eBay - No more Checks and Money Orders for you!
 

Just got an e-mail from eBay and listed under some of the "improvements" is this little nugget:

Wow.

I noticed this also today. Sadly this is just the
continuation of making the site more like
Amazon. And less a auction site. They have
been pushing the smaller sellers more &
more off the site. Disappoints me.
But no surprise. I figured after they
implemented paypal required for Austrailia.
That USA was next.

ebay has forgotten who made them.

Eh who wants to go the bank anyway? :)

Doesnt bother me since Ive been Paypal only for years, but I can see people grabbing torches over this.

yeah, this won't affect me, but i can see how people would be angry over this. that, combined with their new 'maximum shipping charge' seems to be really bad. i don't really understand it totally, but it would seem that using a dvd as an example, you won't be able to mail it priority mail anymore because the max is $3.

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/August200...e/MaxShipping/

From your own link... Sellers are required to offer at least one shipping option within the maximum and may also offer other options above the maximums for expedited or international shipping.

No surprise considering Ebay owns Paypal. Checks and money orders are a way for sellers to avoid additional fees on an auction. By stating "to ensure buyers keep coming back to Ebay" by eliminating checks and money orders is an oxymoronic statement. :down:

I have been annoyed at alot of the changes Ebay has made recently but it's really starting to get to me now. As soon as I have an alterantive, I am gone.

They wonder why the Amazon marketplace is taking their business, they sent all of the sellers over there with their moronic policies. Ebay needs to realize that the sellers are their customers and start catering to them. They pay the fees and they attract the customers.

They are trying to squeeze blood from a stone. They want sellers to charge lower and lower prices while paying higher and higher fees and shipping rates at the same time. It is a joke.

This means I'll never use Ebay again.

Sure a MO cost extra to buy and mail, but at least it was trackable and I didn't have to deal with any charge back nonsense.

I guess it doesn't matter that much considering I do most of my purchasing on Amazon. At least there I have a choice between new and used.

It's disappointing, because I used to rank eBay as one of my favorite websites, and I bought and sold often. The rise in the last five years or so of buyers exploiting loopholes to get the item they wanted and to get their money back poisoned the enjoyment. eBay's absolutely asinine, anti-seller solutions have ensured that my eBaying days are over. I used to periodically purge as part of spring cleaning (and again in the fall), and while I never made a lot of money per item, they tended to add up. Plus, I was rid of things I didn't want or need anymore. Now, I guess it looks like I'll start trying to find new owners via forums (where there are less fees and more honor system), or start donating more stuff outright.

Yeah, I refuse to use paypal because of their terrible policy. Ebay used to be a great place to sell of extra junk and make a buck or two on the side. Not anymore. Especially after the last round of changes and now this?

The maximum shipping costs may not be enough to cover the costs of shipping. $3.00 for DVD sales may be enough for a single movie if you use an envelope or recycled box; but not if you are using good quality shipping material. Also what if you are selling a huge boxed set like The Prisoner 40th Megaset? It will cost much more than $3.00 to ship it.

Magazines are limited to $4.00 as well. Magazines can't be shipped mediamail but can be shipped as Boung Printed Matter but Paypal does not integrate that option into their shipping process.

I haven't used eBay in awhile, and I did always use Paypal.. but all the recent changes make me want to use them less and less. I know one person who sells a lot on there but certainly will never use them again since he won't use Paypal. Poor eBay, doesn't know which way to jump..

That they're basically switching to PayPal-only sucks. Just seems like another money-grab on their part and doesn't benefit the buyers or sellers in any way.

I don't really have a problem with the idea of maximum shipping charges. I think that excessive shipping charges are something that's really getting out of hand.

A while back my girlfriend bought a PS2 game on eBay; the seller basically charged $12.00 for shipping and insurance; when the game arrived, it was shipped in plain manilla envelope for less than $2.00. And the $2.00 that went for insurance was "self insurance." Now, she went into the transaction knowing what the final bill would be and got a good deal on a brand new out-of-print game, but it's still kind of dodgy. There were quite a few negative feedbacks from people who ended up paying out the ass on shipping for multiple purchases who apparently didn't read the fine print.

I refuse to buy anything on eBay unless the shipping charges are stated up-front. There are quite a few sellers who want you to pay amounts upwards to $10 to ship a single DVD or CD. At that price point, they're just padding out the final price or trying to dodge eBay fees.

Anybody care to offer up some good alternatives? Especially sites for used around the house kind of stuff. Collectibles too. It seems to me ebay doesn't want these kinds of auctions anymore, or auctions period.

I didn't like the feedback changes. I don't like the dropping of checks and money orders. I especially don't like them dictating maximum shipping costs. The star ratings are crap even though I'm close to five on all of them. Shipping is of course the lowest one as it probably is for every seller. Their best match and that new search experience is horrible. This is coming from the buying perspective and not selling. I've tried to like it, but I can't. I'm constantly opting out of it now.

If your a seller of fixed price new stuff, then good luck competing with buy.

I guess ebay acquired too much crap and now they are trying desperately to satisfy their shareholders.

Mystery

I wonder if ebay/paypal is going let you go over the $3 mark when combining shipping? I would think they would have to or there is going to be some pissed off buyers.

Mystery

I've been doing all of my sales on Amazon marketplace lately. I'm only using ebay for computer hardware and the occasional item I don't want to upfront the shipping costs for (the only problem with Amazon). The flat shipping rates are kind of like ebay's new policy but you just have to adjust the price of the item if it's off kilter (I shipped seasons 1-9 of the Xfiles for $3. But I just adjusted the item price up $10).

I'm getting better money after fees on a lot of the items than ebay. I sold a few things like PS1 memory cards for $7-$8 that I couldn't give away on ebay.

The best part? No more emails. A few custom requests from folks like "please ship without invoice, it's a present" and that's about it. No more "Will you end the auction early for $X", "Will you ship to Nigeria", etc.

As a seller, I am super-pissed about the no checks/money order BS. I was just on eBays support line trying to find out why items I am selling weren't showing up in searches.

When I told them that i was unhappy with the payment change coming, they said "they were going to have alternatives to PayPal coming." I am sure those alternatives will have nothing to do with eBay's pockets ;)

Sadly, there is no alternative that gets the traffic that eBay does. I even tried eBid - figuring that the name would potentially bring in people as it was a very easy name. In over 4 months there I have sold ZERO items. Hundreds of views .. NO SALES. And that was even after I paid the $49.99 for no listing fees forever. It doesn't hurt for me to leave the items up there, but I certainly don't expect to ever see a sale from it.

And as for ProPay ... what a joke ...

For just the premium service (which is the lowest level to be able to accept eBay payments) it is $59.95 a year + 3.5% (plus $0.35) fee per transaction + $0.30 transfer fee to put it into your paypal account ...

Well, I can tell you that I welcome this. I just bought an item from a MO only seller and not more than 24 hours later, got a payment "reminder". In 48, she's telling me she's going to relist. I don't know if she expected overnight mail for a $30 item, but at this point, I'm not sending a cent without an apology.

She probably just expected an email that says "the money order is in the mail".

The money order thing won't make a difference to me. I put that as an option in my listings and no one showed any interest in using a money order or personal check. I really wouldn't be thrilled waiting to get it in the mail and waiting for it to clear anyhow.

I'm not liking the max shipping though. Some things will inevitably cost more to ship than the limits and then sellers will just have to add it onto the price of an item. Buyers have a right to complain about the high shipping that exists on ebay but speaking as a buyer and now seller, you have to consider the total costs. It may bother you that an ebay seller is charging more to ship but if the total is lower than someone who charges less to ship but more for the item, what's the problem here? It's a win/win for the buyer and seller. With the change, Ebay is the one who has most to gain since they get most of their money on the backend in final value fees (that the seller pays).

I use Amazon marketplace and while that is a simple alternative, I have issues with it. First of all, it doesn't get nearly the traffic. Also, they set max shipping on everything and usually it often underestimates it. All the listings are listed in ascending price order which is only good if you're a buyer. And worst, they take a big 15% for movies and most media which is a big chunk even compared to ebay and paypal.

Just a quick glance at the max shipping thing reveals how ridiculous it is. Why is the max shipping for a tiny UMD $5.00 while a DVD is $3.00?

So, between the changes in payment methods and shipping maxiumums, no one noticed that ebay's final value fees on fixed price listings are going up, too?

Oh, but they gave you reduced up front fees on those fixed price listings. They are indeed a very generous company.

The book, music, movie and games fixed price sellers are really getting reamed here. Like I said previously, good luck competing with the likes of Buy and others.

Mystery

While I don't get many M.O. I do get a few. It won't affect my business much, but there is ABOSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR IT. It has NOTHING to do with good customer service and EVERYTHING to do with more eBay profits.

With rising shipping costs and rising fuels costs the Max shipping thing is probably the stupidest thing I've seen. (Yeah, I can ship a MASH Martnies box set for 3.00.) I only charge 3.50 for shipping single DVDs and .85 for additional. The PO has raised rates every year for the last three years and they tell me another raise is coming in May 2009. They just want sellers to eat more and more of the cost. Aside from the negatives, they may think that lowering the P&H will make it more attractive to new buyers. That may be true, but like you said anybody that uses eBay on a regualar basis looks at the TOTAL COST. The "newness" of ebay was over years ago and they are trying to salvage a past fad. Yes, it was neat when it first started, but like everything buyers learned how to use it to get really cheap items and sellers tried to stay afloat by raising the price on items listed. I can't remember that last time one of my auctions had a bidding war on it.

You said eBay charges less than Amazon, but according to what I've read on the forums, even the FVF for auctions is going up to 12%. That means with paypal fees (2.9%) and the 12% for auctions and store listings, it is effectively 15%. Also, (from what I understand about marketplace), you don't pay a monthly store cost + cost / item to list.

Ebay has raised FVF on store listings for the last 2-3 years. I expect within a year (maybe 2), they will raise the fees to 15%. Whenever they give you anything they take back twice as much.

Link to the new rates?