That being said, sellers would be better off, as well. Customers that suffer sticker shock tend not to be repeat customers, if they have other options. Furthermore, if sellers decided to quit eBay, they'd have to dump their stock locally for whatever they can get, or hold onto it for a rainy day and incur storage fees. They don't want to throw it out if they can help it -- that's an outright loss. The local buyers will eventually resell it, and most of it will go back onto eBay. So the market won't decline quite as rapidly as you've portrayed it.
Buyers would know up front the exact cost of an item. The seller could not take advantage of the appearance of low up front pricing. Therefore, auctions would not lure as many bidders -- many of whom are overenthusiastic. BIN prices wouldn't be hit quite so enthusiastically, either.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:When the opening price is $10, and the s/h is $5, then the exact cost of an item is $15. I think people that can't perform basic arithmetic should probably return to pre-school before they start bidding on things online. And even the mathematical illiterate would gradually pick up on things: "hey, i bid $10 and paid $15 to get it.. how did that happen?"
Mars wrote:The problem with this in most cases is that some charging a large handling fee does not disclose that fact. So when you ask for a shipping quote you do not know how much is handling and how much is shipping.If all of this is disclosed and the handling fee is high then chances are I would not even bid on the auction. Sellers who charge a large handling fee do so to cover their costs of listing on Ebay and to cover any paypal charges, time to scan images and write the listing, etc. These costs are not postage handling fees and should be priced into the auction starting price.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote: Quote: These costs are not postage handling fees and should [not] be priced into the auction starting price. This is an interesting point. However, if this occurred at all, and suppose God then decided this could no longer be done, what would happen to the number of items on eBay? What would happen to the prices?Supply of goods would go down, prices would go up. Are buyers better off?
deimos3428 wrote:Well, that works in theory. In practice, people frequently bid or commit to purchase without reading all the fine print. People make mistakes. eBay policy does not permit the seller to take undue advantage of these mistakes.(http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/lis ... pping.html)It's pretty clear from that page that handling charges are meant to be used for covering the cost of packaging an item. Shipping charges are for shipping the item. Neither are intended for making income! If you don't like the rules, don't play the game.
eBay Policy wrote:Excessive Shipping Charges PolicySellers may charge reasonable shipping and handling fees to cover the costs for mailing, packaging, and handling the items they are selling. While eBay will not prescribe exactly what a seller may or may not charge, eBay will rely on member reports and its own discretion to determine whether or not a seller's shipping, handling, packaging, and/or insurance charges are excessive. Shipping and handling fees may not be listed as a percentage of the final sale price.Sellers who want to be sure they are in compliance with this policy may charge actual shipping costs plus actual packaging materials cost (or less). In addition to the final listing price, sellers are permitted to charge:Actual Shipping cost: This is the actual cost (i.e. postage) for shipping the item.Handling Fee: Actual packaging materials costs may be charged. A handling fee in addition to actual shipping cost may be charged if it is not excessive. Insurance: Sellers offering insurance may only charge the actual fee for insurance. No additional amount may be added, such as "self-insurance". Sellers who do not use a licensed 3rd party insurance company may not require buyers to purchase insurance. This is a violation of state law. Tax: Only actual applicable federal, state, country, city, VAT, and equivalent taxes may be charged.For cross border transactions, sellers may not collect tariffs and duties. However, buyers may be responsible for actual, applicable tariffs, and duties as requested by respective country laws. Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:Listing cancellationLimits on account privilegesAccount suspension Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings Loss of PowerSeller status Why does eBay have this policy? This policy reduces the potential for confusion among bidders about the full cost of an item. Listings that include excessive shipping fees lead to a poor buying experience and un-level the playing field by putting sellers who charge reasonable shipping charges at a disadvantage. These listings undermine the trust and legitimacy of eBay's marketplace.
Kosh Vorlontay wrote:Interesting how you think that you can quote someone and change the quote for your own purposes (whatever those were)
Mars wrote:These costs are not postage handling fees and should be priced into the auction starting price.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:These costs are not postage handling fees and should [not] be priced into the auction starting price.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:This is an interesting point. However, if this occurred at all, and suppose God then decided this could no longer be done, what would happen to the number of items on eBay? What would happen to the prices? Supply of goods would go down, prices would go up. Are buyers better off?
Kosh Vorlontay wrote:Now lets examine the two things that I think are the red flags of this policy (which are highlighted in bold):While eBay will not prescribe exactly what a seller may or may not charge, eBay will rely on member reports and its own discretion to determine whether or not a seller's shipping, handling, packaging, and/or insurance charges are excessive. First off they (eBay) WILL NOT PRESCRIBE what can be charge, therefore sellers can charge whatever amount or include whatever fee they want! Second, if eBay does get a report they ignore it and not use any DISCRETION because they WILL LOOSE MONEY! Third, they have already determined what is excessive insurance charges. This leads into the second bold statement:A handling fee in addition to actual shipping cost may be charged if it is not excessive. Insurance: Sellers offering insurance may only charge the actual fee for insurance. No additional amount may be added, such as "self-insurance". What constitutes an excessive handling fee? Anyone?
Aneoth wrote:Bane him???
Kosh Vorlontay wrote:First off they (eBay) WILL NOT PRESCRIBE what can be charge, therefore sellers can charge whatever amount or include whatever fee they want!
Kosh Vorlontay wrote:Second, if eBay does get a report they ignore it and not use any DISCRETION because they WILL LOOSE MONEY!
Kosh Vorlontay wrote:What constitutes an excessive handling fee? Anyone?
deimos3428 wrote:Easy. Anything in excess of the actual cost of readying the item for shipment. If you have to buy a bubble mailer, or cardboard, or tape, fine. If you live far from the post office and have to take the bus, fine. If you absolutely have to eat a slice of pizza to get enough energy to wrap up the item, fine. If you just want to save up for a Lambourgini -- not fine. This is pretty common sense stuff!
Sorry Mars, I put that in the wrong spot. I was referencing Sea-to-sky-games who took your quote Mars wrote: These costs are not postage handling fees and should be priced into the auction starting price. and changed it to this: Sea-to-sky-games wrote: These costs are not postage handling fees and should [not] be priced into the auction starting price. Notice he attached 'not' to your "Quote" Then wrote this in response to your now edited quote
Well, that works in theory. In practice, people frequently bid or commit to purchase without reading all the fine print. People make mistakes. eBay policy does not permit the seller to take undue advantage of these mistakes.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:In any event, the final cost of the good doesn't change, so buyers are indifferent. If s/h are low, then the bid price goes higher. If the s/h are high, the bid price goes lower. It's basic supply and demand.
I hate to break it to you chief, but the real world, specifically Ebay isn't that simple and it does not work that way. I know the text book that you are currently reading says that id does, but that text book doesn't deal with real world situations and real life people. I think thats your biggest problem, you keep reading that from textbook that you have in front of you and you are continuously trying to apply it to real world situations to it. In theory, your text book maybe correct, however Real Life is something totally different. If you have spent as much time observing the bidding and buying practices on Ebay as you have spent with your nose buried in that Economics book that you have, you might start to actually realize this.....
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:This is nonsense.
Sea-to-sky-games wrote:Buyers mistakenly assess the condition of the item for sale; buyers mistakenly assess the length of shipping to their location; buyers mistake the investment value of a good; buyers sometimes buy things they already have; buyers even make mistakes working out currency differences (although eBay does compute this automatically when the user's prefs are defined, although not shipping costs).The reason why mistakes occur is because it is costly for buyers to obtain perfect information. And even if perfect information were available, the price would reflect that (ie. buyers would bid more).