Topic: greedy ebay

[Industrial Cafe]

anyone understand why ebay fees have gotten so high in the last few years?

I have been a member since 2001, and I have seen the prices go up and up, while the site does basically the same thing: consign your stuff, that is it.

the fee's are more than double that of 2005.

is it just corporate greed?

,Brian

[Damfino]

is it just corporate greed?

Complete! I last sold on 'FeePay' in 2006. I got fed up with paying the sizable amount at the end of the auction, then getting hit again when the buyer paid through 'EmptyYourPocketsPal'. Sucks to be a seller on eBay....JMO.

[mark]

shareholders are entitled to a return on their investment, aren't they?

maybe so, just not from me.

last sale here was Jan. '07





as the saying goes.......

............. and the cactus they rode in on.

 

[Industrial Cafe]

I'm starting to think about cutting ties with them myself.
I sold something for 30 bucks and the fee was $6.52, then the paypal fee was $1.32.

so I sold it for 22.16, which is ridiculous... effing ridiculous!

[Duke McDukiedook]

There's this totally new phenomenon sweeping the nation that you might hear about soon in the not too distant future-















Craigslist.

[tramp]

not as many people on craigs list
but you do sell locally and for cash

[Inigo Montoya]

Nice thing about craigs also is that you can post WTB ads.

[Industrial Cafe]

I use craigslist too, but ebay usually gets more money when you're selling weird things like potosi shipwreck coins.

[firecracker]

I think they're trying to make money from those that are willing to pay all the fees.

Surely you've seen people who have figured out how to work the system.

Example:  Selling something worth $70 - post it "buy-it-now" for one dollar, with $69 shipping fee.  They still get their $70, but only owe eBay a percentage of the $1.  Screws the system for everybody else, but it works.


 

[Gordon]

Example:  Selling something worth $70 - post it "buy-it-now" for one dollar, with $69 shipping fee.  They still get their $70, but only owe eBay a percentage of the $1.  Screws the system for everybody else, but it works.


 

Yeah, and then you get negged out of existence by the buyers who only see the $1 price and don't bother to notice the extremely high shipping charge. 

[Industrial Cafe]

heh, you gotta make it clear in the auction I guess.

[JBMorse]

Hmm must be why I searched for a brake light switch and couldn't find one that shipped for less than $10.  The price was 10 and the shipping was $10!  WTF??? 
So I called the dealer and they've got it in stock for $11.  And it won't cost me $9 to go get it either!

[Gordon]

heh, you gotta make it clear in the auction I guess.

You can put it in big, red flashing letters all over the auction, and there will still be no shortage of people who will only look at the $1 purchase price.  Besides, all it takes is for one person to report the auction for fee avoidance and ebay will pull down everything you have listed with no refund of the listing fees. 

How much could you sell your coins for without using ebay?  If it's less than you get from selling them through ebay (after figuring in their cut of the price), then you're still getting a good deal.  If not, then sell them somewhere else. 

[BobbyR]

I was a very early seller on ebay. That was in the day they were bending over backward to attract sellers and buyers and they were nice to both. Paypal was free use. The sellers like myself were selling collectables and I was selling Vintage Audio. Business was good and i had no problem for years. Once they became large they catered toward ebay stores and the smaller seller became what they actually called a "time taker". The quality of the buyers worsened until my terms and conditions had to look like a credit card application. I quit about 4 years ago.
I paid off my house using ebay so it was good for me. Ina a word they became so big they became arrogant. When I worked for IBM I was in talks with upper management about selling excess and refurbed equipment. They told me that is the direction they wanted to go, large sellers. Fewer sellers = fewer disputes etc.  

[Inigo Montoya]

It is a sad state. They are so larger that everyone goes there first. There may be other auctions but no one really knows about them and so they stay small and do not sell much.
I would love to see a site come and give ebay a good kick but I wonder if it will happen any time soon.

[UnCrash]

They're also losing a ton of money propping up Skype.  That's why they're trying to spin or sell it off --> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9131636&intsrc=news_ts_head

The new fees are required to keep them afloat from their poor business judgment.

[Industrial Cafe]

i did notice a change when they got big. about 4-5 years ago.

Happens to every company... every time they get too big for their britches.
(i.e. go corporate)

I think the corporate mentality is:
    "we have so many customers now, it doesn't matter if we're decent people anymore."
"the ones who liked us cause we were a good company will leave us, but who cares! we have all these new customers (who have no idea what dicks we are) that have been blindsided by fancy talk and famous spokes-models and think we piss sunshine. they'll never leave us!"
"we're rich, we're rich!"

skype sucks now too, it used to be neat...

[Duke McDukiedook]

More like when they go IPO.

Shareholders and profit become more important than everything else, screw the customers.

[TwoTired]

More like when they go IPO.

Shareholders and profit become more important than everything else, screw the customers.

So true.  It's that wall street mentality....

[BobbyR]

Someone mentioned Craigslist which is a private Corp. Ebay bought some shares from former disgruntelrd employees. Here is the result:

Online auction site EBay has sued Craigslist, the online classifieds giant in which it holds an ownership stake, claiming that Craigslist tried to dilute its control.

The San Jose-based eBay alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the directors of Craigslist took “unilateral actions” in January to dilute eBay’s 28.4 percent stake by more than 10 percent.

The suit names Craigslist’s founder Craig Newmark and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster, who describes himself on Craiglist’s website as “anti-establishment.” Newmark and Buckmaster are the only members of the board of directors of the San Francisco-based Craigslist, which is one of the top 10 Web companies in the United States.

Craigslist defended itself against the assertions last night. In a post on its blog, under the heading “Tainted Love,” it said it was “surprised and disappointed” by eBay’s action.

“Coming from a shareholder that views Craigslist as a prime competitor, filing suit without so much as mentioning these assertions beforehand seems unethical, and hints at ulterior motives,” the post stated.

The whole story is here: http://news.muckety.com/2008/04/23/ebay-sues-craigslist-in-stock-dispute/2362

[Gordon]

That was a year ago, and then Craigslist filed a counter suit against ebay to get all of their shares back.  Still haven't heard the outcome of that, if there is one yet. 

[BobbyR]

That was a year ago, and then Craigslist filed a counter suit against ebay to get all of their shares back.  Still haven't heard the outcome of that, if there is one yet. 

There is no outcome yet, but here is Craig standing up to the schoolyard bully:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/13/ebay-vs-craigslist-round-ii-craigslist-punches-back-with-its-own-lawsuit/


This could take years.

[754]

Ebay...the end of an error..

[Industrial Cafe]

heh, 754.