The UK's Guardian newspaper has an excellent article that claims that eBay and PayPal are failing to deal adequately with buyer fraud. It gives examples of buyers who appear to be exploiting lax eBay and PayPal systems to steal from sellers.
Link
I have been buying and selling on eBay for years. It used to be ok, a good place to dispose of surplus items. I have returned to selling after a break of a couple of years and have found a very different situation.
I have several items for sale. I know how to set prices and write descriptions. I have 100% positive feedback. In the past the items would have sold quickly. Now eBay produces
1. time wasters and idiots.
2. lots of offers to buy off eBay for cash.
3. very few genuine buyers.
I am very dissatisfied with eBay. I think they need to change, but will they? I doubt it. They have a de facto monopoly. Why should they.
The Guardian has reported another example of an eBay and PayPal related fraud
I lost £1,165 to eBay fraudster when selling my electric guitar
[In this article Guardian advises that 'Our advice is never sell an expensive item on eBay without demanding the
buyer pays cash – in person. The risks are too great of doing
otherwise.']
Another strategy that some sellers might be able to follow is get a buyer
through eBay but then sell off eBay for cash. That cuts both eBay and
PayPal out of the loop and makes some frauds impossible.
eBay and PayPal would not collect their commissions, but they would only have themselves to blame.
Update 8th October 2017
I have a £500 plus item for sale on eBay. So far there have been four fraudulent attempts to buy it. In each case the fraudster has used an account with a 100% feedback record. In each case the attempt has failed because I insist on collection in person by someone with photo ID [e.g. passport or driving licence].
eBay have suggested that I insist on immediate payment. This means the item remains on sale until payment is received. Of course, that does not prevent most forms of buyer fraud but it does ensure the item remains on the market and avoids the need to relist.
Showing posts with label ebay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ebay. Show all posts
Import charges killing purchases from eBay.com
I recently bought something from a seller on eBay in the USA. The item cost $41 [£26] but I had to pay another $20 [£13] in import charges, made up of £5 VAT and an £8 administration fee to Royal Mail. These charges added 49% to the cost of the item.
Under current rules UK value added tax at 20% is due on imported items valued at over £15.01. Then there is the £8 administration charge from the Royal Mail.
This didn't use to matter because customs and excise never bothered to collect trivial amounts. Now that the UK is bankrupt they do.
The problem is that the £15.01 limit is ridiculously low, and it is killing eBay purchases by UK buyers. And it is not only eBay; a lot of other US online companies are affected.
If eBay and the other companies want the business of UK buyers they need to lobby to get the limit raised.
One sign that this is a significant problem is that some US sellers on eBay have stated putting notices on their pages saying that they will not enter a false value on a customs declaration or identify an item as a gift. That's very virtuous but it must be costing them money because UK buyers will not bid on their items.
eBay has its Global Shipping Program which allows UK buyers to pay import VAT, postage and admin charges at the same time that they pay for the purchased item. The problem is that this is even more expensive. I recently bought some 'must have' items from a US seller and paying for the item through Global Shipping would have added more than 30% to the cost, compared with paying 20% VAT plus £8 when the items arrived in the UK. I do not know if eBay are using their Global Shipping Program as a profit opportunity but I avoid sellers who offer it.
In the instance just described the seller sent me a PayPal invoice for the cost of the item plus postage and I paid that. Then I paid the 20% VAT plus £8 when the goods arrived in the UK. That was a lot cheaper than using Global Shipping.
Under current rules UK value added tax at 20% is due on imported items valued at over £15.01. Then there is the £8 administration charge from the Royal Mail.
This didn't use to matter because customs and excise never bothered to collect trivial amounts. Now that the UK is bankrupt they do.
The problem is that the £15.01 limit is ridiculously low, and it is killing eBay purchases by UK buyers. And it is not only eBay; a lot of other US online companies are affected.
If eBay and the other companies want the business of UK buyers they need to lobby to get the limit raised.
One sign that this is a significant problem is that some US sellers on eBay have stated putting notices on their pages saying that they will not enter a false value on a customs declaration or identify an item as a gift. That's very virtuous but it must be costing them money because UK buyers will not bid on their items.
eBay has its Global Shipping Program which allows UK buyers to pay import VAT, postage and admin charges at the same time that they pay for the purchased item. The problem is that this is even more expensive. I recently bought some 'must have' items from a US seller and paying for the item through Global Shipping would have added more than 30% to the cost, compared with paying 20% VAT plus £8 when the items arrived in the UK. I do not know if eBay are using their Global Shipping Program as a profit opportunity but I avoid sellers who offer it.
In the instance just described the seller sent me a PayPal invoice for the cost of the item plus postage and I paid that. Then I paid the 20% VAT plus £8 when the goods arrived in the UK. That was a lot cheaper than using Global Shipping.
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