In November, Bonanza began requiring sellers to use its shipping label program for all orders – otherwise it would charge them a $2 shipping fee per order. The online marketplace made exceptions for sellers who used certain postage providers who connect directly with Bonanza’s system through its API. But sellers who had been exempted now say Bonanza is suddenly charging them fees.
Sellers are complaining about the sudden charges on Bonanza discussion board threads. “Why bonanza not honoring i opted out the 2.00 fee with approved shipping vendor,” one seller asked in the title of one thread.
“I have the same issue with them,” replied a seller. “I was notified back in November I was exempt since I used Shippingeasy which I still am and yesterday with no warning I got hit with $38 in shipping label assessment fees they charged on my card. I have opened several cases and they aren’t getting back to me other than a boiler-plate text reply with a link to their shipping policy. Something is definitely not right.”
Another seller who uses ShipStation and had been exempted said they got charged $52. “I know I am small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but why would they gouge us?”
One of the sellers said it appeared to be a systemwide issue caused by token issues between the shipping software vendors and Bonanza and was told by Bonanza customer support to contact the vendor.
“We as sellers have nothing to do with token management,” they wrote, “this is their problem to correct. Also notice they have said nothing about refunding the charges they have already improperly made on sellers which for me was $38 yesterday.”
Update 1/28/2024: Bonanza CEO Quincy Faison told us there have been no changes to its policy – “If a seller was exempt they are still exempt,” he said, and added that he will review the issue.
If he means what he says then he should find that Bonanza acted in error. They made a number of sellers like myself who never changed their shipping software and were told they were exempt from the fees suddenly to be no longer exempt through what looks to be a technical error on the part of Bonanza. They then acted on that error and charged those sellers unwarranted retroactive shipping label fees with no warning.
“Bonanza CEO Quincy Faison told us there have been no changes to its policy”
Well, Quincy Faison is a proven liar, he said Bonanza would have the cheapest shipping rates, yet I get better rates on every other platform. Ebay give me better rates on Priority Mail. On Mercari and Poshmark I get flat rate shipping on 2, 3 and 5 pound items to anywhere in the country. Bonanza offers none of theses. Heck, on Bonanza, if you buy a label from them, you have to manually input the tracking number on the item page, it does not transfer automatically. And let’s not forget every standard shipping label on Bonanza is 25 cents more than on any other platform, as they charge you a transaction fee to buy postage from them. No other platform, eBay, Paypal, Poshmark, Mercari, or even Amazon, charges you a fee to buy a label from them, because every one of them buys their postage at a significant discount from what they charge the sellers. They use this vig as profit. Bonanza thinks they should keep the vig and charge you extra for it. He is a fool.
Left Bonanza when the new shipping extortion policy was imposed. Didn’t want to be hostage to it. Haven’t looked back.
Yep, so did I…had three stores, closed them all. Was selling so little there that it seemed foolish to pay senseless fees on what little I did!
Sure sign it’s the beginning of the end for Bonanza when they start fleecing the sellers. Guess they don’t get it they have nothing without the sellers. Sure hope those sellers have already placed their product elsewhere so they don’t lose their hard work. When sites disappear so can your work
I noticed this price gouging when I went to print postage for two separate items, both weighing well under a pound; the shipping program simply didn’t want to finish calculating the postage and let me print it out.
A few days later I sold an item that weighed over a pound and had no problem printing out postage.
I had no choice but to eat the fee (thank you, Sebastian) and go to Stamps.com, PirateShip, et al.
Maybe by the time that Bonanza has gone full-tilt boogie evilbay there will arise a new selling platform which is more seller-friendly…
Hey; a guy can dream, can’t he???
Sadly we only recently started on Bonnzna only to find out the CIA has to be ruining them from the inside as well.
These companies all hate their sellers for one reason, sabotage to destroy the small businesses and self-employed. Direct orders from deep cover agents.
Why do you think DOJ jumped in to cover up what was found out at eBay in your case? He is not a lone agent.