Will this work..

BillieTheBot

Ebay are robbing us on our sales. 9% on a sale.. this is ok but I don't think they take anything from the delivery charge. I was thinking what I could do instead is to price half the item as delivery and the other half as the item price.

Will this cheat their system or will they then turn to taking a percentage from our delivery charges?

littlemissy

I'm sure it is against T&Cs.

And if I pay a price for an item and then have over-inflated postage charges, I would leave negative feedback.

Former Member

Yep - you'll find people have a huge problem with inflated postal charges and ebay may take action if enough people complain. To be fair 9% is nothing compared to the costs of registering youself as self-employed and running your own stall or shop.

Ebay does only charge for the final value of the item not the postage cost. I imagine that's why so many dodgy Hong Kong sellers charge huge postage and tiny prices. But the negative feedback would end you as a seller - if you've got 10 sales and half are negative, forget most people bidding again.

If you're selling something for a profit, it's something people want and you can post it without causing a problem then the 9% shouldn't really matter.

A bigger issue is your tax returns - pretty certain mass sellers are monitored by inland revenue now? Mind you any business should just be checking they are above board.

Oh, one more thing - ebay uses the single most abusive and vicious debt collection company I have ever come across... serious, I've know a few and these people are horrible and have no interest in compromise. For your own sake make sure to stay up to date with charges.

Former Member

Jim V wrote: »

If you're selling something for a profit, it's something people want and you can post it without causing a problem then the 9% shouldn't really matter.

A bigger issue is your tax returns - pretty certain mass sellers are monitored by inland revenue now? Mind you any business should just be checking they are above board.

Negative feedback is the quickest way to kill your sales dead on ebay.

They have ways of checking. They have said openly they are not intrested in small irregular sellers, but they are intrested in the ebay shop owners/high volumne sellers. All the ebay/paypal fees will be allowable for tax purposes anyway. You should get your tax status sorted sooner rather then later, the fines and surchages for late tax returns etc are not nice.

Former Member

I avoid people with over-inflated postal charges, it's not my problem if they have to pay a surcharge. I wouldn't pay it for them in a shop, I'm not doing it on Ebay.

Former Member

People would avoid you like the plague.

Former Member

I know theres probably a better place to ask this sort of question but I only use this forum.

Do I save by opening an ebay shop and paying the 15 or whatever it is a month?? Is it the lisiting fees I save on or do I save at all?

Former Member

Look into the the terms and conditions. Im sure it will tell you in there.

If you open a shop, you will have to start (if selling in large amounts) paying VAT and other things too.

Former Member

I know but I have no clue about VAT etc so when I start making a consistent income I'll go visit an accountant for advice.

With the shop really is no point unless I'm listing more than 75 items and I don't think I will be listing that many as I want my webshop to be more successfull than ebay