randyjawa 

When you see a Rene Herse being offered, just before Xmas for a very low price, one has to get on board. Until you read the copy supplied by the seller.

I could care less about protecting Ebay or their bank account, but I do wonder how auctions like this work or fit into the Ebay scheme...

I looked at his other items, and same thing. To me, it would appear to be a blatant attempt to get out of paying Ebay's high fees. I have seen similar attempts by other sellers, me being one of them, but this one appears to be just a tad obvious. Perhaps I should send the seller an email just to see what his/her game is.

auchencrow

Randy - Looks like the eBay enforcers already deleted the ad, whatever it was.

randyjawa 

The add was for a Rene Herse and listed for auction at $7.00. The seller warned to "Not Bid" but to email him/her at such and such an email address. To me, it looked like a blatant attempt to bypass Ebay rules and fees.

Now, I have no problem with that since I feel that Ebay is a bit greedy, demanding and bully like when it comes to those of us who choose to use their service to sell. That said, this seller's attempt to take advantage was so blatant that it, sort of, peed me off.

It does not surprise me that the listing was removed. I might add that he/she had many other similar listings, also. Wonder if they all got dumped.

Anyway, sorry for starting something that someone else finished. It was not me who reported the listing, just in case anyone would wonder.

jeirvine 

That's a hijacked account. Somebody phishes for a username/password, then posts a desirable high-dollar item with a note to email directly to arrange payment.

wrk101

Not to get an ebay flame thread going, but one local auction house here charges a 35% consignors fee. And an in person auction reaches a small, local market. As an option, I can (and have) consigned bikes through a local bike shop, their fee is 25%. Again, they just reach a limited local market (the same market I can reach, but people are willing to pay 40% more to buy my bikes from a shop).

Sure, ebay has gone from low fees initially, to higher and higher fees. But compared to what I pay to consign a bike or an in person auction, they are cheap, and reach a much wider audience (and get higher prices).


Its even worse in the consignment clothing business (my wife's hobby). Most shops charge 60%, so if they sell an item for $20, you get a whopping $8. And it is discounted after 30 days, usually 50% drop, so you then get $4, after 90 days, they donate it and you get nothing......

Ebay started early on with fees way undercutting the other options. They have pushed it up from that starting point, no doubt, still under other options, but a lot higher than before.

T-Mar

So, Randy, what are the acceptable methods to reduce Ebay fees?

randyjawa 

I honestly don't know but it feels like Ebay, with its policy changes, and fee increases, is charging the little guy way too much. That is my opinion and based on feelings alone. I have not investigated any further. I do hope that my present on-line reputation will help bring customers, to my virtual door. And you know what - it is working.

I sell a lot more stuff, these days, based on people coming to me, through my website, or Bike Forums, or word of mouth, than I do through Ebay. I also do not accept PayPal, nearly as much as I used to and will, one day, refuse to accept it at all, if the cost to use that service places me in their absolute financial power. I have lost money, and very unfairly, thanks to PayPal policies.

Again, I do not have any suggestions for Ebay, or even the rest of the world, except to try to get a grip on being so greedy. That, incidentally, is my opinion of business these days - greed run a muck. Perhaps that applies to the entire human race, as well - me included, however; I do try to recognize my greed, and attempt to keep it in check. For example...

When ever I do sell something, I always try to throw in useful, and sometimes valuable, items to help make the deal a little sweeter, for anyone kind enough to become a customer of mine.

My wife, incidentally, gives me heck for doing so, but I do not care. My business philosophy is "To Help Others", and I mean that sincerly. If I make a dollar doing so, that is just great. If I don't, I steer away from those entities, that are negatively impacting my opportunity to get paid, a fair dollar, for what I have to offer, be it item or service.

Case in point - I give my website away for free, to anyone who wishes to use it. I do have one place on one page, the What's Next page, inviting people to offer a donation, if they feel so inclined.

Does the 15% charged by Ebay, on both the item sold plus the shipping fees, seem fair? Does the additional 10% charged by PayPal seem fair? Not to me it doesn't. And, for what it appears to be worth, my sentiment seems to be articulated, time and again, from other members of this forum.

Of course, all of the above is my opinion, and chances are my opinion, on this, will not change one bit. If others choose to disagree, so be it. I do respect their right to support Ebay, PayPal, Ford and any other business that they choose to name.

As far as I am concerned, this website, the Bike Forums, offers just a valuable a service as does Ebay or PayPal. I am entertained, informed and allowed to market my wares, or purchase the wares of others - for a few bucks a year. And, for what it is also worth, I would be more than willing to pay a bit more for this wonderful service presented here. My guess is that if the Bike Forums attracted the audience that Ebay does, the webmasters would all be very rich.

Probably opened a nasty can of worms, and, for what it is worth, this can has had the lid lifted, time and again, by others who frequent this community.

mapleleafs-13 

ebay won't even let me send email addresses to another person through a pm.....

yosarian9

Does it reject it if you break it up like "john at yahoo dot com" instead of "jon@yahoo.com"?

wrk101

Paypal charges me 2.9%, not 10%, and if I sign up for a commercial account, the fees go down from there. I send the funds electronically to my local bank, no additional fees.


The 15% ebay charges I detail above include the paypal fee. Do I wish the entire charge was lower, like 10% or even 5%? Sure, you bet.

Catnap 

so this has been an ongoing scam for the last month or so. The original photos and descriptions have been lifted from legit auctions by "rhclassics" that ended several months ago, and get posted up on hacked eBay accounts.

I check eBay nearly every day for Herse stuff, and i report this scam every time I see it. Make sure to contact the seller, because it speeds things up - in every case they didn't know their account had been hacked and was being used for this.

it's annoying, but just be aware of it and don't get too bent out of shape.

mapleleafs-13 

yup, the programmers have recognized that... and it does reject it

ColonelJLloyd 

You should start an alternative to eBay, Randy. With your website design, marketing and expertise of the global economy you could make something really special. You could spend billions developing a brand, apps, user friendly payment system, etc and then give it away or charge whatever you consider fair rather than being "greedy" like eBay's business model.

TimmyT 

eBay provides a service. Any service costs, one way or another. I don't mind what ebay is doing. That said, I've had at least one run in with a customer who was a jerk. Had I paid attention ahead of time to his feedback (not his scores), I would have deleted his bids prior to the end of the sale. Once the sale is over, eBay doesn't provide a lot of ways to deal with problematic customers. This could be better.

It seems like you've done OK, Randy:
https://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAP...edbackAsSeller

-holiday76

I agree. It's almost as if eBay is just a front, acting like they're providing a service to under privileged sellers around the world but in the end, they're really the only ones reaping the benefits.

frantik

other auction sites do exist.. but.. no one uses them. Without customers an auction site is useless...

I used to sell on ebay all the time but seeing people complain and hearing about how any dispute favors the buyer, I definitely am less interested

randyjawa 

That is probably true, but there is a remarkably viable alternative to Ebay and forum members use it all the time - Craigslist. Craigslist, and/or Kijiji, are strong Ebay competitors, in my opinion. And, for those who are not watching, it is free to use, offers the same, or similar, marketing opportunity and supports local, as well as global markets.

No need for me to build another mess like MY "TEN SPEEDS", which might look OK on the surface, but underneath it is, indeed, a mess. Trust me on that one.

By the way, I am about to put up another dozen features articles, or so. And, yup, I will give the information away, for free, unless someone wishes to offer a donation.

jeirvine 

I had not sold on eBay for a few years, but I just put up a dozen or so miscellaneous bike part auctions that just ended. I was astounded at how high the final bids were on some of them. I just shipped everything, so I am not sure if I will get guff from sellers. But if everything goes OK on that end, I feel the eBay fees are more than reasonable given the worldwide customer audience and resulting bids. I never would have gotten anything like this selling anywhere else:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/160927380524
https://www.ebay.com/itm/160927396864
https://www.ebay.com/itm/160927390076 (broken!)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/160927368282

If you want max cash, eBay is hard to beat. That said, I am normally much happier to trade stuff for peanuts here or on local CL. I only did this because I needed to raise some cash and saw what some of these parts were fetching. The Huret in particular is just silly. That thing shifts mediocre no matter how much cleaning and adjusting I did.

fender1

Sometimes you win on ebay, sometimes it is a c**kpunch. Such is life.

wrk101

$86 for a broken hub, wow.

frantik

dang now i'm rethinking if i should sell on ebay or not...

southpawboston

I have to agree here. Sure, eBay charges fees-- they are providing a service which maximizes the seller's profits over any other method of selling. So what if their charges average 10%? That's nothing. When they allow me to cash in at 20-30% higher prices than anywhere else (including the For Sale section here), I pay those fees with a wide grin on my face.

Plus eBay also gives discounts on shipping-- I save about a buck every time I ship something USPS through eBay, and I just shipped a bike via FedEx ground through eBay and saved $6 over FedEx's normal rate.

southpawboston

No one actually WORKS for eBay, right?

-holiday76

Doubtful. They've all offed themselves from guilt.

mkeller234

Holiday76 is a shill, bought and paid for by the man.

Just the other day, I was out enjoying my stump jumper and he wouldn't stop following me.