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Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

I think that I am not offended by the amount of fees that are charged, but by how the fee structure is frustratingly hidden by Ebay/Paypal. I decided to sit down with a calculator, and find out how much (on average) fees are really costing me. I wanted an average percentage number, so that I could glance at an item while shopping, and say, "Ok, it will cost me this much to sell it. Is it worth buying it to sell on Ebay?"



Let's assume that I am a small seller without a store. I go to a yard sale, and buy some ordinary piece of trash, say the classic frog beanie baby. I intend to sell it on Ebay, and ship it in a small Priority Mail flat rate box. The buyer will use a credit card to send me the money via paypal. What percentage of my selling price will Ebay keep?



I decide to list the item for $10 with buyer paying shipping of $4.95. The auction ends with one bid. I "sold" my item for $10. What percentage of that $10 selling price did Ebay keep?



I started with the Ebay fee calculator, which states that Ebay fees for this item will be a mere $0.90, or 9% of the selling price. I follow a footnote to find that Ebay will also charge me a final value fee on shipping. That is another $0.45 in fees. Why did Ebay put in big bold numbers that my Ebay selling fee was only $0.90?



Next, I go to Paypal. After several frustrating page views, I find that I do not qualify for the 1.9% rate, but the 2.9% rate. This rate is applied to the entire amount sent to me, $14.95. Another $0.43 in fees. I also notice that this 2.9% is in addition to a flat fee of $0.30.



So, add it all up: 0.90 + 0.45 + 0.43 + 0.30 = $2.08



On an item which sold for $10, my selling fees were 21% of the selling price.



We have run several numbers through the calculators, and selling fees of about 20% of the selling price seems to be a fairly consistant estimate for my selling style.



Of course, you should try running a more typical item (high/low price, other categories) for items that you normally sell. For a $1 item with 50 cents shipping, your selling fees would be about 50% of the $1 selling price.



In general, fees would be about 12% of total amount (price plus shipping) sent by seller, plus 30 cents.

Message 1 of 147
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146 REPLIES 146

Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Finallly somebody out there gets it...sellers aren't really making that much money in this ebay handshake deal.  We're getting screwed and we come back for more because...where else can you sell?  Craigslist has been my go-to source lately, I like that, no fees but similar lowballers to deal with.  Do not sell low dollar items...that's what ebay has forced use sellers to do...only $100 on up.  Anything less than that and you are spinning your financial wheels.

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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

You are absolutely right about sellers not making anything on EBay.  A seller does all the work; photos, listing, packaging, shipping, travel time & car expense, etc. etc. not to mention supplying the goods.  And that's assuming the sale went through without a problem or having to deal with an unreasonable buyer.  On many items you would be better off using your time for something else and just giving the item away.  The percentage EBay charges for just hosting a web site is totally unreasonable.

Message 47 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Ebay is completely dishonest about fees. I have been using it since day one and have no certainty about the cut ebay is going to want at the end of the day,since its always changing and different for every little variance in yor listing.  We used to charge shipping to lower the high fees, now shipping is a service ebay middle mans also.  Fees on my current listings are all 20-25% middle man fees I dont think any human being does one calore or labor to earn this entity their cut. Rather high considering Dwolla charges .25 for any transaction.  ebay/paypal are a protected monopoly and it saddens me that I still have to use them due to their universal status (and that is the ONLY reason).  Sell for a fair price, pay for packaging,deal with scamming post office and pay 25% cut just to have some pictures on a **bleep**py webite that people know the name of...  Because honestly ebay has went downhill tremendously in its functionality.

 

 

These people have to be the richest in the world. Do nothing for the last decade and collect 20% of trillions of transactions, 1% of that probablly pays all operations. We already know paypal is excmpt from what other institutions are forced to pay to operate..

Message 48 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

I said **bleep** by the way, ebay will of course attempt to make me look like I said something worse.

Message 49 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

20% has been around for a few years. Take into consideration the terrible traffic and you've got even more costs. It's getting really terrible. 

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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

I'm new, and also confused about fees. I did read the fee schedule, and thought I had it down.  My first invoice came with detailed items, and I could see where I had slipped up.  (One was falling for " free" bold heading promotion, then getting dinged 50ç when the item relisted automatically.)

 

But for the most part, my invoice from ebay seemed right.  It was paid in full on April 23.  

 

But what has me really upset is that is casually mentioned that while I had paid the first invoice, there were pending "New activity not yet invoiced" of $75.47!  This is for two weeks of activity in which I have only sold 9 items.  I added up my fees per item sold, and the total is $40.13, according to ebay's own "fee per item sold page."  I've only made maybe 20 listings where there was a 30 cent insertion fee, so another $6 or so.

 

There is still a BIG PROBLEM here.

 

I am not usually clueless about such things, but I am with this.   I'm still in the "teach myself to use ebay" stages, and some mistakes come with the territory.  I actually come from the world of selling my paintings where gallery commissions of 40 - 50% are normal, so I just understand you build it in.

 

But, man, I don't like getting blindsided.  If I have to pay $75 on the items I sold, then we are looking at gallery level commissions here, not the advertised percentages.  I don't like not knowing what arbitrary thing will send my fees skyrocketing. In the New Activity not Invoiced thingie, they don't itemize.  They just give you a balance owed.

 

And while I get that ebay was getting tired of people who charged low item fees, and fake priced the shipping and handling high to avoid paying final value fees, what I don't get is why when we print the label through ebay and they can SEE what we actually pay for shipping...why we still get dinged for 10% of this.  

 

I'm not complaining as much as asking what is going on.  Once I get it, I can determine if this is something even worth my time.  I am actually getting kind of good at scoping out items for a good price that can turn a nice profit, but I would love to know where I stand with them and not get surprised by high fees out of the blue.

 

What am I missing?  Anyone know where to look?

 

Message 51 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

I mean I sold a 290 dollar item, which was a laptop graphics card and paid free shipping which was only 8 dollars which makes my profit at 282 and Ebay took 29 dollars out which made it so I only made 253. That's alot of money for Ebay when do absolutely nothing, their customer service is almost 100% horrible

Message 52 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

ebays greed is out of control

Message 53 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

i used to sell $5 items for 99cents and charge 46-48 shipping. i was trying to get those cheap listing fees that used to come with 99cent starting bids.

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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price


@purpledragons117 wrote:

I mean I sold a 290 dollar item, which was a laptop graphics card and paid free shipping which was only 8 dollars which makes my profit at 282 and Ebay took 29 dollars out which made it so I only made 253. That's alot of money for Ebay when do absolutely nothing, their customer service is almost 100% horrible


Well, if eBay did "absolutely nothing", surely you could find some other web site to do "absolutely nothing" for less. You're not much of a businessperson if you paid some company 10% to do "absolutely nothing".

 

Heck, I'll do "absolutely nothing" for you and only charge 5%. Win-Win.

Message 55 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

You must have that syndrome where hostagess actually feel bad for their captors

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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Anonymous
Not applicable
Lets talk internet traffic.

 

Globally 24th

 

U.S.A.     7th

 

13.77 page views per visitor

 

11.39  daily time spent on site
 
 
87 cents from every dollar to make a decent profit. Included is the cost of the item, shipping costs, and what ever else might be needed. For me it's usually packing cardboard and usually free from a local grocery store. Yes I make a decent profit and keep my clients happy with same day shipping and quality merchandise usually better than they expect.  I have been selling since 2002 and have no regrets. In fact I am very pleased with eBay/PayPal. 

 

Message 57 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Totally agree with your last paragraph artie_chicago. 

If one can't make money on eBay then it is for several reasons:

1.  One is selling the wrong stuff  i.e.  small market low sales potentional  or items that thousands are sell the same thing

2.  The purchase/acquistion cost is too high

3.  Selling price is too low

4.  One doesn't know what they are doing

5.  Listings are less than professional - bad pics, minimum description

"I have the right to remain silent but I didn't have the ability." Ron White, Fritch, Texas
"Stay away from negative people, they have a problem for every solution." A. Einstein
The Devil made me do it! - Flip Wilson
If the band can only play loud - they ain't no good - peps too J.R. Johnson
Message 58 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price


@hilllbillle wrote:

i used to sell $5 items for 99cents and charge 46-48 shipping. i was trying to get those cheap listing fees that used to come with 99cent starting bids.


And to completely AVOID paying FVFs on your shipping charges.  It was folks like you that caused eBay to start charging  a FVF on  shipping costs.

"I have the right to remain silent but I didn't have the ability." Ron White, Fritch, Texas
"Stay away from negative people, they have a problem for every solution." A. Einstein
The Devil made me do it! - Flip Wilson
If the band can only play loud - they ain't no good - peps too J.R. Johnson
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

If my previous message is still here, please ignore it. I made a mistake and ran out of time to edit. It was only a couple minutes, which is ridiculous. Reading through everything today confused me and I thought my PayPal fees were noted in my eBay invoices, even though I knew previously that they weren't. D'uh. Please carry on.

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