Fees for receiving money via Ebay sales

[saileast]

Having been a member of Ebay for the last 10 years and Paypal after they insisted that this should be the primary method of receiving money for sold goods and paying for purchases, I have begrudgingly suffered Ebay fees with the attitude "how else could I reach such a wide market?" Until now, I was not aware that Paypal were taking their slice of the pie as well every time I sold something!

I sold a boat on Ebay for £900 last December to a chap from Edinburgh for which I received £869.20 credited to my Paypal account. That is a whopping £30.80 commission charge to Paypal. Take off the Ebay fees as well and I was lucky to clear £775! Okay, so I was aware of the Ebay fees, but the Paypal charges? If the purchaser chooses to pay by this method then surely he should pay this outrageous 3.5% charge?

I will be insisting on payment by cash, BACS transfer or cheque for such higher value items in the future, or alternatively charge a 3.5% Paypal handling fee as do the budget airlines and many ticket offices for credit cards.

[kernowlass]

Did you think paypal was a charity??

Did you think there staff work for free and don't want wages at the end of every month like we all do??

You pay ebay to advertise and sell your items.

You pay paypal to be able to receive card funded payments from buyers.

To be fair as a buyer I would NEVER buy anything from a stranger without paying via paypal for buyer protection.

So if you want only bank transfer etc you may find you get paid less than if you accepted paypal as you will get less buyers.

BUT just for your info I would never use paypal for collection items OR motor vehicles /boats etc as there is no seller protection on those goods. As a seller paypal only cover us for goods sent in the post trackable. 

[saileast]

And Ebay/Paypal profits for Q4 of the last financial year were exactly how many billion US $?

There are reasonable charges, then there is greed.

If you posted these charges up front rather than sneaking them in, hoping that the likes of me wouldn't notice, nobody could complain.

[kernowlass]

Nothing to do with me, I just give you the facts.

And the fees are clearly stated under "Fees" all over the web-site and on ebay.