Irritated by ebay

It’s time for a whinge !

I have recently been viewing a product available from numerous sellers on ebay

[what it is doesn’t matter]

Yesterday I received an eMail from ebay, advising me that a particular seller had sent me a special offer of £9.49

This seemed generous, because I had watched that item at £11.99

The irritation came when I viewed the actual offer:

The £9.49 is ex-VAT and the £11.99 includes VAT

Nothing wrong with being offered a 5% discount, but I was annoyed by ebay headlining it in the eMail as being so much better. … Presumably just to grab my attention.

MichaelG.

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Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/10/2022 09:37:59

The other trick is the ones with and without postage included, and from the same seller, perhaps using different names but in the same small town.

The site doesn't work well for me now anyway so I only get bits I need and don't browse anymore

Each item is about 3 pages wide, with the item on one side and the price on the other

Ebay is what it is, a platform to make money.

If you don't like it, don't use it.

simples!

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Thank you for taking the time to express an opinion

MichaelG.

Report the item unless it's strictly a business to business listing.

Ebay's terms indicate that prices should be VAT inclusive for retail sales.

That's an odd one; I wonder if it's some sort of a glitch in the software, with the item coming direct from China.
I've just viewed it myself, and it correctly displays the full price including VAT, but I've obviously not been offered the discount (yet).

Several times, I've seen an item I've been interested in, and retained the item from a number of different sellers in my Watched Items list.
I then sit back and wait for a week or two and see if one of those sellers then offers one of the " I see you're interested in this; have a discount" emails
It's saved be quite a bit of money over the years, but only if you're in no rush for the item.

Most, but not all, have been UK landed items though.

The other possibility in your case, would be to not take up their "offer" but to submit your own on the original page, which should show the correct total sum.

Bill

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It’s ebay’s eMail that I’m irritated by, not the seller or the listing.

… everything is perfectly clear except for the ‘headline’ in the spam from ebay.

MichaelG.

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Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/10/2022 13:13:58

I suspect it is. I have had a few of these recently. I suspect it is caused by the seller entering an ex-VAT special price, which is what they will be asking for and receiving, and Ebay's special offer system doesn't have the smarts to add VAT to the asking price.

The thing that irritates me more are the multiple emails they send if you make a purchase --we have your order ;; you order is being posted ;; you order is on its way etc etc WHY ? One is sufficient with the tracking number if applicable !

John

All those electrons going to landfill...

eBay is rather rapidly going over to the dark side. It used to be a highly useful interface between (primarily) private sellers and buyers with a search engine that was second to none in finding what you want.

Now it's as much or more about third-party rabid commercial capitalism and a search engine that shoves in front of your face what they want you to see rather than what you're after. It's not quite as bad as Amazon yet but it's getting there.

And don't get me started on eBay paid-upfront shipping/customs clearance ....

That VAT swindle really is quite devious. I have used ebay for years but that really does dull my opinion of it. Poor show.

I've had the sorts of deceptive VAT-excluded offers Michael describes. They're certainly irritating.

I've never accepted one, mind you, because I have a policy of either making offers proactively or counter-offering in response to offers speculatively made by sellers.

The snag with the second of these is that once a seller has sent you an offer speculatively, eBay's software then prevents you from making a counter-offer in response; you have to either accept or decline the seller's initial offer. The make-an-offer feature, if it was initially present, will have been removed, and every time you log back in and return to the item the seller made you an offer on you still have to either accept or decline that original offer.

Meanwhile, if you log in using a different account and go to the item, the make-an-offer feature will still be there large as life should you choose to use it.

A recent transaction illustrates the case. A seller sent me a speculative offer on some NOS Dormer drills. It was a risible 1% off the BIN price. I wanted to make a counter-offer, but couldn't. I messaged the seller directly and proposed a more generous [to me] discount. He refused even to negotiate and repeated his offer of 1% off the asking price. Needless to say I didn't respond.

Three days later I logged in using a different eBay account. The item was still listed with the make-an-offer feature enabled. I made an even lower offer than my original higher offer that the seller had refused, and the seller immediately accepted.

I do find that some sellers on eBay don't understand the psychology of bargaining, and the people who write eBay's software seem not to understand much about anything at all.

At least I have learned one new thing from this encounter

I wondered what the 42/57 reference was all about, and it turns out that these are two of the motor mount sizes in some new-fangled ‘metric rectangular co-ordinate system’ devised by those incapable of understanding the NEMA designations.

MichaelG.

am I not allowed an opinion or is it only you that can have one?

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Of course you are, Howi … that’s what forums are for

and it’s why I thanked you for taking the time to express it.

MichaelG.

Of course eBay is annoying, and of course some of the stuff is junk, peddled by dodgy sellers or is priced in a slightly misleading way. But if I think back say, 20 years or more, I have no idea where I would go to buy 200 lollipop sticks, two diamond grinding wheels and a very reasonably priced 0.37kW inverter all on the same shopping trip. Certainly there were no local shops round here that would sell any of those items.

I have only lost out once with a dodgy seller (who wriggled out of his responsibility to refund me by offering a replacement which would be delivered in 25 days, thus neatly taking me over the 40 days window for lodging a complaint, and then refusing to answer messages). Revenge is a dish best served cold though, and he will eventually regret his action.

In my view Amazon is far worse - prices are usually higher, and try as hard as I can, I can never navigate the checkout without signing up for Scamazon Prime, so I have vowed never to use them again. Anything I want that is on Amazon can be found elsewhere, usually cheaper.

(ps the lollipop sticks are for making labels for plant pots on my cnc laser)

It came across to me as a sarcastic comment.

One does not usually go out of their way to thank someone for expressing an opinion in a forum, unless you are being sarcastic.

After being on this forum for quite a few years, I have noted your propensity for sarcasm.

If you can't be polite, don't say anything. (not that you will take any notice)