Final value fee on shipping

[zarchy]

Would like some clarification on how this works.  Suppose a buyer wins several of my items and I send a combined invoice with a reduced shipping cost.  Am I paying the final value based on this reduced shipping cost, or on the cost stated in the listings?

[thenobletuckylife]

Mornin,

Our experience is that until a buyer actually pays Ebay only processes the portion of FVF on the selling item price. If it includes "free Shipping" in the item price them all the FVF are processed at that point even without the customer paying.

Once the customer actually pays for the order the FVF are calculated separately for the shipping portion.

So if you have a customer who HAS NOT paid...then you forward an adjusted invoice for the order and a separate subtotal for combined shipping...the second shipping portion of the FVF will be applied to this new adjusted shipping fee.

Hope this helps.

Mr C

[*coins]

Hi, @zarchy.

eBay charges a FVF on the total shipping charge, even if you lower it on the invoice. I'm pretty sure you would pay the reduced cost..

eBay's shipping FVF is 10%. Good luck!

[partial*eclipse · Accepted solution]

The final value fee is based on what the buyer actually pays.

[luckythewinner]

As others have pointed out, the FVF is charged in two parts - the selling price at the time of sale, and the shipping at the time of payment. 

But there is one important wrinkle for international sales:

For an international sale, the FVF you pay on shipping is based on your lowest domestic shipping charge, not on the international shipping charge. 

So if you sell an item with $3 USA shipping and $20 international shipping, the FVF for an international sale is calculated using the $3 amount, not the $20 amount. 

[zarchy]

Thanks folks.  That's what I thought, but wasn't sure.

[pantlandia]

---

@kudo_king wrote:

Hi, @zarchy.

eBay charges a FVF on the total shipping charge, even if you lower it on the invoice. I'm pretty sure you would pay the reduced cost..

eBay's shipping FVF is 10%. Good luck!

---

Not if you have a store and pay 4% to 9% for FVF. The shipping FVF is the same.

[vikingstwinsman]

Question: Why does Ebay charge a Final Value Fee on Shipping? I understand the final value fee on the item I am selling.  If I figure what the shipping is going to cost me (postage, packaging, toploader, envelop, box etc.) and I charge the customer a S&H amount, why would Ebay charge me a fee for the shipping?  If I have to add Ebay's cut on the shipping cost I should raise my shipping costs to break even on MY SHIPPING COST???)  It seems to me that Ebay is double dipping (Charging me twice) on the item I am selling.  I have no problem with Ebay's final value fee on the item is sell. I do have a problem with Ebay charging me on MY shipping costs **bleep**????

What do my fellow Ebay Sellers think??

Joe Flo

[tappilo]

Just grab your ankles and hang on. I don't understand this either, I think it sucks !

Ralph

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

They are really sharing out total Ebay fees out to every transaction. The most fair way is by total cost, just like we tell buyers to use. That way someone who sells the same item pays the same fee whether they sell with free shipping, exact shipping or shipping and handling. As long as the total is $10 they pay the same fees.

If they didn't have fees on shipping they would charge a higher percentage and bad sellers who were willing to hide all their profit in shipping would benefit.

[luckythewinner]

---

@vikingstwinsman wrote:

Question: Why does Ebay charge a Final Value Fee on Shipping?

{snip}

 I have no problem with Ebay's final value fee on the item is sell. I do have a problem with Ebay charging me on MY shipping costs **bleep**????

---

Several years ago, eBay decides that buyers like free shipping and wanted to encourage sellers to offer it. Everyone knows that "free shipping" really means that the seller is just rolling the shipping cost into the item price, but eBay's research apparently shows that buyers are influenced by the illusion anyway. 

But when a seller offered an item at $10 with free shipping, he was paying TWICE the final value fees compared to a seller with the same item at $5 with $5 shipping. 

There were also sellers who were charging $1 for the item and $9 for the shipping. and these sellers were gaming the system and only paying ONE TENTH of the fees that a "free shipping" seller was paying. 

So by charging the FVF on the entire transaction, eBay accomplished three things: 

1) they got rid of the financial penalty for free shipping; 

2) they eliminate fee avoidance by sellers with artificially high shipping costs; 

3) they collected a lot more money in fees. 

[sandiegolinda]

And then there is my case, where I'm new at this, and misjudged the shipping cost by the USPS.  I ended up paying $2 more for shipping than I charged the  customer and now I find there is a $.66 fee added by ebay for "final value fee on shipping" so on a $10 item I've lost $3.66 ($1.66 in ebay fees and $2 my mistake).  I may have to go back to garage selling!  Customers won't buy if they think the shipping is too high and if we lower the shipping the seller (me) ends up paying more.  

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

@luckythewinner

I know you were around when the change was made and we all ran the numbers on the boards. With the percentage drop for some sales, dropping the charge for pictures and giving away free listings most sellers came out paying around the same.

Ebay did not "collect a lot more in fees".  That comment is not borne out by the many calculations performed by people on the boards. I don't understand why people keep repeating this old chestnut. Ebay changes a lot of things badly but this was not one of them.

[66violetrose]

I have been upset about this for years. Since Ebay won't change their policies about FVF for shipping. I always price my shipping at the rate before my ebay shipping discount. The customer pays for the FVF on shipping. They want to gouge us, we just gouge the customer. I make money on shipping 95% of the time. Never give your customer your shipping discount price.

[vikingstwinsman]

Tough to stay in business at that rate.  It is starting to make me think this whole ebay thing is not all its made out to be.  I'm working too hard for what I'm netting out.  I get a kick out of ebay notice of how to sell my stuff.  Its like they want us to give it away and then pay all the fees **bleep**???