With ebay, you just can not win.

MasterBlaster

OzCardTrader
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This is a rant.

However, instead of jumping up and down, I am going to just present the facts on HOW dumb ebay is in their policy's.

Case and point.....

I sell on Ebay USA as its cheaper.... Miles Cheaper to sell and better audience of sales.

Paypal is holding up some funds from sales done on ebay because, get this, the new performance appraisals the computer does shows that 51 people over 90 days gave me low score on shipping? I was like, HUH?

OK, just some feedback on what I charge....

Australia $2.50 for first card and .50 for each additional Maxed at 15.00 which then I will send Platinum (cost is $17.50). I have 3 regs that use this service.
The rest of the world.... $3.50 for first card, $1.00 per additional.

Now how I came up with this....

Domestic is $1.30 plus bag, top loader(s) penny sleeves, team bag and Fuel.
International $2.35 plus Bag, Top Loaders, Penny sleeves, team bag and fuel. Basically works out to $3.65 or so for one card.

Then checked this against other sellers of higher feedback and it was more then in the range of what they were doing. I weight the difference in exchange rates and such things and said, this is about what I should be doing without losing too much on it. DO I make out on some, yes, do I lose on other, yes. In the long run, I might make an extra 17.00 on postage per 100 sales. Not a lot really.

Now stated in my auctions, it says how much per additional card. If a bidder decides to buy the card for the additional postage per card, how is that fair to the seller. I am not forcing him to buy the card?!?!?!? Ebay suggests all over its pages to increase sales and give shipping discounts, so I do. Then when you do, they hold it against you because the rating system is arbitrary to the buyers bloody mouse pointer and a half brain.

How, if someones postage comes to 15.50 for 12 cards, how is that ripping the customer off? HE BLOODY AGREED TO THE EXTRA POSTAGE, which at times might not be even enough to cover the costs of shipping the item.

Then after he/she gets the cards, they leave a 1 or 2 as feedback for postage. No email asking for discount, no anything. I have been asked by some if I can do better, and usually depending on the thickness of the card, have given discounts. a dollar here or dollar there, even if I was going to lose out as if he was a good buyer, keeping that person happy with cards and future sales was more important.

SO, all the other parts that people can leave feedback on is below what they say is the high danger mark.

I have 4.8 and 4.9's across the board, and have given prompt refunds for people who do not get their cards. It happens.

So, I call ebay to find out why I am being held up and I get the typical company line, your showing below blah blah blah. I make the same argument to this dickhead that I just presented to you reading this, and again, same company line, cant and wont be reviewed till next month and my money will not be released for 21 days... This is agreed to by the paypal user on page 37 (yes, we have chatted about it before in the forums).

Listen, I didnt have a heart attack on the bloke, I even got him to agree with me that it is silly, but as he said, that is what it is and he can not help me change it. The thing that bothers me the most is, one should not have anything to do with the other. Ebay and Paypal are classed as different companies when talking to ebay, however they are both linked in a way that has to be illegal even with that disclaimer..

If I was ripping people off, I can see it, however how can I rip people off when someone buys 13 patches I have up for sale, the weight is expensive to ship. SO I am to take a loss on shipping more then I am now for a low end patch,1.50 cards? NOT!

Some of the other dribble he gave me was a direct marking point of view for the post office. Give free shipping and add tracking to your price he tells me, I am like, for a .99 cent card? No one wants to pay that for a $150.00 card forget about a .99 cent card. His words were, I can see your point. Well, I was glad he can see my point, but he cant do a thing for me. I also told him that by holding my money is just another way for paypal to make interest off my money, and he said that they dont, I reminded him that paypal and banks make money off interest and if he is going to insult me with that rubbish, then I know that he might as well be a computer answering me as its a lie. DEAD SILENCE. Again, I never raised my voice and tried to do it diplomatically, however he gets paid 6.50 an hour to tow the company line.

As I told him, if the description of the item was wrong that many times, yes, then, I deserve it, however, getting exact postal for so many different sized cards is almost impossible as I do not know what your going to order. SO I feel my solution is fair, and its not based on something I just came up with, its based on what I think fair sellers are doing, my actual costs and expected variances due to size and weight.

I am sure some of you are going to put your two cents in, and well, rightly so. However, before you do, look at the facts before someone trolls for a response. I find it complete horse pucky that I should have a total of 4.8-4.9 selling rating and I should have my money held up for any reason. PERIOD.

Now I sit here, 600+ new auctions sitting in turbo lister, thinking to myself DO I WANT TO BOTHER. Listen, I sell low end cards to get money to get cards I want, I changed the way I collect and cant give two hoots for sets anymore. I bought and traded for many peoples cards they didn't want, and in the mean time, have a nice amount of stuff to sell to help support the hobby I love. However I am going to have a good think about this.

Off to have a smoko now as I am beyond having rational thought processes. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Mike







I
 
The whole ordeal with them being able to hold your money like that sounds pretty retarded TBH.

You say that yes, the buyer AGREED to the prices so they shouldn't be able to give you a low score for shipping!? I don't really agree with that part sorry..... I mean, your prices sound pretty reasonable (though I'd suggest lowering your combined postage to $0.50/extra international and $0.25/extra national) but IMO this just means that yes the buyer has AGREED to those prices so they shouldn't leave you bad feedback; however I still think they're within their rights to grade you how they feel the shipping prices were. Again, not saying you're overly expensive. But yes, in my experience when you buy a bunch of cards and end up paying like $15 postage for like a dozen cards and they arrive with a $7 stamp on them or something then you can see their point.
 
This happened to a guy i was buying something off the other day. To get around it he simply refunded me the money on paypal and sent me a message telling me, ebay and paypal to go f*ck ourselves. Bit harsh.....
 
Because of how fktarded ebay is, it's almost worth not bothering to sell internationally. You need to find a very trustworthy seller in the US who you can ship your cards to and get them to sell for you on their id. That way proof of delivery is a lot cheaper, postage is faster etc etc...

I've been done with ebay for a while now (though I keep getting their emails about how I owe them fees that are overdue etc etc - for which they can get fked), but I had a look recently at new selling policies and think it's absurd. You have to allow them to automatically take your money for fees, and they will also hold your money until the items have either been proven to be delivered, or about 3 weeks after sale.
What a crock!
From NZ, the only postage able to prove delivery is EMS, which costs $52NZ to the US.
Who's going to be willing to pay that or give reasonable stars for shipping??

There's just no point.
Ebay is such a STUPID company - they are pushing away everybody who makes them exist.
 
Because of how fktarded ebay is, it's almost worth not bothering to sell internationally. You need to find a very trustworthy seller in the US who you can ship your cards to and get them to sell for you on their id. That way proof of delivery is a lot cheaper, postage is faster etc etc...

I've been done with ebay for a while now (though I keep getting their emails about how I owe them fees that are overdue etc etc - for which they can get fked), but I had a look recently at new selling policies and think it's absurd. You have to allow them to automatically take your money for fees, and they will also hold your money until the items have either been proven to be delivered, or about 3 weeks after sale.
What a crock!
From NZ, the only postage able to prove delivery is EMS, which costs $52NZ to the US.
Who's going to be willing to pay that or give reasonable stars for shipping??

There's just no point.
Ebay is such a STUPID company - they are pushing away everybody who makes them exist.

Couldnt agree more old Feebay is being run by bean counters who dont care what sellers do as they believe they have all the buyers. Thats why I use quicksales.com.au - Online auction & shopping site - Shop, buy & sell in Australia for most of my listings and use good old Feebay for advertising as every listing on Feebay has a link to over 1100 listings I have on quicksales which cost me $5 a month. This would cost 1000's of $$$ to list them every month on Feebay
 
What eBay are doing to you is wrong and sucks , if you want to use eBay you almost need to take a loss on postage to keep the dheads happy, this is fine on more expensive transactions where you'll get more money on eBay than any forum, but with low end would be somewhat pointless. Personally I try to avoid eBay even if that means I lose out a bit it's worth it not to give those bloodsuckers money, plus there seems to be more con artists on eBay.
 
To avoid postage issues i just offer free post and include postage costs in the BIN price.

Maybe that tactic might work?
 
Whats the point of holding onto your Money?
Are the going to give refunds to people? NO
Are they just holding the money to claim interest on it, maybe they need to do a monthly report to the shareholders, so trying to gain more money via the interest?
Are they trying to scare you to decrease/free postage?


Paypal is holding up some funds from sales done on ebay because, get this, the new performance appraisals the computer does shows that 51 people over 90 days gave me low score on shipping? I was like, HUH?
 
Same sort of sh!t happened to me because despite my 100% feedback over many years and countless deals they consider me to be an inexperienced seller on ebay.com.....haven't had funds held up before on sales so has me bewildered. .....and Mike is right, imagine how much interest they'd be getting on 21 days on all the funds help up!
 
Postage and delivery confirmation is very cheap within the US and I've found a lot of buyers think something coming from even Australia should cost the same. It's ridiculous but that's how it is. Your postage calculation is fair enough - thick patches, extra weight etc etc but if you're selling a lot I think you need to have some scales and calculate actual shipping cost and charge that and then they have no leg to stand on regarding what they are charged. When I was selling a bit I always included an insert of the player they won on auction, or some base, people love free stuff no matter what it is and were mostly happy to ignore (in their belief) a slight overcharge on postage (from the other side of the world).

eBay and their policies are pissing SO many people off that they're just saying either 1) well screw this I'm gonna get back at the next seller, pay it forward 2) put up with it and bend over or 3) Not use eBay. That's in my opinion anyway.

Good luck with it. You'll need it. :(
 
There is an answer for this, again it does involve at this stage having someone in the US you can trust... Send your cards to COMC and list them there. I won't sell on ebay alone for its ridiculousness, you'll find it very rare I'll sell I only use it to buy and if my card arrives in one piece I give 5 stars across the board, because i have elected to pay that postage, even when I do pay $4 postage for something that cost $1 to ship because of the way they shipped it. If more American buyers would factor in postage to the cost of their card like I do and just view it as part of the overall total they would be happier. Just a shame you have to go through this rubbish.
 
Personally I think people are being stingy when it comes to shipping. They want to pay peanuts and expect it to protected like the president of the united states.

Then when you do go cheap and something goes wrong in the post, they complain you should have used better method of shipping.

The way I look at it and the way I go when I buy cards. If I really need the card because it is rare NO MATTER WHAT I PAD, ($1 or $10000) I will get it shipped registered and express for $30USD or if they offer the $50 UPS service as UPS handle door to door and not rely on Aus post. That was only something extreme has to happen to get lost.

I feel your pain considering you are providing the customer what they really want for their collections.
 
Thanks for the responses.

Can you all do me a favour.....

I think its time to look at the alternatives of where we can flog off and buy stuff. So, if you would, point everyone in the right direction to where and what is happening in the cyber world and a little recap on how you find it. There are about 3 different options that I know of which to me seem as dodgy as ebay, however if a few of you have had awesome experiences with them, I am willing to give it a go. I feel also this will help keep everyone in the loop in one place. Like I said, its not as much about bagging out ebay or paypal, I sold under there dumb policy's and have done very well, its just some of their policy's are a bit dumb. If there is a better solution, then I am willing to listen but most of all, educating our fellow board members is more important.

Thanks for your help....

---------- Post added 22-01-2012 at 09:39 AM ----------

Nah, this is too complicated and though I have family in America, you think I would trust them? :) Tracking and video taping the actual anything does not prove anything to paypal and ebay as a few other posts have shown. I cant see wasting so much energy even trying to prove something for a 3.00 card. The reason why I sell the lower end cards is so I don't have to deal with issues like this. However, when Ebay then loads the deck on you and comes up with some idiotic way of handling things, then its a different story.

BTW, and this is not just for you, however your a game rand might like this, there is many gamer companies using paypal for online gaming, maybe you have used this service for it, there is one company that is holding up, get this, $400,000 in paypal account, no explanation, wont work with them to release it, nada. Now...... Can you imagine how much money is being held up and how much interest they are making off this money? Can you say MILLIONS!, ok, say it with a stutter as its closer to that amount, millions is just too low of a number without it. I can, it rolls off my tongue so easy! LOL

They are not a bank, so they do not fall under the rule of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Company) in the united states. They are a Switzerland company, so they do not pay taxes to anyone. Ebay is also under the same business model, they pay no taxes.

its amazing how someone should get so powerful with no rules and regulations that they need to adhere to. Its a monopoly however they escape this aspect for some reason. If it was a government doing this, there would be sanctions against it. However, supply and demand pushes this and because so many people rely on it, that we are willing to over look it.

There is an answer for this, again it does involve at this stage having someone in the US you can trust... Send your cards to COMC and list them there. I won't sell on ebay alone for its ridiculousness, you'll find it very rare I'll sell I only use it to buy and if my card arrives in one piece I give 5 stars across the board, because i have elected to pay that postage, even when I do pay $4 postage for something that cost $1 to ship because of the way they shipped it. If more American buyers would factor in postage to the cost of their card like I do and just view it as part of the overall total they would be happier. Just a shame you have to go through this rubbish.
 
I offer free Shipping on my auctions and still Moron's Ding your shipping DSR's , It's not really ebay's fault it is the tools that buy of you , but ebay needs to overhaul there system because it is so flawed it's not funny .
 
Postage and delivery confirmation is very cheap within the US and I've found a lot of buyers think something coming from even Australia should cost the same. It's ridiculous but that's how it is.

THIS!

I had some clown on SCF telling me that he knows how much shipping costs and registered should be $13 to send to him.
Um... yeah...
Apart from the fact that from NZ the ONLY form of registered postage is EMS, and insurance is mandatory for cards, so in total it costs me $53.
 
I offer free Shipping on my auctions and still Moron's Ding your shipping DSR's , It's not really ebay's fault it is the tools that buy of you , but ebay needs to overhaul there system because it is so flawed it's not funny .

lol this is so stupid. I agree overhaul. Have smarts in it that if shipping is free automatic 5 star. similar for prices using the aus post calc site (which you can pull data from automatically between locations.
 
That is what the bloke on the phone told me, that it was an automatic 5 stars when you offer free shipping. To me, its a bit suss... Thinking about it, when I asked for the people who gave me low scores, he told me that he cant give them to me. So I said, so in other words, you cant prove this claim against me and that this can be some number just assigned to my account because I take too much money out of my paypal so your not making as much money off my money, and SILENCE. Its all a scam...... All of it.

lol this is so stupid. I agree overhaul. Have smarts in it that if shipping is free automatic 5 star. similar for prices using the aus post calc site (which you can pull data from automatically between locations.
 
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