Ebay fees

[2012ontheside]

Is it me or is Ebay taking way too much in fees? I've been with Ebay on and off for about 12years and it seems like they are taking way too much in fees. On top of that it seems as if they are taking control of my sale. I feel like I used to have more control over what I sell. It's like once someone purchases your item ebay swoops in and handles the sale and you get whatever they figure is yours. They charge shipping and tax not you. After collecting the money they deduct their percent - 12.66% - from your sale price plus deduct tax and shipping even though they've collected the tax and shipping from the customer. That just doesn't seem right to me.

[redmodelt]

It is not just you, lots of people grouse about fees, BUT if you want to sell here, they are what they are. Contact a consignment shop and see what the fees are there!

[slati_2013]

Ebay has to collect taxes, and the fees you would have been paying to PayPal are now collected by eBay. As for shipping, it is to prevent people from selling their items for $1 and charging $500 for shipping to avoid paying eBay fees. When you break it down, it really is not much higher than it has ever been. 

[coolections]

They could just raise the fees to 18% and not charge you on tax and shipping. It would probably be a nightmare on the people who work for Ebay and do the transferring of the cash.  Regardless you know the fees so you have to determine if you can sell elsewhere the same amount of items for cheaper ? That's one thing good about capitalism, it gives consumers options.  Personally I would be lucky to sell 1/10th of the things I sell without Ebay so for me it is worth the cost.

[mam98031]

@2012ontheside 

I think you may have some misunderstandings.  If you keep your own books on your sales, you'd quickly realize that some of what you said is inaccurate.

Ebay's FVF covers both your FVF on your sale and the money processing fee that you use to pay to PayPal.  You are likely not paying anymore now than you did before you went into Managed Payments.

" They charge shipping and tax not you. "  While Ebay does charge the sales tax per the state the buyer is having the item shipped to, Ebay does NOT charge the shipping.  Well technically they do, but it is the SELLER that SETS that shipping amount, NOT Ebay.  Whether you use fixed price shipping or you use the calculator, that is completely determined by the seller.

"...from your sale price plus deduct tax and shipping even though they've collected the tax and shipping from the customer. "  No that is not how this works either.  While Ebay does charge the buyer sales tax and the buyer pays the sales tax, not the seller.  When Ebay takes the sales tax from your sales amount, it was money provided by the buyer NOT the seller.  

As to the shipping that the buyer pays.  That money comes to the SELLER.  Ebay does NOT keep it.  YOU get it so you can cover your shipping costs if you charged the right amount to the buyer.

The fees in MP have NOT increased overall fees. The following numbers represent those that do not have a store and the fee rate for most common categories [not all].

Fees BEFORE going into MP
10.20% FVF + 2.9% PP fees = 13.10% plus 30 cent per transaction fee.

In MP the fees are:
10.20% FVF + 2.35% money processing fee paid to MP = 12.55% plus a 30 cent per transaction fee.

Starting August 2nd, PayPal is raising their fees, so they will be as follows:
10.20 Ebay FVF + 3.49 PP Fee = 13.69% plus .49 cent Per Transaction fee

PP is apparently offering different fees to different sellers, likely depending on size. From what I've seen it is between 2.59% and 3.49%.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, since i sell world-wide from eBay, from the comfort of my home in Texas, i find the fees reasonable.

[katzrul15]

The fees on e-Bay are lower than what we pay on other sites.

As we are not some mega-seller with a CFO on-staff, we need e-Bay to collect and remit ALL the sales taxes from these sales and do all the compliance.

I am surprised they do not charge Sellers more, to be honest.

It would be a nightmare for small sellers to track and remit and file all the paperwork.   So glad they do it!

[mam98031]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

The fees on e-Bay are lower than what we pay on other sites.

As we are not some mega-seller with a CFO on-staff, we need e-Bay to collect and remit ALL the sales taxes from these sales and do all the compliance.

I am surprised they do not charge Sellers more, to be honest.

It would be a nightmare for small sellers to track and remit and file all the paperwork.   So glad they do it!

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With the thresholds for most states that have sales tax, most casual sellers and small sellers would never have to pay them in the first place.  But of course states could change these thresholds at any time and then it would apply.

[postingid7659]

Most weeks I get just what I paid for - the listings are free to post, and I get no sales from them. 

[dhbookds]

Agree with Mam on the explanations.......

But also........ You can buy a basic hair dryer from Wmart for $10-20, or you can buy one for $100+ with all kinds of bells and whistles.  You make the choice.  Same with Ebay.  There are plenty of places to list items now with little or no cost to sell them.......or you can choose Ebay.   Before you ever list, you should know and therefore accept the costs they state....Arguing about the cost afterwards is useless........it's the same as a buyer buying something from you and then trying to get you to lower the price. 

[dbfolks166mt]

@katzrul15 wrote:

The fees on e-Bay are lower than what we pay on other sites.

As we are not some mega-seller with a CFO on-staff, we need e-Bay to collect and remit ALL the sales taxes from these sales and do all the compliance.

I am surprised they do not charge Sellers more, to be honest.

It would be a nightmare for small sellers to track and remit and file all the paperwork.   So glad they do it!

With the thresholds for most states that have sales tax, most casual sellers and small sellers would never have to pay them in the first place.  But of course states could change these thresholds at any time and then it would apply.

     Agree with your analysis but for simplicity as a seller I would prefer not to have to constantly figure out which states, counties or municipalities I had to remit sales tax to and when/if I had broken the threshold. I would also not want to have to constantly monitor each and every change to a state ecommerce sales tax law.

     There is no question that some buyers are paying sales tax on items that they would not have had to pay had the individual seller been the one collecting and remitting the tax. But since eBay is considered the merchant and the thresholds are based on the aggregate they no doubt exceed the threshold for every state that has ecommerce sales tax laws in place. 

[forward-motion]

• The fact that I can easily print and ship from my computer so that I don't have to stand in line at the post office.
• The fact that I don't have to handle sales tax and keep up with the laws.
• The fact that I have a market to sell my items that would otherwise be junk.
• The fact that I can make a consistent income to pay for my toys.

Makes the fees worth paying.  

[bluestardiecast]

I do my own books and your figures are a bit misleading if you just look at it compared to what it used to be with eBay Final Value Fee (FVF) and then PayPal % Fees compared to the new Managed Payments (MP).  The items being charged the FVF now includes Sales Tax. Let's compare the before and after based on fees using your numbers, but as we know category & Seller performance affect the Seller's FVF and overall fees. Please note, since I am a USA Seller this assessment is based on fees for a USA Seller and could differ for Sellers in other countries.

 Your statement - "Fees BEFORE going into MP
10.20% FVF + 2.9% PP fees = 13.10% plus 30 cent per transaction fee."

When that occurred eBay charged the 10.2% FVF on the amount of the Sale + Shipping cost (sales tax was not charged FVF fee %) and when PayPal got the transaction you were charged the 2.9% on entire amount received (including any sales tax amounts) + $0.30 transaction fee plus with International sales the fee percentage was higher.

ex - Sales Tax before MP - no FVF fee from eBay but 2.9% fee from PayPal - So,  $1.00 Sales tax at 2.9% = $0.029 ($0.03) 

Your statement - "In MP the fees are:
10.20% FVF + 2.35% money processing fee paid to MP = 12.55% plus a 30 cent per transaction fee."

Now with MP, the FVF is charged at whatever your category dictates as it varies for some categories, but for this we will use your example -  10.20% + 2.35% = 12.55%. You are now getting charged full FVF fee on the sales tax instead of the 2.9% fee you were paying to PayPal. 

ex - Sales Tax with MP  - FVF fee from eBay of 12.55 % -  So,  $1.00 Sales Tax at 12.55% = $0.1255 ($0.13)

As you can see Sales Taxes are now being treated as a product you have sold and not as just a fee for collecting the money.  At approximately an extra $0.10 per dollar in Sales Tax fees your overall fees are higher than they were before MP.  Using your numbers the FVF on Sales Tax amounts went up 9.65% which is why the overall fees are higher. Those small amounts of extra FVF on taxes do add up quickly which eats directly into your profits.

eBay does also add International fee of 1.65% to International Sales and this is on the entire amount - Item FVF / Shipping FVF / VAT tax FVF = 14.2% + $0.30 in your example of entire transaction amount. Early on in MP that 1.65% was being charged for any Buyer with a non USA eBay ID even if the item was paid with USA funds and sent to USA address but that has now been fixed to only shipments sent to outside USA address. Even PR was treated as International for a while.       

Another thing that changed is eBay remits to your own state now instead of you being passed that money for same state sales to remit. Some states allow a discounted remittance % amount for collection of Sales Tax.

All Sellers should be seeing higher fees no matter what you sell unless you sell to customers in the few states that don't mandate Sales Tax or are getting 0% fees for selling $100+ sneakers (which to me is a head scratcher, but off topic). 

Whether Sales and VAT taxes should be treated as a product and hit with the same category FVF is also another off topic discussion, but one that should be addressed. eBay Fees are going to be what they dictate and will change at their discretion. If you want to make sure your sales actually make you money, then price appropriately and understand exactly the fees you are being charged. 

[bauble-babes]

@2012ontheside  "It's like once someone purchases your item ebay swoops in and handles the sale and you get whatever they figure is yours."

WHAT the charges are is no mystery. Apprise yourself of these charges and you should arrive at the conclusion that what they figure is yours is indeed what you're owed. And if there's a discrepancy, call them out on it.

[mam98031]

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@postingid7659 wrote:

Most weeks I get just what I paid for - the listings are free to post, and I get no sales from them. 

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Since we can't see what you are selling, it is hard to advise you.

Try tweaking your titles, make sure you have all the important keywords a buyer might use in their search to find your item.  That will often make the difference.

@postingid7659