BellaOnline Forums Money Online Auctions Ebay Forcing Low Shipping Prices

I'm selling VHS tapes on eBay (movies I'm getting rid of) and eBay now will only let me charge $3 or less for shipping - even if it's a 3 VHS tape set! What are they up to? Has anybody else hit this?

eBay is becoming more difficult all the time for sellers. You pretty much have to use Paypal if you want to sell things, which is not small cost on top of the regular eBay fees. Even the new feedback structure makes it difficult to spot non-paying bidders. I haven't run into that particular problem yet though, Lisa.

Yes I definitely hit the must-use-PayPal issue - I used to let people send me money orders and checks. Now eBay gives me big warnings if I even mention the word "check" in my shipping area. Given the HUGE fee they get from every PayPal transaction, this is not fair, I think. What if someone really can't get a PayPal account for some reason?

Still, this shipping restriction is just out of control. How can they say "I know how much it should cost you to ship something"?

Hi Lisa:

I have been both buyer and seller on e-bay. I don't get the changes to their feedback policy. As a buyer I have never had a problem with a seller. But as a seller, I have had many scams, threats etc. from buyers. I've had buyers want to send an item back because they didn't read the description and then threaten to leave me bad feedback if I didn't do it. I've had buyers not pay and then tell me "Will you forget the sale and we'll just leave positive feedback saying I got the item" etc. and then tell me if I don't do that they will leave negative feedback.
From my experience on e-bay it is the sellers that needs the protection from coercion from buyers, not the other way around.
Many buyers use the feedback as punishment to sellers in order to get what they want from the seller. I even had one buyer tell me he wanted his item shipped free or he would leave me negative feedback.
As a buyer I have never been coerced or threatened by a seller.
E-bay is deffinitly becoming an unfriendly place for sellers.
I now use Etsey for my art. It charges 20 cents a post and the posts stay up for months. I use Amazon for books,dvd's etc.

Amazon has a much better system than e-bay. You place your used item on the website with a click of a button. (No loading pictures or writing a description) The buyer pays Amazon and Amazon sends the money to your account and lets you know to ship it. You don't have contact with the buyer at all.
You basically work as an Amazon seller. The only requirement is that you have to write Amazon.com somewhere on the outside of the package. Once you post you don't even have to check items again. Amazon sends an email telling you it sold and the address to ship it to. the hardest part (which is no where as complicated as e-bay) is that you have to search the item in their store. Once you find it there is a button that says "sell one like this". You click that button, put in your price and condition and your done. It lists all the used items together on one page with the prices, so you do have to be competetive in your pricing. You can't sell it for higher than the new item Amazon has for sell, so there is no scamming buyers. You set the shipping fee, but since Amazon already has a shipping fee for that item you don't have to wonder how much it will cost, you can go by Amazons shipping fee.
I've never sold electronis or non-media items on Amazon, but I have sold books,CD's and DVD's. It was a much more pleasant experience than e-bay.

Bylen

i actually have some three box sets of VHS (X-Files episodes) to sell. I did not know ebay was being like this. I should try amazon then, huh?

It's definitely worth looking into Amazon for standard items like DVDs and VHS tapes.

Lisa, I just listed a PS2 video game and noticed that they do limit my shipping charges. Being in Canada this can create big problems on some items ... there would be no way I could even try selling VHS tapes or books.

Bylen, I agree. Taking away the right to give negative feedback to the buyers is scary. They now know (most anyway) that they can do anything and still leave us with negative feedback and a lot of hassle if they so choose. It's a stupid thing eBay did with that system. It's obvious they are trying to get more people bidding, but that's a manoevre that can have drastic consequences.

I was a buyer on eBay but I find that there are more stores than auctions. I've been disappointed with the site for a long time now. It's interesting to read your posts.

well in a way i can see this as good because a lot of buyers try to make up for selling an item really cheap by jacking up the shipping price. I have seen people sell a book for .99 or $2 then jack the shipping up to $7. I will probably buy more now on eBay.

You always can see the shipping price though - so you were able to make that decision on purchase time. Now that they are absolutely restricting the shipping price, it means lots of people won't list items - so the selection is going to go down - meaning prices are going to go up since the same volume of people will be bidding on fewer listings.