Unscrupulous ebay traders

[BoingBoss]

I personally do not accept PayPal.  PayPal SUCKS !!!!  When I put up my auctions on eBay, I always state the S/H charge and I also state "I only accept cash or a Postal money order, from a US or Canadian Post Office, as payment for this item.  Buyers outside the USA will have to mail cash".  I have never had any problems.

As a buyer I ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS BEFORE BIDDING.  One of the questions that I ask is how much for shipping?  If a seller does not answer my questions or if the S/H is too high, then I will not bid.  It's that simple.   :roll:

[Cyberus]

I really didn't realise people systematically charged handling fees. I've always quote the postage cost + a few pence for packing. Guess I've been a bit of a mug then...!

[FastRobPlus]

---------------------------------------------------------
I personally do not accept PayPal. PayPal SUCKS !!!! When I put up my auctions on eBay, I always state the S/H charge and I also state "I only accept cash or a Postal money order, from a US or Canadian Post Office, as payment for this item. Buyers outside the USA will have to mail cash". I have never had any problems.
---------------------------------------------------------

Yeow!  I never pay money order or cash.  Except that one time when I was new to ebay, paid a money order, and the guy took my money and dissapeared....


---------------------------------------------------------
I really didn't realise people systematically charged handling fees. I've always quote the postage cost + a few pence for packing. Guess I've been a bit of a mug then...!
---------------------------------------------------------

If you know the exact amount for shipping and handling, be a good player and charge that amount.  For here in the US, I tend to quote what I think will be the most it will cost to ship to the 48-states, and place that quote in my auction.  If it's a little less than that, no buyer will complain.  If I have any shipping money left over, I'll add delivery confirmation to the package.  I happen to think that buyers are more comfortable with the purcahse if they know there's some kind of limited tracking involved.  I will refund money if I was way off on the shipping quote (like several dollars)

[BoingBoss]

Hi Cyberus,

I really didn't realise people systematically charged handling fees.

I usually always charge a handling fee.  The handling fee pays for the following:

eBay Fees  (I pay those fees only if the item sells for over $20.00, otherwise I make the customer pay the eBay Fees).

The Box and Packing Materials  (I buy boxes and bubble-pack and special wrapping paper).

Wear and Tear on my car plus Gas to drive to and from the Post Office.

My Time standing in the long lines at the Post Office.

My time to carefully package the item.

My time to answer emails.

So, as you can see, the "handling" fee pays for a lot.  

 :-D

[BoingBoss]

Hi FastRobPlus,

I never pay money order or cash.

Then you will never buy anything from me and I sell a lot of really nice Amiga stuff from time to time on eBay.     :roll:

[TjLaZer]

@Doomy

You charged me $5 for a eBay fee on a $170 item.  Was not happy about that at all.  But because I drove to OR from WA and saved on the shipping it was not too bad I guess.

[TheMagicM]

pretty funny how people charge to go drop off a item at the post office... USPS comes to my house to pick up packages (no, not just express/priority..regular also).  Pretty convenient.  I dont charge any "handling fee". Just for the box/packing material and shipping.

[BoingBoss]

Hi TheMagicM,

USPS comes to my house to pick up packages (no, not just express/priority..regular also). Pretty convenient.

Don't they charge you for that?  And also, they will not pick up First Class Mail or Parcel Post packages.  Only Express and Priority Mail and they charge $13.00 per pickup.

[BoingBoss]

Hi TjLaZer,

About a month ago I drove to Seattle, Washington to pick up an Amiga 2500 in mint condition, still in its original near-mint box.  It cost me $45.00 just in gas.  It would have been cheaper to have the guy ship it to me, but then the original Amiga 2500 box would probably have gotten damaged, so I guess it was better for me to get it myself.  I took my rotty with me.   :-D

[Effy]

Two weeks ago I sold a laptop for 220 euro to be sent from Belgium to Spain and the guy payed by PayPal. Shipping costs were 29,50 euro according to the site of the belgian post, so I charged him 30 euro for that ... so far so good.
But ... PayPal reported 250 euro coming on my PayPal account from which their fee was 10,14 euro  :-o and when I wanted to transfer the money to my belgian account it costed me another euro  :-o + Ebay also charges me 5% of the bid (5% of 220 = 11 euro :-o   ) + 1,5 euro for advertising the object ...
So in reality I have received 250 euro - 10,14 - 1 - 11 - 1,5 - 30 = 196.36 euro ... while the bid was 220 euro ...
Does this mean I got ripped of by PayPal

[lorddef]

people who charge handling fees are {bleep}s

[Morley]

What I really dislike about Paypsal is that there is no option to choose who has to pay for the transfer. Paypal is very convienient for both parts, but it is always the receiver who has to pay for the transfer. If you do a wire-transfer with a bank, you can specify who should pay for what, ie. the seller can get the exact amount on his account without paying for the transfer. But wire-transfer is WAAY more expensive than Paypal, so in the end I really think Paypal's fees are appropriate.

(I transferred 30€ to a German account once, the fee from my bank ended at 20€...should have used Paypal...)

[Acill]

Effy wrote:
Two weeks ago I sold a laptop for 220 euro to be sent from Belgium to Spain and the guy payed by PayPal. Shipping costs were 29,50 euro according to the site of the belgian post, so I charged him 30 euro for that ... so far so good.
But ... PayPal reported 250 euro coming on my PayPal account from which their fee was 10,14 euro  :-o and when I wanted to transfer the money to my belgian account it costed me another euro  :-o + Ebay also charges me 5% of the bid (5% of 220 = 11 euro :-o   ) + 1,5 euro for advertising the object ...
So in reality I have received 250 euro - 10,14 - 1 - 11 - 1,5 - 30 = 196.36 euro ... while the bid was 220 euro ...
Does this mean I got ripped of by PayPal

Thats why I refuse to use Paypal, that and they fact after I sent an item to Estonia and it turned o ut the account he paid me with was reported as stolen (Odd that after i gave the tracking number not 10 mins later I got the email from paypal) and paypal held me at fault for sending the item to his gift address as he requested. Lost the money and the item on that one!

[Effy]

A while ago when I didn´t know much about money transfers I went to my bank with a note about whereto and BLZ and Konto when transferring from Belgium to Germany. This costed me 8,5 euro. When I did homebanking on my pc then it costed me 6,25 euro. But when I now use IBAN and BIC it will cost me only the same as when I transfer money to my mother a village away from me ...

[Morley]

Effy wrote:
A while ago when I didn´t know much about money transfers I went to my bank with a note about whereto and BLZ and Konto when transferring from Belgium to Germany. This costed me 8,5 euro. When I did homebanking on my pc then it costed me 6,25 euro. But when I now use IBAN and BIC it will cost me only the same as when I transfer money to my mother a village away from me ...

Yeah, I also did it from my computer at home...using BIC and IBAN and all that... the problem was, the receivers bank wanted 15€ for accepting money from a Norwegian bank...huh. We're not in the EU you know, so they rip us off as often as they can.

[Casper]

Morley wrote:

Yeah, I also did it from my computer at home...using BIC and IBAN and all that... the problem was, the receivers bank wanted 15€ for accepting money from a Norwegian bank...huh. We're not in the EU you know, so they rip us off as often as they can.

I was about to transfer money from my Swedish account to a German bank account the other day and my bank wanted €1 for the transfer and the German bank wanted €11 to accept the money, and Sweden is in the EU.

Ended up using paypal instead.