year, so far I have purchased 7 items and sold 5 items.

[rokins_toys]

Cheers, did a quick look on there, saw about the defect notices and sellers having a defect placed against them for things that are clearly beyond their control and buyers failing to follow correct procedure with non-delivery of items, which some do not, and they open unnecessary cases with eBay/Paypal instead of following the guidelines from Royal Mail which all sellers/shoppers have to adhere to anyway and eBay/PayPal have zero jurisdiction in this area and should not be enforcing the policies they are that prevent sellers from following the procedures laid out my Royal Mail. Sellers should clearly state Royal Mail policies and procedures regarding items that are not delivered within the time frame specified by Royal Mail, which we do on our all about the seller page, and sellers should always advise buyers of such policies, but sellers can only do that when the buyer does the CORRECT thing of notifying the seller FIRST before opening any unnecessary case.

Sellers with such problems should contact Trading Standards because sellers deserve the right to sort out problems, especially delays with delivery that are beyond their control, directly with the buyer by following Royal Mail policies and procedures which must be followed first and foremost, not silly unfair and unnecessary policies laid out by eBay. Sellers deserve the right to sort out problems without some silly case being opened and buyers should get their act together when something does not arrive within Royal Mail's specified time frame and follow the correct procedure by contacting their local depot first to see if item is there, if not, then contact seller directly whom can only advise for the buyer to contact their local delivery office as well as wait the 15 days laid out by Royal Mail.

So any sellers with problems relating to defects due to non-delivery of items, issues beyond the sellers control, then they should start a complaints procedure with Trading Standards as they will be more understanding of the seller and the situation and will eventually put eBay in their place and have the defect removed and eBay will do it because they do not want someone like Trading Standards on their back every 5 minutes because buyers resort to opening unnecessary cases instead of following procedures laid out by Royal Mail. But most sellers just sit back and take it and do not fight back for what is right because they wrongly think they cannot win, but with Trading Standards on their side they will win against some of eBay's clearly unfair policies.

Obviously there are other cases with poor sellers whom have not sent out items and out to con buyers so they deserve the defects, but again, it is another policy of eBay's that is unfairly punishing genuine and honest sellers.

And the above is for both private and business sellers alike, there is no difference, both types of seller mush adhere to Royal Mail policies in the event of non-delivery due to unforeseen delays and buyers have to follow those same policies too so it is time things changed and time, especially private sellers, started stating Royal Mail policies in the event an item is not delivered within the specified time frame as laid out by Royal Mail as this will ensure buyers do not go straight to eBay/PayPal to open unnecessary cases.

As above, I have this information in my about the seller page and sellers have a similar page on eBay that they can put all this information on too so there is no excuse for not informing buyers of such information so the buyers know to contact the seller directly. I also made it clear that if a buyer opens a case against us with paypal for the non-delivery of an item without contacting us directly first so we can resolve the situation the proper way then we will not co-operate with PayPal and we will immediately go to Trading Standards to have PayPal removed from our affairs regarding the non-delivery of items as we adhere to the policies of Royal Mail and only Royal Mail have jurisdiction in this area, not PayPal. As we do not trade on eBay anymore we do not need to concern ourselves with their nonsense policies either. Sellers, whether private or business, wrongly think they cannot go to Trading Standards with issues and they can and should.

So the shop subscription changes again because sellers are saving money by only listing 200 items which divided by the £19.99 shop subscription would mean 10p per listing, now it will cost them 20p per listing for the 100 listings for the £19.99 because eBay have now worked out that most sellers are sticking within the 200 "inclusive" listings so eBay reduce it to 100 to try and make them pay for each listing over 100 threshold and now those sellers will just reduce their listings to within the 100 inclusive listings, so what will eBay do then, reduce it to 75 inclusive listings a few months from now, then 50 inclusive listings. eBay obviously do not like giving away too much for free do they!

Couldn't be bothered to read any actual threads on the 10% on shipping, so just left a message for sellers to contact Trading Standards on that one because eBay have NO legal right to charge a fee on postage costs and they know it and they will get away with it until the sellers pluck up the courage to exercise their legally given rights via government to open complaints with Trading Standards and eBay are then forced to drop the fee on postage costs and forced to pay all that money back to the sellers while they are forced to initiate a more sensible policy that targets specific sellers that purposely use shipping costs for price of item to avoid FVF's which is easy to spot when someone is charging 1p buy it now price while charging £50 shipping! Not rocket science to see which sellers are doing it instead of penalising ALL sellers for the minority.

eBay has lost its way big time...