What eBay Should Do to Make New Shipping Policy Palatable

by: railady

@my2cents - I don't know whether it's "make money" or "pay less" but either way it's nice to have the discount available to ME. Another situation I used to enjoy was that a local book store had a UPS account, they encouraged people to come in and use it -- so the increased volume meant discounts from UPS.  With no subscription fees PirateShip has to have SOME sort of reason for offering it to us, unless it's just the goodness of their hearts?

by: railady

@Polly - THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!  I would never have found this on my own!!!

by: railady

@ScottLBrown - you said "Remember, calculated shipping is how we tell the customer how much he's paying and what carrier/method we're using.  That rate very rarely matches what we're actually spending on shipping."

Unfortunately, it WILL "match what we're actually spending on shipping." because it will give the buyer the same discounted postage charge as I use to ship their packages!!   (And me the option of increasing the weight, so I lose sales, when POTENTIAL buyers refuse to buy because the shipping is SO COSTLY! (I've done that myself!!!! )  

Yes, the shipping calculator TOOL I use in the item listing form lets potential buyers see how much they will pay for shipping, if they buy the item. HOWEVER, opting into  Ebay's "Calculated Shipping" option means my Buyer will pay the DISCOUNTED rate I get eBay (or another electronic postage provider) - NOT the "RETAIL COUNTER" price. (What a ploy - EBay using "calculated shipping" instead of "discounted rate shipping"....)  

I want my sales to go using RETAIL COUNTER PRICE -- which is what they would pay buying from most online stores or private sellers -- so that I can use the small difference between that price and the DISCOUNTED price I get from using services of PirateShip, Stamps.com, ShipStation, etc. and eBay to cover tape, wrapping, labels, etc.  

by: railady

@ my2cents - you said  "This new tool has NOTHING to do with forcing sellers to use Ebay labels.  You can still use anyone you want."

You are correct, but I think what Tool is seeing is the tent with the camel's nose pushed inside under the side flap. Forcing us to use eBay labels when selling on eBay is not happening - YET - but it's very possible it could be the remainder of the camel on the outside, that might at some future time follow the nose, right on in.      

by: terry55

Only thing that scares me, is this just a precursor to making it mandatory in the future. But then again, looking at all the threads on ebay, here and other sites, I don't think I saw one person say there not opting out, all say they did. Maybe ebay will get the hint.

by: pace306

1) any time eBay has one of these brilliant ideas A) opt out immediately B) run far away since nothing they do is to benefit sellers

2) I don’t do calculated shipping but I got the email anyway and opted out

3) if eBay wants to be magnanimous and give out discounts to buyers, let them offer buyers coupons and leave sellers out of it

4) FVF on tax is illegal, FVF on ships immoral as they have nothing to do with shipping and therefore don’t deserve to be rewarded. That some sellers beat them and their own game and sold items for a buck is their issue - they should have spent more then 30 seconds on a business plan. Or ask the head eBay dummy (who wrote the book)

by: my2cents

@railady
"...opting into  Ebay's "Calculated Shipping" option means my Buyer will pay the DISCOUNTED rate I get eBay"  ONLY if you select that option.  You can use Calculated shipping without having to extend the discount on the shipping to your buyer.  In the email Ebay sent there is an opt out icon.  Just click on that and follow the instructions.  You can still use Calculated shipping if you want.

Off an on over the years, depending on what change Ebay has made, someone here starts to say that Ebay is going to force us to use only their shipping label process.  I think the last time was when Managed Payments went site wide.

It is so unlikely that Ebay would ever do that.  Heck not even Amazon does that.  And if so site was going to do it, I would guess Amazon would be first.

by: Ophelia1

I guess sooner or later eBay will start pushing shops that don't buy labels through them to the end of the food chain...sort of as a punishment, childish as it may seem.

by: Snapped

“.. to Make New Shipping Policy Palatable”?

Feed it to the wolves.  They’ll eat up any ol’ rancid bone scrapings eBay has to offer.

by: mindelec

there is actually nothing they can do to make this palatable.  i didn't get the email, probably because 90% of my listings are media mail which does not get a discount.

by: my2cents

@Pace

I know this has been asked many times, not just of you, but of others that have said this.  You stated "FVF on tax is illegal...", what law is being broken.  

I am NOT trying to start an issue with you.  I want to understand.  I am curious and I'm interested in your statement and I'm not being sarcastic.  

by: pace306

Sales tax is an issue between the buyer and the city/state they live in.

Sellers are only required to collect it and remit it when asked.

It’s not profit and therefore it’s not taxable.

It’s the same way with retail stores, and it should follow on eBay too.

by: my2cents

@Pace
That doesn't answer the question asked of you.

by: Lightning

Credit card processors have charged their fee on the total sale, item plus tax, since inception.  Thinking NOT illegal.  If a company is charging a fee on the transmittal of funds, it doesn't matter what the funds are.  Except maybe money laundering, which will interest the FBI.  PayPal always charged their fee on the total, including sales tax.

by: my2cents

@lightning

I agree.  There is however one difference between the examples you give and Ebay.  And that was when Ebay moved to the Simplified Fee model.  They rolled their Money Processing fees in with their seller fees and that is a distinct difference that no other site, that I'm aware of, does.  Even Amazon doesn't do that.

So instead of paying around 3% on the sales tax [like we did with PayPal], lots of sellers are paying 13.25% on sales tax.  IMHO that is wrong, not illegal, but wrong.

by: Grateful11

It's stupid! They wanted us to start doing calculated shipping years ago and now they're going to come after us for it. Sometimes I make a dollar or two off shipping which goes to expenses to take the packages to the Post Office. I got the email and opted out as about 80% of my items are on calculated shipping. If I were to do free shipping I'd have raise my prices to the level of whatever it would cost to ship all the way across the country as I'm on the east coast. My east coast buyers get a pretty deal but if I had to raise them to the level of west coast either by raising prices or to a flat rate I would lose east coast buyers I believe. If you start adding Handling fees I feel buyers will look elsewhere.

Either way I think eBay will eventually force the us to have to the discounted rate on the listings or do free shipping on our items, I know how they are when they don't get their way.

by: Lightning

@my2cents

Ebay did wrap all that together, but to compensate they dropped their FVF by half a % (not 1/200th as half a percent usually means, but half a % off their rate.  So if it is was 9% FVF at the time, they dropped it to 8.5%).  And that half a % pertained to the whole amount, so by doing that they were negating the ''sales tax effect''.  Then they added the processing fee onto that, once they took over payments.  

They _are not_ charging the FVF on the sales tax, by their way of thinking or computing, which is actually accurate.  I tracked it for 6 months, and I paid a small amount less in fees on their ''simplified method'' (which is anything but) vs. what I would have paid if they had separated it all out.  It's a much ado about nothing type of thing.  

A lot of people are drawn toward the incorrect conclusion, and eBay doesn't even bother to defend it because they don't have to.  They figure if you can't understand what they did, and how it is just an accounting thing, nothing they say will satisfy you anyway.

They never should have bundled it this way, because this is the result.  Regarding the fee incorporating sales tax, people think eBay is overcharging, charging on the sales tax, it's un-American, etc.  If the computation is a bit complicated, too bad for eBay, that's what computers are for.  At least then it would have been cleaner, and people would not be (rightfully) confused, or getting the wrong impression.