Navigating eBay Transaction Fees: Strategies and Experiences
Summary: 99j99 expressed concerns about eBay's practice of taking a percentage of the total transaction amount, including shipping, which affected their profit margin on a sale. Responses varied; eoma689485 explained this policy as a measure against sellers exploiting shipping charges to evade eBay fees, while others like hartungcards and reallynicestamps highlighted that such fee structures are industry standards. Suggestions included careful consideration of eBay’s fees when pricing items and using accurate shipping calculations to avoid losses. Some participants advised reviewing eBay's terms before selling to ensure understanding and agreement with their fee policies.
I am an Ebay seller. Does anybody else think it right for ebay to take a percentage of the total cost of the item, sales tax, and shipping.
I recently sold a vintage wooden tool box for $29.99, the shipping cost to California was $147.74, usps ground advantage, to which the buyer paid. The total order cost was $180.19. Selling cost and transaction fees was $24.91. So, my total order earning was $4.39. When I took the boxed item to the post office to mail, I was told the shipping cost would have been $138.00 if I had taken to the post office, rather than printing a shipping label. I thought we got shipping discounts through ebay. Also, I had to make a cardboard box, pack it, tape, protect it. Does anyone think it is wrong for ebay to take a percentage of the shipping cost? Any response would be appreciated...thank you! Considering the impact of eBay's transaction fees on both the item and shipping costs, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to maintain a healthy profit margin. How do you manage the balance between competitive pricing and absorbing these fees? Have you found any unique strategies that help minimize the impact of these charges on your sales? Share your experiences and tips for fellow sellers navigating this fee structure.
janet9988
·1 month agoI would not list an item on eBay if I disagreed with their policies.
adamcartwright
·1 month agoFor large items, be sure and use eBay's shipping calculator to know which shipping method to offer in your listing. The prices can vary greatly for these large items.
IMO, large items are a pain to pack and ship unless the potential profit is high.
You learned a valuable lesson, though.
christworks
·1 month ago@99j99 eBay discloses their fees up front; therefore, I do think it is "right" they take them on the total amount the buyer pays. If eBay did this without informing sellers of their policy, then it would be wrong.
I live in the amazingly great United States of America, where I am free to choose where I want to sell. If I do not like how a platform conducts an aspect of their business, I am free to choose not to sell on that platform. No sleep lost. No worry. No stress.
onefootflipper
·1 month agoOk, you did something very wrong here. You shipped a large and heavy item ground advantage, and. Ground Advantage is always the wrong choice for any package larger than 22" in any dimensions.
Had you instead shipped it the cheapest possible method, which for such items is USUALLY Fedex economy, although sometimes it is a different Fedex or UPS service then you would have probably had an 80 to 100 dollar profit on the shipping instead of taking a bath on it. You can freely switch in equivalent or better shipping service levels, you don't have to use the one you calculated off of in the listing.
pf9000
·1 month agoFar away customers cost the Seller more. I think there should be a cap on far away customers percentage fee's on shipping. The reason they charge a percentage on shipping is because some Sellers in the past would charge a very high shipping amount to lower the fee's but it doesn't work that way currently. I have a lot of sales where I lost money. Some of these would have been better donated to charity or thrown in the dumpster.
kensgiftshop
·1 month agoSome items are better sold local for cash.
mam98031
·1 month ago@99j99 Pricing is the responsibility of the Seller, not Ebay. If you did not consider all your costs, including selling fees, when you priced your product, that isn't Ebay's fault, that is a seller error.
Ebay's fees are very transparent. They aren't hidden in any way. How Ebay calculates fees is also not hidden. It is based on the TOTAL amount that a buyer pays. So that includes the product and shipping. This is NOT unlike other sites like Ebay. This is pretty normal stuff in the industry.
As a seller we just need to be aware of all this when we price our stuff. I hope you find your future pricing more accurate for you.
roccotacodad54
·1 month agoJust hope the buyer doesn't decide to return it and you have to pay to ship it back or not.
A shipping price vs sale price disparity like that could attract not so honest buyers hoping you will not want to pay for return shipping therefore getting the item for free.
pf9000
·1 month agoIt happened to me. So dishonest. I had to refund the customer when the item sold for $1.00 and the return shipping from that far away location would have been too costly.
pickapaper
·1 month ago"When I took the boxed item to the post office to mail, I was told the shipping cost would have been $138.00 if I had taken to the post office, rather than printing a shipping label."
How did the PO clerk know how much you paid for the label? Did you have them double check? If so, was their measurements the same as what you measured? I think something is amiss here because I've never seen eBay's labels cost more than the PO's.
shire123
·1 month agoWhat I pay for USPS labels from ebay is printed on the actual label.
pickapaper
·1 month ago@shire123
I forgot that some sellers want the price printed on the eBay label so the buyer can see that the label cost what they paid. But I don't want the price to show on my labels so I choose the option for it not to show.
ryry-jj
·1 month agoThe issue here is more, do sellers fully understand how eBay operates? Is it right to allow the seller to sell when they don't have the knowledge of the platform? I see nothing wrong with it as eBay is very upfront with it...doesn't mean I like it, but it is 100% fair, you decide if you want to sell or not based on that knowledge.
monroe67
·1 month ago"Does anybody else think it right for ebay to take a percentage of the total cost of the item, sales tax, and shipping."
I think it is perfectly right for eBay, Inc., to manage their operations in any legal manner that benefits them and their stockholders.
That's the purpose of a corporation, after all: to protect the investment(s) of its stockholders.
Yes, eBay calculates the percentage portion of the Final Value Fee (FVF) on the Total Amount Paid By The Buyer.
You have apparently made at least 1,700 sales on eBay over the years.
Have you honestly never noticed this Fact until today or maybe yesterday ????
99j99
OP1 month agoyes but little items not much but for ebay to take that much from shipping cost is redicoulos. im not making money on shipping
redmodelt
·1 month agoNothing is hidden as far as charged fees go and you agreed to the charges when you listed the item(s). My tip would be to read the information in the Help/Contact section in the how to sell on eBay and fees charged. You could have calculated the fees that would have been charged by using the furthest Zip using information from USP that it might have traveled to and maybe 7.5% on the total for sales tax.
reallynicestamps
·1 month agoThat has been the industry standard since Diners Club introduced the credit card in the mid 1950s.
Fees are charged on the ENTIRE payment by the payment processor.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoIf you are not already, you should be considering the Ebay fees (in total) and the cost and difficulty in shipping when you source and list your Ebay items.
Some items will not generate enough profit to justify selling on Ebay or the other major marketplace sites.
You have a diverse list of categories your merchandise is listed in. And some of those categories are extremely competitive and have short profit margins, you need to be picky in what you choose to sell in those categories.
The size of the fees is a given, and the margins should be predictable. And you may need to allow for price reductions, cost of returns and product losses in your decision making.
Ebay is not a place where you can thrive selling anything you can find. It requires strategy and planning to succeed and avoid the frustration which has led you to start this thread.
Entire categories come and go from my offerings as the market changes, or as the buyers for those products change.
Obviously, the less you are able to pay for the items you are going to sell will give you more flexibility.
dbmm-media
·1 month ago · Edited.
redmodelt
·1 month agoOnly a few cents!
99j99
OP1 month agohow is my math wrongitem sold for 29.99 shipping was 147.74 sales tax 3.15 total 180.19. i paid 147.74 for shipping and 24.91 for transaction fees 3,15 was taxes so my net was 4.39
hartungcards
·1 month agoIt's really not a matter of if it's "right" for ebay to take a percentage of the total cost of the item, sales tax, and shipping. That's just how credit card processing works across the board.
a-lotta-stuff
·1 month ago"That's just how credit card processing works"
Correct - And remember only X amount of the two fees - fixed and percentage - goes to ebay.
Just another cost of doing business.
eoma689485
·1 month ago · EditedeBay started taking a percentage of the shipping when some sellers began listing items, for let's say $1.00, and charging $150.00 to ship instead of charging $150.00 for the item and $1.00 to ship. They were cheating eBay, so eBay decided to charge on the shipping as well to stop the cheating.
You agreed to the fees when you signed up to use eBay, if you didn't like it, or thought that it was wrong, you could have just not signed up.
Did you measure the item and weigh it before listing - and did you round up - you entered those dimensions and weight when you listed, and if the post office price was cheaper, you entered the wrong amounts or guessed.