Opt In to eBay's discounted shipping rates yet our FVF is still calculated with shipping included?
So I guess I'm one of the ones that was "selected" to be able to offer eBay's discounted shipping fees (as per their online article). So I am participating in it and yet it appears that even though the customer pays exactly what the label costs our FVF still includes the shipping costs. Make it make sense!
I know people took advantage over the years on shipping costs above so they can profit more because of FVF but if eBay now controls the shipping with us opted in, should we still be charged a fee for that if we Opt in?
If that's gonna be the case then is it better to just charge standard rates and we pay fee and not lose money on this? Anyone else not opting in or can share their experience with this?
2 comments
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoThere are no exceptions at all to the FVF on shipping and handling. It's been that way since it was introduced in 2011.
The reason that eBay recently automatically enrolled sellers in the discounted shipping option in their listings was probably because so few had voluntarily chosen to do it. Many many sellers (myself included) keep our listings' shipping calculator set to retail, which used to be the default, so that the online discount provides an automatic handy built-in handling fee. One problem with this is that the nice new discounted Cubic rates yield a really huge gap in prices.
Yes eBay could choose to exempt sellers from the FVF on shipping if they charged the online rate and also purchased their postage through eBay. But that would probably produce a huge stink from sellers who don't want to do it that way, including some of the biggest online sellers, who have their own alternative sources of postage discounts. It would also undermine sellers who offer Free shipping, and that was the other reason why eBay instituted the FVF on shipping in the first place.
wastingtime101
·2 years agoThe setting to offer buyers discounted rates can be found on your shipping preferences page under the carrier specific discounts setting: https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
Since eBay charges a fee on total cost buyer pays (item + ship + tax), by charging discounted rates you are losing money on every single package. If you want to make up for that you can add a handling fee or increase your item costs - or simply charge retail rates for a built in cushion instead of passing on the discounts.