To expect the seller to pay the commission on a sale.

[vexedfoxy]

We are selling a large item on a well known auction site for someone as a favour....the value has risen quite high. After the bidding started I said when it finishes and we get paid I will give you the money less the fees the site charge...they said 'oh well I did not think you were going to charge us'.....we are not, just passing on fees, we are not attempting to make any money out of this. They have become rather sniffy about it AIBU?

Absolutely NOT BU. Cheeky bleeders.

YANBU.

YANBU

Ask them if they want to continue with the sale? think you need to clarify with them that you are not receiving any money at all from the sale and if you pay the fee, you will be out of pocket and that isn't fair.

How much is it? How much is the item going for?

Do they understand how the site works?
Maybe forward them the details from the site so they can see you are not making money!....then hopefully they will do the decent thing and apologise.
They must see that they can't expect you to pay to sell something from them!

Item not finished yet but currently £350 ish.

No, that seems fair enough to me. Why should you be out of pocket for the fees when you are doing someone a favour? Show them the web oage that details the fees the site charge, and tell them you will show the, the invoice after so they know you aren't keeping any for yourself. If they don't like it, tell them you will take the listing down and they can sell it themselves. They'll still have to pay the fees though if they want to use the well known auction site.

Definitely forward them the info about how the site works. Cheeky beggars though. There is no way you should be out of pocket for helping them out!

Yanbu I'd get the printout of your fees and highlight the charges.

Do they expect you to be out of pocket

Totally your decision of course, but advice about ebay, etc, often runs along the lines of "avoid selling for friends like the plague"

I've done it myself and lived to regret it: the "new" item which was anything but, the expensive handbag which was actually a fake, the "valuable" item where they got upset at the low bids (having refused to set a reserve). Worst of all, I was once asked to sell some jewellery for a friend's new boyfriend which turned out to have been nicked from his ex; I dodged that one, but the thought of the police turning up still freaks me out

It only takes a few experiences like this before you start to say no ...

I would stop the sale if you are allowed to and let them do it themselves.

You need to show them how much the selling and PayPal fees are and then ask them if they want to go ahead with the sale as the fees will be deducted from the sale price. You should not be out of pocket due to doing somebody a favours the fees on £350 are quite a lot.
It's either: they don't understand how ebay works and don't realise that the fees are quite significant
Or
They are taking the piss.

If they don't want to pay the fees then cancel the sale and tell them that you can't afford to be out of pocket.

Why can't they just set up their own account? It would take them very little time to accumulate a bit of feedback from buying a few odds and ends from business sellers, then they can do what they like. On the original point I suspect they just don't understand how the site works.

cancel the auction

They are obviously numpties and you are responsible for their sale. If something goes wrong, buyer dispute etc you will have to deal with it on your eBay account.

Pull it now before the auction ends, cancel as no longer available, you will just have to pay the listing fee.

Of course they should pay the fees, they're their fees. The idiots.

Be very careful selling an expensive item. Make sure the item is signed for and insured if you post it, if they collect make sure it is Cash on Collection. Unfortunately eBay is full of people who regularly claim "item not received". Paypal will then take the money off you and you could be vastly out of pocket.

Final value fees on ebay can be 10% of sale price (and now postage price too)! Why on earth would they expect you to suck that up?

I'm wondering if they understand it's not you charging them a fee, it's the fee from the auction site.... it's just too stupid to expect someone who's doing you a favour to pay out £35 as well.

My BIL wanted to sell his car on ebay. DH wanted to use my account. I showed them both how to set up an account for BIL on ebay, took 5 minutes, problem solved, now BIL is happy and selling all his old stuff. SIL is very happy .

if collecting DO NOT TAKE PAYPAL cash or possibly BACS

if 350 ebay will take £35, if sending by courier arrange courier yourself and do not forget ebay take commission on courier charges paypal always have taken their cut of total

you are selling for no charge in that you re not charging for your time and effort

people who sell other peoples stuff for a living normally take 30-45% of sale price as personal commission ( though they will be paying listing fees/ebay/paypal fees etc out of that)

i meant do not take paypal but do take cash or BACS

If I'm collecting something I pay by paypal! It keeps a record that you've paid and offers you protection.

Paying cash is NOT safe at all.

paying cash is perfectly safe Nursey - you are completely wrong, why on earth is it not safe? Why do you need a record it has been paid??

A seller should never ever take paypal for a collected item. Leaving themselves wide open to be scammed if they do.

Because the seller can easily turn around and say 'i've not been paid' and open a case on facebook because there is no paper trail.

open an unpaid case on facebook? OK. And there is no online proof of delivery for the seller when you claim not received, and what if it is not as described, how are you going to prove the item has been returned and get your money back.