I am a stamp and postal history collector and over the years I have bought items that I would now like to sell duplicates so that I can buy other items I want. As I have been a member of eBay since last century, somewhere in the 1990s, I also sell there, but a year ago, things took a turn for the worse.
Up until then, I was selling on eBay and getting paid in PayPal, in dollars, and that money was used to buy other stamps or to pay for exhibition fees. Now listen to my anti-eBay diatribe:
I charge $4 for postage anywhere with postal relations with Israel. The letter is sent registered mail. Why registered? Because if you do not and the other side complains that it hasn't arrived, eBay immediately refunds the buyer. Fair practice, right! If it is registered, then it has been signed for. If it is lost, you can ask the post office to reimburse, but that has limits as well. They refund up to $50.
So I put an item on eBay for $5, knowing that it is worth $20 (I paid much more) and it gets sold for $5 (that is the name of the game) and then I add the $4 and the buyer pays $9. NOT TO ME, but to eBay. I now have to send this within 4 working days or eBay starts sending me mails and notices whatever.
I then go to the post office to send the item registered, the actual cost is $4.70 but no worries. I pay for this out of my own pocket because eBay has not transferred the money to me. However am I getting the $9, nope, look at this image:
As you can see eBay takes a fee on the entire amount, not just the amount the lot was sold for. Over and above that, they take a fee for sending it international, so the postage is taxed twice.
So eBay will only pay me $7.42 of which $4.70 I had already paid to the post office, so for the item I sold, I am only getting $3 for! Is that fair practice? Of course not, but that is eBay.
Does eBay pay me immediately? Oh no. About a year ago they signed a monopoly deal with a company called Payoneer and you can no longer be paid in PayPal. You have to setup and account in Payoneer and eBay will transfer the money there. When do they transfer? They have two days in a month when they transfer, 1st or the 15th. Sold an item on the 1st, next payout day is 15th, so you have to wait.
End of story, no. eBay wants to make sure that the recipient receives the item. They will not release funds until the recipient has the money. I already paid $4.70 out of my own pocket and I don't have the item or the funds. How does eBay know when the recipient has received it? Either by feedback, or if you show them a mail that he says he received it or the registration number has shown to be delivered. Many countries do not share this information, England, Germany and America are some of those.
If 6 weeks has passed, they transfer the $7.42 to Payoneer, on the payout day.
Yippee, now I can use the money to buy items. Oh no! Payoneer doesn't allow that. I can only withdraw the money to my bank account and they charge $10 for that and only if you have at least $50 in the account and only to that limit. But, if you withdraw then the bank charges you a conversion rate, so more loss. Edited: So I decided that I needed $100 and decided to withdraw it to my bank account. So to get $100, I have to have $110 as that is the Payoneer charge. They used IBAN to transfer to my account and they made me pay the charges of $3. So that is $13 taken off in commission.
What about if you want to buy something on eBay? PayPal or your own credit card! Another foreign currency conversion.
Basically what both of these companies are doing is to make a profit on the money that they are holding, which is rightfully yours.
I am a stamp and postal history collector and over the years I have bought items that I would now like to sell duplicates so that I can buy other items I want. As I have been a member of eBay since last century, somewhere in the 1990s, I also sell there, but a year ago, things took a turn for the worse.
Up until then, I was selling on eBay and getting paid in PayPal, in dollars, and that money was used to buy other stamps or to pay for exhibition fees. Now listen to my anti-eBay diatribe:
I charge $4 for postage anywhere with postal relations with Israel. The letter is sent registered mail. Why registered? Because if you do not and the other side complains that it hasn't arrived, eBay immediately refunds the buyer. Fair practice, right! If it is registered, then it has been signed for. If it is lost, you can ask the post office to reimburse, but that has limits as well. They refund up to $50.
So I put an item on eBay for $5, knowing that it is worth $20 (I paid much more) and it gets sold for $5 (that is the name of the game) and then I add the $4 and the buyer pays $9. NOT TO ME, but to eBay. I now have to send this within 4 working days or eBay starts sending me mails and notices whatever.
I then go to the post office to send the item registered, the actual cost is $4.70 but no worries. I pay for this out of my own pocket because eBay has not transferred the money to me. However am I getting the $9, nope, look at this image:
As you can see eBay takes a fee on the entire amount, not just the amount the lot was sold for. Over and above that, they take a fee for sending it international, so the postage is taxed twice.
So eBay will only pay me $7.42 of which $4.70 I had already paid to the post office, so for the item I sold, I am only getting $3 for! Is that fair practice? Of course not, but that is eBay.
Does eBay pay me immediately? Oh no. About a year ago they signed a monopoly deal with a company called Payoneer and you can no longer be paid in PayPal. You have to setup and account in Payoneer and eBay will transfer the money there. When do they transfer? They have two days in a month when they transfer, 1st or the 15th. Sold an item on the 1st, next payout day is 15th, so you have to wait.
End of story, no. eBay wants to make sure that the recipient receives the item. They will not release funds until the recipient has the money. I already paid $4.70 out of my own pocket and I don't have the item or the funds. How does eBay know when the recipient has received it? Either by feedback, or if you show them a mail that he says he received it or the registration number has shown to be delivered. Many countries do not share this information, England, Germany and America are some of those.
If 6 weeks has passed, they transfer the $7.42 to Payoneer, on the payout day.
Yippee, now I can use the money to buy items. Oh no! Payoneer doesn't allow that. I can only withdraw the money to my bank account and they charge $10 for that and only if you have at least $50 in the account and only to that limit. But, if you withdraw then the bank charges you a conversion rate, so more loss. Edited: So I decided that I needed $100 and decided to withdraw it to my bank account. So to get $100, I have to have $110 as that is the Payoneer charge. They used IBAN to transfer to my account and they made me pay the charges of $3. So that is $13 taken off in commission.
What about if you want to buy something on eBay? PayPal or your own credit card! Another foreign currency conversion.
Basically what both of these companies are doing is to make a profit on the money that they are holding, which is rightfully yours.
Edited: Now eBay is taking seller fees, for items that I received cash from, from my credit card and not from Payoneer. I can't even pay for items using Payoneer.
I understand very well what you are describing in this article since I too have experienced it or am still experiencing it. Just that for payment, I set it to be weekly and that works fine. I tell myself that I could never sell without such a large "audience" and I will be more profitable by selling individually than by going through an auction house. I admit that I have more grievances towards the auction houses which take full advantage of the system from father to son... You buy exceptional pieces at auction at an auction house and at the end of your life you resell them (the same auction house) at a loss except for these auction houses which always receive the jackpot. I have always earned more by selling my items myself but it takes work and time.
ReplyDeletePossibly. But for cheaper items, less than $50, an auction house will not take it. So, what do you do with the cheaper items? Throw them away?
DeleteI agree, I can be a loser for the smallest items (-50 euros) but I admit that in France we have the privilege of having the right to use stamps in francs for postage, which sometimes when they were purchased in batches can significantly reduce shipping costs when they are used.
DeleteI stopped selling on ebay, because of all this. It is not worth all the hassle and expense.
ReplyDeleteTrue but there are not many other avenues available. On Delcampe an item can site there for years.
DeleteBTW what is your real name
In my country, Romania, my fellow collectors regularly sell and buy stamps and other various philatelic material on dedicated Facebook pages. No selling fees, sharing info is free and concluding a deal is simple and direct. It's true, the e-Bay market is huge, if compared with the public of a Romanian Facebook page, but if you discuss a few bucks fees, then maybe huge markets are not the ones for you. Therefore, as there are international Facebook pages too for selling and buying stamps, why not use them too, with zero fees?
ReplyDeleteMost forums do not allow buying / selling. I have an item, postkrieg, that was sent from Israel to Poland and returned. How can I access the biggest audience?
DeleteI only sell thru Delcampe. Less expensive and better system. More freedom and capabilities.
ReplyDeleteLess expensive, yes, but items sit there. I tried one item as an example. Wasn't sold in a year. Added it to eBay at a higher price and sold in a week.
DeleteYes I agree, but at least it doesn't cost you anything. I agree Ebay has more visibility and old items can't stay there. But not everything get sold after a week. I remember the chocolate item you sold that stayed like a year unsold, isn't it? But understand your problem you don't have that at Delcampe.
DeleteI had a chocolate item?
Delete