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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

I recently sold some high dollar items and was completely shocked about the amount of fees ebay is charging these days.  1% listing fee, 10% selling fee, plus paypal fees.  All this with no one at ebay lifting a finger.  Their corporate greed is out of control.  I've been on ebay for over 10 yrs and it did not used to be this way, and it does not need to be this way - it's just greed!

Message 61 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

TeeHee hahahah me 2! Im trying like hell!!!!

Abb's
Message 62 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Totally agree...I won't be buying anything such as saddles to try out anymore, it's just too expensive to sell them if they don't work out.
I won't be selling again period. Craigslist and Facebook and anywhere but EBay.
Message 63 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Agreed that ebay fees are way too high.  Not that long ago the final value fee was 3%. Now it's 10%. 

Message 64 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Most of my FVF are way closer to 40%. **bleep** is going on?

Message 65 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

the fees are listed on the site, it's about the cheapest in most areas. try calling a live auction and getting them to agree to les than 30% fee. and get world wide buyers

age is a measure of time , wisdom is the measure of how we used that time
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

It's not greed, it's called running a business. I get the feeling that most people commenting on here have absolutely no idea what it takes to manage a web server/site. A web service of this magnitude does not run itself. Believe me that there are many people working many hours to keep ebay working on a daily basis. If you think 10% is too much then why don't you start a service of your own and charge 1%...let's see how far you get. 

Message 67 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Jeff, I agree and I disagree. Bottom line is that eBay is still a great place to sell certain things that will reach a huge audience to gain the best possible price. Sellers still come out ahead on these items sold through eBay even with all the fees. The problem is that so many people learned how to abuse the system to avoid fees throughout the years, that they had to apply a blanket approach to fees that hurt the people who are trying to honestly sell and who have a small profit margin to begin with. eBay also has investors to answer to who demand a high return on their investment which drives up fees. The expectation in the corporate world is that profits will continue to grow year after year which is hard to do in this economy. I think the most offensive fee that eBay has is the final value fee on shipping. For those of us who don't charge a handling fee and only charge actual shipping, it's a hard pill to swallow. I think that eBay should waive the fee for anyone who prints their labels through their service or through PayPal because they know what the seller is actually paying that way. If there is a difference between what the seller charged and what the seller paid, eBay can keep the difference as a fee for all I care. This ensures that the buyer gets the best deal and the seller is kept honest with shipping charges.
Message 68 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

These have to be written by ebay employees.  No sane person would think ebay charges fees and in a fair, transparent, and value conscious manner, or care about users other than treating them as profit centers.  Ebay keeps raising prices because it can.  Not because it "has to." 

Message 69 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

"Transparent?"  Not.  If ebay wanted to be transparent they would make calculating fees possible when you LIST your item, and when they invoice you.  They do neither, and there is a reason for that.  They are embarassed, or worried you won't list on ebay if you are confronted with the fees BEFORE you list something.  It's really that sleazy, and simple.  That doesn't mean you can't "make money" selling stuff on ebay, what it means is that ebay business practices are...  that's right. 

Message 70 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

Intentionally hard to figure out.  Which is the definition of NOT transparent.

Message 71 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

You're exactly correct. I was shocked to see my ebay bill after selling two camera lenses. I called them right up and said that there is no way I'm paying that. To be honest, they backed out my two 10% fees and my suspicion is that this policy is not over going well. As you state, these fees should be clearly presented up front before anyone lists a product. I will think twice about selling anything on eBay now that they have this policy.

 

I don't fault any company for making money but just be up front about the manner in which it is intended to be done. I'm disappointed in eBay for the way they implemented their policy and I'm voting with my wallet, sorry to say.

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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price


@puzzlesystems wrote:

You're exactly correct. I was shocked to see my ebay bill after selling two camera lenses. I called them right up and said that there is no way I'm paying that. To be honest, they backed out my two 10% fees and my suspicion is that this policy is not over going well. As you state, these fees should be clearly presented up front before anyone lists a product. I will think twice about selling anything on eBay now that they have this policy.

 

I don't fault any company for making money but just be up front about the manner in which it is intended to be done. I'm disappointed in eBay for the way they implemented their policy and I'm voting with my wallet, sorry to say.


I don't understand what "now that they have this policy" means. The fees haven't changed recently. The fees are also documented in the Customer Support section. Only a fool would list something for sale on a web site without first finding out how much they'll have to pay to do it. Do Etsy or Amazon tell you what it will cost before you list the item, other than having a page that shows the fee structure?

 

Good for you if you managed to talk them into refunding the fees. Don't expect it to happen again.

Message 73 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

eBay only hires people living in India with no clue what their doing, eBay has their head up their ass at this point, their stock is ready to take a major dive
Message 74 of 147
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Re: Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

The reason its they are not upfront about it is there are a mind boggeling different amounts depending on who you are what you sold when you sold it. But they are nothing new every auction house takes a percentage, as well as pawn shop, broker, realestate agent, car saleman. Its the nature of the buisness. it usally is about 5-20 percent. 

 

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