Quick Calculations to Determine if Item is Worth Selling

[xvoodoomanx]

Just looking for some rough guidance to determine if item is worth selling.

Under the Managed Payments it looks like my categories have roughly 12 -13% Final Value Fees.

Also get charged 0.30 on top of FVF for each sale. 

I sell low dollar trading cards, used records mainly. A lot of my items sell for $1.50 to $6.

Now .30 doesnt sound like much but is a large percentage of items that sell for under $2.

Add in shipping and it seems like I am only keeping about 60-62% of the total value of items sold.

Is it no longer worth the effort to sell inexpensive items? Is there a certain minimim sale price you all use or keep in mind before even listing?

I have already figured out:

1. Keep items under 1 pound (unless qualifies for media mail)

2. Use eBay Standard Envelope for shipping trading cards.

But...so much of the percentage of my low dollar items is being eaten up by the increased fees under Managed Payments PLUS the 0.30 charge on top.

I would appreciate any guidance.

Thank you...

[psycheme]

 Amazing I just read all of these posts and the amount of effort and work it will take most of you to sell a five to $20 item is ludicrous. eBay is killing you on fees and everyone is trying to  figure out what their bottom line will be after commissions wow! This is supposed to be fun and easy now eBay has made it  stressful and insane.  Remember time is money and it sounds like many of you are wasting your time. Unfortunately for the little guy this does not work out, I don't even go on eBay now to look at items to buy  and I'm sure I'm not the only one. They are kicking me off on May 28 unless of course they go back to their old policy and then I will start selling again best of luck to everyone trying to hang in there but just listen to yourselves Cheers 

[mam98031]

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@psycheme wrote:

 Amazing I just read all of these posts and the amount of effort and work it will take most of you to sell a five to $20 item is ludicrous. eBay is killing you on fees and everyone is trying to  figure out what their bottom line will be after commissions wow! This is supposed to be fun and easy now eBay has made it  stressful and insane.  Remember time is money and it sounds like many of you are wasting your time. Unfortunately for the little guy this does not work out, I don't even go on eBay now to look at items to buy  and I'm sure I'm not the only one. They are kicking me off on May 28 unless of course they go back to their old policy and then I will start selling again best of luck to everyone trying to hang in there but just listen to yourselves Cheers 

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Again it is amazing to me how you make so many assumptions and how passionately you feel about them.  

For many of us that sell here, we don't find the fees that out of line for the exposure and sales we get.  Yes you will find sites out there that have lower fees and some that have higher fees.  It is a mixed bag.  But that mixed bag will also extend to how much you can or will sell on those sites too and if you are looking to make money you need to consider that as well.  It isn't just about the fees.

Seeing as there are over 18 million sellers worldwide on Ebay and about 7 million US sellers, it is unlikely that your assumptions hold true for very many of them.  

Ebay is not going to reverse course for MP.  I know there are many that would love to see that happen, but Ebay has made it crystal clear that they will not be doing that.

[michba-5363]

hahaha good one!

[quincydepot]

Remember that eBay is also going to get FVF on sales tax collected by them.  It really kills the margin on low dollar items.  I wrote a Numbers Spreadsheet that I use to determine price.   It considers:

1.  Cost of acquisition

2. Cost of shipping

3.  Fees on Item

4.  Fees on shipping

5.  Fees on sales tax (~6%)

6.  Shows total fee amount

7.  Total Payout

8.  Shipping Cost

9.  Margin After Fees & Costs 

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.