I am so confused also. After selling on ebay for over 3 years I just realized today that shipping is also fined. But that's another topic. As stated above- others are saying that the buyer is charged a conversion fee? When would this not be the case? I had a somewhat large sale between US and UK, (I am seller) at a total cost of 165.00 (Talk about feeling ripped off by being fined for 45.00 shipping) Yet my fee is 6.74. So I am being charged an international rate AND the buyer is being charged a conversion fee? If this is true I feel bad because the poor lady is new to international buying and I never knew this. But I am conflicted because I buy from China a lot and never get charged, and I have bought from Canada and never been charged. So how are we supposed to know what is going on to adjust our prices accordingly if seller end up with the fee or not?
There is even more to this... As I found out when I got a refound... The exchange rate was 10.33 NOK/GBP when I payed, but I got a partly refound due to wrong payment - and PayPal paid med back at an exchange rate at 9.7 NOK/GBP - all occuring the same day. This would indicate the actual exhange rate being 9.7 meaning they earned 0,63% on both transactions just in currency conversion. Funny isn't? All these small bits...
I think they make it confusing on purpose so people are not quite sure what is going on. I buy a lot from China and have not been charged a buyer's fee. I think that is because all the prices are already in US dollars so there is no conversion necessary. Its only when prices are in British pounds or Australian dollars etc that need to be converted that there is a fee.What bothers me is that both seller and buyer are being charged a full fee for the same transaction thus eBay is getting a 2 for 1 on each sale or purchase. I don't mind paying a little extra for something I really want but I'd like to know in advance. Also it says right on my receipt that the buyer (me) paid no fees on the purchase--that is clearly a lie but I have no way of proving it.
That is totally ridiculous! In fact I've been a member of eBay since 1999 and I've never heard of anything like that before!!! Something is definitely wrong,maybe they made a mistake with your information or something. I don't know how long you've been a member of eBay---is it possible this is something they just started with new members? If so it would be totally outrageous! I would advise you to call them as soon as possible and ask what's going on. I think you will have to call because you can't seem to get through with e-mail anymore. I hope you get things straightened out and I would be interested to know what they tell you. It seems to me that eBay should owe you some money! Good LucK!
