Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

[bluemorningglory]

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.

[rielivo2]

he sure does a true devout A group of ex sellers are trying to open a more competitive merchandising websites that will fill the holes we believes are present in the ebay system .We are looking for partners who want to create something new innovative a true free market  where buyers and sellers get the same rights and privileges if you are interested email me at obabadjide@gmail.com

[onemoretag]

Yep. 10% plus PayPal fee is too much for me. 

Craigslist will work fine.

[ktom300]

Hmmm, I hadn't sold on eBay for a while and decided to clean out some bike parts. Can't believe the bill I received for 10% of value. Truly a pound of flesh. My fault for not reading into it, ebay's fault for losing my future business.

[eboehm2012]

Ebay charged me 25 dollars TWO WEEKS AFTER I MADE THE SALE.  What the hell ebay?  And now my bank account hit me with overdraft fees.  $30 may not be a big deal for someone who has a job but for a recently gradauted poor college student it is a **bleep**ty thing to do on ebay's part.  Atleast give people the charges up front, instead of fooling them into thinking that the sale is done and then charge people TWO WEEKS LATER.   Like the op said, i will never be selling anything on ebay ever again... 

SCREW YOU EBAY!

[anonymoose99]

The fee schedule is posted, and it's very simple: you'll owe ebay 10% of what the buyer pays.

And your college owes you a refund.

[bellamore21]

Hey, new here, sorry, I am having trouble figuring out where the original post you are all replying to is (i.e. "Reality check? Fee percentage of selling...etc"). 😞

[bellamore21]

Nevermind, I figured it out. Wish they would just leave it up on pg 1, seems more intuitive. 

[idogwireless]

I agree. I am a former Power Seller and been with eBay 10 years. With the seller ratings change, have to give a 14 day return to make top seller status. I am done. I have an alternative that charges 10 dollars per transaction for phones and tablets. And they have PayPal protection. Really tired of eBay.

[bsummerof2008]

Haven't used ebay selling feture for some time.  Today I sold an Surface Pro 3 for 1250 and got a final fee of 125!!! I am in schock.  How can they charge so much for listing something!!!.  I used ebay a few years ago and it was much lower than 10%.  This is just unacceptable, i am going to amazon and craiglist from now on.  

[auctionmoney]

You are so right! How can they possibly justify charging fees for postage when they know for a FACT that a seller made nothing on postage!

Beyond that there are three things eBay could do to vastly improve client relations without loss to revenue:

1. Charge flat fees for both listings and Final Value Fees.
2. Stop pretending that they are not PayPal, bundle the PayPal fees with the eBay fees.
3. Display the total fees on the Create Your Listing and Sold Listings pages.

When people are confused or feel that someone is "putting one over on them" they are not inclined to do business.

[auctionmoney]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Lets talk internet traffic.

Globally 24th

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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. 

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I too am very pleased with eBay and I also have no problem with PayPal.  That does not change the experience of people whom are frustrated and confused.  There are a dozen way the system could be made simpler and easier to understand. 

All Fees could be calculated and displayed automatically during the listing process to the benefit of all. 

Rationally, the PayPal fees and eBay fees should be shown a total amount as they are one and the same company. 

Additionally, There is no vindicating the charging of a Final Value Fee on postage purchased through eBay when the amount is exactly the same or less than that charged to the buyer.

It is not about some people having the time of their lives and making money, it is about making this thing we love as fun and profitable as possible for everyone.

[redbud_farm]

EBay is spinning off pay pal.

Most know to lol at all costs before even becoming a seller

[getbackgertie]

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.

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You're clearly someone that works for ebay then.  I agree that the fees are a complete **ss-take.  I hadn't used Ebay for quite a while then had a clear out lately.  I was astonished when I received my invoice and it doesn't give a complete breakdown on it either.  That's just confusing and irritating.  Who wants to scrabble around, looking for that basic detail??  10% is way too high, especially when it includes postage - there's no way the charges used to be anything like that percentage.  Pure greed in my opinion. I will be looking for other ways to sell now.

[redbud_farm]

All sellers now " work for eBay"

But the fees are lower than most other venues

[coyoteagle1]

I started selling again after a long absence. My total sales are $3,235.57 in the last 60 days. Ebay has charged me $703.90 for these sales. Correct me if I am wrong, but this is much more than10 percent. It is exactly 21.75505 percent that Ebay is trying to charge me.