SELLERS BEWARE! This site has really gone down hill since last I was on here. READ

[gron_10]

Ebay has really gone down hill all the way around.  I was a seller on here successfully for over 10 years from 1998 to 2008.  It was fair, user friendly, heavily trafficked, and both a great place to sell and buy items.  I started selling on here last week and it has been nothing  but headaches.  Shipping was so confusing that after I sold my first item I didn't understand that they now allow you to (and basically force you) to handle all postage through them.  So like a dumbass I took my package to the post office and they charged me 3 x what I collected from my buyer.  Well by a miracle one of the Ebay no-English speaking employees walked me through the process and I figured it out after eating $9 profit on my first sale.  Then I find out that they take a percentage from the sale, shipping and sales tax! **bleep**? Also, no more turbo-lister.  So now I list like a snail.  I spend 5 minutes trying to weigh and measure everything in order to properly calculate shipping.  Then I finally sell two more items and somehow their systems mark both items as paid and they weren't! Fortunately the system would not allow me to print off shipping labels otherwise I would have never collected a dime.  What tipped me off is that "my Ebay" showed the 2 items as paid but the money appearing on my "my Ebay" page was for payment of auction only.  No sales tax or shipping appeared.  I called Ebay and had to call again because once again the operator spoke horrible English.  Finally I got through and the woman chalked it up to "internal errors."  They charged my a final value fee for items that never sold! And are now making me wait 10 days for the money to be credited to my account.  This really sucks because I have shelled out several thousand dollars to get this up and running again after a 15 year hiatus of being on here.  Now I am truly regretting ever doing this again.  SELLERS BEWARE.  Traffic to your items listed will be sparse at best and shipping is so overpriced that you have to give stuff away in order to sell.  I may be able to earn passive income here and there on this site but it looks like working from home full-time is a dead end with Ebay unless I find a legitimate wholesale vendor or luck on a pallette vendor who is just running some picked through scam.  If anyone has any info on legit listing tools to make this less complicated and time consuming I would appreciate any help.  After a week, I'm ready to hang it up as it is way more headaches than it is worth.  

[heckofagame]

Perhaps you should have spent some time reviewing the policies and procedures before you listed. Much of your trouble would have been avoided if you had. 

[monica-sells]

Sorry for your growing pains...

I was 20 lbs lighter and gas was under 2.00 in 2008....hard to believe that was 16 years ago.

"...Shipping was so confusing that after I sold my first item I didn't understand that they now allow you to (and basically force you) to handle all postage through them...."

The only part of your woes that I can try to calm you down on is you can utilize ANY shipping platform/service you prefer (i.e. pirateship, stamps.com, ebay labels, shipstation, Your own UPS/FedX account....any)

Yes, things have changed from the wild west days. Most of it is due to regulation, but also abuse of the systems you are familar with.....

There's still money to be made, you just need to catch your breath, compartmentalize and adjust to the new platforms.

[frankenhobbit]

One tip I can give you. Auctions are generally not the way to go these days, unless you are selling items with high demand and low supply, or something that you just have no real idea on it's value. So many auctions end with a single bid. Then they pay late, if at all. Or they do not want to wait for an auction to end, so look for a 'Buy it Now' listing and filter out auction items (so less traffic).

Shipping is WAY more expensive than it used to be. eBay doesn't set the prices. It really is much harder to make a full time living on eBay. There's a lot more sellers out there who saw YouTube videos during the pandemic and think they can flip return pallets, resell stuff from Goodwill, but that's just not the case anymore.

[iamalwaysright]

In 2008 I was around 40-45 lbs lighter. Eesh! I should really hit the treadmill again.

[chariot_badges]

When I decided to come back to selling here last year I came here first.

Doing some research before entering into a 'relationship' is smart.  

I came here with eyes wide open.  

The depths of my disappointment in the management here increase every month.  

But, before I signed up, I read as much here as possible.

Anything that happens to me here is my own **bleep** fault.

[njrtsr]

I remember selling around 2008-2012 with the DSR system and it was a nightmare. If more than 1 in 100 buyers gave you a rating of 1 or 2 out of 5 stars you were kicked off the platform, even if the buyer was malicious or just misclicked. We're all fortunate to survive that era.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Did you think that an internet business would remain the same for 15 years? You are essentially a brand-new seller so you have a lot of reading to do, to catch up with current policies and procedures.  For instance, eBay has been charging a final value fee on the buyer's total payment, including shipping and handling, since 2011.  Start here:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/start-selling-ebay?id=4081 

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy?id=4347

Sellers aren't forced to ship through eBay, but the discounts are excellent.. The shipping calculator in eBay listings defaults to show the retail price, so even though you shipped at the PO the buyer's payment should have covered it. Perhaps you entered the weight or dimensions incorrectly, or  shipped via a different service than what the buyer paid for.  We can probably help figure that out if you provide specific details, including package weight and dimensions, service used (e.g., Priority Mail?), both ZIP Codes, and both exact prices.

In general, this discussion board is a better venue for your questions (and rants) because most participants are experienced sellers rather than phone reps who mostly just want to keep the conversation as brief as possible.  And depending on where you got the phone number (Google?), sometimes they are scammers rather than actual eBay reps.

[suavepenguin]

As a returning seller that started in 1999, I made sure to familiarize myself with the current policies and procedures, rules, and fees. Took it easy the first few months to get back in the flow, and am having a great time! Sounds like you jumped straight into the deep end of the pool without a pair of swimmies and found out the temperature was not what you expected. Shoulda dipped your toes into the shallow end first. 

[soh.maryl]

Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience starting up again.

You evidently re-enrolled rather than using your previous ID, so eBay is treating you as a new seller.

They probably would have done that anyway since there was a gap in your selling history here.

eBay does not set the shipping fees.  Everything has gone up in price since you last sold.  Are you not paying more for gas etc? So are the carriers who deliver goods.  And aren't most of us making a little more per hour at whatever job we have than we were 15 years  ago? 

Some of the things you are complaining about would  probably not have been a surprise if you had done a little reading first.

You are fortunate that you are only having to wait 10 days for your funds.  Most new sellers experience a 30 day hold.

And whoever you spoke with at eBay who chalked up your issues to "internal errors" was lying.  CS reps are outsourced for the most part and will say anything to get you off the phone. 

If you will return and explain what kind of help you need, lots of experienced sellers here who would be glad to offer suggestions.  

[luckythewinner]

SELLERS BEWARE! This site has really gone down hill since last I was on here. READ I was a seller on here successfully for over 10 years from 1998 to 2008

IMHO your intended audience is quite small. There are very few sellers on this board who have not sold on eBay for 15 years.

they now allow you to (and basically force you) to handle all postage through them

If you believe sellers are forced to ship through eBay, you are fundamentally mistaken. You can buy shipping anywhere - all you really need to do is enter your tracking number here.

So like a dumbass I took my package to the post office and they charged me 3 x what I collected from my buyer

If the post office counter rate was 3X the eBay rate, then you either made a mistake when you set up shipping on eBay, or you made a mistake when you bought shipping at the post office.

Then I find out that they take a percentage from the sale, shipping and sales tax

You came back here after 15 years and did not bother to read the current fee schedule? IMHO that was a terrible business decision.

Then I finally sell two more items and somehow their systems mark both items as paid

That has never happened to me. I think perhaps you are confusing "sold" with "paid". Those are two very different things.

They charged my a final value fee for items that never sold! And are now making me wait 10 days for the money to be credited to my account.

How could eBay credit the money to you if the buyer never paid? I think perhaps you are confusing a buyer's payment to eBay with eBay's payout to you. Those are two very different things. 

Traffic to your items listed will be sparse at best

I find that traffic has a lot to do with the demand for the item. Perhaps landline phones and common Home Depot items were in demand in 2008. Plus, some items are not a good fit for by mail.

and shipping is so overpriced that you have to give stuff away in order to sell.

Are you blaming eBay for the postage costs that the USPS determines? Plus, some items are not a good fit for by mail. 

[sakic92710]

As you will find on this community board, everything is all your fault.  If you don't like the changes in policy, it's your fault that you are not pleased with them.  I have been selling on eBay for 23 years & agree with you.  It has gone WAY DOWN HILL.  I did not stop selling & came back to find out about the changes.  It doesn't change my opinion of the disappointing & dismal state of trying to sell on here. They made everything worse on eBay.

[youn2240]

Exactly how is it ebays fault that you didn't buy shipping at a discounted rate here and went to the post office instead? shipping isn't free but with ground advantage it's cheaper than it has been for many items than it has been for the last few years and shows up (usually) just as fast as priority. anyway good luck keep listing the more you have the more you'll sell. come on man, 30 items listed isn't a full time effort. i've always been a casual lister but this year my goal was to list as much as I could. I started with low price items I've been storing up for years and lots of work january wasn't great wasn't bad but it didn't seem real lucrative lol. this last month not too bad i'm still getting sales on the items from january i'm getting sales on the new stuff i list. somethings sit that i would think would sell some things fly that i would think would sit. there is no telling who wants it or when they will find it. just keep listing it will eventually start working out. another reason why listing more works well is eventually you'll accept that lowering prices is a good idea. it all depends on what you have, how easy it is to acquire,,how much competition for that sort of item there is. 

my best advice is keep listing new items. try and figure out how to write better titles that go higher in the listings. sometimes undercutting everyones price makes the sale. there is always what it's worth and what people will pay and those might not be the same number. I would suggest valuing off sale prices and never what some of these active listings are asking. some sellers have no issue sitting on an item for years until they get what they want for it other people need the money to turn faster than that so you need to figure out the prices that get sales. different ways to do it but the more you have listed the more opportunities you have. 

[luckythewinner]

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@sakic92710 wrote:

As you will find on this community board, everything is all your fault.  If you don't like the changes in policy, it's your fault that you are not pleased with them.  I have been selling on eBay for 23 years & agree with you.  It has gone WAY DOWN HILL.  I did not stop selling & came back to find out about the changes.  It doesn't change my opinion of the disappointing & dismal state of trying to sell on here. They made everything worse on eBay.

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The OP complained that sellers were "basically forced" to buy shipping through eBay. This is nonsense, and you know it. Pointing this out to the OP is not telling the buyer it is "his fault", it is simply pointing out the facts.

The OP said he did not find out that fees were charged against the total payment and not the item price. I did not say it was fault that he did not like this, I said it was his fault that he did not take the time to read the fee schedule.

The OP said the USPS counter price he paid was 3X what the buyer was charged. I fail to see how this has anything to do with liking or disliking "eBay policy", or even that it has anything to do with eBay "going downhill". IMHO it had everything to do with not setting the shipping information correctly on eBay. And that would be the OP's fault.

The OP complained that "shipping is overpriced". eBay charges what the carriers charge, and in the case of the USPS they never charge more that the USPS counter price or the USPS online retail price for the same service. So again, I fail to see how this has anything to do with liking or disliking "eBay policy", or even that it has anything to do with eBay "going downhill". And it is not telling the OP that it is "his fault". It is just stating the facts about USPS rates.

[sakic92710]

I don't recall directing my comments towards you nor your comments.  He had SEVERAL more complaints than you replied to.  I was speaking in the general sense of how the site has been failing many sellers on a number of areas.  The OP mentioned about the lack of views, for example.