Does ebay take a percentage of the cost of a shipping label?
I sold an item for 99 cents and received 8 cents from ebay.
Another item sold for 3.99, and I received $2.07.
If so, is this to encourage the seller to offer free shipping?
4 comments
I sold an item for 99 cents and received 8 cents from ebay.
Another item sold for 3.99, and I received $2.07.
If so, is this to encourage the seller to offer free shipping?
eburtonlab
·2 years agoIf so, is this to encourage the seller to offer free shipping?
No, it is to discourage the seller from shifting costs into shipping to avoid paying eBay fees, which is not the same thing.
Consider three sellers selling the same item.
Seller A sells for $90 plus $10 shipping.
Seller B sells for $100 and free shipping.
Seller C sells for $1 and $99 shipping.
Under eBay's current system, each seller pays the same fee based on the $100 total sale (ignoring sales tax).
If eBay did not take the cost of shipping into account, then Seller B would pay a higher fee than the other two sellers. Seller C would pay much lower fees.
If a significant number of sellers adopted Seller C's pricing strategy, eBay would either lose a lot of money or else have to raise fee percentages. Higher fee percentages would make Seller C's strategy even more advantageous.
If enough sellers adopted C's strategy, eBay would have to raise fees over 100%, making C's strategy the only profitable strategy for any seller, and making many otherwise viable low-cost transactions entirely unprofitable for all sellers.
chevymontecarlo88
·2 years agoAs others have stated and most know, Free shipping is not free but if you build the cost into your item (fixed price) it can give buyers the perception they are getting a deal. Regardless if it is a deal or not, the psychology behind it does work at times and is the reason many use it. Offering it on auctions can be risky especially if you start the auction at .99 with no reserve. (if auction sells for .99 w/Free shipping)
fab_finds4u
·2 years agoFree shipping isn't free. Sellers build the cost of shipping into the item cost when they offer free shipping. eBay should advertise as shipping included instead of free.
redmodelt
·2 years agoYes it takes a percentage of the shipping and sales tax. Free shipping is a gimmick that makes it look like shoppers are getting something for free but actually may be paying higher cost to cover shipping all over the US. Free shipping is NOT free, it comes out of the sales price.
Unless you are building up sales count, selling for .99 is a waste of time.