The eBay shipping Ripoff Racket

Which game boy game?

An ancient, obscure one called 'Mysterium'

Just had to say that I totally agree with you. I was looking to buy a USB adapter for my iPod, and people were charging $0.99 for the adapter and $8 for shipping for a 2x2 square of plastic. Really? Eff that - I'd rather buy it from Apple for $30 just so some jackass doesn't get an 800% markup for their shipping. eBay needs to rein that in, man.

You buyers really don't know the hole story. I have been selling on ebay for the last 8 years and have done the $0.99 item price and the inflated shipping charge. Ebay fees are rediculous! After all is said and done ebay takes half the price of your item! I am not kidding ask any seller on ebay. They are taking From $1-$100 just for listing the item depending on the starting price. So if your item doesn't sell you lost that money. That would be ok but ebay also take another 10% if a buyer buyes the item. This is not it When you try to get the payment out of ebay they take another 10% This is not all If you have to convert currency the take another 10%. So at the end the sellers get almost nothing. You really havet to look at the whole picture. If we put the item price in the shipping we reducd one of ebay many BS charges. and can make a little money. I wouldn't worry about it anyways this new DRS system and new policys will drive all seller away in turn no sellers no buyers Ebay Death in the next year. Check out 100 times better.

So then: it's OK for a buyer to rip a seller off because ebay rips the buyer off? Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

Here is the cycle and I will let your ideas value my time.

Below is an average listing. Some are less involved some are more.

Spend 20min. listing the item and cataloging it in inventory.
Spend an average of 1/2 hour answering questions before it sells.
Carrying cost for the listing slot in Ebay, calculated every month plus local inventory taxes.
It sells and I spend 1 hour in paperwork and communication.
Item is paid for, EBay and PayPal take about 40% of the final cost plus shipping.
Then you have to pay taxes on the sale.
Item has to be located and pulled from inventory. 10min.
Package item for shipping and required paperwork 25min. plus cost of box, packing material, bags, tape, paper, printer ink. Not to mention the cost of basic service to provide the above. (electric, phone, internet, computers, printers)
If is ships international then we have additional taxes and fees to be paid.
Drive to post office, time, wear and tear on a vehicle, insurance & gas. 30min.

It cost money for any business to do business and surprise! The consumer pays for it in any industry. Shipping cost have risen as much as 40% in the last five years. Ebay fees have more than doubled, they have made doing business on the site difficult for all sellers.

You should never buy an item without knowing the full cost. If you are aware of the charges before you make the purchase and then complain what does that say?

Nobody is entitled to make a profit on their time. Perhaps you should streamline your process so that it takes you less time to do things.

Less your egregious claim go unopposed, ebay's fees are 8.75% of the purchase price under $25 plus about 4% of the remainder, and paypal's fees top out at 4%. Listing fees are 10% (that's 10 or 15 cents for a $1 item folks!) to about 2% for higher listing prices. In total, you have about 15% in fees for an item. *Not* 40%.

A few months before I wrote this post, I had purchased a specialty screwdriver bit. The shipping charges for it were $8.00. Had little choice in the matter if I'd wanted it. Postage was a dollar, and it came unadorned in a small bubble-wrap envelope. From a high volume seller, who presumably didn't need to spend hours answering questions about it and packing it.

The disability scammer witch I mentioned wanted $18 in shipping initially for an $8 box that was about 8 inches square. The shipping method listed was 'ExpressPost', which would have gotten it from there to here in 2 days, maybe 3. I was fine with that. When the action finished, the shipping had jumped to the price I quoted above.

That was not the icing on the cake. If it were just that, I could have walked away somewhat happy. She waited *three weeks* to ship the item. Given the feedback that appeared later on her account, I'm surprised it was shipped at all. These were just game cartridges thrown rudely in a box with some bubble wrap, and taped one strip on each end. I could have packed it in 2 minutes, and she probably did too.

Very nice article thank you very much...

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