Thread: Rip-off bay: have fees gone up?

Last week I sold 2 hones on ebay, received an invoice today. Total costs are 10% of the winning bids, on top of that I'll have to pay for using PayPal as well.

Are there any cheaper alternatives to ebay?

Sell on here in the classifieds?

It seemed to me at least, once eBay bought PayPal things started going down hill.

I have got a large number of 4x1" vintage Thuringen hones that I am selling. Members here want larger hones, I did post them in classifieds and vendors' corner but no one seems interested. Plenty buyers on ebay paying good money so it is still profitable to use Rip-off bay. But high fees hurt!

Ebay is starting to get real crappy on fees in my opinion. Especially when you consider you are paying for the privilege twice because of Paypal an ebay are the same. There are other sites opening up but they have no where near the draw, just a matter of time though.

Originally Posted by Kees

I have got a large number of 4x1" vintage Thuringen hones that I am selling. Members here want larger hones, I did post them in classifieds and vendors' corner but no one seems interested. Plenty buyers on ebay paying good money so it is still profitable to use Rip-off bay. But high fees hurt!

Still have them?

nun2sharp, what really gets fun is when PayPal implements a policy saying eBay made them and when you talk to eBay they suddenly have no idea what you're talking about.

Originally Posted by ghostonthehorizon

Still have them?

nun2sharp, what really gets fun is when PayPal implements a policy saying eBay made them and when you talk to eBay they suddenly have no idea what you're talking about.

Amen! The left hand has no idea what the right hand is up to?! Ya gotta be kidding me!

I agree that fees are high, but, when you consider the market you reach, its more than reasonable.

I really get irritated, however, when they keep making listing fees less and less, and final value fees more and more....and the final value fees are so difficult to find on their site as you create your listing. For someone who doesn't sell often, they usually are shocked when they see how much their account gets charged!

I certainly wish E-bay went back to a graduated final value fee system...unfortunately, its long gone..we're stuck with approx 9%, and it HURTS!

That said... I've probably had a single bid war between two people pay for a whole year's worth of fees...so..its hard to complain. I would feel guilty listing an item on SRP classifieds for some of the prices my auctions fetched...with auctions, it takes the guilt out of it, because... I didn't set the price

E-bay can charge what they charge because they are E-bay. Google should start an auction site...

Like the scene in the movie, The Magnificent Seven. The Steve McQueen Character tells of the guy who tells his friend he is going to the poker game. The game is crooked his friend says .... yeah, but its the only game in town.

Yeah I recently sold some DE razors on ebay and a lot razors parts that were chipped or pitted beyond repair and found that final value fees are a killer. It doesn't bother me too much right now as I keep making a decent profit on the stuff I no longer want.

It seems ebay has been simplifying their fees and that's a positive thing. I'm sure on average the fees have gone up, otherwise ebay wouldn't bother to change them.
But 10% doesn't seem bad to me. At the end of the day they provide a valuable service and it still costs less than running your website and advertising to get a fraction of the exposure you get on ebay.

I know from personal experience that people are willing to pay way more on ebay for the same item than on the selling venues on this forum but there is nothing I can do about it. I am happy to sell a razor at a price I consider reasonable, but if the buyers are not interested to do it on SRP, I don't mind meeting them at their preferred venue and getting 2x more for the same thing, even if it costs me an extra 10%.