I was looking at the latest message from ebay in my ebay messages and was shocked to see that come october you will not be ableto receive or pay via checks or money ordeer for items you buy/sell. They want you only to use credit cards or debit cards and pay thru paypal or other electronic paying companies.
Plus, we're introducing a new 35¢ Insertion Fee for Fixed Price listings-regardless of the asking price or number of items in the listing-with a 30-day duration and automatic renewal option at no extra cost. For some of your items, this new Fixed Price option may be a great solution.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Am I surprised? NO.
Am I appaled? YES.
Do I accept anything other than PayPal when I am a seller? Not usually.
i never buy anything on ebay if the vendor doesn't accept paypal , so that doesn't affect me .
i can see how some or all of those new 'steps' will hurt some vendors , mostly the people who are actually selling items they have rather than running a store on ebay like so many of the listings are now
isn't interesting how every time some big company finds some way to screw the little guy they word the announcement as if they were doing them a big favour ?
ernie
Yea, Ebay is nothing like it was nine years ago.
That's one way of monopolizing on every transaction.Auction fee + Pay Pal fee=double whammy!
Seems the buyer has no choice-ebay's way or no way..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I sell stuff on ebay every now and then & I'm OK with what they charge. I've sold stuff on ebay (for good money) that I couldn't give away at local train shows. If you tell me you're gonna charge me .35 to help cordinate a $50.00 sale to a guy in France I'll say "Thank you!".
Let's be honest. They're the main game in town (as far as on line auctions). True, there may be sites that charge less or have rules you like better but who ever goes to them?
I figured that was eventually going to happen one day. I also recently heard a rumor that WalMart, Academy and a number of other businesses are going to stop accepting personal checks and will only accept cash or debit cards as payment anymore.
As for eBay. I've never liked having to deal with sellers that only accept money orders or personal checks. I like taking care of the transaction on the spot and getting my item as soon as possible...
Tracklayer
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
downtowndeco wrote: Let's be honest. They're the main game in town (as far as on line auctions). True, there may be sites that charge less or have rules you like better but who ever goes to them?
And lets be honest and thats why they do it but think its kinda calling monoplizing isn't lol
"Sellers will enjoy the benefit of millions of confident buyers as we make the following changes"
I think that this sentence says alot. The site has developed a reputation for being a place to get ripped off. If the buying public is losing confidence in the place and leaving in droves then they need to reverse that trend.
There's also a 10 page thread on this topic on the Atlas forum as well .... seems to be very mixed feelings regarding thse upcoming changes.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
I've been eBaying since 1999, mostly as a seller. In my last round of auctions, I specified PayPal only. Getting payment real quick and having the items gone right away are a whole lot more convenient to me that waiting until a buyer gets the time to go and buy a money order then sending it. Some money order users would take several weeks to send their payments, and mail to me here in Canada takes longer to get here than domestic US mail. So instant PayPal payments are a whole lot better. And with all of the Internet scams around, it seems to be pretty easy these days for the criminal types to duplicate money orders, bank drafts, etc.
And don't forget the cost of money orders, here local banks and the post office charge several dollars for them, and then there is the cost of the stamp to mail them. It all adds up.
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
Tracklayer wrote: I figured that was eventually going to happen one day. I also recently heard a rumor that WalMart, Academy and a number of other businesses are going to stop accepting personal checks and will only accept cash or debit cards as payment anymore.
Wal Marts already doing a thing where they scan your personal check, have you sign a credit like slip and hand you your check back. My parents worked for Deluxe Check Printers all their lives and made a good living. My brother and I both worked there too. Deluxe is now defunct and tens of thousands of people are out of a job because of the debit card revolution.Mmmmm...the sour stench of progress....
loathar wrote: Tracklayer wrote: I figured that was eventually going to happen one day. I also recently heard a rumor that WalMart, Academy and a number of other businesses are going to stop accepting personal checks and will only accept cash or debit cards as payment anymore. Wal Marts already doing a thing where they scan your personal check, have you sign a credit like slip and hand you your check back. My parents worked for Deluxe Check Printers all their lives and made a good living. My brother and I both worked there too. Deluxe is now defunct and tens of thousands of people are out of a job because of the debit card revolution.Mmmmm...the sour stench of progress....
I already shopped in a store that had a notice on the door and it read:
As of August 1st we will no longer accept personal or payroll checks.
Thank You.
Or words closely to that..I was shocked..
What's next? Sorry we no longer accept cash?
I would agree that PayPal is the better payment method. EXCEPT: PayPal fees to sellers are excessive, and I suspect many sellers add to their shipping and handling to cover those excessive fees.
Ebay does not have much competition. However, Amazon has independant sellers of new and used railroad and model railroad books. Good selction of books, too.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
BRAKIE wrote:in a store that had a notice on the door and it read:As of August 1st we will no longer accept personal or payroll checks.Thank You.Or words closely to that..I was shocked..
in a store that had a notice on the door and it read:
Well, working with small town stores, one of them had accepeted a government cheque as payment for fuel and cigarettes. The difference was refunded in cash to the customer. Making them use a portion of the cheque to buy goods instore is usual business practice around here and government cheques are never bad are they? Retailer deposited the cheque the next day and found out that a stop payment had been issued on the cheque because the cheque recepient had told the issuer they had lost it and had already been issued a second one.
The store is now out the money from the cheque and the goods. And people wonder why stores won't accept any cheques
"Rust, whats not to love?"
RicHamilton wrote: BRAKIE wrote:in a store that had a notice on the door and it read:As of August 1st we will no longer accept personal or payroll checks.Thank You.Or words closely to that..I was shocked..Well, working with small town stores, one of them had accepeted a government cheque as payment for fuel and cigarettes. The difference was refunded in cash to the customer. Making them use a portion of the cheque to buy goods instore is usual business practice around here and government cheques are never bad are they? Retailer deposited the cheque the next day and found out that a stop payment had been issued on the cheque because the cheque recepient had told the issuer they had lost it and had already been issued a second one. The store is now out the money from the cheque and the goods. And people wonder why stores won't accept any cheques
I understand the bad apple part..However..How about the millions of good apples? Going to penalized them?
Crooks been around for years cashing bad checks,stolen checks etc yet stores still gave their customers options of:Will that be cash,check or charge?
Customer service RIP.
Checks only came into being because carrying and sending large amounts of cash became impractical.
Realistically, if you can do the same kind of transactions electronically, why use paper checks? With the advent of electronic bill-paying, checks are rapidly going the way of the dodo.
One of the last barriers was providing person-to-person electronic transfers. I don't take MasterCard or debit cards myself, but I'm not a retailer, so why should I? But, I've got a PayPal account, so in theory I can now accept electronic payments.
How many of us have done away with the expense of our land-line telephones in favor of cell phones? It won't be long before checking accounts, with their monthly fees, will start looking like opportunities to save money, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Tracklayer wrote: I figured that was eventually going to happen one day. I also recently heard a rumor that WalMart, Academy and a number of other businesses are going to stop accepting personal checks and will only accept cash or debit cards as payment anymore.As for eBay. I've never liked having to deal with sellers that only accept money orders or personal checks. I like taking care of the transaction on the spot and getting my item as soon as possible...Tracklayer
In essence Wal Mart has alread done so when they started their electronic check program. They don't actually accept personal checks now, but they scan the check and debit your account like a debit car esentially.
I can understand why ebay is doing away with personal checks. When I sell on ebay I never accept them because it is too easy to rip a seller off with a bad check. I do not understand the problem with postal or bank-drawn money orders, however. I have always accepted them and many time used them as payment and have never had a problem.
Ron
Owner and superintendant of the N scale Texas Colorado & Western Railway, a protolanced representaion of the BNSF from Fort Worth, TX through Wichita Falls TX and into Colorado.
Check out the TC&WRy on at https://www.facebook.com/TCWRy
Check out my MRR How-To YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RonsTrainsNThings
As a frequent purchaser and rare seller on Ebay I very torn by this, I have payed thru Paypal but as a very infrequent seller, I'm torn at the notion of having to accept Paypal only because it means I have to set up a payment account as well, which means I'll likely have to use a different credit account for both now. In the past when I sold I accepted MO only. It was most convenient for me, I could cash the MO and have the money in my pocket, I cant do that with an electronic payment, its all on some card account somewhere, that makes easily accessing the funds a bigger PITA, not to mention EVERYONE who gets a nibble of my money, Ebay, Paypal, the bank or credit card company, jezzez, seams the whole stinking system is rigged to take a few pennies out of my pocket every time I do anything now.
Have fun with your trains
People, it's called TRAIN SHOW.
Good deals, sometimes can be great with decent stuff too.
Also known as real modelers ebay...
Maybe where you live, care to guess how many public train shows we have here per year?
....one.
...and they kinda frown on selling bike part and furniture at those shows
I don't understand a buyer's hesitation in using PayPal. As far as I know, the SELLER pays all the fees when a buyer uses their services. I have my account set up to allow debit and credit cards, for a one time minimal fee. I don't have a store, just a load of MRR stuff I've bought over the years that I have decided will never get built or installed on my layout.
For my purposes, the change in payment method is great. There have been times I've waited weeks for a money order to get to me. Almost always I have to query the buyer as to the status of his payment when he uses a money order.
Almosts always I get payment within two days when PayPal is used. The transaction is far cleaner and quicker that way.
Another change that eBay is making is that I, as a seller, don't like is that I can no longer post comments on dealing with a customer. Most customers have been absolutely fabulous, and there have been one or two stinkers. Seems pretty one-sided to me.
Ebay makes a good "Train show" when there is none around here except once a year down in Pine Bluff which isnt really a safe town having just annexed 4 state prisons.
The trick is finding actual hobby shops that have some of these items in stock and buying direct.
Shipping is my biggest reason for getting out. Made a 100 dollar sale requiring a building in HO scale to ship in a 2 foot by 3 foot box two feet high. The box was 8.00 gratis to the buyer along with the necessary packing and double boxing also gratis. So... roughly 20 dollars gone. The post office got most of what was left over after ebay fees and etc was paid.
One reason I found shipping to be steep was because I shipped only priority mail with the necessary confirmation, tracking etc. No other method. Most of the time I could sometimes build in "My half" of the shipping prices into the open bid to get the customers fee down to about 15 dollars for shipping.
Ebay started to moderate what shipping fees were charged with pop up boxes etc while you attempt to build the sale. They would think that 16 dollars, 20 dollars or whatever were too much. So that ended my 1.00 open bids and made them 30.00 or whatever resulting in higher fees all around.
160+ sales all perfect 100% and only three issues, two of which were naru'ed against the person who did it and one was a straight refund of a 10 dollar boxcar that was damaged badly.
Ebay made lots of money off me in 4 years. When the adding was finished it was close to 2500 dollars to them. And another 2 grand to the US post office which saw me as a cash cow requiring first class service. And I dont recall too much paypaling fees or trouble because again I kept a isolated bank account and "Zeroed" it after every sale completion. Ive heard of them taking whatever it is they wanted to via autodraft.
No, Ebay is not a way for making a living. Indeed it was a very good way of dumping unwanted train stuff to good homes. Yes I say dumping. If that nice 400 dollar engine did not pull very well upgrade then it got sold for a hundred or whatever the market would bear. I would hope that the buyer would enjoy these things.
Plowing through the mounds of truly junk items to get to the diamond in the swine trough takes hours per day and a planned sale is a military style sniper strike planned down to the last three seconds at any day/hour with obscene amounts of cash stacked and ready to go in that paypal.
Oh.. that paypal? 500 dollars every month yer allowed to move in buying or selling. If you want to be able to move 2000 dollars per month, you go down to the Justice of Peace office and draw up a Marriage certificate between you and Paypal and get ready to bend over. Sheesh.
I dont know about you, but I actually enjoy train shows these days with simple tables and prices written on post it note pads.
Also I enjoyed not having to hassle with sales taxes, money order fees other than .65 cents or whatever to generate one and follow up on it whenever the money order got lost or whatever the buyer or seller might claim. I did personal checks twice and did not ship until my bank said that the check itself cleared. That would take about 14 days.
I investigated the possibility of sending stuff to the local store downtown that advertised themselves as taking your stuff and selling it on ebay. I dont see how they can do it very long with that albatross of a store around thier neck.
Sorry for the negative tone, I must mention that there were plenty of very good people on ebay who bought trains and sometimes shared with me small tidbits about the "Stuff" or photos on occasion. I believe also that several were train clubs and think that perhaps the stuff I sold might be part of a model train somewhere passing in front of people who knows nothing about the hobby during a open house.
One can dream.
I say that the ebay's attempt to exert thier own control with the heavy hand in the form of "IOmportant Changes" written in overtones meant to make you feel good as you are shipped to hell onboard the train with shackles.... that model of business is dead and if it is the future, I dont want any part of it.
The IO misspelling in the Important word is deliberate. A sort of a computerese word for Input/Output. I say garbage in garbage out.
However, The draconian restrictions listed by ebay pretty much squeezes out the giggling 8 year old playing ebay game on daddy's computer or perhaps those who have no intention of paying anything for anything. Credit cards have a way of making sure that the buyer or seller is something that can be chased down and nailed to the wall by ebay security should a buyer whine about the mashed box off the UPS brown truck.
Cash only or I go home.
I might just go home lolz.
Lots of emotion here already.
My take on this, not that I have any intention of every dealing with ebay, is that the company has a duty to its shareholders, people who believe in the model and in what they do, people with values, to ensure the company evolves ethically and mechanically so that it has long-term viability. It would be unethical to not change when change is indicated because its customer base was becoming vulnerable to fraudsters. One could even say they had embraced "green" a bit and want to do away with mail, paper, and all the eco-unfriendly usage of that nature. Maybe not. In any event, the company must evolve when they understand the need to do it for its own sake. That almost always means it is, to a healthy extent, good for its customers as well...a positive sum game for all who do ebay, employees, management, and some of you.
loathar used the term, "foul stench of progress". I would respectfully counter, loathar, that foul stenches come from putrefaction and stagnation, not from Life, from viability, and vitality.
Ebay has learned over recent times that their policies have caused grief for too many of the very people upon whom they rely. It would be suicidal to shrug and tell people to get over it.
My
BRAKIE wrote: Crooks been around for years cashing bad checks,stolen checks etc yet stores still gave their customers options of:Will that be cash,check or charge?Customer service RIP.
Problem is, when the store gets ripped off by a customer using a fradulent check, guess who ended up paying for it? That's right, the honest, paying customers. This drives prices up and makes some stores less competitive. The more ways they can find to keep costs down, the more customers will spend their money there. If paying customers want the low prices, they will just have to figure out how to use cash or get a debit card.
Seems like the same logic applies to eBay, but in reverse. Instead of the seller getting ripped off by a bad check (since he doesn't have to ship the item if the check doesn't clear), it's the buyer who usually gets ripped off by a dishonest seller who cashes the check, but doesn't ship the item. I agree that doing away with checks/money orders might make it easier for buyers to trust the seller, and therefore do more buisness.
One way or another, we'll just have to get used to more restrictive rules that always come about when dishonest people abuse the system.
Tom