FEES....!!!!!
Summary: lucas92911 expressed frustration about eBay's high fees impacting their profits, particularly noting a 46% cut on a recent sale. christworks responded, suggesting the issue was with low-value items and recommending sourcing more desirable products. Other participants shared similar concerns, with some estimating eBay fees at around 20% to 30%, depending on promotions and selling strategies. Many highlighted the importance of understanding eBay's fee structure and adjusting selling strategies accordingly. Some participants also mentioned the impact of additional fees for seller performance issues, while discussing alternative selling platforms.
Ebay's fees are so over the top now that after selling two items and charging for shipping, after Ebay took their cut out of the whole thing including the shipping, I am getting 83 cents for two items. That is crazy. I have sold on ebay since the early days. It used to be great to help supplement my income just a little bit and to help get rid of things around the hosue while making a little $$. Now, its come to this. Obviously not worth the shipping materials and gas and time to mail the items. I cant raise the prices much higher on items or shipping as no one will buy. Its just so very sad to me that its come to this. I sold something the other day and Ebay took 46% off the top. For what? So aggravating and unsustainable. Thats my reward for staying with them for maybe 30 years? I've lost count.
adamcartwright
·1 week agoHow can a seller sell items for $4.50 and expect to make money?
Accounting for time spent on photographing, measuring, listing, and shipping, is it worth one's time?
shado-x
·1 week agoBlame the US Postal Service, not eBay. The USPS needs to be raided by The Feds for their postal increases that are out of wack with reality. They are stealing a disproportionate cut from sellers, they know it, and there need to be arrests. Since when does the USPS calculate 15.99999oz to raise the rate at an even 1 lb, and then raise it higher at 1.01 lb. RAID!
ten_o_nine
·1 week ago@lucas92911 I sold something the other day and Ebay took 46% off the top.
.......
Can you provide a screenshot where they took 46%?
I think your prices are low and so are your shipping fees. I would never list an item for $3 or $5 online, not because there's no money in such listing but the time factor, to take pictures, compare prices, take measurements and write descriptions, I wouldn't do that if you gave me $10 to do it.
gurlcat
·1 week ago"the other day" was sometime before mid-July, when the OP made this post.
ten_o_nine
·1 week agoI definitely need to keep a closer eye on post dates! It would be helpful if the system generated a pop-up warning before letting you reply to an older, inactive thread.
gurlcat
·1 week agoAnd the date stamp is even tinier here than it was in the khoros forums.
LOL I'd design a bar at the top of each post that advances rightward with time, and maybe darkening color. Something your eyes couldn't miss. And it probably woudlnt be hard to program either.
cozyscollectables
·1 week agoYour not wrong the fees are outrageous and what's criminal about it is they aren't taking the fees off the order amount they deduct fees off the order total which includes shipping and taxes so 12% is actually closer to 15% . For those that are arguing In defense of the fee structure it's 14.66% to be exact then they have no longer allowed promoted fees to be per item it's at the account level. I sold an order for $156 after all the fees are deducted my profit is $70. The order with the shipping was $180 and with buyer paying shipping and shipping cost was $56 I still struggle to understand how that shipping was a wash! Because if buyer pays shipping then that number should have no bearing on my profits yet it does. I could go on about how rediculous practices are in this category. And yes we are stuck dealing and accepting this nonsense because they have the audience. And since eBay prices drive the market in regards to vintage and antique items even if I went to another platform and tried to sell items at actual value they will sit unsold while other sellers are forced to drop prices to accommodate the buyers. It's a vicious cycle!
gurlcat
·1 week agoWhat ad rate did you have set on that thing? It must have been absurdly HIGH, which was entirely your own choice. -You could set it as low as 2% or don't use it at all.
As for how your items would sit unsold on other sites ... uh YEAH. That's WHY you might have lower fees with them. They have a tiny buyer base compared to eBay's, so you get slower results, unless you drop your prices to get a sale from the few shoppers there.
Complaining about eBay's fees compared to other platforms is like complaining about the price of grassfed Jersey butter compared to Great Value Buttery Spread. 😆
christyodac
·1 week agoOmg I just sold something and I was like , wait a minute where did all the money go ? It's like a little over 20% now and if you post so much they charge you too . If they relist they charge . Everything is a fee . And did anyone look at what all the fees are . It's stupid . It's a fee for the selling price , the a fee if you are just a normal person posting ( not a business) then another fee that just says fee , no reason , just fee wth . Are you serious ??????? . I think I'm going to stop selling on here . I have most my item on another site that only takes 11% and to me that's a lot . It's my item , I'm doing all the work . These places are only hosting the posting . And with all the platforms out there you would think they would do better . Shame on eBay , I've been a seller for like 20 years and I'm upset with all these fees they are throwing at us . This is not right !!!
krazzykats
·1 week agoeBay is not taking 20%
Selling fees | eBay
Unless you add extra add-ons.
christyodac
·1 week agoNo there were no extras on my listing . I looked it up . There was only item sale price fee , seller performance fee and a line that just said fee
gurlcat
·1 week agoUh-oh. Performance fee is punishment for having 'Below Standard' seller performance or having 'very high' strikes on your Service Metrics (lots of Item Not As Described returns, and/or Item Not Received cases).
christyodac
·1 week ago · EditedThat's crazy because I don't show any of that and have a 100% . I've been seller here for over 20 years , even received a top seller award a few years ago . Anyhow it's all good . I'm working on deleting a grip of my items .
Thanks for explaining this but I really don't see it in my rating so I'm not sure what happened. I don't have any of the things you listed . I had not have any returns , cases or not received .
gurlcat
·1 week ago · EditedI knew I should have said it has nothing to do with your feedback from buyers. eBay could not care less about sellers' feedback. There are sellers with abysmally low feedback percents, who are also Top Rated.
And there is no measure called a 'rating' on eBay.
Do you not know where to see your Seller level or Service Metrics?
christyodac
·1 week agoYes I looked at it and the only thing that was low was some sales were canceled but that's not on me if the buyer ask .
I'm calling eBay . See what they says . I've been selling since 2000 with no issues . This is the first time I've even heard of this lol . I've never had an issue . 🥺
gurlcat
·1 week ago · Edited@christyodac
christyodac
·1 week agoYes I had already checked it out . Everything is good except a few canceled sales this year .
christyodac
·1 week agoSo called and figured out that they were charging an extra 6% because I had a few canceled sales this year . Nothing else , just that . They said that because of that they are charging me more fees
gurlcat
·1 week agoBut not just any kind of canceled sales count as strikes on the Performance page. -Only the 'Out of stock' reason for canceling, and unfortunately it doesn't take many of those, as you can see on that page (I'm assuming those put you in Below Standard status).
You could easily rise back up to Above Standard, but it sounds like you're determined to leave, so I'll just wish you good luck.
mam98031
·1 week agoThat is a rule that applies to ALL sellers. You can see the effects of this anytime in your Seller Dashboard.
monroe67
·1 week ago · EditedHow is it possible that you have been an eBay seller for 20 years, with very regular sales, and you are only now, today, maybe yesterday, becoming aware of what eBay's fees are ??
"Did anyone look at what all the fees are[?]"
Yes, lots of eBay sellers have looked at all of eBay's published info about fees.
Successful eBay sellers accept eBay's fee structure and all of eBay's rules, regs, policies and procedures.
gurlcat
·1 week agoLOL it wasn't just today or yesterday; they started this post in mid-July. Someone just resurrected it apparently.
stainlessenginecovers
·1 month ago · Edited@lucas92911 Even 30 years ago you could NOT make any $$ selling an item for $10. It cost .60c just to 'list' an item over $10 with NO guarantee it would even sell. Multiply that .60c x 100 items and you were paying $60 for a 7 day auction!!
Did you grow up near power lines?
pepperballhawaii
·1 month agoYes, I agree the fees are way too much for what they provide as a service!
stainlessenginecovers
·1 month ago@pepperballhawaii what they 'provide' as a service is MILLIONS of people can possibly see and buy your items.
Try advertising in the Maui Times and see how many things you sell.
Heck, for 15% of the item price, beating paying $5000 a month is a bargain.
christyodac
·1 week agoIf you look at the fee break down it's over 20% for them to just host the posting and there soooo many platforms now that eBay is trying to be like Poshmark with fees and live selling .. stop faking it ebay !! You are not Poshmark . Not worth 20% to sell my item and do all the work
shire123
·1 week agoNot sure how you are calculating fees but I have never paid more than 13.7% on my sales in the categories I sell in. Most of the time now the fees run around 12% (due to store discount and never promoting). I am guessing that your 20% figure includes shipping which is not an eBay fee.
christyodac
·1 week agoI looked up the break down and it stated sale fee , seller performance fee and fee no description just stated fee . I look all the time so I can see what they took . This is the first time I saw extra fees to my sale.
monroe67
·1 week agoI don't know what "fee break down" you are looking at.
For a majority of eBay sellers, there is NO FEE for posting a listing for sale on ebay.com.
You, however, currently have 263 active listings. It appears you do not have an eBay store.
Only 250 of those 263 are Free of any insertion charge. Thus, on only 13 of your listings, you would have been charged eBay's insertion fee.
When it applies, eBay's insertion fee is a flat 35 cents per listing. The insertion fee is not a percentage of anything.
It is 35 cents, whether your item's listed price is $0.50 or $2,567,298.99.
"eBay is trying to be like Poshmark."
Oh, please.
mam98031
·1 month ago@lucas92911
Ebay hasn't raised their base selling fees in most categories for a very long time. Now if you are CHOOSING to promote your listings, then you are in full control of setting the percentage of additional fees you are WILLING to pay for a sale. So that choice is completely in your control.
If you aren't making enough money on your item, that isn't Ebay's fault, they do NOT set your pricing, you do. So either you are not setting your pricing for what you need to make a reasonable profit or the market just won't allow you to make but pennies on a transaction. Then you would need to decide if it is worth selling those items.
Keep in mind, much like the rest of the world, how it was 30 years ago is not how it is today. So much has change to include how buyers shop and even the buyers that are out there using the site. Not to mention the vast increase in the shear number of active sellers [18+million] along with their active listings [2.5+ BILLION]. Those factors alone change everything from how it was back in the good old days.
I look at shipping a bit differently than some. I charge what I need to charge to safely and accurately ship out my items. If a buyer chooses not to purchase from be due to the shipping costs, then so be it. I am not here to pay buyers to buy from me. I try to stay as reasonable as I can, but as we all know carriers can be a bit crazy with their pricing as the recent changes with USPS rates for GA shows.
Ebay does NOT take 46% in ANY category unless you are doing Promoted fees at 30+%, then that was the seller's decision to do that. Shipping rates are NOT part of Ebay fees. If you sell anywhere on the internet, you will have to ship your items and Ebay does NOT control shipping rates.
Now some little things that may help you.
Re-evaluate your pricing.
Check those shipping rates, some are so low that you are having to pay out of pocket to cover the costs. This link will give you the current USPS rates. If you are buying shipping online, then it is the Commercial rates you want to look at. If you go directly to the PO to buy your shipping, then you are paying full Retail rates.
https://pe.usps.com/PriceChange
Turn on an additional light when taking pictures. Clean Crisp pictures are far more important than many think they are.
Measurements. In some of your clothing listings you put measurements and in others you don't. When selling clothing, new or uses, but really important in used clothing are measurements. Expand your descriptions with information your buyer needs to make an informed purchase. It will only help you.
christyodac
·1 week agoYes they have , they have added additional fees !
I just sold something and I was like , wait a minute where did all the money go ? It's like a little over 20% now and if you post so much they charge you too . If they relist they charge . Everything is a fee . And did anyone look at what all the fees are . It's stupid . It's a fee for the selling price , the a fee if you are just a normal person posting ( not a business) then another fee that just says fee , no reason , just fee wth . Are you serious ??????? . Yes the base fee is the same but they added more fees now
shire123
·1 week agoAs,long as,I stayed below the 250 free montly listing number I never paid a fee for listing or relisting.
christyodac
·1 week agoYes that's why I had to delete most of my postings 😞
mam98031
·1 week agoNo they haven't. At least not for everyone. From your other posts it appears that your seller status has dropped to Below Standard because you have Cancelled too many orders for Seller reasons. Ebay really frowns on that as it is very hard on the buyers and causes buyers to go elsewhere. Even possibly never coming back to show with other sellers. So it is a big deal to all of us.
So you are getting a penalty fee of 6% until you climb out of being Below Standard. It has been in the policy for years. The quickest way to get out of this situation is to do what you can to increase your transactions. Good transactions and NO more Cancellations. You need to dilute the numbers by increasing your transactions.
Also just as important you need to FIX whatever is causing your to Cancel so many transactions. If it is an inventory problem, do an inventory and fix your current listings so they are accurate. This is all within your control.
It isn't "stupid", sellers that file too many cancellations because of being OOS damage ALL sellers by potentially lessening the buyer pool we have. If you don't see that, then you need to do more research and learn more as this is factual.
mam98031
·1 week ago@christyodac It is 6% because you fell Below Standard.
Additional final value fees
You may be charged final value fees if you violate our policy of buying or selling outside of eBay, or we may apply additional final value fees if you are not meeting our performance expectations as described below.
Buying or selling outside of eBay
If you offer or reference your contact information or ask a buyer for their contact information in the context of buying or selling outside of eBay, you'll be charged a final value fee based on the total amount of the sale even if your item doesn't sell. In this situation, the total amount of the sale is determined as follows:
Auction-style listing format: The total amount of the sale is the auction start price, the Buy It Now price (if applicable), the reserve price (if applicable), or the price identified between the buyer and seller, whichever is highest.
Fixed price listing format: The total amount of the sale is the fixed price or the price identified between the buyer and seller, whichever is higher.
Sellers not meeting performance expectations
Additional final value fees may apply on sales in the following circumstances:
If your account is evaluated as Below Standard for the US in the evaluation on the 20th of the month, you'll be charged an additional 6% on the final value fees applicable to sales in the following calendar month. Go to your Seller Dashboard to check your current seller level. This fee does not apply to Above Standard and eBay Top-rated Sellers.
If your account has been evaluated as Below Standard for four or more consecutive months, this fee will increase to an additional 7% on the applicable final value fees until your seller level improves to Above Standard or higher
If your rate of 'Item not as described' return requests is evaluated in your service metrics as Very High in the evaluation on the 20th of the month in one or more categories, you will be charged an additional 5% on the final value fees for sales in those categories in the following calendar month. You can view your personalized service metrics on your Service Metrics dashboard in Seller Hub.
If a particular rate has been evaluated as Very High for four or more consecutive months, this fee will increase to an additional 6% on the applicable final value fees until your rate improves to High or better
Any additional final value fees will be calculated as a percentage of the total amount of the sale. We'll indicate which listings are subject to additional fees on your Account Summary.
Note: If your account is Below Standard and you're rated Very High in your rate of 'Item not as described' return requests, you'll only be charged the additional final value fee for Below Standard.
Learn how you can monitor and improve your seller performance.
https://www.ebay.com/help/store-selling-fees/selling/store-selling-fees?id=4809#section6
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoMany of the items you are offering are not worth the effort of selling. They should be donated to a charity which you approve of.
An item for $4.50 plus $5.98 is not worth your time.
You did a lot of work listing items without realizing that they would not pay for your effort.
bonanza125
·1 month agoThen your selling days on Ebay are over. When you say "Get rid of things" Ebay fees and shipping has gone up. Stuff worth under $7 isn't worth listing individually anymore. It will cost that just to ship the item. Ebay expects you to operate as a business not a yard sale. As a business you need to know your costs and fees up front. If you don't make much either raise your prices or sell elsewhere as in locally. Ebay is not taking 46% unless you click on promotion. The common mistake sellers make who complain here is that they have no idea what costs are until they get to this forum.
spacecoastparts
·1 month ago"Ebay expects you to operate as a business not a yard sale."
Ebay's slogan is "Buy what you love, sell what you don't". That is exactly what a yard sale is, not a business philosophy. People then find out selling their low-value items are not practical.
bonanza125
·1 month agoBuy it. Sell it. Love it is the slogan. Ebay still expects sellers to operate as a business. Ebay offers a 30 day moneyback guarantee. Sellers have a customer base who continue to come back. That is a business philosophy not a yard sale philosophy.
spacecoastparts
·1 month ago · EditedHave you watched the latest eBay commercials? It’s “Buy what you love, sell what you don't”.
It’s on their website:
https://pages.ebay.com/fashion-selling/
eBay may expect sellers to operate as a business, but they lure them in with yard sale mentality.
OP seems to be a prime example of this dichotomy. Wanting to supplement income by getting rid of things around the house. Now for many household items, it’s simply not worth it.
lawnmowerpartsstore2
·1 week agoThen in that case that slogan worked out Great for Ebay.
Ebay is nothing more then a Business. They are not your friend.
They are here to make as much money as possible.
Once you understand that all will be good :)
kensgiftshop
·1 month agoSelling at those prices, there won't be much profit after fees and shipping.
monroe67
·1 month ago"Ebay's fees are so over the top now that after selling two items and charging for shipping, after Ebay took their cut out of the whole thing including the shipping, I am getting 83 cents for two items. . . . "
I will never understand posts like this from long-time sellers of "maybe 30 years."
A glance at "lucas92911's" listings show that he has had more than 13K sold items. That means 13,000. Thirteen thousand items.
Lucas, are you just now learning that the percentage portion of eBay's Final Value Fees (FVFs) are, in true fact, applied to the total paid by the buyer? That total many times does include shipping paid by the buyer.
Of course, with the sleeveless top you sold yesterday, you charged no shipping to the buyer. I will assume that the buyer did pay some sales tax on that purchase, since 45 of the 50 states do charge sales taxes, and most of those do impose sales taxes on clothing.
eBay's FVF on shipping is not a new development.
eBay began charging their FVF on shipping in July of 2011 , so that's 15 years ago.
eBay began collecting sales taxes in 2019 after certain states started requiring it, following the 2018 Supreme Court decision of South Dakota v Wayfair, Inc.
Have you added one of eBay's Promoted Listing arrangements to your listings?
If you have, you are paying eBay the percentage that you chose to pay them.
"I sold something the other day and Ebay took 46% off the top."
eBay's FVF percentages are nowhere close to 46%. The highest FVF percentage is 15.3%. Looking at your sold items, I think everything there is subject to eBay's current standard FVF percentage of 13.6%.
christyodac
·1 week agoIt's gone up !!! They have added more fees , js ! Don't blame the person for seeing that this happened . It equals to a little over 20% now
christworks
·1 month ago · Edited@lucas92911 Honest question: Are you an adult? I'm asking because for a second I thought I was on a board for juveniles.
Lots of drama in that post.
Another question: Who is choosing
to list $6 clothing items with free shipping? eBay or you?
eBay doesn't charge for shipping. You, the seller, charge for shipping. When you list an article of clothing for $5.95 with free shipping, what did you think was going to happen? The whole sale was a loss for you. You have to charge buyers for shipping or include the cost of the label in the item price. Shipping is not actually free.
eBays fees have mostly been unchanged for years. Their fees are around 15%, sometimes less depending on category. They are nowhere near 46%. If you promote your items, that is added to how much they take it. Promotions are optional.
Looking at your items, you are selling a lot of low dollar mall brand clothing that is already heavily saturated and that frankly nobody wants. You need better things to sell. That is your issue. eBay cannot solve that. You can.
It shouldn't have taken until now for you to realize that. But, at least you have. You can turn things around. If you wa t to sell clothing, which is fine, hit the thrift stores up or yard sales and buy only clothing that's in demand and you can flip for better money. You can do it. You aren't a failure. But you got to have better stuff. I wouldn't list anything for less than $10. I have been working on getting rid of low dollar stuff and have pulled my average sales price up to $45 this year.
My rule of thumb is 20% goes to eBay. That is selling fees and promotions. Then, I assume $10 shipping. Both of those numbers are over estimates, but in the field when buying I want that cushion because it helps me avoid items that I'll only make a buck or two on.
monroe67
·1 month ago"My rule of thumb is 20% goes to eBay."
My selling ID estimates 30% of the listing price being retained for eBay fees,
meaning I estimate I will receive 70% of the listing price.
If I get more than that estimated 70%, so much the better.
But I am never surprised by a low payout.
christworks
·1 month ago · Edited@monroe67 If you are giving eBay 30%, you are promoting way too much.
You should never have to be surprised by a low payout. With few exceptions, you should know what you will make off a sale before the sale happens. If you are doing auctions, you may not.
monroe67
·1 month ago"If you are giving eBay 30%, you are promoting way too much.
You should never have to be surprised by a low payout. With few exceptions, you should know what you will make off a sale before the sale happens. If you are doing auctions, you may not."
I am not giving eBay 30%.
I do not promote my listings at any percentage. I tried promoting a few things a couple years ago and got nothing, so I simply do not promote any listings any more.
The point of my post was more like, "Oh! You estimate 20% to eBay!
I, on the other hand, estimate 30%!"
I have now decided to keep this response as short as possible, though I did originally try to emphasize that I was talking about ESTIMATES.
You know, like approximations.
Just a rough almost-guess that I keep only In My Mind.
This statement, though: "With few exceptions, you should know what you will make off a sale before the sale happens." -- I've seen similar opinions or theories about this in these forums occasionally, over many years.
In my experience, there are just waaaaay too many variables in sales of any item that I have listed and sold for me to ever know what I "will make off a sale."
Will the buyer pay sales tax? If so, will it be a low percentage of around 4%-5%, or will the item be delivered to one of those states with higher sales tax rates of 10% to 11%? Varies among states and I don't know which state any potential buyer lives in.
Will the buyer have to pay sales tax on the shipping price he pays as well as on the price of the item?
Will the buyer be in Colorado or Minnesota and have to pay a delivery charge, that is required by his state?
Will the buyer pay no sales tax because the item is delivered to Delaware, but the buyer is located and registered in Russia or England or Australia, so eBay will charge me an additional 1.65% as their International Fee?
You estimate 20%; I estimate 30%.
Maybe I choose to estimate that additional 10% more than you do because I simply do not know the variables I listed above.
Done for today, I think . . . . . . .
christyodac
·1 week agoI never promote either , waste ! They are already taking 20%
soh.maryl
·1 week agoBut you stated earlier that you are paying 46%. Still would like to see the fee breakdown on either of those.