Door wide open? (semi OT)

I'm guessing you seen this, right George? Straight from the M&H Gang...

It seems to me (and a few others) that eBay is tired of fooling with "the little guys (and gals)", and want to keep the big money sellers. Somewhere I read that eBay could lay off 4,500 people if they didn't have to settle the troubles of small sellers. However, eBay claims that they want to keep every dollar they can possible make of anyone who wants to sign in.

With eBay Motors about to "spin off" from the main site, and GM making deals with eBay Motors to sell it's used cars thru the online giant - not to mention WalMart wants to sell NEW cars on eBay - who's to say where this mess will end up?

Will we go to Craig's List, or some other new effort will sprout up? I just want it to hurry up and resolve itself, but of course.......

I missed that one, Matthew, thanks...I have been REAL busy lately and just can't read everything... I still want to know what peope think about adding a FEE for using paypal....I didn't use it until recently when a buddy convinced me that I would get higher and more bids if I used it. What a mistake, I may even dump it entirely. I went years without it anyway... Studebaker George

I do believe that Ebay has a definite rule against adding a PayPal fee or surcharge. I think (iirc) I had an auction of mine killed off for doing that... Jeff

M&H forum????????? JF

So you're against paying 3% when it probably increases your sales by 20%? I've not bid on items because they didn't take PayPal. PayPal is great, instant payment, not having to hold items until checks clear, not having to go to the bank or post office to get money orders, etc...

Lee

I can't really see where it has increased my sales by that much. I am of the opinion that if someone wants it bad enough, they will get off their lazy butts and get a money order. Maybe a "handling fee"...instead of a paypal directed fee...could say to "email me for discount details"... I still think paypal is just another ripoff pain in the ass. I will continue to use it for now although I will probably get pissed and dump it in future. Studebaker George

Same thing with credit card companies. They will cancel your merchant account if they catch you adding a cc surcharge. JF

If you don't like PayPal, don't use it and don't accept it. Simple enough. Hell you can tell people that you want hand delivered cash... see how that affects the bidding numbers.

Lee

Same thing with credit card companies. They will cancel your merchant account if they catch you adding a surchage for cc sales. JF

Really? I see that fairly often.

Lee

I see that REAL often. Maybe the "catching" merchants doing that is the hard part...I have a friend who has a prosperous little shop and he charges a fee every time that plastic comes out. Most people PAY it.... Studebaker George

I didn't say it isn't done. I said "If they catch you". When a body opens a merchant account he signs a contract stating that he wont charge a surcharge (probably in the fine print, but it's there). I guess I'm old school, if I enter into a contract, I will abide to that contract. Look on any of my business cards and you will see "All you gotta do is "Say what you're gonna do and Do what you said"" JF

For $60 a month I can get set up to accept CC's..

in 19 years, lost 5 sales totaling probably $125 cause i WONT take CC's.

lets see, $720 times 19 years=$13,680... NO WAY would that make a case to take CC's FOR ME.

--Shiva--

For free you can get set up with PayPal and accept credit cards... but still have to pay the 3% fee.

Lee

Sheesh, all this goes back to what I said... Less is better...no paypal...no extra paperwork or "trail"... No fees... NO fees.. So what if you don't squeeze that extra nickel out of your part...less headache is worth $$$$$ in MY book... Dumping paypal is starting to look better and better...and I know a couple vendors that I have bought from over and over again...NO paypal... Studebaker George

Some magazine publishe an article about E-Bay's potential strike of sellers. I cannot remember which on-line magazine. It was not a Blog or some such thing. In the article there was a re-print of an E-Bay/Pay-Pal rule, pertaining to feedbacks and Pay-Pal.

Under certain circunstances, if a seller does not leave a positive feedback for a buyer, Pay-Pal has the right to withold payment for 21 days or until feedback is left.

This afternoon I recieved an e-mail from E-bay asking me to fill out a questionaire. It asked which items I buy the most. Then it sent me more questions based on the items I said I either buy or sell.

For the two major catagories I entered it asked questions about would I like other E-bay buyers to know what I am bidding on, would I like my name and address posted in my sales, would I like my photograph shown, and would I like alerts when certain items I buy came up. It went on for about 8 pages.

From what I gather from read> Less is better...no paypal...no extra paperwork or "trail"...

Why is dumping PayPal better? All it costs you is 3% if the buyer wants to use it. For me the $1.50 fee on a $50 sale it's not worth having to go to the bank and stand in line to deposit the check, especially when I'd burn a gallon of gas round trip. That's less headache to me.

Lee