FVF on S&H Charges

[hockey_card_corner]

Just got off the phone with an ebay cs rep & was told they no longer change FVF's on S&H . Checked my latest invoice & FVF's for S&H we're still being charged, called back & spoke with another rep & he said it's something they're talking about, but nothing has been implemented yet! OK

We all know why ebay charges the FVF on S&H was due to the amount of sellers selling $100 items for 99 cents and charging $99 for S&H which was perfect for the seller because they could circumvent eBay fees and make larger profits for themselves.. What does eBay do to counter this activity? At first they allowed ebay users the option to report sellers with excessive S&H & circumvention of eBay fees, I guess they got so many reports it was cheaper to say we can't investigate all these reports, so to curtail the circumvention we'll just charge a FVF on S&H  & the sold item.. Sure we'll hurt the honest seller, but we'll get our money from the circumventing sellers & a little extra to boot! Shareholders must be loving it...

So if they're truly considering dropping the FVF on S&H, what is up their sleeve to recoup the lost revenue? Maybe increase FVF's on sold items, but offer lower FVF's if you opt to buy into the ebay Store option??

Regardless of what they choose, charging a FVF on S&H is like the Gov charging taxes on taxes, down right dirty!! 

What are your thoughts??

[drucecat]

I couldn't agree with you more! Charging FVF on S&H is a solution for the 2% of dishonest sellers, and a penalty to the other 98% of honest, hard working sellers.

I think the change, may be an effort to circumvent some of the backlash of the effects of the new USPS rate increases implemented recently. Goodness knows it will give some relief to Canadian sellers as well, as our 2013 rate increases have really taken a toll. I haven't shipped anything yet this year using Canada Post Expedited where I've even broken even - yet I'm still paying a FVF on these shipments. The competition and the prospect of low DSRs dictates what I can charge for shipping my items.

[drucecat]

I believe that preventing the abuse that occurred prior to eBay implementing  charging FVF on S&H, should be a fairly simple prospect. If you are using PayPal, eBay has a record of how much you are charging for shipping, verses the real cost of the shipment. It should be a fairly simple prospect to program a FVF of no charge, based upon the cost of S&H charged verses the actual cost. This would be done on a percentage of the difference taking into account the value of the item.

For example, a small relatively inexpensive item might have a difference of 35% allowable. As the cost of supplies and your time is relatively expensive compared to the real cost of shipping.

A larger or more expensive item, might have a difference allowable of 15%.

This type of approach won't satisfy everyone, but it's a lot closer to reality than just dinging honest sellers, even when they are breaking even or losing money on shipping.

[pierrelebel]

"So if they're truly considering dropping the FVF on S&H,"

eBay is not. Somehow, you received the wrong information or it was taken out of context.

When eBay changed its billing policy a few years ago to charge FVF on the transaction value (including shipping charge but not the tax) it was more to align its billing policy with its major competitors Amazon (who has been charging FVF on transaction value for years) than to fight the few sellers with outrageous shipping charge.  It was more like killing two birds with one stone.

I do not expect eBay to ever change the policy.  It does not make sense for them to do so. On the contrary.  I see eBay - many years in the future - forcing sellers to absorb the cost of shipping in the price of the item ("free shipping") for domestic shipments.  That is the way online commerce is going.  eBay will not buck the trend or they will lose buyers.

We all have to keep in mind that eBay is first and foremost an American company dealing primarily with American sellers shipping to American buyers.  Domestic shipping costs within the USA are much smaller than what Canadians experience.  eBay's policy decisions are made based on what they know domestically, not what we Canadians know.

Canadians wishing to use eBay to sell their wares have to adapt to the American reality.

[brandeentertainment]

I am pretty sure the Goverment does tax my taxes LOL.. i get my pay it's taxed then I spend my pay and in most cases it's taxed again so directly or not the goverment does get taxes on my money a few times over LOL ...

As Far as ebay they should remove fees on shipping but they should just be strict  3 strikes your out no playing around.. make a few examples of some sellers then most will get the hint .. Do not avoid ebay fees..

I hope they do get rid of it though I can charge shipping and save a little

[hockey_card_corner]

So if they're truly considering dropping the FVF on S&H, What is up their sleeve to recoup the lost revenue?

"eBay is not. Somehow, you received the wrong information or it was taken out of context".

I find it hard to believe I received the wrong information on 2 separate occasions from 2 different CS reps. 1st rep said they we're no longer going to charge FVF on S&H, that the % would be built into the FVF on the sold item. 2nd rep said nothing has been implemented yet, but the powers at be we're considering the removal of FVF on S&H. 

We both know it will never happen unless eBay can recoup the lost revenue with some other form of increase through FVF's or listing fees. 

As for eBay charging a FVF on S&H I don't believe it's been in place for a few years, Or did I read your post wrong?? Either way you slice & dice this, it's wrong for eBay to charge a FVF on Shipping and handling.. Most sellers end up losing on the S&H end, because so we really make anything extra for handling the item? which leaves actual shipping cost + package material cost - the FVF which puts most sellers in the red ..

eBay will simply say, you can always take your business elsewhere. Must be nice!

[femmefan1946]

I find it hard to believe I received the wrong information on 2 separate occasions from 2 different CS reps.

I don't.

It's fascinating how quickly gossip turns into gospel in an office. You may have simply been the recipient of some chat that was going on around the water cooler, guesswork from the peons.

Look how quickly the (possible) Ford video became whispers of a murderous coverup conspiracy.

[pierrelebel]

" I don't believe it's been in place for a few years"

The change (charging FVF on shipping) was announced over two years ago (March 2011).  Please take a look at the official announcement:

http://announcements.ebay.com/2011/03/2011-spring-seller-update/ 

"I find it hard to believe I received the wrong information on 2 separate occasions from 2 different CS reps."

I suspect there was miscommunication or misunderstanding.

By all means do not take my word for it.  Come back any Wednesday at 1:00pm and you can ask your questions directly to the managers at eBay.ca. They host a one hour show on these boards. This was yesterday's:

http://community.ebay.ca/topic/Weekly-Board-Hour/June-5th-Weekly/4000009126 

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

The answer is dependent on the question. Perhaps the wrong question was asked.

[hockey_card_corner]

Initially there was no question asked, I just voiced my displeasure with the fact that eBay in conjunction with Canada Post have insane Estimated delivery times posted for Canada Post Shipping methods. For example they have 3-7 days for lettermail to the USA.. not gonna happen! I said this might mislead buyers & reflect poorly on my DSR's.

She said you could always use a trackable form of shipping & post a tracking # & automatically get 5/5 stars for shipping time...Yes, that's fine on more expensive items, but for $20 items I'm not gonna demand the seller pay $8-$15 for insured S&H.. Then my shipping and handling charge DSR's would take a beating + you guys charge a FVF on the actual cost of S&H so to recoup the cost I would have to charge a little extra, just to cover postage.which might affect my S&H DSR even more..." Oh no sir, we don't charge a FVF on S&H anymore"

Checked account & it was being charged, so called back & asked what she was talking about? "Oh no she's wrong Sir, we still charge a FVF on S&H but the big wigs are discussing possibly removing it".. OK.. Thanks for clearing that up...click. 

Pretty much word for word as to what was discussed + some extra displeasure from me thrown in the mix.. 

Anyone who replies to this thread in defense of eBay must be after receiving the coffee cup/ free tshirt promotion + some added NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE in Canada eBay Bucks..That's another discussion in itself, one things for certain, eBay could care less about it's Canadian customers.. 

[pierrelebel]

"Oh no sir, we don't charge a FVF on S&H anymore"

She was totally wrong or you have misheard.

" in defense of eBay"

NOBODY here is defending eBay.  Just stating the facts as they are, not as we would want them to be. 

[tobyshitzu]

Ebay can keep their 2% bucks, im doing a lot better then the americans can

5% cashback for Canadians using paypal (on ebay or not) until the end of june, and they just did that last Nov.

https://www.paypal-promo.com/springc...?lang=en&c=oth

All the time up to 2.6 % cashback (26% of whatever ebays fee was) on ebay.ca using dealguild or 1% using ebates Canada (nothing for the com version).  Before xmas you could do better then that with airmiles promos with nothing similar available in the usa 

I hardly buy on ebay so don't care at all about the bucks or cashback, but I do well with the paypal deals

[konas62]

Definitely a fight against people abusing the system with the cheap items and overcharging on the shipping, which makes us honest shippers charge more for shipping due to the fee to cover the shipping and the fee as well, not fair for sure!!! 

[brandeentertainment]

i don't know about this whole shipping dsr rating ... Anyone worried about that can't just put it in the price and get 5 star .... or add half the shipping to the price tp insure the buyer will see it as a fair shipping price..

My only concern is with how much it already cost and for me to add 11.5% for fees doesn't make any sense doesn't help much but I sell DVD's so not to worried ..

i have learnt my lesson in time and i just do not buy boxsets anymore unless for amazing prices because shipping on a boxset is too much ...

I think what Canada post could do to help is make a 1inch lettermail allowance with about a $5 price tag on it ..

[cedarridgecompany]

I think to be fair to the honest sellers, ebay should not charge a FVF on shipping if you use the calculated shipping and zero handling fee so that the real shipping cost is posted. If you use the flat rate and put in an amount your self then FVF on shipping should apply so the shipping costs are not inflated.

I also think that if a seller uses the calculated shipping without a handling fee then the sellers should also automatically get 5 stars for the shipping/handling charges kinda like they do when they use free shipping.
I find that even if i charge less then actual shipping I will still some times get crappy ratings for shipping costs because some people are clueless about what Canada post charges. Its not our fault as a seller but we get crapped on for it any ways. 

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Its not our fault as a seller

I was with you until that remark. What I pay as shipping as nothing to do with the customer. So, you only charge exact shipping? Do you only charge the customer what you paid for the widget or is there a markup? So, you do mark things up. Interesting.

Customers do not like being charged an extra amount no matter what that amount is for. Does not matter that you can produce receipts to prove the amount. Customers do not care about our problems.

Shipping is the sellers concern, not the buyers.

[recped]

Its not our fault as a seller

I was with you until that remark. What I pay as shipping as nothing to do with the customer. So, you only charge exact shipping? Do you only charge the customer what you paid for the widget or is there a markup? So, you do mark things up. Interesting.

Customers do not like being charged an extra amount no matter what that amount is for. Does not matter that you can produce receipts to prove the amount. Customers do not care about our problems.

Shipping is the sellers concern, not the buyers.

I'm glad somebody "gets it"! I make an effort to obtain lower shipping rates than other sellers, I pass a bit of this on to my buyers (some of the time) but keep most of it for myself. This allows me to offer shipping as cheap or cheaper than other sellers AND make more money.

Do you think my buyers would be happier if I charged more for shipping and made nothing on it or charged less and made an extra profit? I'm pretty sure the only thing that matters to buyers is the price THEY pay, what I make or not is of little concern if I'm the bottom end of the price range.

eBay use to really push the "only charge shipping to cover what it actually costs" policy, then they started to dip into the shipping and that chatter mostly vanished, there is still a little in the policy but clearly they lost the ability to insist on no mark-up on shipping when they started taking a piece for themselves.

Of course there is nothing inherently wrong with charging exact shipping or doing it at a loss IF the intention is to do so as a promotional tool.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

I have twenty-six (26) lines on my Manitoba Hydro bill. This reading, that reading, charges broken down into sub charges, four different taxes. Do I care how the final amount is arrived at?

Does a buyer care how the final amount is arrived at? Explaining is the same thing as excuses. I have said for decades "Excuses do not justify poor performance".

You cannot please everyone all the time. We had an expression at work for those that could never be pleased and would storm off mad "There goes another satisfied customer".

However, you can try. It works just fine the vast majority of the time. When it doesn't, just do a simple little "Suck it up Princess" and move along.

[treasure.hunter.d]

I find it hard to believe I received the wrong information on 2 separate occasions from 2 different CS reps.

Ha! Not hard to believe at all if you were speaking to the call center in the Philippines where I have been lied to intentionally, misinformed on many occasions, hung up on etc by CSR's, Supervisors, you name it. The quality of service from those call centers is so low that anything is possible. I truly believe that they could lock a bunch of monkeys up in that call center, with bananas a'plenty to keep them amused and no one would notice a drop in customer service!

[widgetc]

eBay will never drop the fvf fee on shipping. They are slowly pushing toward "free shipping". Reversing the policy would reward sellers that do not build shipping and handling into their prices and punish those that do "free shipping".