Fees on shipping charges rip off

How do people interpret this:

 

If you list on eBay.com

If you list on eBay.com and a US buyer purchases your item, your final value fee for shipping is calculated using the shipping service that the buyer chooses.

If you list on eBay.com and a Canadian or international (non US) buyer purchases your item, your final value fee for shipping is calculated using whichever service is less expensive, either:

  • The first US shipping service in your listing that isn't express, or

  • Your Canadian or express shipping service

     

     

    I think we are being overcharged by Ebay

     

Message 1 of 51
latest reply
50 REPLIES 50

Fees on shipping charges rip off

Incidentally, if the majority of your buyers are Canadians, you could go back to listing on .ca (where the cart actually works for all buyers except those on .com).  The problem there is that many Canadians (and other international buyers) log on to eBay.com to buy. 

 

Rose

 

I list what sells better in Canada on .ca and list what sells better in the US on .com to take advantage of the 150 listings on each site.

 

I have yet to have an international sale for multiple items on .ca going outside North America. My buyers in the US that used to buy on .c from me have all but stopped due to the ridiculous CP rate hikes. When they were buying, tyhey all requested invoices to save on shipping.

 

 

Message 41 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off

you are correct, on 4 notes would be the same as 3 in the US as is always 6% of $3 which is 18¢

Message 42 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off

I don't list on .com, but if I did, I'd be encountering precisely the same FVF overcharges as you do.  Why?  I think your problem is the good old "cart disconnect" that I've been complaining about for months and months to everybody who would listen at eBay -- and who are now no longer interested in hearing about it, sadly for Canadian sellers. 

 

 

The cart problem you refer to affects listings on .ca, not .com and the problem the OP is explaining has nothing to do with whether or not a cart is used. It's more of a billing issue and that ebay isn't specific enough about how they handle fvf on international shipping when more than one item is purchased.

Message 43 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off


@pjcdn2005 wrote:

 

If that was the case then this would be happening on all international transactions, not just for multiple orders. I know that I am not getting charged fvf on international shipping when my domestic shipping is free or less than international.

 


This makes sense, and is also my experience, although I list exclusively on .ca.  My items are the kind that often sell in multiples, so I've seen the OP's issue a lot over the past couple of years, obviously in my case with .com buyers, not with international multi-item orders.  

 

I think I can recall a problem with a couple of U.K. multi-item orders overcharging me on FVFs, but a multi-item order from Belgium recently worked just the way it was supposed to, and I was only charged FVFs on the (reduced) combined shipping for a 4-item order. 

 

This tells me that a background programming flaw in the checkout/invoicing process is the source of the problem, rather than a policy issue.  The flaw that to my mind is the biggest suspect is the known incompatibility between the .com cart/checkout and other eBay sites.  

 

If that is the case, it seems there is virtually nothing we Canadian sellers can do to change the situation at the source.  EBay isn't interested enough in us Canucks.  Besides, as I said, they're making extra money as long as the problem continues.  Why bother killing a cash cow, especially one that nobody notices or can do anything about?  

 

All of that extra cash is coming out of sellers' pockets, unless sellers recoup the extra FVFs from buyers by offsetting them from shipping refunds, in which case buyers are paying the excess FVFs.  A tidy and quiet little scheme on eBay's part I'd say, whether deliberate or just negligent.  

 

Personally I think they should be reimbursing Canadian sellers on all such overcharged FVFs on multi-item orders, but we all know that's not going to happen. Woman LOL

Message 44 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off


@dutchman48 wrote:

 

Rose

 

My buyer in Poland got the shipping discount properly and only paid for 1 shipping charge.

 


Right, but that still doesn't mean that the programming system behind the scenes is functioning correctly, as it obviously isn't properly calculating the FVFs that you're paying.  In other words, it's possible that the .com site's checkout/billing system is not compatible with other sites.  

 

This could be an additional ".com cart disconnect" flaw that nobody has reported yet.  Have you seen any reports of this issue on the .com boards? 

 

 

 

 

Message 45 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off

not since I started selling internationally but that does not mean it has never been discussed. Us buyers in many cases will not send internationally without the GSP and it has it's own issues.

 

They also have tracking issues which they end up paying out of pocket.

Message 46 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off


@pjcdn2005 wrote:

 

The cart problem you refer to affects listings on .ca, not .com and the problem the OP is explaining has nothing to do with whether or not a cart is used. It's more of a billing issue and that ebay isn't specific enough about how they handle fvf on international shipping when more than one item is purchased.


That's the thing: how do any of us know that there aren't sites (e.g. Poland) that, like .com, are incompatible with outside (in this case.com) listings?  

 

For one thing, if the FVFs are correctly charged on single-item international sales of .com listings, yet the OP is experiencing an overcharge of FVFs on multi-item orders where the buyer is actually getting the proper shipping discounts, it suggests to me his buyers are using a cart.  

 

So it could very well be a billing issue or a cart/checkout programming flaw.  I don't see how anyone except eBay itself could confirm this.  And I'm not sure they'd want to bother if they're making extra money on it. 

Message 47 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off

I have an open ticket with a file number that I will continue to follow up on. Hopefully it won't disappear like others have.

Message 48 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off

I don't think the cart has anything whatsoever to do with the OP's situation. Nor do I think that listing on .ca or .com is the issue.

 

As far as I can tell from what has happened to my own multi-item sales is that it's working exactly as eBay intends it to work. The only issue is that the OP doesn't like the way eBay calculates the fvf on shipping for combined orders, not liking it and it being incorrect are not the same thing.

 

Here is what I see on my account (listing on .ca)

 

Item shipping charges: Domestic $7.50 / USA  $8.00 / International $15.00

 

Buyer purchases a single item, regardless of their location the fvf is calculated on $7.50

 

Buyer purchases two items and makes a single payment (actual shipping charged: Domestic $9.00 / USA $10.00 / International $20.00)

 

fvf calculated as follows:

 

Domestic buyer; $9.00 (what they actually paid, not 2 times the basic domestic rate)

US buyer; $10.00 (what they actually paid, not 2 times the basic domestic rate)

International buyer; $15.00 (less than they actually paid but 2 times the basic domestic rate)

 

Now on a purchase of 3 items with a single payment (actual shipping charged: Domestic $10.00 / USA $12.00 / International $25.00)

 

fvf calculated as follows:

 

Domestic buyer; $10.00 (what they actually paid, not 3 times the basic domestic rate)

US buyer; $12.00 (what they actually paid, not 3 times the basic domestic rate)

International buyer; $22.50 (less than they actually paid but 3 times the basic domestic rate)

 

When the original announcement of fees on shipping was made it appeared that on multiple item purchases your shipping discounts would be taken into account when calculating the "lowest domestic rate", a month later that language was removed from the announcement. I was not aware of the change so when the fees came into effect I was ready with my domestic combined shipping discounts set up, when I audited my invoices a few months later I noticed the discrepancy, that's when I went back to the announcement details and realized that the change had been made.

 

Irrelevant from the conversation but an interesting admission on my part........The day before the fvf on shipping was announced there were rumours that it was coming. I remember posting that my opinion was that it would NEVER happen......less than 24 hours later I had a not very tasty hat to digest!

 

 



"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.
Message 49 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off

It's not a cart problem as the cart isn't what determines fvf fees. It only determines what the buyer is going to pay and that isn't a problem here. This isn't a one time thing with buyers from a specific country and I doubt that it is a glitch. I bet that the fees are being billed exactly the way that ebay has set them up to work.  As mentioned in earlier posts, this was noticed sometime after fvf started being charged on shipping.  I haven't seen it mentioned in a long time but I suspect that it has been done this way for quite a while.

 

 

Message 50 of 51
latest reply

Fees on shipping charges rip off

As I have asked before, where does it say that they calculate FVF on shipping differently then on domestic, for multiple purchases?

 

If it does not specifically state that they will do that as an exception. do they have the right to do that?

 

And yes, I know Ebay does what it wants, but do they have the right or should it be allowed?

 

They are such sticklers with policy against sellers, maybe they should be taken to task on some of their own policies.

 

They say they want international sales and then they shaft the seller without letting them know until after the fact

Message 51 of 51
latest reply