20% Fees? A discouraging number.

[escuintla]

My new rant and ready for the scolding from the usual know it all seller.😁
I used to participate in these forums a lot but since I deal with media in a wholesale way (out there) I barely have time to list items and nonetheless come to this place to find out about the bad news, because with Ebay there's nothing good to see from but increases on this and decreasing on that. 🤐

Besides finding out about the increment of $0.21 in the media rate, I just sold an item worth $459.99 and to my dismay, again, not following the news, or seller's performance I got a $92 fee which makes it a 20% fee, more or less. 

I am sure that paying this much puts the brakes on my future sales in great numbers. I was going to list a huge ********** CD collection that is in the range of $60,000 so not knowing the specifics, again, my fault, I won't be selling it on this platform but on the outside because not only I lose 20% (fees) of the value but I will be dealing with a higher tax bracket. 

You guys take care. 

[ebooksdiva]

If your selling fees are 20% you may want to take a look at your seller dashboard if your seller level has taken a nose dive your probably being penalized with a 6% increase in your selling fees which would bring your seller fee percentage to 20.95% since you sell in the Books & Magazine and Movies category fvf is 14.95% in those categories.

[bashort]

I do not think this is the issue here but the relationship between what the item sells for and the shipping cost is other than paying for promoted listings the biggest factor in how high the ebay fees will be.

These are from what I see on my own listings.

10% of item price shipping cost = 13.5% ebay fees

25% of item price  shipping cost = 15% ebay fees

50% of item price shipping cost = 18% ebay fees

100% of item price shipping cost = 24% ebay fees

Lower value heavy items get hit very hard on fees.

[kabilab]

Approx. six yrs. back, I could mail a DVD to San Diego first class for $1.98; yesterday, the Media Mail charge was $4.13.

[onefootflippers]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

The fees I pay on Mercari are like 50% less than the fees I pay on ebay. I also dont have to pay for a store subscription there, and you don't have to pay for visibility like you do with ebay.

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I will assume you know what you are talking about since I never actually sold anything on Mercari and I stand corrected.

[soh.maryl]

And how much were you paying for gas then?

Groceries?

Utilities? 

[sakic92710]

They really stuck it to us in Canada regarding S/H.  The UPU stepped in to enforce the rule for cross border shipping.  If it isn't papers or documents, it is considered 'goods.'  Minimum cost for sending a small bubble mailer to the US jumped to $9.00!!  How can Canadians sell $3-5.00 items & charge that cost?!  Good luck getting US sales on non-expensive items such as more common sports cards or pinback buttons, magazines, patches, etc!!

[soh.maryl]

You may be confused about the fees.  eBay's final value fees are based on the amount paid the seller by the buyer.  In most categories, this is 13.25%, but some categories the FVF is lower and some it's higher.  

A lower value ($20 for instance) that weighs (20# for instance) if listed in a category where the FVF is 13.25% will have the same PERCENTAGE FVF as an expensive item with a cheaper shipping fee.  Think a small piece of expensive jewelry, for instance.  There is no "relationship" involved.

Can you explain how you arrived at the conclusion you apparently have drawn and maybe show an example from your selling history? 

[soh.maryl]

Can you show us a transaction of yours where your final value fee was 30%?

And maybe tell us the category if it was not in a category where the FVF was 13.25%? 

[nolahjean]

I feel your pain.  Look at promoted listings.  Talk about setting up a system that can greatly increase the fee that you pay to ebay. A short while ago, it was common that the top recommended promoted listing fee was 5%.  Now the suggested fee is 9% + +.  If you don't pay it, you are not getting your listing on the first couple of pages.  What happens if everyone on  ebay decides to promote at the same level...Who gets on the front page - there is only one front page. By paying a promoted listing fee, you need to raise the price of your item or take the fee out of your profits.  My sales have tanked since promoted listings started. So let's lay it out. Using promoted listings generally makes your item priced higher and our customers do not get the prices that we could otherwise list for.  I think that ebay has done a great disservice to our customers by raising prices or cutting into profits.

[soh.maryl]

A seller's use of promoted listings is optional, isn't it?

Are you saying that, unless a seller uses that feature, he will not have any sales?  

[dbfolks166mt]

ebay does have control over the fees they charge, and they're incredibly unfair and greedy in my opinion.

ebay doesnt need 30% of every sale. The shipping cost is not paid by the buyers if they stop buying.

     Can you provide an example of where eBay took 30% of one of your sales? My average eBay FVF's are between 14-15% which is just a portion of my total selling costs. 

USPS lost over $6 billion dollars last year alone. Probably not a wise idea to raise rates again. Every time they raise postal rates, consumers revolt and spend billions less online.

     B&M store owners/operators probably feel just the opposite. 😀

[luckythewinner]

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@escuintla wrote:

I won't be selling it on this platform but on the outside because not only I lose 20% (fees) of the value but I will be dealing with a higher tax bracket. 

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Paying more fees should lower your tax bracket, not raise it.

Unless by "on the outside" you really mean "not reporting the income on my taxes".

[soh.maryl]

Still waiting to see that example of the 20% final value fees.  

[dbfolks166mt]

     If you are going to cut back on your eBay listings you may want to consider getting rid of your store and whatever fees you are paying for that and just simply taking advantage of the 250 free listings you are allowed every month without having to have a store. Will save you little bit. 

[yellow-snapdragon]

I tried mercari when eBay was giving me problems recently and though the fees may be lower, buyers are also less spendy.  Things have to be priced lower there, at least as far as my items go. More power to you, being able to sell there!