Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

[idfnl]



The reason this came about is because people were selling stuff at low prices with insane shipping costs. eBay lost millions in FVFs. They would probably agree to this if you paid for shipping through eBay and only charged the exact amount. Otherwise too many people slip in a little extra to their shipping charge. For instance I know that it costs ~$2.75 to ship a tie first class. I have been charged as much as $8.00 for shipping. But I only paid .99¢ so not that big a deal. But before eBay started charging FVFs for shipping you were seeing stupid stuff like brand new Kiton suit $1.50, with $600 shipping... Probably not that bad but certainly everyone added at least a few dollars to escape eBays fees.

I understand why they did it. There were other ways to solve this problem. Ebay chose the one that generated revenue.

Another stupid thing Ebay did was force you to use free shipping or you're search placement would get screwed. Guess what happened? No more shipping discounts! So now I sell everyone 1 item instead of 3 or 5 or 20 because buyers aren't stupid... they know I am building in the shipping to the price so they aren't getting any form of break on the deal. Pure idiocy.

Lastly... you can't setup even the simplest of rules to provide people discounts... like "buy 5 and get 10% off", nothing. Just shipping discounts... but duh, they make you ship free so no shipping discount is possible!!!

Idiots, really.

 

[GMMcL]



Ebay is eventually going to have to deal with class action suits on 2 topics. One is the paypal monopoly, the second is around the feedback and claims system. Its so obviously open to gaming. If someone commits to returning an item, then they better return it before leaving a negative.

The paypal monopoly is 100x more important than the latter, mind you.

That would almost certainly be an enforcement suit, probably not a class action. Antitrust cases are generally far too complicated for class action plaintiff's lawyers to take on since they're paid on contingency.

Why shouldn't Ebay require users to use Paypal? That's not a monopoly. eBay is only one place to do business online. You have a choice not to use Ebay if you don't want to use Paypal.

The argument would be, I think, that Ebay is engaging in an illegal tie -- basically, forcing you to buy something you DON'T want when you try to buy something you DO want. To make that argument, Ebay needs market power in the tying product (the one you DO want). That inevitably leads to the argument that all antitrust cases collapse on: How is the market defined? If you define the market as all internet commerce, then clearly Ebay does not have market power. If you define the market as all internet auction sites, I think it's pretty clear you get the opposite result. If you define the market as all available online marketplaces for small, independent internet-based sellers (i.e., including Amazon, Overstock, etc.), you're somewhere in between.

My personal view -- having spent all of a few seconds thinking about this, having only the most rudimentary background in antitrust law, and reflecting exclusively my own PERSONAL opinion -- is that Ebay does have significant market power and is engaging in an illegal tie by forcing sellers to use the PayPal product that they don't want to avail themselves of the ebay marketplace, which they do. I would further argue that, having at one time permitted alternative forms of payment, any subsequent reduction in the breadth of those options is violative of the essential facilities doctrine (which basically says you can't lure a consumer in by making it seem like they have options then divesting them of those options). But are you sure buyers can't send you a money order? And that PayPal is the only option Ebay permits? I'm not sure that's true. That it's the only option the consumer prefers isn't Ebay's fault.

As far as shipping, I 100% agree it is outrageous for Ebay and PayPal to take fees out of your shipping payment, especially when you pay for the shipping through Ebay/PayPal.

 

[masernaut]

+1 for all of this discussion. I'm somewhat deterred by selling on eBay due to what I see as high listing fees and being forced to use PayPal; which then deducts it's own fees.

 

[idfnl]



My personal view -- having spent all of a few seconds thinking about this, having only the most rudimentary background in antitrust law, and reflecting exclusively my own PERSONAL opinion -- is that Ebay does have significant market power and is engaging in an illegal tie by forcing sellers to use the PayPal product that they don't want to avail themselves of the ebay marketplace, which they do. I would further argue that, having at one time permitted alternative forms of payment, any subsequent reduction in the breadth of those options is violative of the essential facilities doctrine (which basically says you can't lure a consumer in by making it seem like they have options then divesting them of those options). But are you sure buyers can't send you a money order? And that PayPal is the only option Ebay permits? I'm not sure that's true. That it's the only option the consumer prefers isn't Ebay's fault.

Yes, I'm sure. They mask it in this "assurance" bullshit, but its a scam. CCards provide assurance, banks provide assurance. PayPal acts like its the only one.

To your overriding point: say you bought a windbreaker (I know, unlikely) from whocares.com. Then you get to payment screens and you see that they only take MasterCard. WhoCares is a bigtime online retailer. So they have the power to accept different forms of payment, but for some odd reason they don't.

You hire a lawyer. Smash cut to an ebay transaction: suddenly you are faced with 1 option, I need a paypal account, username, all the bullshit, and now they control the fees outside a competitive marketplace. Yes, you can use a CC, the best option since paypal and cc compainies have "deals".

So in instance 1, its MC, otherwise both. The point is that with every large scale business you have choice which fosters competition. Ebay/PayPal cartel do not...

 

[Acme]

+1 for all of this discussion. I'm somewhat deterred by selling on eBay due to what I see as high listing fees and being forced to use PayPal; which then deducts it's own fees.

The problem is eBay is pretty much the only market, so like the phone company, we're stuck with them. Amazon could probably create some true competition, but Amazon doesn't allow the sale of used clothing. And Amazon charges more than eBay does, anyway.

Of course, the possible exception to my statement above is Etsy. I've seen a couple shops on Etsy that do pretty well, but they'd still have a long way to go to deliver the volume of buyers that eBay does.

 

[DanM]



The problem is eBay is pretty much the only market, so like the phone company, we're stuck with them. Amazon could probably create some true competition, but Amazon doesn't allow the sale of used clothing. And Amazon charges more than eBay does, anyway.

Of course, the possible exception to my statement above is Etsy. I've seen a couple shops on Etsy that do pretty well, but they'd still have a long way to go to deliver the volume of buyers that eBay does. 

The problem with etsy is that they focus on vintage and handmade goods. So if you want to sell anything recent, ebay is your best bet.

 

[Acme]

The problem with etsy is that they focus on vintage and handmade goods. So if you want to sell anything recent, ebay is your best bet.

Agreed. The couple of stores I've seen there that look successful specialize in vintage trad.

 

[Shortymort]

Hi,
any tips for a good tweed (cloth, not garments) seller on eBay or anywhere else on the web? I live in Europe, so shipping and overal price/quality ratio are my concerns. Thanks.

 

[SpooPoker]



Hi,
any tips for a tweed seller on eBay or anywhere else on the web? I live in Europe, so shipping and overal price/quality ratio are my concerns. Thanks.

PM member capnwes.

You will receive a PM from him in a second anyway

 

[Snoogz]

Wes carries tweed cloth? I'd be interested in seeing them

 

[Koala-T]

Pardon me if this is old news, but everyone here knows about http://fatfingers.com/, right?

 

[evolutionofRW]



PM member capnwes.

You will receive a PM from him in a second anyway

Wes sends PM in 3, 2, 1.......

 

[Snoogz]

I beleive Wes is on vaca...


Edit: ah who am I kidding, that won't stop him.

 

[gerbilunit]

Hey guru's out here. I had a question on my options for starting to sell on eBay. Right now I want to start small and build up more inventory and just general comfort. Even in the future I don't know if i would end up selling huge amounts of inventory so I'd like to see whats best.

Should I just stick with the standard fees (aka no ebay store account)? I'm look at the rates and essentially I can list 50 items for free (no insertion fee) per month. I would get 150 insertions with the basic store but as of now I don't think i'll be selling that much my first month in. The FV fee for the standard account for clothes is 10%. The stores give a 1% discount at 9%. The monthly subscription is $19.95

Would you guys suggest I start out with just listing items and getting a feel for how it is and then if i grow inventory and decide to move to larger scale selling then purchase the monthly store subscription?

Thanks all!

 

[Evil Abed]

Listing a Gianluca Napoli sport coat. Is listing it as Gianluca (ISAIA) Napoli pushing it, or do you think that's a fair way to list it? Could also use (by Isaia) as an alternate.