eBay: No more insertion fees for auction-style after Apr 19

The fee decrease is only for store subscribers ($17/month for a basic store) selling fixed price items. The discount? A whopping 1-2% in most categories. Media drops from 15% to 13%, but again, only if you pay a monthly store subscription.

 

I said third-party insurance, not Post Office insurance. Shipsaver insurance through eBay costs $1.00 per $100 for International - you may need to be a Power Seller to qualify, I don't know. www.u-pic.com I know is available to anyone, and that was I think $1.60 per $100 the last time I used it, although that was a while ago.

It's not free if you have to jump through expensive hoops like having everything signed for to get "free" coverage. You get it anyway, and it's fine for US Domestic shipping (with the provision that you need to familiarize yourself with and follow their rules). For anything of value sent International I wouldn't depend on it.

For costs see above. For claims difficulty I dunno, I haven't lost a package in over ten years. If I sell something International for $250-$300, I pay a couple bucks for insurance because that's a bigger hit than I want to expose myself to. If I sell something for $20, I take my chances. But the "free" Paypal protection for International comes with so many complications that I don't rely on it.

 

I still don't see that so I must not understand (???). I just put a CD up for sale using the UPC code (which is what I think you mean by "SKU" right?), which puts ebay's database information stuff into the listing.

But doing this does not give me a 5 cent insertion fee - the insertion fee schedule is the same as it always is; the only thing it does is give me a free subtitle, which is what I had remembered from before.

Can you please explain in detail how to get a 5cent insertion fee for listing CDs/DVDs?? I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

 

I think that this new pricing will work out fine for me.

The records I am listing and selling lately have been avant-garde classical titles. These are on the higher priced end, take more than one 7 day listing week to sell. They do sell eventually, sometimes with a lowered price other times the BIN price it sells for in over the opening bid price it was previously listed at.

So this means I can list away week after f'ing week until I get some action on my stuff, and not pay fees doing it. And when I get some action in, the fee raise might actually come out better having all that free listing stuff.

But I still think ebay is a dying venue, a pale shadow of what it was in 2002.

 

Thanks. I just checked out upic - was kind of confusing but I think I figured out their rates etc. Looks like you can send something overseas (to certain countries), via USPS with a service that does NOT include tracking (for example first class international) for $1.85 per $100 worth of coverage (jewelry is more expensive), with no deductible. That is pretty good, provided the claim process works, they pay out etc. I assume they would but...I have no experience with it.

I hear ya, but there are no expensive hoops per se, you don't have to get everything signed for, there are no complications to get the paypal protection - you "just" have to ship with a service that has on-line "tracking/delivery confirmation" when shipping international, exactly like when shipping in the USA, for items under $250. But the BIG hassle is figuring out what that actually is since there is so much misinformation about it (you have to use Express Mail International but many people think that the customs # with other services like First Class International or Priority is enough - but it isn't!!!!). And if it is over $250, then you need electronically viewable signature confirmation and that REALLY complicates things, since EMI doesn't give you that, and I don't have any idea what does. So yeah - you know what, you probably are right getting 3rd party insurance and not pulling your hair out with all that other stuff!! Me, I've given up on shipping internationally with ebay/paypal, it isn't even worth the risk for me with all the hassles of packages getting delayed, lost, or stolen (+buyers do not want to pay for the costs of EMI shipping), or dealing with the insurance angle. Thanks for the upic tip, that is yet more stuff for me to think about....

 

Yup, I agree. It definitely helps with stuff that you need to keep listing to get action on. Last couple months I've been selling a lot from my collection but it is really weird - some stuff gets no bids until I list it like 3-4 times. And for shipping CDs at least, the added FVF on their $2-3 shipping isn't going to outweigh that.

 

It's all fun and games until you actually try to file a claim.

And here is where you can get killed: These third party insurers REQUIRE the recipient to submit a written/signed form indicating that they did not receive the package. If they won't, your claim will be denied. Many people (especially scammers) refuse to sign the form.

Also, the time frame for filing an insurance claim is typically so long that your buyer will leave you negative feedback even in legit cases, unless you do a refund first and then file the claim.

 

I'm about to test this myself on a package I shipped to China. Something about the transaction smelled fishy so I decided to insure with upic. Sure enough I just got an "item not received" dispute claim filed. It was an $80 item so it was worth a couple of bucks to protect myself. I have proof of shipment through Endicia but I am 100% certain PayPal will side with the buyer since there is no proof of delivery. I'll report back and let you know how the process goes.

 

2 very good points, thanks. What is that expression - "the devil is in the details".

I believe with USPS insurance it is a similar kind of deal - that the buyer has to fill out something regarding the claim, and in the case of scammers, forget it. They already got your money from paypal (+ the item) & they are not likely to help you with an insurance claim, they have no motivation to do so, and will not want to sign something swearing they didn't get it anyways.

As far as the time factor in a claim goes, I think it is a non-issue for the buyer, but a big issue for the seller. The buyer is going to get their $$ back via paypal right away filing a INR (or if you want to avoid the bad feedback then you refund them right away), but then it's you the seller who waits for the claim $ and deals with that hassle.

I guess we're getting off track of the original thread but I think this is really good info we're discussing.

 

Good luck. Please let us know how you make out, how the whole process goes (what paypal does, what upic does, what you have to go through etc).

Dumb question - Since the INR has been filed rather than the buyer contacting you to ask for a refund, does the paypal process at this point allow you to voluntarily refund now (to hopefully avoid a negative feedback) or do they just make a ruling & take the money from your paypal account when they side with the buyer? [I've only had it happen to me like twice and that was a couple years ago & I can't recall how the whole thing worked - in my cases the buyers weren't scammers though, they were just tired of waiting for lost packages, I think I refunded but then shortly afterwards both packages turned up, & both guys let me know & repaid me, or something like that.]

 

Please do, I'll be very interested.

 

You can always short circuit the PayPal claim process and refund the entire amount. PayPal offers you the opportunity to do that. That doesn't mean the buyer can't still leave you negative feedback.

 

The fair and reasonable seller is hit every time. I think this is having a go at targetting those sellers who stick an item on then whack on a hopelessly out of touch shipping charge. I've seen some stuff go on on the UK site that you could ship, with insurance, for way less than the prices being asked.

Recently saw an Oppo Blu-Ray player with a £35 shipping charge. Hello? Selling price was £430, so for £465 all-in. There are couriers out there who'll cover the lot for less than half-priceand insurance up to £500. I've no time for those sellers and that's possibly where Ebay are coming from. Of course, setting the threshold at which this fee comes in is the issue and slapping it on as low as it's been applied hits the reasonable and fair-minded seller as well as the chancers. No good.

 

Thanks for posting that link...looks like a very useful site. Wasn't sure at first because it seems like they had a little spam/porn attack this AM. But digging into the forums, there's a lot of great stuff there. Thanks!

 

I've been a member there for over 7 years. I've learned a lot about how to protect yourself from charge-backs and how to keep fees reasonable.

That is where I found out about Ecrater stores, those free stores with no fees. You park all your items that did not yet sell there, or things you feel like having online, but not at ebay. And then drive traffic to the store from every ebay and amazon sale.

Once 4/19 hits, I'm going to be listing everything I have in back stock since there will be no fees to list. I used to very careful to list things that really were most likely to move and move fast.

Once you have written discriptions out and have done the pictures or scans of the items, it's easy (if they don't sell on ebay) to copy and past them right into your own store for future sale. And you can use that info to copy and paste back to ebay a year later if you decide to. I find that a year later items that were not hot become hot again. I had a still sealed copy of Born to Run, an early 80s pressing all-analog cut. I could not get 8 bucks for it on ebay or classifieds here last year. This month I got $20 for it on ebay.

I learned about this system of selling from the PSU forum.

I have no shortage of LP stock, but pricing things over $19.99 was getting expensive, and pricing things below that could cost me in a poor economy with fewer bids. So I am happy about the new free listings. I can price what I need for the item, and send it over to my store if it does not sell at that price, and move onto the next item. All the work to do this is not going to waste when item does not sell at first.

 

What a con! But I do love the way eBay always make it sound fabulous. I can't wait to have to pay 15% extra every time I have to ship items using Australia Posts already expensive International rates. Maybe we won't get this in Australia - or yet anyway. Don't you just HATE eBay???

 

That's the kicker with ebay, they are insulting to the sellers. They expect them to simply fail at math, and hand over those bigger fees while thinking that they are getting something like bigger profits.

And they keep doing it year after year. Personally I think using the term changes that will "impact" you or your sales is a scare tactic. Impact is a frightening thing, a direct hit, a head-on crash, or a very bad plane crash is what I imagine when I hear that word.

So ebay is trying to send fear into people and keep them afraid to do anything. Yet for me it worked the opposite, it drove me over to amazon, and it made me create my own store. I don't like fear tactics at all. My auto mechanic also tried that one me. He said we're going to "plug in the sensor thing, and "try to get a reading" to find out what was wrong. I hated that "try and get a reading" B.S. You plug it in and get a f'ing reading. He was using my fear of expensive repairs to get me to fall like a little lamb into their clutches. I dumped them and moved onto another shop. I hate people who use fear as a marketing strategy, or talk down to the customers and expect them to be dumb and not see a fee increase when it's right in front of them.

I know I am getting a little cranky, oh well.

 

Add me to the list of people frustrated with Ebay Selling. The listing may be free but for a cd the back end charge is now 9% plus Paypal takes it's fee. Amazon isn't cheap either.

I've been doing more trading through forums where possible. I'll probably try to sell most of the things I want to sell before 4-19. After that I'll probably just list things with Free Shipping, and not send the jewel case. May limit the place more where I ship also.

 

Here's the latest. Upic requires that you wait 45 days from shipment to make a claim. They also require that your buyer sign an affidavit swearing that the item never arrived. So I sent the buyer a message telling of these requirements and told him that after 45 days I would refund his money once he signed the form. I received no response and the buyer escalated to a claim. I provided PayPal with my electronic proof of shipment through Endicia, the international customs form number and a note that the eBay name and address and the PayPal name and address did not match. It took PayPal 12 days to make a decision. To make things interesting, between the time the dispute went to PayPal and the final decision the buyer went NARU (not a registered user). Of course PayPal still found in favor of the buyer, even though they had been kicked off the site for what I assume is fraudulent activity.

After losing the claim I e-mailed the affidavit and asked him to sign it, scan it and e-mail it back to me, figuring there was no way in the world he'd do it considering he already had his money and was no longer registered (probably because of my transaction). To my utter shock he actually signed, scanned and returned the form! So the next step is to submit the paperwork and go through the claims process. I'll update on how that goes as well.

 

Thanks very much for the update.

Except for one thing it went kind of as predicted - insurance is a pretty dicey thing & that it is near impossible to get it to pay off, ebay will side with the buyer as expected (but even when the buyer is kicked off the site!!!!!!!!) and dock your paypal account for the refund, and the insurance will require that not only you wait an extra 45 days and that the buyer has to sign some kind of affidavit about not receiving it - which scammers, hell even most honest folk have no motivation to do - since they already got their refund.

But - LUCKY YOU - your buyer actually signed the affidavit & returned it to you!! I'm in shock too. You should run out & play the lottery with that luck!! Congratulations! Although you are not out of the woods yet I don't see how UPIC could deny your claim at this point. Please let us know how the end result is.

 

Not unexpected. I think you only get 45 days to claim with Paypal.

Of course they found in favor of the buyer - they tell you what the rules are to be protected and you broke two of them (must be able to show item delivery online and must ship to the Paypal address). The CC company wasn't going to pay Paypal back and they never signed up to take the hit if you don't follow their expressed rules. Your assumption that he was NARUed for fraud is a bit unfair, too - you can get booted for bidding on a number of sales where you don't pay, for example. That's not fraud, it's just annoying.

Please do.

 

+1 Makes international not only more expensive, but given the places I won't ship to w/o a tracking number, even less attractive. It may come down to higher starting prices or exclusion. Ebay is crazy.

 

Update: I submitted my claim form and a printout of my scanned affidavit signed by the bidder to U-Pic via snail mail (they don't allow you to submit online). A few days later I received an e-mail with a claim number and a link to a website to check my claim status. I just checked again today and my claim has been updated to Approved - Pending Payment. So assuming there are no payment snags the process was pretty quick and painless!

 

Thanks a lot for keeping us updated. Sounds like you made out OK!

It seems like the UPIC thing DOES work then - but still the kicker is that the customer has to agree to fill out/sign off on the whole thing. It seems like scammers would have no motivation to do that, only the honest folk who didn't get their package. But your case seemed like a scammer, so...who knows....

 

I just took the time to look at my current eBay account with all charges since this change. Charging a final value fee on the shipping is a lot more than I saved with the free listings, I am further in the hole than ever.

I lose money on shipping to start with so I can get a high rating from buyers for shipping cost and now must pay 12% of the amount I collect. At least eBay identifies the final value fee on shipping which is easy to calculate, 9% of whatever is charged. What a mess.