Final Valuation Fees on Book Sales + Shipping

[springs_2013]

Hi everyone.  I usually don't look at all the fee updates and invoices, but since sales has been so slow with only a couple of sales a month, I decided to have a look at my last invoice.  It did not match my assumption that I would be paying 10% on final valuation fees on sales price plus shipping.

Upon further investigation, I found that the categories for books, music, DVDs, and movies are charged 12% including the shipping on the sale.

It's interesting that eBay is actually charging 12% on those categories including the shipping.  First of all, books are being sold for really inexpensive as most people don't read books anymore.  Secondly, they are very heavy, but are subject to be shipped Media mail.  When using media mail label on eBay, there are no discounts, so we don't have any cushions to offset a little of the expenses related to the sale .... sooooo.... why is eBay charging more in these categories that nets seller less than other categories?

[joesoucie22012]

Oh Brother. What do you mean by people don't read books? The books that are selling cheap are cheap. Don't sell cheap junk books. 

[readabouthorses]

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@ekmadonna wrote:

Please Do Tell, I promise I will not think nor call you crazy!

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The increase in FVF for the Books category (which included magazines which I sell) suddenly started showing thousands and thousands of higher priced "items" which didn't belong in that category but which probably started looking like the category was doing super good in terms of dollars being sold (this happened about the same time that all those retail arbitrage listings started showing up (they seems to have targeted the Books category for some reason). I saw some sellers who may have had 10,000 listings in the Books, Magazines categories and the items were for everything from clothing to candy to appliances. That increase from 10% to 12% came at the same time these categories were being flooded with this items and I think eBay saw the chance to get more money on those items by increasing the FVF since the FVF would be based on the category the items were in.

I think eBay has finally gotten all that retail arbitrage under control because I don't see it much anymore but it must have been a real money maker for eBay because they could charge more FVF on those sellers and those sellers couldn't complain about it because they are the ones who put their listings in the wrong category.

See, I told you  it would sound crazy but it all came about too close together to be a coincidence.

[mvls1]

That is a bingo.

[springs_2013]

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@joesoucie22012 wrote:

Oh Brother. What do you mean by people don't read books? The books that are selling cheap are cheap. Don't sell cheap junk books. 

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I stand by my statement that people don't really read books anymore.   In the old days before the internet, people have to read printed materials including books... then came along the www with it's wonderful search engines and the wealth of information with a few clicks of the keyboard, then comes the ebooks, making the printed books even more obsolete.   Unless you have the rare first edition stuff, I don't see how you can sell the "expensive" stuff... and what price range do you consider the books not to be "cheap junk books" as you stated.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Not "reading" per se, but I still prefer an actual hard copy cookbook even though I have millions of recipes available online at the touch of a keyboard.

[flubberdoo]

Random increase in ebay profit.
Seller benefit from increased fees: Nothing.

[clu3]

Amazon uses a similar system, lower prices equal higher % fees.

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@fuzzface50 wrote:

I agree with that they sell for so low of a price they charge a higher % to help make up for it.  Like a local auction company here, you bring him good stuff that has a decent selling price he charges you 10% but you bring him garbage or low ticket trinkets then he charges 35%. He still has the same 4 person team that cost him  the same x amount per hour selling the good stuff versus the cheap stuff so he needs to make up for it. 

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I stopped selling CD's and low cost books.  The time investment just doesn't work for me.  If I can't get $25 or more, it goes to my local multi-vendor space.  No photos, no descriptions, no shipping, no returns.

[clu3]

I couldn't disagree more.  I sell a lot of books. When I go to auctions, the books always attract great interest.

The only time I use my kindle is on the exercise bike (the book slot isn't big enough for a physical book).  Just like the idea that digital music would make CD's obsolete, the ebook definitely didn't kill the paper copy.

Brand new books I generally get on Amazon, but the majority of my used book buying is on Ebay and always from small dealers.  The mega sellers don't describe accurately. 

"In the old days, before the internet"  LOL  That was just cruel.

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@springs_2013 wrote:

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@joesoucie22012 wrote:

Oh Brother. What do you mean by people don't read books? The books that are selling cheap are cheap. Don't sell cheap junk books. 

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I stand by my statement that people don't really read books anymore.   In the old days before the internet, people have to read printed materials including books... then came along the www with it's wonderful search engines and the wealth of information with a few clicks of the keyboard, then comes the ebooks, making the printed books even more obsolete.   Unless you have the rare first edition stuff, I don't see how you can sell the "expensive" stuff... and what price range do you consider the books not to be "cheap junk books" as you stated.

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[springs_2013]

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@clu3 wrote:

I couldn't disagree more.  I sell a lot of books. When I go to auctions, the books always attract great interest.

The only time I use my kindle is on the exercise bike (the book slot isn't big enough for a physical book).  Just like the idea that digital music would make CD's obsolete, the ebook definitely didn't kill the paper copy.

Brand new books I generally get on Amazon, but the majority of my used book buying is on Ebay and always from small dealers.  The mega sellers don't describe accurately. 

"In the old days, before the internet"  LOL  That was just cruel.

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@springs_2013 wrote:

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@joesoucie22012 wrote:

Oh Brother. What do you mean by people don't read books? The books that are selling cheap are cheap. Don't sell cheap junk books. 

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I stand by my statement that people don't really read books anymore.   In the old days before the internet, people have to read printed materials including books... then came along the www with it's wonderful search engines and the wealth of information with a few clicks of the keyboard, then comes the ebooks, making the printed books even more obsolete.   Unless you have the rare first edition stuff, I don't see how you can sell the "expensive" stuff... and what price range do you consider the books not to be "cheap junk books" as you stated.

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LOL, not trying to be cruel about the old days before the internet... LOL...

There are exceptions to every rule, and nothing will replace everything... there will always be someone who likes something.  The point is, majority of people don't read physical books anymore.  The younger generations don't want to own books and knic knacks that clutter up their space.  The older generation who grew up reading books (myself included), our eye sights are not what they used to be and find it difficult to read the fonts on the printed pages.  There are youtube and social medias to occupy our time plus many other things.. that most people just don't buy and read books anymore.  Remember, I said "MOST" people and not "ALL" people 🙂

[southern*sweet*tea]

To whoever said that people don't buy books anymore...

don't tell that to Thriftbooks.  $59 million a year...that's a lotta books

http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company-profile.thrift_books_llc.570c82ae4ebaca6a.html

Well never mind...it's apparently $150 million/year

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/thrift-books-ceo-on-150-million-of-annual-used-book-sales

"annual revenue has grown to $150 million. It’s the largest used-book seller in the world."