what percentage of the total sale does seller pay for a promoted listing?
Summary: In the discussion, various participants inquire about the percentage a seller must pay on the total sale for a promoted listing. The conversation is fragmented, with multiple responses and follow-ups from different author IDs, but no clear resolution or specific percentage is mentioned. The topic remains focused on understanding transaction fees associated with promoted listings.
I got numerous great answers and suggestions, but am still looking for how promoted listed fees
are calculated, e.g. if I relist the item several times before it actually gets sold, how many time am a charged the promotion fee?
20 comments
stainlessenginecovers
·4 months ago@skatingaway since you are tax savvy, I assume you know 'even though ebay may not provide a 1099 because sales were under $20k/200 tranx- you STILL need to report ANY 3rd Party Income (you can 'write off' the original cost and not OWE anything, but you need to report.
2nd- as I'm sure it was already answered, but in short there are 2 types of promotions.
The type you are referring to would, more than likely, pertain no matter HOW many times an item is relisted as that 'Promotion' percentage (that YOU choose) is applied to (typically) ALL items and ONLY when they sell.
Example:
5% promotion, means you will pay 13% Final Value Fee PLUS another 5%, for a total of 18% Final Value Fee charged/taken WHEN an item sells.
The 'reason' people use this type promotion- to get to the 1st page of a typical search for that item. Works well if you are selling something where there are many competitors.
The other type, I doubt you do so I won't go into it.
powell-collectibles
·4 months agoI'm sure that there are different interpretations. Some tax-savvy folks would tell you that if you are selling personal items and don't receive a 1099k, you do not submit your sales as income and offset with what you paid for what you sold. Heck, you can't write off the original cost, as that would result in a loss, and you can't lower your tax liability with losses on sales of personal items.
tarotfindsandmore
·4 months agoIf it's a personal item such as collectible that was purchased as an investment, you can write off the loss as a capital loss and use that to offset capital gains, using Schedule D. You can't write off losses for personal-use items that were purchased solely for personal use (e.g. a painting that you hang in your living room for decoration can't be written off, but a painting hanging in your shop or work area while you wait for it to appreciate until it sells can be).
The OP is selling an item that may be in either category, so that will be for him to determine. 🙂
ETA: I'm pretty sure he's just wanting to know how promotions work, so hopefully he'll disregard all of our banter regarding tax liability. I brought it up initially because promotion fees (advertising) can be claimed on a schedule C so it's worth considering if you're selling more than a few hundreds bucks worth of stuff... which then led me to considerations about losses.
caldreamer
·4 months agoYou decide what percentage you are willing to pay (minimum 2%). Promotion fee is based on entire sale (purchase price + shipping + sales tax). With "general ad campaign" (you only pay when item sells).
If you use "click ads" (you pay every time person clicks on your ad). Click Ads are very expensive and you lose money every day (you must pay even if your item never sells).
It is good to use promotions if you are selling "same exact thing" as hundreds of other Sellers. If you pay promotions your item should appear at the top of EBAY page. EBAY will promote your item on Google and Yahoo.
Promoting listing is no guarantee item will sell. It just makes use that more people can view your item and hopefully that will lead to a sale.
If your item is very rare "one of a kind" you probably don't need to promote it. I would list it and wait a couple of months to see if it will sell.
General campaign strategy | eBay
christworks
·4 months agoTo piggyback on what @tarotfindsandmore said, let me ask why you feel you need to promote? I'm not advocating either way, but I do think if you are going to promote, it should be done with some goal in mind. I know you want more sales, that is a given. What does that even mean though? Does that mean you want to have more volume in terms of number of sales? You want more gross sales? You want more net sales? You want to raise your average sale price? All of the above?
skatingaway
OP4 months agoThere is only item I want to promote, it is a rare much sought after Russian art collectable l worth around $2K,
I have several interested parties but think the safest way to sell something of a higher value would be on
ebay.
Of course I understand the roles, I started selling in 2001, and stopped when I got sick 7 or so years ago, but still buy regularly.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoYou might want to rethink that. How about a gallery? If you already have several interested parties, why not sell to one of them? And, if it's that rare and valuable, why would you need to promote it on eBay?
pickapaper
·4 months agoJust a reminder that selling on eBay is not always "safe". The item you are wanting to sell may not be a high fraud item but you need to be fully aware of eBay's Money Back Guarantee when you sell anything on eBay. There is always the chance of something going south with a sale that large. Many of us long-time sellers will no longer ship high value items because it isn't always safe.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoIf what you have is indeed a rare much sought after Russian art collectible worth around $2K, and you have several interested parties, why would you need to promote it at all?
And your idea that the safest way to sell something of a higher value would be on eBay tells me that you need to do a bit more reading, especially here, regarding the safety of eBay as a selling venue for a rare collectible by a seller who's been out of the eBay selling world for a few years.
christworks
·4 months ago@skatingaway Exactly what they told you in the posts above this one. FYI...if you use Standard General or Dynamic strategy, whatever rate you pick (or eBay picks for you, if you use dynamic), is charged on the total the buyer pays. This includes item price, shipping, and taxes.
slippinjimmy
·4 months agoPromotions General - you pick the rate, the minimum is 2%, I don't know what the max is but if you used that rate you would be paying eBay more than what the item sold for.
eBay may suggest a rate for you.......they are only trying to extract as much money as possible from you so don't get suckered by their suggestions.
tarotfindsandmore
·4 months agoThis is really important. The platform will suggest absurd rates, ignore them. I'd recommend starting as low as you can (2% for fixed Standard General or a cap of 5% on Standard Dynamic). We still don't know what you're selling so that may not be high enough to be seen if you're in a saturated category, but if you start high you'll never know if you could have kept more of your money.
tarotfindsandmore
·4 months agoThe fee is assessed when your item sells if you promote your listing using a Standard General or Dynamic strategy. You only get charged one time, at the time of sale, even if you have to relist the item fifty times.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/general-campaign-strategy?id=4164&st=3&pos=3&query=General%20campaign%20strategy&intent=promotions%20fee%20structure&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1083
If you use a pay-per-click strategy you'll get charged daily according to the per click rate you set. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS OPTION AT ALL. THIS SUCKS.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/priority-campaign-strategy?id=5299&st=3&pos=2&query=Priority%20campaign%20strategy&intent=promotions%20per%20click&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1685
Here's a couple of examples of how the fees are assessed (the first one sold yesterday, the second sold today)
Promoted at 2.5%
No Promotion
skatingaway
OP4 months agoThank you, selling on ebay has certainly changed over the last 25yrs.
And sadly so has the integrity of both sellers and buyers. All I'm trying to do here
is supplement my 6yr long cancer journey. I don't need my sales reported to the
IRS, especially because most things I hope to sell, will be for less than
what I paid.
monroe67
·4 months agoMost everything has changed over the last 25 years.
Many people without integrity are still without integrity, just on a larger scale and more public stage.
Under the current law, eBay may need to report your sales to the IRS, whether or not you want ("need") eBay to report them.
Those laws for Form 1099-K are, currently:
if you have at least $20,000 in gross sales and at least 200 transactions,
eBay must report those sales to the IRS.
IF you live in a state with 1099-K reporting requirements that are lower than the IRS's $20,000 and 200 transactions, and you meet your state's minimums, eBay is also required to issue a Form 1099-K.
Unfortunately, the IRS does not care about any taxpayer's health issues. You may already know that.
theteamsetguy
·4 months ago@monroe67 ,
There many states that have 1099-k threshold much less than that of the federal government. Many states the threshold is only $600.00 which is reported.
tarotfindsandmore
·4 months agoCancer sucks, been there. This (ebay) is a great way to supplement your income when you're unable to work a regular job. I believe the 1099 threshold for this year is back up to 20K so you probably won't get one buuuuuuut you still may want to claim the "income" since you will be taking a loss (if your items do sell for less than you paid). That loss, in conjunction with your selling fees, may offset any tax liability you would otherwise have. My first year back to full-time I did very well but ended up with a refund for the first time in years because of all of the write offs.
Just a bit of food for thought here. Not advocating you start listing a zillion items. 🙂
skatingaway
OP4 months agoUgh, sorry to hear. I'll fight till this new wonder drug gets too toxic. I am retired, so SS only. I have ton of stuff I don't want my kids to get stuck with, but lack energy to do much about it. Either way, it would a few hundred per month at most.
I'm pretty tax savvy, so hopefully I can figure that part out.
Thank you!
broto_64
·4 months agoYou do realize that selling at a loss would work out as a deduction.
That said, if you sell cheap enough there is no reason to promote, it will sell.
jonathanbrightlight
·4 months agoYour sales being “reported to the IRS” not only isn’t eBay’s choice (unless they intended to break federal law), but it doesn’t mean you pay taxes on it. It’s simply a legal requirement to report the flow of money to you from eBay. How and if that affects your tax liability is dependent on many other factors.