I now use the best packaging materials and the best carriers (neither is free) to prevent my rather rare wares (antique magazines) from getting damaged and are insured with the best, in case of loss or damage. I also offer the buyers a menu of payment options, which are often not free.

If I cannot charge what I need to provide these top notch services, but have instead to adapt to the mediocrity of what the average seller offers, I will either have to drop all the quality services or go with the mediocre services and accumulate consequently a lot of negative feedback ratings from buyers who demand better, but obviously are not allowed to pay for it or want it for free.

To Ebay and its buyers:

You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

The only thing you will achieve is a life of mediocrity….without me of course. I will not cater to what is tantamount to a mob scheme, a mafia typical extortion.

Without the sanction of your victiim, the seller, whom you are trying to eat alive, you are nowhere, guys, and you’ll soon know how that feels.

“Attention Seller!

We noticed your shipping cost looks high compared to other listings in your category with similar shipping services. .

We’ve found that buyers are sensitive to shipping costs. Items with high shipping costs may be less likely to sell and may get less visibility in search results. Listings that violate the eBay Excessive Shipping Charges policy may be removed from the site.

Please review your shipping costs and make changes if necessary. For help, click the Research rates link in the shipping section.”

If eBay’s urge to be a retailer burns that hotly, it should just purchase buy.com and be done with it.

where as ebay is NOT a retailer, only a service provider and as such is clueless

Can’t argue with that.

Ebay seem to want to mould every seller into a defined shape, erasing individuality, personality and everything that makes it a unique, independent business. By pushing conformity too far, ebay is squeezing the lifeblood and original roots of the site out drop by painful drop.

As a seller, I hate having to compete on item price only to “fiddle” the P&P to stay profitable. In this way prices will be more transparent to buyers, that will increase buyer confidence, that will be good for us all. The other thing is that it will be the same for out competitors, so no advantage can be gained. If they use 2nd class, then you will get more sales because for the same price our listing will ram home to the customer how quickly they will get the item.

As a seasoned ebay buyer, I still occasionally get caught out by high P&P. So once again, I think this is a good idea.

BTW it is possible to set shipping rates on amazon, providing you sell under the seller central platform.

I think northumbrian has a point! … actually you all do

How much longer before ebay disappears up it’s own ‘arris? Before long, they’ll dictate what you can sell, how you can sell it, what you can charge for it and what you can charge to post it. Therefore no point in actually searching through multiple listings, just BIN the first you see.

Congratulations eBay – your staff’s ability to continually break and damage what was once a viable marketing mechanism WILL be your downfall and the clock is already ticking… in fact, I think the alarm will be ringing much sooner than many could ever imagine!