Ebay Fees seem to have gone way up in the past few years

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When did the fees go up to 16-30% of the selling price?

sparrowhawk_inc

5144 View listings

Posted 4 months ago·Last reply 4 months ago

7 comments

monroe67

Mentor4 months ago

199 View listings

You've been a member of eBay for more than 26 full years.

You've sold more than 10,000 items on eBay.

If you are just now noticing eBay's current fee structure, you should really start paying closer attention.

It's probably been around four years since the percentage portion of eBay's Final Value Fees (FVFs) were increased.

More recently, eBay did increase the fixed, per-order portion of their final value fees. They used to be $0.30 (30 cents) on every order, but eBay increased them to $0.40 (40 cents) when the total paid by the buyer is $10.01 and more.

When the total order purchase price is $10.00 and less, the per-order fee is still only 30 cents.

I have no insider information, of course, but I'd say semi-sorta-logically that the chances of a FVF increase may be increasing. I would not be surprised to see a slight rise in some categories' FVF percentages after the end of this year (2026).

That does not mean I would be happy with an FVF increase.

It just means I would not be surprised to see an FVF increase.

sparrowhawk_inc

OP4 months ago

5144 View listings

I keep track of the % of the sell price that ebay takes and it seems to range from 13% all the way up to 30%+. For example. I sell a large item let's say for 25.00 and charge the buyer 30.00 and it costs me 30 to ship to the buyer, then ebay is taking out 7.50 in fees, which comes out to be ~30% of the item's sell price. If ebay is charging the % on the sales tax, I have an issue with that as that is going direct to the state and ebay is just cashing in on this. The only way I've found to get the actual fee back down to where ebay says it should be is to start charging more to ship, which sucks but it's what has to be done.

sparrowhawk_inc

OP4 months ago

5144 View listings

it just sucks that ebay is charging the full % of the FVF on shipping which should realistically should be a wash to the seller, unless they are charging more than actual shipping. Which I guess I really need to raise the cost of shipping on most of my stuff to lower the % taken from the sell price when everything is accounted for.

monroe67

Mentor4 months ago

199 View listings

"I keep track of the % of the sell price that ebay takes and it seems to range from 13% all the way up to 30%+. For example. I sell a large item let's say for 25.00 and charge the buyer 30.00 and it costs me 30 to ship to the buyer, then ebay is taking out 7.50 in fees, which comes out to be ~30% of the item's sell price. If ebay is charging the % on the sales tax, I have an issue with that as that is going direct to the state and ebay is just cashing in on this. The only way I've found to get the actual fee back down to where ebay says it should be is to start charging more to ship, which sucks but it's what has to be done."

If I bought one of your lowest-priced items, at $5.00, I would pay $0.39 in sales taxes.

eBay would retain 13.6% of that amount for, as you say, a "cash in" of $0.05. Five cents.

More eBay sales are on the lower-priced side, like your $3.00 and $5.00 listings. If and when your $475 item sells, if it sells to somebody paying the same sales tax rate as I do, eBay would "cash in" a full $5.00.

I doubt that eBay is catering big employee parties with all that money in fees that they collect on sales tax.

Five dollars doesn't buy a lot of French fries or pizza these days.

"it just sucks that ebay is charging the full % of the FVF on shipping which should realistically should be a wash to the seller, unless they are charging more than actual shipping. Which I guess I really need to raise the cost of shipping on most of my stuff to lower the % taken from the sell price when everything is accounted for."

You're not the only eBay seller who dislikes eBay's Final Value Fee arrangements. But you did (and do) agree to be bound by them and all other eBay regulations when you list an item to (try to) sell on eBay.

Here's the full quote from eBay's User Agreement about their Final Value Fees:

[Start Quote]

Final value fees

We charge one final value fee when your item sells, and you don't have to worry about third-party payment processing fees. This fee is calculated as a percentage of the total amount of the sale, plus a per order fee.

For orders $10.00 or less the per order fee is $0.30, for orders over $10.00 the per order fee is $0.40.

The total amount of the sale includes the item price, any handling charges, any shipping costs collected from the buyer (some exceptions apply), sales tax, and any other applicable fees.

An order is defined as any number of items purchased by the same buyer at checkout with the same shipping method.

If you need to refund the buyer or cancel the sale, you may be eligible for fee credits as per our fee credits policy.

[End Quote]

Successful eBay sellers accept these rules and work with them. Many eBay sellers take the position that their buyers "pay" their eBay fees. This is done by thoughtful and careful pricing, and maybe adding a handling price into their shipping policies.