More eBay Humor

OC Engineer JD Jan 16, 2009

  1. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    ...........and you are being kind calling it that.

    Those Minnesota ore jennies fetch good prices on FeePay. I sold several lots of them and was totally amazed at what they fetched. Most of them were Atlas, but I did have some MPs and AHM and another manufacturer that I now forget. Even the non-Atlas fetched good prices. Almost every lot ended in a sniping war.

    If all that you offered was the opening bid, smart money says that you will be outbid. As we do not have the link, I can not see how much time is left. If nothing else, someone will snipe them.


    Is this a link to one of them?

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/N-scale-At...rquette-348-/154001956255?hash=item23db3b5d9f

    Nine dollars and changes IS ridiculous shipping. I must admit, however, that never have I seen that road name. I have no use for Minnesota ore jennies on my pike, though.

    This auction does end just after Ten P.M. to-night (Tuesday).

    Here is another one from the same seller with the same prices. I have seen this road name.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/N-scale-At...1&algo=SPLICE.SIM&ao=1&asc=225074&meid=4b320a
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2020
  2. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    Yes, these are the cars I'm bidding on, well four of them anyhow, so far no one has bid on any of these cars from this seller other than myself..
     
  3. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    Hardcoaler likes this.
  4. pmpexpress

    pmpexpress TrainBoard Member

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    "Re: This item is only available to buyers who have not purchased 4 or more items from this seller in the past 10 days."

    Sellers will often initiate this policy if they have been burned in the past by dodgy and/or low feedback bidders who fail to follow through on their purchases, or suddenly have a case of buyer's remorse syndrome.

    Given that eBay presently charges a final value fee on the sale's price and the shipping cost and that PayPal no longer refunds any fees that have been paid for cancelled or refunded transactions, said policy is not unreasonable.

    In the very near future, when eBay makes its "Managed Payments" initiative compulsory for most sellers, there will also be a fee collected on the sales tax amount that the site is required to collect from buyers residing in states that have mandated that venues to remit such taxes.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2020
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  5. Maletrain

    Maletrain TrainBoard Member

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    You say the shipping is really high. So, maybe the seller is making some profit on his shipping charges, and this is the way to make sure that he gets the amount of money he wants from the shipping.

    If you were not aware of this condition when you made the first 4 bids, then you might complain to eBay and see if they will let you withdraw the bids that you were allowed to make.

    Or, if not, pay-up and then leave 4 negative feedbacks saying what happened - 4 times. At least that would provide warnings to others for the future.
     
    Kurt Moose and MP333 like this.
  6. umtrr-author

    umtrr-author TrainBoard Member

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    I love that... "they charged me for charging me."

    I'm still trying to unpack the gibberish that is the "Changes to the User Agreement" but it appears that the net is another major fee increase from eBay.

    First, as Neville pointed out, the "Final Value Fee" will not only be based on the winning bid or buy it now price PLUS the shipping but will now add on the Sales Tax. So if you sell something for $10, the shipping is $5 and the sales tax is another $1, your final value fee basis is now $16 not $15.

    Second, if you are pushed over to the "Managed Payments" side-- and you don't get a vote-- the percentage of the final value fee increases from 10% to 12.35% for most items, plus a non-refundable 30 cents per transaction fee. I think (?!?) that this may be offset by not having to pay, say, Paypal, for the "privilege" (?!?) of them processing your transaction, but I'm not entirely sure. This increased fee applies whether you have an eBay store or not.

    The net of it is that eBay is raising fees... again. My head hurts.
     
    MP333, MK, Hardcoaler and 1 other person like this.
  7. pmpexpress

    pmpexpress TrainBoard Member

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    Marketed to eBay sellers as a simplified fee structure (i.e., that is a single percentage fee and a 30 cents per transaction interchange fee), as opposed to separate final value, shipping cost, and PayPal fees, some sellers were offered incentive credit amounts of between $50.00 and $250.00 to sign-up for Managed Payments by July 10th.

    To further placate sellers, as opposed to the present fifty per month, starting on the 1st of August, those without an eBay Store subscription will receive monthly allotments of two-hundred free auction or fixed-price listings.

    While sellers who are enrolled in Managed Payments will receive a bigger boost in their number of monthly zero insertion-fee listings, store owners will also see an increase in their allotted free listings.

    As George has astutely pointed out, quite profitable for eBay, for many sellers, this ploy is simply a net rise in selling cost that is being masqueraded as a simplification of the present fee structure.
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2020
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  8. umtrr-author

    umtrr-author TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, Neville.

    A couple of incremental data points I found on the eBay Community discussion board... you can guess people are not happy...

    - eBay will apparently charge 25 cents per ITEM sold for managed payments even if you try to combine shipments. That could mean either fewer combined shipments (which, as buyers, we would hate) or more cost tacked on for each individual item somehow (which, as buyers, we would also not be keen on).
    - Because you can't use your Paypal balance for shipping these items, namely, since you won't have a Paypal balance, you're going to "front" shipping costs.
    - eBay will apparently cheerfully hold seller payments for 10 days before forwarding the proceeds to you. Holy "float" Batman!
    - And eBay will also credit your account piecemeal (i.e. sale by sale) instead of giving you the option for one larger transfer.
    - On the plus (?!?) side, if I'm reading this right, a seller will also be able to accept credit cards directly instead of through Paypal. (eBay: "The buyer's form of payment, whether cards or PayPal, is not visible to the seller.")
    - eBay has contracted with yet another third party, Adyen, to handle the payment processing. There is at least one circular thread out there with a non-answer response as to whether payment processing fees will be refunded if you have to issue a refund of all or part of the sale. It appears, therefore that the answer is, as my mom likes to say, "a definite maybe."

    And just for giggles, here's another opinion on the topic...

    https://blog.linnworks.com/ebay-managed-payments


    More to come, perhaps, but meanwhile we return you to the posting of humorous listings, already in progress...
     
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  9. SP 9811

    SP 9811 TrainBoard Member

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  10. umtrr-author

    umtrr-author TrainBoard Member

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  11. umtrr-author

    umtrr-author TrainBoard Member

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    Never thought I'd see THIS... it's one of my OWN UMTRR 10th Anniversary cars!

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/124281107579?ul_noapp=true

    I can tell you it is rare... I only made a few of these cars. It's based on the Lehigh Valley boxcar from April 1997 (38210, Road Number 7050). I removed the reporting marks and roadname and used my home-grown decals for the UMTRR lettering and the Wilmington and New York reporting marks. (The WNY is my home railroad.) The lettering reads "Another carload of bytes for the UMTRR."

    Somewhere around here in the archives I might still have the list of how many of each car I did-- boxcars, open hoppers and 2 bay center flows, the last of which is my favorite. I know it was less than ten of each, counting the examples I kept for myself.

    I would be flattered if someone thought this car was worth $89.98 plus shipping!

    But wow, I really should have put another coat of flat finish on that one...
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2020
  12. porkypine52

    porkypine52 TrainBoard Member

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    I'm one of those Sellers/Buyers who does not do FeeBay much anymore. I was never a FULL TIME Seller. And I'm just buying when something strikes my fancy, or cannot find anyplace else. I haven't even looked at all of the FeeBay "new" rules and fees. Let's make the FeeBay experience more costly, complicated, and involved than it needs to be. I'm looking at all the FACEBOOK options that have sprung up now. Been buyng some cars and track work lately on FB. The only thing I really object to: Everybody wants payment by "friends and family" PayPal. I prefer Money Orders. I can get Western Union Money Orders cheaply, 24 hours a day around here. If the Seller will take a Personal Check, they will get that. They can hold for several days, until the check clears both Banks[mine and theirs]. But it is up to the other person. I don't care. I would just rather NOT use PayPal. I think FB is starting to cut into some FeeBay sales. Every FB sale is one less on FeeBay.
     
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  13. umtrr-author

    umtrr-author TrainBoard Member

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    I haven't looked recently at the N Scale FB sell / buy groups, but I can tell you that some of the HO buy / sell groups have postings with asking prices that would fit nicely in this thread... :confused:
     
  14. Calzephyr

    Calzephyr TrainBoard Supporter

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    I feel eBay has a serious identity problem. It has changed immensely over the past 2 decades and not in a good way for any of the participants... which is why we see these crazy posts of ridiculous prices and descriptions.

    I have been considering different methods of thinning my prodigious inventory of excess N scale accumulated over the past 38 years.

    At one time I figured only eBay could fit the need for moving lots of stuff and get a fair price... and it may still be the case.

    The most recent policy changes by eBay have me thinking very differently. Rather than overpricing my items to get a fair 'net' price... thus lining the pockets of the eBay robber-barons... I would rather set-up an e-store (like a swap meet) where prices could be negotiated... more discussion of condition... pictures and video as requested to fetch a realistic price.

    Imagine no time constrained panic snipping only to lose one of those auctions. I would put a suggested minimum price... and depending on demand... the price could go up or down. Shipping could be negotiated.

    Does that platform presently exist?

    Sent from my SM-J737T using Tapatalk
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2020
  15. TrainzLuvr

    TrainzLuvr TrainBoard Member

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    Why make another fleaBay where people are going to be bidding each other over, up or down?

    Instead, set your price and if someone wants to buy it, fine. Perhaps allow for counter offers and then accept/reject, but no bidding wars.

    My club runs a model train market twice a year - or we used to until COVID-19 hit, so I've been contemplating some kind of a virtual environment instead.

    Problem is that a lot of our vendors are not computer savvy people, and no matter how easy I make the system, it really couldn't replace face-to-face interaction. The other problem is that some vendors have hundreds upon hundreds of items they sell, which would need to be photographed, indexed and priced. That's a lot of work that they might not want to do. And quality of photographs would vary from vendor to vendor, depending on their skill and tenacity.

    Thus my conundrum what to do about all this, but the this biannual show is/was a major source of funds for our club - it kept the lights on. :)

    I guess what I was trying to say is that I could build a platform for anything, but it would only be as good as the quality of items put into it.
     
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  16. Calzephyr

    Calzephyr TrainBoard Supporter

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    Hi Trainzluvr

    Because 'fleabay... lol' has become highly 'corporate'... they are alienating a lot of the swap-meet type of sellers. I used to go to local train meets mostly to buy... and a couple of times to sell. The problem for the seller was individual buyers who were there looking for desperate or uninformed sellers to give them pennies for there stuff... because those buyers never intended to buy for their own use or enjoyment... but rather to resell on eBay for big profits. Because the sellers were paying a per table fee and maybe other costs... they had to sell just to break even sometimes... basically giving away their stuff so they would not have to haul it back home. These train meets did not always have sufficient traffic to create a fair price for sellers. The reason many turned to eBay was the 'eyes on prize' traffic which could generate a fair exchange. I have purchased hundreds of times from eBay... sometimes getting excellent value... other times 'reaching' beyond fair value just to get something I really wanted. Often times... on those 'reaches' I could not escape the feeling that there were outside influences jacking up the auction price.

    I have never tried selling on eBay... and probably won't unless other more equitable options are unavailable.

    Sent from my SM-J737T using Tapatalk
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2020
  17. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I've noticed fewer painted body shells are available on eBay, especially those from Atlas and Kato. Perhaps it's COVID-related, as Sellers don't want to stand in line at post offices or don't want to leave home. All I see is the same old overpriced or oddball items that have run ad nauseum for six months or more without any interest.
     
  18. MP333

    MP333 TrainBoard Supporter

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    I've taken this quarantine opportunity to return to selling some things on the auction site. No train stuff, but what is selling makes enough money for me. I ship everything Priority, to avoid the PO. Only one guy questioned the priority need, and I simply told him that's the only way I'll do it. He bought it anyway.
     
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  19. TrainzLuvr

    TrainzLuvr TrainBoard Member

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    Are we saying then that there's a need for a virtual marketplace kind of website where modelers can buy and sell their items unimpeded of corporate ideology?

    If it's an auction style site, how does one ensure that there are no bidding wars, or artificial "jacking up" of prices, as it happens right now?

    I also do not fancy Facebook, because they are another corporate ideology. Yet, droves of people go there and willingly release their personal and private details every moment of their life.

    What would this virtual marketplace website look like then and how should it work?
     
  20. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    This is one of the reasons that I liked sellers' being able to give buyers negative feedback. You warn sellers away from bad buyers. In those days, I had a few buyers or potential buyers send me PMs that complained about the shipping charges. Some of those PMs were quite obnoxious in tone. I used to look up their feedback. More than a few of them had negative from sellers that complained about shipping charge disputes. There were even one or two buyers who used to win an auction, then send a PM to the seller that informed said seller that he would pay only $X shipping and if the seller wanted him to pay, he had better send an invoice with the shipping adjusted. Some sellers complied, others did not. It got to the point where I would block or cancel those who argued shipping.

    Finally, I simply put something on my templates that read that shipping/handing charges are not a matter for discussion and do not leave negative feedback over shipping charges quoted in advance.
     
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