quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:
If a house sells for $500k does the realtor say "Hold on! The sale price was $500k but the closing costs were another $10,000 so my 6% commission is based on $510k, not $500k!"

The answer is no.

They do if that's included in the contract. So hopefully that seller reads the real estate contract before selling their house, to know whether the realtor's commission is calculated before or after closing costs.

The bottom line here, for that particular aspect, is that you dropped the ball. That's your fault, not eBay's. You failed to do your due diligence, and got surprised by the unexpectedly large bite taken out of your sale.

So I can add $10k of value to a house by including the closing costs in the commission because a realtor's contract says so? Value is value regardless of closing costs. Banks and appraisers don't care about what realtors are basing their commissions off of. The house is worth what the house is worth. If eBay wants to charge a 15% final value fee then it needs to be based on exactly that: final value. Not final value plus costs associated with the sale of the item.

quote:

Since you are clearly enraged at eBay's fee structure

Please point out where I was "enraged."

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:
So I can add $10k of value to a house by including the closing costs in the commission because a realtor's contract says so?

No, but the realtor could (in theory) state in the contract that their % commission is based on the total amount of the house sale including the house price, any closing costs, and any other applicable fees.

Just like eBay states in theirs.

And if both parties have agreed to that before the house/watch is listed and later sells, then that's what would be followed when calculating the commission percentage.

Great. It's still not a "final value fee" if they do that. Words matter.

As do contract terms.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
As do contract terms.

Contract terms get thrown out in court all the time. It starts with a lawsuit.

He's angry. He has a right to be angry. He's venting. The point of the sub forum. What's wrong with some of you? You act the same way in damn near every thread. It's tiresome. Go expert somewhere else.

If one doesn't want their venting exposed to public comment, perhaps one best not vent in public?

quote:

Originally posted by cas:

He's angry. He has a right to be angry. He's venting. The point of the sub forum. What's wrong with some of you? You act the same way in damn near every thread. It's tiresome. Go expert somewhere else.

I've always thought that a member who post in this area and is clearly venting is acting normally.

Then you get one or more chiming in trying to reason with the first guy.

Seems counterintuitive, but then wasting time arguing with other folk online has never been a huge pursuit of mine.

I recently bought a pair of very nice used shorts for $20 something including shipping on EBay. Didn’t work out. Sent them back to the seller. When it was all said and done I was refunded $6.45. What a rip.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
He's angry. He has a right to be angry. He's venting. The point of the sub forum. What's wrong with some of you? You act the same way in damn near every thread. It's tiresome. Go expert somewhere else.

Bingo! Except I'm not angry. It takes a lot more than getting screwed out of $5 to make me angry. What I am is shocked that eBay thought to do this and even worse, is getting away with it.


I was a loan officer for over 10 years. I've never heard of a realtor charge their 5-6% commission on closing costs, especially when borrowers "buy down" the interest rate with points. I suppose it's "possible" but like I said in 10 years I never heard of that from anyone which means it wasn't probable (or nonexistent).


You see that's how women think. Women love arguing the "possible" instead of the "probable." Whether they realize it or not they're being obtuse and when men call them out on it, they dig in even more because God forbid if they reflect on how ridiculous they sound.

quote:

If one doesn't want their venting exposed to public comment, perhaps one best not vent in public?

Or maybe the public commenters should take a look at what subforum they're in and sympathize instead of thinking they're so smart by saying things that are obvious to everyone else.

Didn't someone point out that eBay is now in decline compared to other sites like Amazon? The ever-rising fees and insane shipping costs are all directly responsible.

The reason fees became assessed on shipping and handling is because early on sellers were padding the shipping cost as part of the purchase price to skirt fees on the purchase price.

For example, the watch is $20 but shipping is $60 when it should have been the other way around...Tom

quote:

Originally posted by Thomasconnor:
The reason fees became assessed on shipping and handling is because early on sellers were padding the shipping cost as part of the purchase price to skirt fees on the purchase price.

For example, the watch is $20 but shipping is $60 when it should have been the other way around...Tom

I'm aware of that tactic and it was abused by vendors who did low priced items with high volume. eBay knows how much it costs to ship something. As a seller I can print the shipping label and pay for it right on their platform. Therefore they could exempt their fee from the shipping cost knowing it's going to USPS but they'd rather be greedy and charge 15% on it knowing isn't going to the seller.

quote:

Originally posted by Thomasconnor:
The reason fees became assessed on shipping and handling is because early on sellers were padding the shipping cost as part of the purchase price to skirt fees on the purchase price.

For example, the watch is $20 but shipping is $60 when it should have been the other way around...Tom

There are plenty of e-commerce sites that do the same thing. Advertise an item at a unsustainable price but inflate shipping and handling charges to make their profit. I ran into that many times with one GM dealership selling on online. A 3-5% markup on cost to sale is unsustainable yet I’d get customers that expected me to “match” that so called sale price.

When I’d bring up the issue of their inflated shipping and handling charges the majority of the time it became “We’re not talking about that, I want the part at this price” not seeing or understanding that additional amount is part of the purchase price.

Some of these people actually believed that.

Ranting is one thing, and that is what this thread is for. When the OP called for litigation, I don't think mentioning that the terms of service allow exactly what is complained of and that a lawsuit would be a non-starter is out of place.

Yes, the fees are too damn high. No, you can't sue.

Sold/bought a few things on Offer Up and Facebook Marketplace recently. I don't believe they charge fees and you can always figure out payment after. I don't believe, though, that they have the protections like ebay has but it seems ebay favors the buyer over the seller if they are in the wrong. That's one thing I hate about using them and you don't have a limit before getting taxed,like on ebay.

I stopped selling anything on eBay after this. Reverb is the eBay version for musical instruments, mostly guitars, and I used them to sell a somewhat higher end guitar a couple years ago. They also charge high fees but being such a small segment, it was the best way to reach a large buying audience.

I don't buy on eBay, either.

Best way to avoid the fees is either sell here or Facebook market place.

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:

There's definitely an argument that shipping and sales tax are not part of an item's "final value" and therefore aren't subject to a 15% "final value fee." .

Ebay made this change years ago - and it was due to sellers trying to avoid ebay's fees - a $300 item would have an item price of $1 and shipping would be $299. In those days the seller only paid fees on the $1 (the change was probably a decade ago).

there are many other 'free' services such as craigslist(and all the scammers/tire kickers) and facebook marketplace (which still has its fair share of tire kickers, but all in all I've had the best of luck there). No one forced anyone to use ebay. *shrug*