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Fees
Is everybody paying for listing items, or its just me.?
Thanks for your your response
L J
lucygoofy
Posted Jul 11, 2026 at 9:22 PM · Edited Jul 11, 2026 at 9:22 PM·Last reply 3 weeks ago
8 comments
lucygoofy
OP3 weeks agoI sold and item all was a total of $44.28. Sub total was $33. with $8 for shipping and $3.28 for sales tax. Transaction fee $6.42 Shipping label at $6.79 and add fee $ 3.99. Since when do we pay for SHIPPING Labels? Ad Fee $3.99. Is this normal? Am going NUTS?
monroe67
Mentor3 weeks ago"I sold and item all was a total of $44.28. Sub total was $33. with $8 for shipping and $3.28 for sales tax. Transaction fee $6.42 Shipping label at $6.79 and add fee $ 3.99. Since when do we pay for SHIPPING Labels? Ad Fee $3.99. Is this normal? Am going NUTS?"
It is helpful to know all the dollar amounts involved in this transaction, to know how to answer your concerns.
"Since when do we pay for SHIPPING Labels?"
When you say "pay for shipping labels", I'm not sure exactly what you mean.
Do you think a shipping label, available through eBay, is just a piece of paper with the buyer's delivery address and your return address as the seller? It is not.
When you buy your US Postal Service (USPS) Ground Advantage shipping label through eBay, you are actually paying the USPS for the delivery of the sold item from your location to your buyer's location. The shipping label you purchase through eBay will have all the USPS info to show that postage has been paid. You paid the postage.
I didn't start selling on eBay until maybe 2006 or 2007, but I am virtually positive that
eBay sellers have always had to pay the delivery cost for the things they sell on eBay.
The reason is very simple, per this example:
The item I'm selling is in my home in Southern California.
A buyer in, say, Minnesota has bought and paid for that item.
I, in California, am the only person who could possibly, realistically, logically, and logistically pay for the postage to mail that item from California to Minnesota.
By your own description, confirmed by looking at your sold listings, the delivery/shipping price on this item was $8.00. That means your buyer paid you $8.00 for shipping.
In effect, you made a $1.21 "profit" on shipping since your buyer paid $8.00, but the price you paid for shipping, through eBay, was only $6.79. Assuming that what your post states is true.
The Math: $8.00 - 6.79 = $1.21.
Now, your post states: "Ad Fee $3.99. Is this normal?"
Yes, for you, it apparently is normal.
The Promoted Listing program that you agreed to -- and you decided on the percentage for -- resulted in an "ad fee" of $3.99 on this transaction.
Because you agreed to that fee, then, yes, that $3.99 add fee is absolutely perfectly normal.
If an "ad fee" showed up on any sale that my selling ID might make, that would not be normal, because my selling ID has chosen not to use any of eBay's Promoted Listing services.
You did, so you have to pay your $3.99 ad fee.
A little more accurately, eBay will keep $3.99 from your sale's proceeds.
Because you told eBay to keep that, when you set up your Promoted Listings arrangement at whatever percentage you chose to impose on yourself.
I don't think you're going nuts. I think you just do not realize everything there is to know about eBay's fees, let alone the process of buying postage through eBay.
comics-scifi-collectibles
Mentor3 weeks ago@lucygoofy When you list click on the little "i" at the bottom of the screen next to the fee to see what it is for.
Since you are not over the 250 monthly listing allotment you must be adding some type of optional listing upgrade.
Gallery Plus maybe?
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822&st=1
monroe67
Mentor3 weeks ago"Is everybody paying for listing items, or its just me.?"
Understanding eBay's terminology takes a bit of a learning curve.
Are you sure you are paying (or eBay is keeping) a fee for "listing items"?
I just took a quick glance through Item 6 of eBay's User Agreement (Fees & Taxes), and I don't see any fees that are labeled "listing" fees.
There are Insertion Fees, which are only 35 cents per listing. They are charged simply for creating a listing and making it active, but only after you've listed 250 items during a calendar month. The first 250 listings per month are free of eBay's Insertion Fees.
You've been an eBay member for eight years and you currently have well under 250 items listed, so it seems unlikely that you are being charged eBay Insertion Fees.
"Disneyshopper" gave you a list of a few listing enhancements that will cost you fees even if you do not pay an Insertion Fee -- because you have listed fewer than 250 items per month.
Could you be asking about eBay's Final Value Fees, which include a 30 cent or 40 cent per-order fixed fee? The 30 or 40 cents varies depending on whether the buyer's total payment was under or over $10.00.
Or are you using one of eBay's promoted listing arrangements? If you are, you chose the percentage that you allow eBay to keep in exchange for promoting your listings.
lucygoofy
OP3 weeks agoDid you pay for a Shipping Label? I'v never seen that before.
monroe67
Mentor3 weeks ago"Did you pay for a Shipping Label?"
Yes. For probably 99.89% of everything that my eBay Selling ID has sold, I have purchased the shipping label through eBay.
I did try PirateShip for two things about two years ago. My personal preference is to buy the shipping through eBay; lots of other eBay sellers, though, will use PirateShip for everything they sell and ship. It's purely a personal choice.
I am not quite sure how you've "never seen that before", assuming you mean that you've never seen the shipping cost deducted from your eBay payout before.
lucygoofy
OP3 weeks agoThank you for pointing that issue out of seeing it taking out before. Thank for sharing how it could’ve slipped that.
disneyshopper
Mentor3 weeks agoWithout a store subscription, you get the first 250 listings with 0 charge each month, unless you are a new or infrequent seller with listing/selling limits.
There are fees if you use any of the optional listing features, such as bold title, subtitle, 2 categories, reserve price, 1-3 day duration, or if you promote your listings.