Can't Calculate Payouts

[vintagebargainsgalore]

Hoping some kind person can help me make sense of this. I've been selling on here since 2004 but took a break and just started back the first of the year with managed payments. I can't make heads or tails of it. Just a small seller but still want to understand how much it's costing me to sell on eBay.

My total (clothing) sales for the past 90 days are $1003 including sale price of the item, shipping, and sales tax. No refunds to anyone. If I'm figuring it right, 15% fees plus .30 per sale (25) of that $1003 comes to about $158. My payouts total $539. So I don't understand where the rest of the money went. I'm sure it's something real simple that I'm doing wrong but at this point I'm about ready to throw in the towel. 

If anyone can shed some light on this it would be greatly appreciated. TIA. 

[rfmtm]

Go here an look at the details.  Some funds may still be in your ebay account while others have already been paid out to your bank.

https://www.ebay.com/sh/fin

[wooden_flower]

Since you haven't sold in a while, your payments are probably being held until after delivery.  Go to your payment account here - https://www.ebay.com/sh/fin

You can see if there are funds on hold. You can also look at each payout. If you need more details, run some reports to help you reconcile.

On the left, click reports. Run a transaction report for the time period you are looking to balance.  You can also look at your monthly statements, to see your account balance and summary activity from one month to the next.

[vintagebargainsgalore]

Okay thanks y'all!

I looked and it says no funds are on hold and no payout scheduled. I'm stumped. 

[wooden_flower]

You'll need to run some reports then.

You do need to subtract the sales tax, since eBay keeps that, but won't account for $300. 

You could also start with a sales performance report - https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance

That will give you a summary with the fees and shipping costs, etc.

Speaking of shipping - if you pay for your labels from payouts, did you deduct the cost of the labels?

[vintagebargainsgalore]

Okay thanks, will go and do those things now. I did have shipping deducted from payouts though. 

[vintagebargainsgalore]

Okay I ran reports and it says my selling costs since January 1st which is when I started back are a little over $300. That's on their calculation of $868 and includes eBay fees and shipping labels. Ack! I only used promoted listing 3 times and they weren't big sales then. Have quit using them since it doesn't seem to help. But according to that I'm paying out almost half of what I make. 

One thing that confuses me is that although I do buy shipping labels out of my payouts, don't I get the amount back that the buyer paid? Usually they pay exactly what it costs me. I'm terrible at this stuff but do know if it's going to cost me half of what I make to sell, not even counting whatever I pay for the item to resell, I'm not coming out enough ahead to make it worthwhile. 

[wooden_flower]

The shipping paid by the buyer is in your starting sales amount of $1,000.  So you need to deduct the actual cost of the labels you purchased.  I bet that accounts for the $300.

If you are looking at 'selling costs' on the performance report, that includes your labels.  In the selling cost section, there is detail.  Make sure you're looking at the sales performance page - https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/sales

The detail chart looks like this -

[mega-ma-roo]

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@vintagebargainsgalore wrote:

Okay I ran reports and it says my selling costs since January 1st which is when I started back are a little over $300. That's on their calculation of $868 and includes eBay fees and shipping labels. Ack! I only used promoted listing 3 times and they weren't big sales then. Have quit using them since it doesn't seem to help. But according to that I'm paying out almost half of what I make. 

One thing that confuses me is that although I do buy shipping labels out of my payouts, don't I get the amount back that the buyer paid? Usually they pay exactly what it costs me. I'm terrible at this stuff but do know if it's going to cost me half of what I make to sell, not even counting whatever I pay for the item to resell, I'm not coming out enough ahead to make it worthwhile. 

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I looked at your sold listings, which goes back to January 13 and did a rough look at your sales and shipping. It's in line with what you say above. The $868 you see is the total amount that eBay credited to your account. This amount includes the shipping costs paid by the buyers to you. You then buy the shipping label using the money they paid to you.

My quick look came up with sales around $800 and shipping costs (assuming the costs are the same as shown in your listings) of around $185 (again, I didn't add everything up, just roughly added them in my head). Base eBay fees on $800 would be around $105 (not knowing what extras you paid for). So I come up with net to you of $510. This is in line with what you found in the report.

Selling on eBay is not costing you half of your sales. It is costing you about 17% ( 105/615) (ebay fee / (gross - shipping). It is this high because your shipping costs are high relative to your sales and eBay fees are based on the gross amount.

[vintagebargainsgalore]

Thanks again! It says $159 for labels. But although I pay for them from my payouts, don't I get the money back? I only had two that were free shipping and they were less than $10 for both, so the buyers paid for all but a fraction of those shipping costs. I did see some stuff I didn't realize I paid extra for. One was "Express" whatever that is on a selling fee. The eBay selling fees plus labels, as you said, come out to the $300 but if I can't find some way to cut that cost I'll have to quit selling. I don't feel motivated to list if eBay is going to keep basically half of the money. lol

[mega-ma-roo]

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@vintagebargainsgalore wrote:

Thanks again! It says $159 for labels. But although I pay for them from my payouts, don't I get the money back? 

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You don't get the money back, you get the money in advance and then you buy the shipping label with money the buyer gave you for that.

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but if I can't find some way to cut that cost I'll have to quit selling. I don't feel motivated to list if eBay is going to keep basically half of the money. lol

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As I explained, eBay is keeping basically 17% of the money. If you need more income you either charge buyers more for the items or charge them more than the actual shipping cost. Or lower the cost of the items you sell. Or all of the above. 

[vintagebargainsgalore]

Thank for your help. I'm still really confused though because I don't make any money on shipping. My shipping charge is what it costs me to send it. So if eBay keeps about $300 out of $800 in sales, that's close to 50% isn't it? One thing that is really confusing to me is this: If I pay for shipping labels out of payouts, since the buyer pays for shipping, shouldn't the amount that goes into my bank account be for the price of the item minus sales tax, if any, and also include the shipping amount the buyer paid? I mean, I'm paying it but I get it back except apparently I'm not getting it back.

SMH. I just don't get it. 

[mega-ma-roo]

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@vintagebargainsgalore wrote:

Thank for your help. I'm still really confused though because I don't make any money on shipping. My shipping charge is what it costs me to send it. So if eBay keeps about $300 out of $800 in sales, that's close to 50% isn't it? One thing that is really confusing to me is this: If I pay for shipping labels out of payouts, since the buyer pays for shipping, shouldn't the amount that goes into my bank account be for the price of the item minus sales tax, if any, and also include the shipping amount the buyer paid? I mean, I'm paying it but I get it back except apparently I'm not getting it back.

SMH. I just don't get it. 

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You keep saying that eBay is keeping $300 when eBay is keeping $105. They are not keeping what you pay for shipping, that is going to USPS or FedEx or whatever shipper you are using. 

Think of it this way, buyers actually make two payments to you, one for the cost of the item and one for the cost of the shipping. All of that is in payouts. When you pay for the shipping out of payouts, you are paying with the money the buyers paid you for that. It's the buyers money, you are just buying the label for them. The amount that goes into your bank account is what the buyer paid for the item minus the eBay fee.

I don't know how to explain this any clearer. Maybe another mentor can help if you are still having trouble understanding how this works.

[vintagebargainsgalore]

Thank you for your help.

Okay but if the buyers are paying me for the shipping, which they are, then why isn't that money part of my payout? I don't understand how my total payouts on actually $880 or so are only $540 roughly and that comes out to me paying 17%? Yes, I pay for the shipping out of the payouts. But then the buyer pays that amount so I shouldn't be out the money. I'm not giving free shipping & paying it out of my pocket. The buyers are paying it.

Again, lowering shipping cost is not an option. It costs what it costs to mail something & it's out of my control. This has been my niche market for 17 years. I know it well and price my items in line with the average selling price, so lowering my prices wouldn't help either. Actually, it sounds like I'd go in the hole. lol  I'm not trying to get rich but I do need to make more than half of what my items bring. If I was giving free shipping and had the shipping costs deducted and *not* collecting the money the buyer paid me for that cost, I'd understand it. But that isn't the case. I don't think I'm supposed to be eating the shipping cost when the buyer paid it. To me, it looks like the shipping is being paid twice. Once by me and once by the buyer. 

[vintagebargainsgalore]

I'm sorry I'm dense, lol, but all I know is that I only got $538 out of what eBay says is $1002. That's the sum total of my payouts, barely half of what eBay says I sold which is including shipping, taxes and fees. As I said, if I was giving the buyer free shipping and I paid for it out of whatever I made on the item, I would understand why it would be counted against my payout. But this way, it seems that the buyer is paying for the shipping and so am I. Going by my charts and reports, eBay is only paying out the actual selling price of the item, not the amount that includes shipping. So if the buyer pays $70 with $9 Priority shipping for a heavier item, their payment not counting taxes would be $79. But I'm not getting $79 deposited in my bank, just $70. So I'm paying the $9 shipping out of the $70, not out of $79. 

I don't understand it but I do understand that making about 50% net of my total gross sales isn't exactly profitable. I do appreciate you trying to help me.