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EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

Thinking very seriously about cancelling my account.:-(

Message 1 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high


@komokwa wrote:

Once again I call for a sellers ( & buyers) tutorial before being able to use the ebay site !


Buyer  Tutorial.

Seller Tutorial.

They're already there, required reading impossible to enforce and ID's following the policies after?

 

Stamp your feet all you want, asking this to happen has as much possibility of happening as buyer suspension if 3-5 NPB strikes accumulated, an improvement many would like to see over everything else.


The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Message 46 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

3-5, before a suspension...

I think, that's 2-4 too many.

Message 47 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

Like many others, I have recently been taking a hard look at the eBay and PayPal fees.  I don't really have a problem with the basic percentages.  But, as was mentioned in a couple other posts, both eBay and PayPal are charging fees for shipping charges.  I have only read the 2013 posts, but, I do not believe that all of the ramifications of this fee structure have been brought to light.  For an expensive item with a relatively low shipping cost (i.e. shipping cost << selling price), there is not much of an impact because the 10% fee on the shipping cost will be insignificant compared to the 10% fee on the selling price.  The problem is with all of those items that sell for < $10 (just to throw out a number) in which the shipping cost is close to, or in some cases more than, the selling price.  For example, assume a small item sells for $5 and the shipping cost turns out to be $5.  Then, eBay charges 10% of $10, which of course is $1.  But, the seller does not get to keep the $5 shipping cost.  The item actually has to get shipped.  So, assuming the seller is advertising the actual shipping cost, the fee is effectively $1 on the $5 selling price, or 20%.  But, we are not done yet.  PayPal charges $0.30 + 2.9% of the total amount received (selling price + shipping cost).  So, in the example, the seller is charged an additional $0.30 + 2.9% of $10, or $0.59.  So, the total fee for this sale is $1.59 and the amount coming in is $5.  So, the seller is being charged 31.8%.

 

Unlike many of you, I am not trying to make a living on eBay.  But, I have bought a lot of DVDs and I am planning to sell the ones I don't want.  And, I also have a bunch of new items that I would like to sell.  Many of them are not very expensive and while I would not expect to make a lot of money on them, I would prefer not to just break even on the sales after giving eBay 30% or more of the net sales. If I did that, I would essentially just be working as a selling agent for eBay without getting paid.  That sure is a great deal for them.

 

Some folks will just say "if you don't like the fees, then go elsewhere".  But, that is not really being responsive to the issue.  I think it makes perfect sense for eBay (and PayPal) to charge a percentage on sales.  They are in business to make money and they are doing it very well.  But, when the percentage is also applied to the shipping cost, then the REAL fee percentage is somewhat hidden.  Many folks have commented extensively on the 1% increase in fees.  To be honest, I was not even aware that the percentage had changed.  But, the 1% increase is trivial compared to the effective fee percentage being a factor of 2 or 3 higher than the advertised percentage when taking low priced items into account.  If your entire business is selling small items, then I do not see how you can make money.  The only entities making money are eBay and PayPal.

Message 48 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

Unlike many of you, I am not trying to make a living on eBay.

 

You presume too much....this is the  PART TIME  Sellers board .......



Who will save the river valley , that's my drinking water.! "Moxy Fruvous"
Message 49 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

Yes i have had sellers ask to sell outside of ebay to avoid the fees
Message 50 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

How so, how do you get your buyers to pay the fees?
Message 51 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high


@eddo90 wrote:
How so, how do you get your buyers to pay the fees?

 

My starting price has a built in margin for the fees the item will incur, then the buyer pays the fee when they pay.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Message 52 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

Anonymous
Not applicable

Honda : Would you agree that there are people that belong in a business enviroment and there are those that don't?

Message 53 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high


@passright wrote:

I do not believe that all of the ramifications of this fee structure have been brought to light.  For an expensive item with a relatively low shipping cost (i.e. shipping cost << selling price), there is not much of an impact because the 10% fee on the shipping cost will be insignificant compared to the 10% fee on the selling price.  The problem is with all of those items that sell for < $10 (just to throw out a number) in which the shipping cost is close to, or in some cases more than, the selling price.


In the 2+ years since eBay started charging the shipping FVF, this particular ramification has been discussed many times. It simply means that some items can't be sold here profitably.

 

Message 54 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

"My starting price has a built in margin for the fees the item will incur, then the buyer pays the fee when they pay."

 

Buyers are going to pay the same amount for the item regardless of whether or not you start it a little higher.  The net to you will still be the same on average.  If you originally started an item at $10 and a buyer is willing to pay $11, then, that is no different than starting the item at $11.  They are still going to pay $11.  If none of the potential buyers were willing to go to $11 when you started it at $10, then it won't sell when you increase the starting price to $11.  All it means is that the item won't sell until you find a buy who was willing to go to $11.

 

 

 

 

Message 55 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

absolutely way too high. Seller has to pay ebay fees, and paypal fees.

 

There should be other sites that are competitive to bring ebay/paypal fees down


@adeedew wrote:

Absolutely TOO HIGH, i had no idea ebay was almost 10%! I'm looking for an alternate, total BS




Message 56 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

Anonymous
Not applicable

REALLY!  In order to sell a seller needs people lots of people visiting a site and eBay has one of the largest volumes of traffic in the world. Plus an easy method of receiving payment which costs 13% which leaves you 87 cents on every dollar to make a profit. And you call eBay/PayPal greedy! Why don't people just leave? Whine and complain and then the majority continue to sell/buy on eBay.  Where are peoples pride in themselves?  Membership requires one to accept the rules/polices now and going forward. Don't like it? Don't join or just leave!

Message 57 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

You could always start your own website and do your own marketing and pay your own webmaster/ maintenance fees and make your own deals with USPS-UPS and FedEx.

Or you could open your own B&M store and pay rent/utilities and other overhead.
And add marketing, etc to that figure.

Or you could go the consignment route and pay 30-60%.

Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom. ~ Sir Terry Pratchett
Message 58 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high


@keatc888 wrote:

absolutely way too high. Seller has to pay ebay fees, and paypal fees.

 

There should be other sites that are competitive to bring ebay/paypal fees down


But there aren't. Why do you suppose that is? There's no shortage of people with access to mass quantities of venture capital to start one up, so why haven't they? And why haven't the few sites that are available taken more than a small fraction of eBay's volume?

Message 59 of 145
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Re: EBAY and PAYPAL Fees too high

Craigslist~the number of potential buyers is smaller, but there are NO fees...zippo, nada. 

We've been doing it with good success and ,except for the occasional scammers (who are easy to spot), you can realize a better profit. Just list CASH ONLY!

Also, you can get rid of big, bulky items and usually have them picked up by the buyer.

 

I predict there will be a class-action suit against Ebay & PayPal someday..

Message 60 of 145
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