Deadlord36 wrote:OK......... this is one of my all-time most hated things people do on eBay.
A unnamed member of the forum here has some items up for sale, and when I asked about "buyer covers ALL fees", two e-mails later I get the "Paypal and eBay fees".
What the fuck? How cheap can someone get? If I had won one of the auctions (and I was prepared to pay a lot) I would have hit the roof. eBay fees are the responsibility of the SELLER, unless you CLEARLY state this in the auction. And charging Paypal fees violates eBay's rules. They do not allow a surcharge for Paypal payments to be charged to the buyer. After all, they own Paypal and it would hurt their business.
I feel the same way about "handling charges", but that is not against eBay policy, it's just fucking cheap.
Opinions?

First time I encountered this I was a bit miffed too.  I guess it's a common practice with eBay UK.

I could care less what a seller chooses to tack on, as long as it's clearly stated in the auction description.  I hate surprises when the auction is over.  

I always account for shipping and handling charges before I bid so if a seller wants to charge a $20 flat rate in shipping charges to sell a module and ship via media mail, I just factor that into my final bid price.  The same amount of money leaves my pocket in the end either way so what do I care how they choose to dress it up?  The bait and switch element is minor and forgiveable in most cases.

What I can't stand are reserve auctions, ridiculously high minimum bids and BIN's all designed to devour newbays.  
With the exception of very rare items, whenever I click an auction and see "reserve price not met" I immediately hit "back" on my browser just move along.  It's insulting to me to have to waste my time coming up with a reasonable bid only to find out the asshole wants $250 for a sixth print PHB.  

I think you should give the sellers who explain why they want the extra money a little bit of credit.  At least they're honest.  Sellers who use reserves and high minimums are trying to get their fees covered too but don't have the balls to be up front about it.  
Why ebay allows reserve auctions I'll never understand.  At best, the listed minimum bid on reserve auction is ebay sanctioned false advertising.  The least they could do is have an icon in the listing header that stands for reserve price not met, similar to the icons that show whether there's a picture included or not.

Deadlord36 wrote:Well, the auction was VERY unclear as to exactly what the fees were (5%, BTW).
It isn't England. All I can say is it is a Mediterranean country shaped like a boot.........

ROFL.......that kind of gives it away  

Actually, you can't charge sellers for the Paypal fees, unless something changed and I never read it.  I used to list a $1 fee for credit cards via Paypal (since you get hit w/ like $1.50 or so, forget offhand).  I actually got a ton of stuff de-listed because somebody got a bug up their ass about it (and didn't bother mailing me first).
Granted, getting a response from eBay...  good luck...

Deadlord36 wrote:Well, the auction was VERY unclear as to exactly what the fees were (5%, BTW).
It isn't England. All I can say is it is a Mediterranean country shaped like a boot.........

There is no secret. I am the one from the boot shaped country (Italy for you Americans   ) asking for a contribution for PayPal and EBay fees. I don't see it as a scandal. Often when I buy sellers ask me for a partial coverage of auction costs (especially for PayPal costs) and so I decided to use this clause too. If someone doesn't agree, then he shouldn't bid. I prefer being honest - I hate when I'm saddled with obscene 'shipping and handling costs' hiding refunds for various costs and the attempt to squeeze some more money... For example, I buy often lots of four - eight Magic cards and I frequently receive a shipping bill for $ 3.00. When the envelope arrives here in Boot Shaped Land    the stamps are between $ 0.90 and $ 1.60. I can understand that the buyer is attempting to get some money more, but this is too much. Of course, complaining with Paypal and EBay has no usefulness...

You? I meant a different Italian....

myalbinogorilla wrote:I could care less what a seller chooses to tack on, as long as it's clearly stated in the auction description.  I hate surprises when the auction is over.  

I always account for shipping and handling charges before I bid so if a seller wants to charge a $20 flat rate in shipping charges to sell a module and ship via media mail, I just factor that into my final bid price.  The same amount of money leaves my pocket in the end either way so what do I care how they choose to dress it up?  The bait and switch element is minor and forgiveable in most cases.

What I can't stand are reserve auctions, ridiculously high minimum bids and BIN's all designed to devour newbays.  
With the exception of very rare items, whenever I click an auction and see "reserve price not met" I immediately hit "back" on my browser just move along.  It's insulting to me to have to waste my time coming up with a reasonable bid only to find out the asshole wants $250 for a sixth print PHB.  

I think you should give the sellers who explain why they want the extra money a little bit of credit.  At least they're honest.  Sellers who use reserves and high minimums are trying to get their fees covered too but don't have the balls to be up front about it.  
Why ebay allows reserve auctions I'll never understand.  At best, the listed minimum bid on reserve auction is ebay sanctioned false advertising.  The least they could do is have an icon in the listing header that stands for reserve price not met, similar to the icons that show whether there's a picture included or not.

    I agree with all the above. As long as all fees are clearly stated upfront, there should be no cause for complaint. My shipping fees are flat rates and clearly stated.  As  a newbie on Ebay, I got burned more than once because I bid without noticing the seller was charging $10 to ship a module (in the days before you could cancel bids, ouch).   Now like AG I factor shipping into my bidding price.  
    Reserve auctions are idiotic.  I won't bid in them, they are a waste of time.

Mike B.

AFAIK, in the U.S. (and at the very least California), it's not "Illegal" to charge different amounts for different payment types as long as you tell the customers what the charges are.

However, in the case of Credit Cards, it violates the merchant account agreement to charge more for a credit card purchase (and they ding you for 3-4%).  

The reason for the policy is that they don't want people using CC#'s as 'second class' money.  They want us charging up a storm, collecting their 4% on the front end and their 18% compounded interest on the back end.

I would love to own a credit card company!

(And did you know, Visa is a non-profit corporation?  It boggles the mind!)

ha ha !! It is a UN conspiracy - no doubt they are getting all the spare %age points which they squirrel off to their Geneva bank accounts for spending on secret armies...