Why are shipping costs paid by buyers included in Ebay final value fees??
Ebay calculates their final value fees by including shipping costs paid by the buyer....that does not seem fair. Final value fees should not include shipping costs!
52 comments
laststopgeneralstore
·3 years agoIt is fair and it's stated in the terms and conditions that YOU accepted.
I'm hoping you're not charging the exact amount that it costs for you to ship the item otherwise you will always lose money on every sale.
You should be charging more that what it costs you to the buyer to cover things like fee's, tape, boxes, poly mailers, storage, fuel, time, labels, etc...
That's on you if you're not charging enough, not eBay.
My shipping charges cover everything and my buyers don't have any problem with it.
joliztoyco
·3 years agoYou have a seller rating of 5 in description, communication, and shipping speed.
Reasonable shipping cost? 4.8.
I'd say some of your buyers do "have a problem with it".
buyselljack2016
·3 years agoSome buyers have no concept of what it costs to ship and give less than 5 stars even if exact shipping (or less) is charged.
joliztoyco
·3 years agoMany of us have argued that a seller that uses eBay shipping should not have to pay( or at least get a discount) on their shipping FVF's as eBay knows full well that they " aren't making money off shipping".
It's right there for eBay to see.
But once eBay got their teeth into that cash cow, why in the world would they give any of it back?
To help sellers increase their profit margins slightly?
To help sellers offer their products at a lower price thereby increasing sales across the entire platform?
Dream on.
FVF's on shipping used to serve a purpose.
The only " purpose" they serve now is to line Ebay's pockets with more seller cash.
kyndra06
·3 years agoIt has been that way for a long time. I believe it may have been due, at least in part, to some sellers who "worked the system". There used to be quite a few that would sell items SUPER CHEAP then charge outrageously inflated prices for shipping to avoid the Ebay fees.
For example: Sell a T-shirt for .99 cents but then charge $12-15 for shipping. Some buyers just saw a "great deal" for .99 cents and didn't notice the shipping until they went to pay. And Ebay was only collecting fees on the .99 cents for the actual sale.
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoThere are hundreds of postings on this forum about the same topic and the answers have not changed. Food for thought. At the present time about 70% of the items listed on eBay have free shipping where, in most cases, the seller has baked the shipping cost into the price of the item. If eBay were to remove the FVF's on shipping what do you think that percentage would shrink to?
coolections
·3 years agoYes, they had no choice since Ebay was stealing an extra 12% anyway. Might as well as join the rest of the sheep and follow along.
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoYes, they had no choice since Ebay was stealing an extra 12% anyway. Might as well as join the rest of the sheep and follow along.
But those "savvy sheep" are avoiding the wolves by factoring in the FVF's and actual shipping cost into their cost so the buyer is paying those.
coolections
·3 years ago@dbfolks166mt The reason why your example is totally illogical is buyers will NOT pay that much for the widget. Believe me it would be nice to charge anything you want and get buyers. How many sellers daily say they have no sales. Raising the price is surly not going to help. I am thrilled you are able to charge your buyers all that extra money and they still buy form you. Congrats !!!!
dbfolks166mt
·3 years ago@dbfolks166mt The reason why your example is totally illogical is buyers will NOT pay that much for the widget. Believe me it would be nice to charge anything you want and get buyers. How many sellers daily say they have no sales. Raising the price is surly not going to help. I am thrilled you are able to charge your buyers all that extra money and they still buy form you. Congrats !!!!
Depends on what the "widget" is. The reason my cost model works is because even with the incorporation of the shipping cost and fees into what the buyer pays I can still list and item in a competitive range in the marketplace and earn a respectable ROI.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoHow was eBay stealing an extra 12% anyway?
coolections
·3 years ago@soh.maryl Because they mislead most sellers who think the fees are 13%. How many come here and find out it is really 26% ?
dbfolks166mt
·3 years ago@soh.maryl Because they mislead most sellers who think the fees are 13%. How many come here and find out it is really 26% ?
Not even close. My eBay costs for the last 31 days.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoWould you be so kind as to show us here an invoice where the final value fee was 26%?
joliztoyco
·3 years agoAnd that's fine with me.
Let more sellers charge for shipping.
And a "savvy" seller will steal sales by offering free shipping.
The more they charge in shipping the better!!
johnrj1226
·3 years agoThat policy has been in effect since 2011 (Nov. I believe). Guess you missed that announcement. Plus if you were using "free shipping" listing before that time you were paying a FVF on the shipping amount embedded in your item price - same goes for those current listing you have with free shipping. Life is just not fair but ya' gotta' get used to it.
inhawaii
·3 years agoI just found out, they charge their fee not just on the SHIPPING but on the TAX too!
soh.maryl
·3 years agoWhere's that sarcasm emoji when you need it?
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoI just found out, they charge their fee not just on the SHIPPING but on the TAX too!
You just had to add fuel to the fire didn't you??
Unavailable member
·3 years agoUpon further investigation, eBay is ALSO taking their promotional fees on the shipping and sales tax. Is eBay promoting my sales tax? Are they advertising my shipping? No!
coolections
·3 years agoWe all agree but Ebay is smart and gets 2x more that way. They can still say the fees are only 13% which allows them to attract more people who do not know better.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoHow does eBay get 2x more that way.
And, yes, fees in most categories are 13.5%.
coolections
·3 years ago@soh.maryl WRONG... please Ebay has you hypnotized. Wake up. Sell your widget for $10 and pay $10 to ship. Come back and tell me that Ebay did NOT double the cost of your FVF for selling that widget.
dbfolks166mt
·3 years ago@soh.maryl WRONG... please Ebay has you hypnotized. Wake up. Sell your widget for $10 and pay $10 to ship. Come back and tell me that Ebay did NOT double the cost of your FVF for selling that widget.
While in your example it is true that in this case eBay's FVF's are on double. However, most sellers are smart enough that if it their actual shipping cost was $10 what the buyer paid for shipping was probably more in the range of $15. The extra $5 in revenue more than covers the FVF's on the shipping as well as the cost of packing materials. It's a matter of knowing how to price your items and the shipping.
All those sellers offering free shipping have, in most cases, factored the actual shipping costs and fees into their pricing so the buyer is paying those.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoOK, I sold my widget for $10 plus $10 shipping. Buyer's state has no sales tax. Buyer therefore paid me $20. My FVF at 13.5% was $2.70 approx. How does that equal more than 13.5%?
coolections
·3 years agoItem sold $10.00 - $2.70 fees. You received $7.30 for the $10.00 item you sold. Do the math.
soh.maryl
·3 years agoOK -- I have to give up here. Unless you'd like to show us an actual bill where you paid more than the 13.25% in fees, I believe I am done.
And, BTW, that $10 shipping fee? Doesn't the buyer pay that to the seller?
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoItem sold $10.00 - $2.70 fees. You received $7.30 for the $10.00 item you sold. Do the math.
No what you "received" was $17.30 for the item you sold. The eBay fees are $2.70 out of that $20. Out of that $17.30 you pay USPS or some other carrier for whatever the actual postage cost is/was. That equals your total eBay selling costs but it is NOT the same as your eBay fees. You need to fix your math.
Unavailable member
·3 years agoNothing is fair for everyone, and some things aren’t fair for anyone. I don’t think it’s fair that I have to pay spousal support to my wife, just because I make more money than she does. She doesn’t think it’s fair that I don’t pay more spousal support so that we are equal in our incomes. we both live with it, because there’s not much that we can do about it.
kensgiftshop
·3 years agoThe same reason the sales tax is also included in your fees, because Ebay says so.
Their fees are based on the total amount the buyer pays, same as Pay Pal and other payment processors.
monica-sells
·3 years agoWhy are shipping costs paid by buyers included in Ebay final value fees??
Why are shipping costs paid by sellers included in Ebay final value fees??
I am sure you can figure this statement out.......
rosszonebricks
·3 years agoThere truly are a number of things on eBay that I don't think are 'fair'.
This one, I at least *understand* though. I was a seller back in the days when there were those that had, for example, $1 item price and $99 shipping. I never did that tactic because it seemed unethical and unfair to those that didn't do such an underhanded thing. So at least charging the FVF on shipping also *did* level the field. "Unfair" for all, eh? 🙂
angel18
OP3 years agoI am with you - I never "gouged" my buyers on shipping costs...and now I understand why Ebay does include shipping costs in their fvf....only the sellers who did gouge their buyers would understand why Ebay created that policy!
buyselljack2016
·3 years ago-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry but that portion of your statement is not even close to being true. Many of us that were not the culprits are aware of what goes on with eBay and keep up with policy changes.
monica-sells
·3 years agoI am completely flummoxed by this post from a seller with over 5K feedback......
angel18
OP3 years agoAnd I have that much POSITIVE feedback because I have never "gouged" my buyers' shipping costs - maybe that's why I didn't understand why Ebay includes shipping costs in their fvf.....
bonjourami
·3 years agoYou are complaining twelve years after the fact?
soh.maryl
·3 years agoMany, many years ago, at least 10 or more, when the FVF was charged only on the item price, and not the shipping, there were apparently quite a few sellers who would list their $1,000 watch for $10 with $990 shipping. eBay saw the current fee structure as the only way to handle this problem.
Seems like an odd post from an eBayer who's been around since October, 1998. But maybe you just started selling recently?
angel18
OP3 years agoI never "gouged" my buyers on shipping - so maybe that's why I wouldn't understand why they do it...
monroe67
·3 years ago"I never "gouged" my buyers on shipping - so maybe that's why I wouldn't understand why they do it..."
That's what happens so often with honorable and honest people. We don't understand why others would try to cheat a system. In fact, we are shocked and appalled by it.
Remember that a large part of eBay's income is from the Final Value Fees. Wa-a-a-a-a-ay too many cheaters and scammers found that old loophole in eBay's policies and inflated their shipping/handling charges. This reduced eBay's income.
Thus -- all of us sellers now pay eBay's FVF on the total amount paid by the buyers, which includes the item cost, any handling charge (added to individual listings, to help cover costs of boxes, labels, bubble wrap, etc.), postage, sales taxes, and other applicable charges (such as California's electronics recycling fees).
Such are the facts of life for sellers on eBay.
buyselljack2016
·3 years ago@angel18
Levels the playing field, and thwarts the fee dodgers.
$1 for item plus $99 shipping (seems to have been a big factor in eBay making this change in fees in 2011)
$90 for item, and $10 shipping.
$100 for item, and free shipping.
Who should pay more in seller fees????????????
coolections
·3 years ago@buyselljack2016 NO, it is NOT that same and did not level the playing field. Fees stayed the same when they doubled the price to stop ship gougers. All they had to do was REDUCE the price then charge the total.
buyselljack2016
·3 years agoWhat ? .....
soh.maryl
·3 years agoSorry, don't understand either of your posts here.
monroe67
·3 years ago"@buyselljack2016: NO, it is NOT that same and did not level the playing field. Fees stayed the same when they doubled the price to stop ship gougers. All they had to do was REDUCE the price then charge the total."
When exactly did eBay double any prices? By "prices", do you mean the Final Value Fee percentage?
What was the doubling? Like, was it from 2% to 4%? Was it from 6.625% to the current standard 13.25%? How did that apply to categories like jewelry that carry a higher FVF percentage, currently 15%?
(Of course, for purposes of this post, I am not talking about the 30 cent fee that is charged "per order.")
Perhaps "level[ing] the playing field" isn't the best way to describe eBay's decision some 12 years ago, to charge the FVF percentage on shipping costs as well as item prices.
I see it more as, like, my third-grade teacher, Miss W., punishing the whole class for something that only the class clowns did. You know, there are always kids, usually boys, who think they are smarter than the teacher or any of the other kids in the room.
By the time we all got to fourth grade, we accepted that all of the teachers in the whole school would not put up with anything like those boys' class-clown antics. And we all got on with life in elementary school. Served most of us well into our adulthood, too.
coolections
·3 years ago@monroe67 It was 12% to 26%
sakic92710
·3 years agoTired of this old excuse. Fee dodgers should be suspended then banned if they keep it up. Instead, eBay uses the lazy, money-grabbing option of just making everyone pay an extra fee for the zero service they provide with shipping.
angel18
OP3 years agoI never "gouged" my buyers on shipping - so maybe that's why I couldn't understand how and why Ebay would so that....
Unavailable member
·3 years agoFvf are based on the entire amount that eBay’s payment processor collects from the buyer. Price of the item+ shipping + sales tax( if applicable). Even PayPal charged a fee based on the entire amount of the sale.
You’ve been selling for how long and you’re just noticing this? Should be the first thing you learn about before selling. eBays fee structure is not a secret there’s a link is posted to FVFs in the listing page when you list plus in Selling Fees
angel18
OP3 years agoI know Ebay's fees are not a secret...I just was curious why the final value fees would be based on adding in a buyer's shipping cost....I never "gouged" my buyers on shipping - so maybe that's why I wouldn't understand why they do it...
redmodelt
·3 years agoFair or not, it has been that way for some time, also it is all covered in what fees eBay charges that you agreed to when you signed up and listed your first item.
ten_o_nine
·3 years agoThat's what I say.