Commercial Consideration - Change/Improvement | Suggestions and Feedback on the eBay Platform

trading-and-more · 2025-01-14T14:52:09.561000Z

Good morning, on the topic of change, improvement and/or an eBay survival proposal.I’ll set out a few business theses and/or considerations here.eBay 18 million users, at least according to Google, of which surely between 90-99 are private sellers, which comes out to about 1-10% commercial sellers, or?? The exact number may be just under 5%, which means that 5% of the entire eBay family carries the bill, i.e. all costs. Without the 5%, it would not be possible to keep eBay alive, or it is not possible, because no one would pay the bill; that would be the logical consequence. Now the question arises whether it is legitimate, clever and farsighted to keep charging exactly these 5% more and more, while letting the 95% laughingly do their thing on eBay for free. Is it smart to bill those who are actually supposed to live from it, meaning should earn their livelihood with eBay, while letting the others, who are actually ONLY cleaning out their cellar once in a while or selling the outgrown onesie of their second son, get away for free, since they shouldn’t/needn’t earn anything?? A question I’m just throwing out there.It might be okay if it were only like that occasionally, decluttering etc., but unfortunately that is only the case in the rarest of cases; PRIVATELY COMMERCIAL sellers are sprouting up on a large scale who exploit exactly this gap and pay nothing, and stand in unfair competition with the commercial sellers, and under the guise of “private” do exactly the SAME thing as the reputable commercial sellers and pay nothing and do not have to fulfill any of the obligations of a commercial seller. (Platform Transparency Act or not)Does a private seller have to live off sales?? should they live off them?? certainly notFor us commercial sellers, it is existential, which means that this activity should provide the livelihood. Given these facts, the question arises: is it or would it be bad if a PRIVATE seller perhaps paid 5.5% commission for their onesie?? so then receives 9.45€ instead of 10€ revenue?? No, it wouldn’t be!”but if the 95%, i.e. the private sellers, pay commission again, and not 10% as before but 5.5%, and as part of that the reputable commercial sellers were also reduced from the current 11% to 5.5% commission, then in the end the costs of the entire bill would surely be covered again (not 5% paying 100% of the bill, but 100% paying 100% of the bill) and it would not only relieve those who have to live from it, but would also make the competition that has arisen between commercial and private sellers significantly fairer again.It would also separate the wheat from the chaff to some extent, meaning the PRIVATELY COMMERCIAL sellers would rethink, because if they no longer had the direct unfair advantage - not having to pay commission - and also had to face the danger from the state, then they would either operate properly as commercial sellers and/or stop.Even if some then quit for fair reasons, it wouldn’t be bad, because they should/need not live from their activity, and the commercial sellers would sell more again, namely what those “quitters” would then no longer sell, and would thus strengthen everyone: the commercial sellers, the eBay system, the state and the economy. In this context, one should also question whether it makes sense to want to expand worldwide selling for commercial sellers and, in return, charge sellers commission on any taxes/customs duties/fees as well as on the worldwide expensive shipping costs. How do you justify imposing 11% commission on a reputable commercial seller on some luxury tax/levy in Papua New Guinea??Any commercial seller who then decides to sell internationally receives a surprise package in terms of how much tax/customs duty/fee and shipping costs will be due in that country; I have already experienced that for a sale to South America, over 80€ (item price), shipping costs of 49.90€ as well as customs and tax of 21€ were incurred, which means that out of a total of 150.90€ - 11% commission plus VAT were due. From the original 80€ and an invoice amount of 150.90€, less than 60€ remained. In addition, it is a very big risk, because shipping also carries the risk of suffering a total loss, because if the buyer says the item was not received, it actually always happens that the respective country decides in favor of the buyer, and decides a case in favor of the buyer; then you almost always have no leg to stand on, eBay.de then says your hands are tied, eBay in this and that country has decided this and that.I then had the pleasure several times of trying to defend my rights with the country-specific eBay department in their languages.Actually, we have a contract with eBay Germany and should be able to act in such cases with their help/support (regardless of what is or isn’t written where in hundreds of pages of terms and conditions), because after all eBay decides what happens to OUR money, what is refunded, what is withheld, what is deducted and/or paid out.I think that, due to the fact that everything abroad is subject to commissions, the very least one can expect is support in enforcing our rights, especially since in many cases we cannot view tracking internationally, or we may not know and/or be able to know the relatively poor delivery options due to possible country-specific issues.

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Commercial Consideration - Change/Improvement | Suggestions and Feedback on the eBay Platform | eBay Germany