You can read "Free Shipping Required for DVDs" here. Reply to this message to discuss it.
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I really think that eBay are being greedy with their new policy. The announcement that Dvds must have free shipping came with a partial explanation that 'many other on-line sellers offer free shipping and buyers expect this from eBay'. What tosh! Amazon (who they seem to be modelling this idea on) ONLY offer free shipping if the order totals £15 or more. Other sellers on Amazon marketplace have a realistic cap set on them, but NOT free shipping.
eBay even has the audacity to suggest building the shipping cost into the 'Buy it Now' price, or having a higher starting price on auctions.
The plain fact is, if I sell an item for £4.95 + a reasonable £1 shipping cost eBay take a final value fee of approx 45p per item. If I change my listings to £5.95 ( with 'free' shipping) eBay graps a further 9p per item from the final value fee.
eBay also insists that ALL listings must offer Paypal as a payment option. Prior to this move, approx 40% of my sales were paid for by Paypal with cheques/postal orders and cash making up the other 60%. Now that Paypal is universally offered, my Paypal payments have shot up to 95% - with no noticeable increase in actual sales. I am paying much more in Paypal fees which is eating into my profits and now they want a sneaky bit more in extra final value fees.
The only 2 ways out of this is to either pass the extra costs onto my buyers (which means they will be paying MORE by getting 'free' shipping!) or to give up altogether - which is beginning to look most likely.
My final concern about free shipping is this: Since the introduction of Paypal as a required payment option, I have noticed an increase in people claiming that their items have not arrived and making claims for refunds via Paypal. Strangely, I had very few people complaining about items lost in the post prior to this. Because I was not using recorded delivery to send my items, Paypal ALWAYS found in favour of the buyer (despite the fact that I had a standard proof of postage form from the Post Office - this is not deemed to be 'proof' of despatch as far as Paypal is concerned). As a result of this, I have had to change my shipping to include recorded delivery (again, honest buyers are being forced to pay more for goods because of a) the actions of a fraudulent minority and b) eBays policy of only accepting recorded delivery as proof of despatch.
I have contacted eBay with a simple enquiry. When 'Free shipping' on Dvds becomes mandatory, can I still charge the fee for recorded delivery? Still waiting for an answr on that one! No doubt that will have to be added in to the price as well!
eBay even has the audacity to suggest building the shipping cost into the 'Buy it Now' price, or having a higher starting price on auctions.
The plain fact is, if I sell an item for £4.95 + a reasonable £1 shipping cost eBay take a final value fee of approx 45p per item. If I change my listings to £5.95 ( with 'free' shipping) eBay graps a further 9p per item from the final value fee.
eBay also insists that ALL listings must offer Paypal as a payment option. Prior to this move, approx 40% of my sales were paid for by Paypal with cheques/postal orders and cash making up the other 60%. Now that Paypal is universally offered, my Paypal payments have shot up to 95% - with no noticeable increase in actual sales. I am paying much more in Paypal fees which is eating into my profits and now they want a sneaky bit more in extra final value fees.
The only 2 ways out of this is to either pass the extra costs onto my buyers (which means they will be paying MORE by getting 'free' shipping!) or to give up altogether - which is beginning to look most likely.
My final concern about free shipping is this: Since the introduction of Paypal as a required payment option, I have noticed an increase in people claiming that their items have not arrived and making claims for refunds via Paypal. Strangely, I had very few people complaining about items lost in the post prior to this. Because I was not using recorded delivery to send my items, Paypal ALWAYS found in favour of the buyer (despite the fact that I had a standard proof of postage form from the Post Office - this is not deemed to be 'proof' of despatch as far as Paypal is concerned). As a result of this, I have had to change my shipping to include recorded delivery (again, honest buyers are being forced to pay more for goods because of a) the actions of a fraudulent minority and b) eBays policy of only accepting recorded delivery as proof of despatch.
I have contacted eBay with a simple enquiry. When 'Free shipping' on Dvds becomes mandatory, can I still charge the fee for recorded delivery? Still waiting for an answr on that one! No doubt that will have to be added in to the price as well!
As a digital product seller I must say that eBay isn't what it use to be. In addition to the shipping charges and the new rules I can't anymore list my products as an auction or fixed price listing. I have to list them in the Everything Else category and as a classified at a price of $9.95!! Nobody looks at this category. It's insane!