Shipping

[frsgump]

How can it be possible to sell something for ten cents and charge $300 for shipping? That's crazy.

[soh.maryl]

Because the seller is apparently living in an eBay world of a quarter of a century ago.

When eBay first began, the final value fee was calculated on only the actual price of the item, not the shipping.  Thus, Mr. Devious Seller could price his item for a few pennies with exorbitant shipping.

eBay caught on to that (not sure when) and that's the reason the seller's fee is now calculated on both the shipping fee and actual item price, as well as the state sales tax, if applicable.

Example:  You buy my widget for $1 plus $300 shipping.  My FVF will be 13.25% of the total  paid, in this case $301.  Or you buy my widget for $300 plus $1 shipping.  My FVF will be $13.25% of the total paid.

Or, I list my item at $301 with free shipping.  Guess what my FVF will be? 

If that seller DOES sell that item, won't he be surprised when his FVF is calculated on $310 or however much the item actually sells f.r  

[nobody*s_perfect]

eBay has been charging a final value fee as a percentage of the buyer's total payment, including item price and shipping, since 2011.

Now that Sellers also pay a FVF on sales tax, your hypothetical sneaky seller would pay a slightly lower total FVF if their buyer lives in a state that charges a sales tax on the item price but not on the shipping.

[bennotbill]

eBay realised long ago that they were missing out on a real money maker by not charging fees on shipping.

Perhaps there are some sellers who haven't sold anything for a very long time, and are not aware of this change.

[soh.maryl]

Thanks for your response.

[soh.maryl]

. . . or if they lived in a state which has no state sales tax at all.

[nobody*s_perfect]

If the buyer lives in a state with no sales tax, then the FVF will be the same regardless of how the item price and shipping are divided (i.e., $300 + $1 vs $1 + $300).

[frsgump]

FVF??? What is it? Not everyone is keen on figuring out what a few capitol letters are.
Plus, none of these answers are explaining things in a way to understand it. It's like selling a car for ten dollars, but charging $23,000 for the battery. It does NOT make sense to me.

[buyselljack2016]

Final Value Fee

[pjcdn2005]

FVF = seller final value fees which are based on the total amount a buyer pays for an item including tax

The only person who could really explain why they are doing it is the person who is doing it. Otherwise, it doesn't really make sense.