Call me a little slow but that loud clanking noise I keep getting in my head is the penny finally dropping - It's cheaper to buy cards from The UK and from Canada than it is from America (assuming you live outside of these three nations.
Example: A 2.50 card from America using Global postage rate costs $US24.50+card cost. The same card purchased from a UK seller works out at (about) $UK9.00!! (all inclusive)
Example: A $C7.00 card with postage comes to $NZ13.80 The same card purchased from America costs $NZ40.00 (roughly).
I've said it before but by enforcing these outrageous postage rates on US sellers is literally killing off the international buyers.

I would never ship a $2.50 card to Australia or NZ using parcel rate. Lower cost stuff i put in a standard letter with a toploader and a piece of chipboard for $1.15, or at most large envelope rate which is about $4.00 US

Anything over $50 goes parcel which is now $20 AUD tho. Australia now has 10% import duty on all internet stuff from overseas as well.

Currently I lose between $12-37 per week on shipping to Australia because I mostly ship parcels but charge a lower rate and just eat the difference.

If you use ebay, that becomes complicated as to keep a top seller rating, they want tracking info which letters don't provide. I lose my seller protection, I'm charged a (slightly higher seller fee if I drop off).
It's a lose for everyone, that's for sure.

Don't confuse how much ebay sellers charge for postage with how much it actually costs for postage.

The fault is rarely with the post office, in many cases it is ebay rules which force the seller to charge high postage however in some recent cases i have seen it is either plain greed on the part of the seller or the seller simply does not want to send outside of their own country so they set the postage as high as they can find to stop people from bidding.

Either way you are correct when you say it is killing the hobby. I used to buy loads of stuff from ebay from sellers all over the world but that has had to stop and that is totally down to postage charges on the cards i wish to buy.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Don't confuse how much ebay sellers charge for postage with how much it actually costs for postage.

The fault is rarely with the post office,

Ha. Got a good laugh out of that one, thanks.

MINIMUM RATE for anything overseas for a padded envelope is now $14.25 because it classifies as parcel. Ebay also charges 10% on everything now. Including shipping. So the seller can opt to tack on another $1.40. Plus there is the cost of mailers - 17 cents to $1 - depending on when and where you buy them.

So now we are over $20 AUD or $24 NZD or 12.5 pounds sterling for a padded envelope with a even one card in it.


I wish i were greedy enough to not lose money on shipping every week.

Ah shipping yes the global program is definately a ripoff but I asked E Bay about eighteen months ago if the seller had to charge so much or could I have the parcel sent by the cheaper method that I wanted their reply was that it was up to the seller some agreed some did not but my Question is it compulsory to sign up to the program and if you do not are you as a seller disadvantaged can this be explained as I understand it the seller gets the local postage rate and then E bay gets the rest but I see many different prices for shipping a toploader and a bubble packet should be suffice for any card anywere in the world why so much difference in packaging i have received one card in a 9x6x3 box filled with all sorts of weight gaining filling had a moan but referred to E Bay rules cant do this or E Bay penalises me we all know that when E Bay brings up anything new and says that research says that this will be better for the buyers sellers and E Bay the only winner in this circle is E Bay and the Post Office Cannot sellers agree that a toploader and a bubble envelope will do and all of them do the same then we know what we are paying for and there is some agreement on this but then the cost of tracking comes into it I dont Know what it is in the U S A or G B but in n Z and australia it is $19 per parcel So here we are not only getting hit by E Bay but the Postal System as well also some sellers want Insurance and Registration in the end we the buyer are getting taken by every one seller post office and E Bay and we cannot do anything about it if we want cards we just have to grin and bear it in finishing it also seems that the asking prices for all cards are going higher so extra money all round But there are still some good sellers out there who really go out of their way to assist you and if you get one keep them close because there are others who are taking advantage of all the rules they can

quote:

Originally posted by Studio-Hades:

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Don't confuse how much ebay sellers charge for postage with how much it actually costs for postage.

The fault is rarely with the post office,

Ha. Got a good laugh out of that one, thanks.

MINIMUM RATE for anything overseas for a padded envelope is now $14.25 because it classifies as parcel. Ebay also charges 10% on everything now. Including shipping. So the seller can opt to tack on another $1.40. Plus there is the cost of mailers - 17 cents to $1 - depending on when and where you buy them.

So now we are over $20 AUD or $24 NZD or 12.5 pounds sterling for a padded envelope with a even one card in it.


I wish i were greedy enough to not lose money on shipping every week.

Same sort of thing applies when shipping from here in the UK to overseas. I buy and sell through eBay but it still amazes me how many buyers don't understand that 'shipping costs' have to include more than just the price of the stamps on the envelope. If you ask for 1 penny more than that value, you risk getting a poor feedback rating.

As you mentioned, eBay charge 10% on the shipping price but there is also the 3.4% + 20p per transaction that Paypal charge. Padded envelopes are a further cost and then there there are the plastic sleeves, toploaders, team bags, printed labels...oh and shoe leather walking to and from the Post Office

The sad fact is, posting cards is an expensive business for sellers

What bugs me with eBay is that here in the UK, it automatically defaults to Royal Mail. The last package I sent to Australia would have been £46.00 with Royal mail. I sent it with a company called Parcels2go. This cost £19.20. Not only was it more convenient because I could drop it off on a Sunday to my local off-licence, but it reached the buyer 5 days later. Royal Mail have priced themselves out of the market.

The fact is every seller you know where loses 20% of each sale including postage costs to fees. There are a lot of hands that have to be fed before you complete the sale. Guess it is kind of like owning a Bodega in the 1920’s. The “boys” show up once a week for their “protection” money. That protection is now known as tracking which insures you will still be able to keep the business running without any “problems.” Most buyers are great and understand this but there are always those who don’t get it. These are the same people who remember when gas when .19 cents a gallon and they pumped it for you. The fact is the USPS was way too cheap for years on their international rates. Still $12.00 to ship a package 6000-8000 miles is not horrible.

Yes I do remember when petrol was 19c a gallon and when posting a letter was 2c and delivered but now days we really do not know how much it costs for anything as there too many disguised costs included and we do not know what they all are but everything aside dose the $12.00 shipping include tracking here in N Z I have to pay the shipping rate normally $10 to $13 then if i want tracking that is extra $18.00 so that makes it costly to send anything so I am asking this question is it compulsory to sign up to E Bays Global programme or do E Bay penalise you if you dont use it if it is not compulsory why is there a penalty .I realise tracking stops a lot of hanky panky but from some comments I have read it is not infallible myself have not lost a parcel or envelope in over five years of buying from overseas sellers If the global system is going to be used by E Bay it should be set at a price by them and that price be adhered too as there are all different sellers asking all different prices for this service packaging and postage should be a seperate thing and showed seperately then we might be able to clearly know what we are actually paying for shipping seperate from all other costs as there are some sellers asking horrendous costs for shipping and they all cant be attributed to printing labels shoe leather etc and another thing dose E Bay charge you fees on shipping costs as well as on sales wouldnt surprise me .

I sold on Ebay in the mid-2000's. Fees seemed high then. After I ran out of stuff to sell, I heard they stopped letting sellers take checks and money orders, cutting off income from people who didn't trust Paypal.

Then, I heard fees went up and then postage went up.

A few weeks ago, there was a news story that Ebay was laying off at least a couple of hundred people (again) and the stock price took a hit right after that. And we're supposed to be enjoying a booming economy. The company turned its back on what was its bread and butter: the average person selling extra stuff. It wanted companies selling their stuff instead - what seemed like the big money.

Ebay would be doing itself a big favor by announcing fee decreases and allowing sellers to take checks and money orders again. Yeah, they would make less per sale but they would get more people selling again. It needs to be more competitive with companies like Let It Go and people selling on Facebook. I would do it again.

Apoligies Kevin I did not read your post properly I see that you say that fees are charged for postage charges as well as shipping by E Bay so i am not surprised it is called gouging

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I sold on Ebay in the mid-2000's. Fees seemed high then. After I ran out of stuff to sell, I heard they stopped letting sellers take checks and money orders, cutting off income from people who didn't trust Paypal.

Yep, I was one of those money order buyers. I stood on using my regular sellers as long as eBay allowed the transactions to go through. Eventually they just stopped processing without a PayPay account and I quit. Not so much I matter of trust as it was that I wouldn't buy with plastic, or anything else that made the buying of discretionary items, and possible debt for those items, too easy.

If eBay had gotten a mass revolt at the time, if all the money order/check buyers walked away, if all the upset sellers closed their stores, if eBay lost real revenue, they would have kept the payment options. People complained, but they knuckled under because they thought they needed eBay. It was the other way around, eBay needs them, but there wasn't enough collective will to prove it.

eBay of course went on to revamp all the rules, including issues with postage and insurance coverage that just makes it financially stupid for some collectors to buy lower priced single cards they want.

Oh well, Amazon will bury eBay in a couple of years and it couldn't happen to a better company.

Good for Amazon but when they gain control wont they just make up their own rules and do the same as E Bay is doing this is globalisation for you so we will still not win unfortunatly nothing is going to go down in price it will still be the same described and packaged in a different way

I'm afraid Amazon wont be burying eBay any time soon. Have you seen the fees Amazon charge people who sell on their Marketplace ? Depending on the category, they make eBay look inexpensive. I check in on Amazon from time to time but they always remain a far from cost effective place to sell stuff...and their rules on what you can charge for postage are a pain too

quote:

Originally posted by piko:
Good for Amazon but when they gain control wont they just make up their own rules and do the same as E Bay is doing this is globalisation for you so we will still not win unfortunatly nothing is going to go down in price it will still be the same described and packaged in a different way

Of course you are right, all these mega companies are greedy and if you want to use them, you have to play by their rules. Some of them should not be used at all (cough-Facebook-cough).

I'm not advocating for Amazon, but at least the shipping costs for my domestic end is still fairly reasonable on most purchases. Amazon bothers me less because I started with them this way, whereas I started with eBay when you had a choice of options. eBay took those options away while people were happy using them, so I blame it for ruining an enjoyable way for me to get more cards. If the buyers were OK with not having buyer protection and the sellers were OK with accepting MO and checks, eBay should have just taken the fees from the transactions and left it alone. Not good enough, they wanted it all.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Yep, I was one of those money order buyers. I stood on using my regular sellers as long as eBay allowed the transactions to go through. Eventually they just stopped processing without a PayPay account and I quit. Not so much I matter of trust as it was that I wouldn't buy with plastic, or anything else that made the buying of discretionary items, and possible debt for those items, too easy.

If eBay had gotten a mass revolt at the time, if all the money order/check buyers walked away, if all the upset sellers closed their stores, if eBay lost real revenue, they would have kept the payment options. People complained, but they knuckled under because they thought they needed eBay. It was the other way around, eBay needs them, but there wasn't enough collective will to prove it.

eBay of course went on to revamp all the rules, including issues with postage and insurance coverage that just makes it financially stupid for some collectors to buy lower priced single cards they want.

As a seller back when eBay bought Paypal and then systematically made it the only acceptable payment option, I did look at other options and gave them a real try...but sales elsewhere simply never happened. Buyers knew about eBay but never looked elsewhere as they had no reason to. Sellers did try the alternatives but buyers just sat with eBay.

While eBay did make it so that Paypal was the only acceptable payment method, they also did everything they could to make eBay buyer friendly. Sellers were manouevered into offering 'Free Shipping', they made it impossible to leave feedback for buyers and they made it as easy as possible to get refunds for goods people bought looked or used once and changed their minds about. No wonder the buyers stayed and said nothing when you think about it

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin F:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Yep, I was one of those money order buyers. I stood on using my regular sellers as long as eBay allowed the transactions to go through. Eventually they just stopped processing without a PayPay account and I quit. Not so much I matter of trust as it was that I wouldn't buy with plastic, or anything else that made the buying of discretionary items, and possible debt for those items, too easy.

If eBay had gotten a mass revolt at the time, if all the money order/check buyers walked away, if all the upset sellers closed their stores, if eBay lost real revenue, they would have kept the payment options. People complained, but they knuckled under because they thought they needed eBay. It was the other way around, eBay needs them, but there wasn't enough collective will to prove it.

eBay of course went on to revamp all the rules, including issues with postage and insurance coverage that just makes it financially stupid for some collectors to buy lower priced single cards they want.

As a seller back when eBay bought Paypal and then systematically made it the only acceptable payment option, I did look at other options and gave them a real try...but sales elsewhere simply never happened. Buyers knew about eBay but never looked elsewhere as they had no reason to. Sellers did try the alternatives but buyers just sat with eBay.

While eBay did make it so that Paypal was the only acceptable payment method, they also did everything they could to make eBay buyer friendly. Sellers were manouevered into offering 'Free Shipping', they made it impossible to leave feedback for buyers and they made it as easy as possible to get refunds for goods people bought looked or used once and changed their minds about. No wonder the buyers stayed and said nothing when you think about it

I didn't. I got mad and quit, but I'm stubborn like that.

I agree with you. eBay buyer protections went from giving dishonest sellers the advantage to giving dishonest buyers the advantage. Honest buyers and sellers just got more restrictions, less options, higher postage rates, parcel requirements and more transaction fees. All in the name of buyer protection. Sellers reacted by dropping certain honest buyers who just lived in the wrong places or didn't buy enough or who they just felt funny about because they were burned before by someone else.

Honest people doing honest business don't need eBay once they have hooked up. Why do you think eBay makes it so hard for buyers and sellers to contact each other now? Why do they threaten to throw off sellers if they have unauthorized contact with buyers? Its too bad we're not in the same country.

The fact of the matter is that the size of our entire card collecting market on Ebay doesn't amount to diddly squat. You can't threaten anyone with anything as long as your enemy barely knows that you exist! If we all banded together as a united front and went to Ebay with an ultimatum "either you play fair of we will leave and go elsewhere" Their response would always be "bye bye then, don't forget to close the door on the way out" The saying goes that you can't fight city hall, but in this instance you probably can't.

eBay owned PayPal at the time that it changed the rules and made PayPal the main accepted payment method and cut off MO and checks. This was many years ago and if any effective protests were going to be made, that was the time. It was not exclusive to card buying transactions, it effected all buyers and sellers. So it wasn't a matter of an invisible community trying to fight it, everyone should have been against the clear conflict of interest. As I said, there was no collective will to even threaten to stop using the site.

eBay sold PayPal in 2015, but continued to process thru it. This year they will be switching main payment option processing to some Dutch company's system (Ayden). It's supposed to be soon, but it does sound like PayPal remains an option, at least for awhile.

No idea why they decided to take this step, but I'm sure it is to their advantage. It will be interesting to see how buyers and sellers may be effected by a different processor and what changes may occur. It supposed to be all done on the one site and an improvement for all users. Anyone heard that before?