Selling fees are too high

[animatron]

Hello,

I am writing to register a complaint about the selling fees you assess for every sale. Not only are you charging 10% without a sliding scale for larger sales, but you also assess fees for postage, and tack on another charge for PayPal transactions. The resulting penalties for selling on eBay are high enough that I am considering not seeling any more items through eBay. I know people are saying that other auction outlets are far more exorbitant, but I am not talking about those outlets. eBay's reasonable rates are what made it an attractive alternative at one point in time. Since the increase to 10% of every sale, plus the postage and PayPal fees, the reason I chose eBay in the first place is quickly eroding. What will eBay do about this? 

[inceptions]

You've had over 6 years to adjust to these rates. Seriously, how long does it take?

eBay does not charge you a fee to print labels. In fact, they give you a discount. If you choose to pay for postage at the post office, you will pay more.

PayPal is a separate company. You pay them to process your payments and they have charged their fee on the total sale from the beginning of time.

 It costs money to have your items marketed to millions and millions of buyer around the world, to faciliate the processing of your transactions from beginning to end, and to keep the website current and maintained.

You need to build your costs of doing business into your selling price just like every other seller (retail, wholesale, online, brick and mortar) on the planet does. Millions of eBay sellers have figured this out and you can too.

[animatron]

I have only recently begun selling items on eBay. PayPal may be a separate company, but the fact that it is owned by eBay is not lost on me. Incidentally, I have owned and operated a highly successful business since 1994. I only use eBay to sell personal items which will only sell for what the market will bear. Adjusting for eBay's fees does not fit into this business model. Although I appreciate your comments, I should remind you that the courteous response does not need to involve a patronizing voice. Thank you for your feedback

[glorybells]

Your information is outdated. eBay and PayPal have been totally separate companies since 2015

[disneyshopper]

Paypal charges 2.9% + .30 transaction fee on each payment. You get the balance. That is their charge for processing the payment.

ebay charges 10% FVF on the transaction: item price + shipping. The 10% FVF on item price is charged the minute the item sells. The 10% FVF on shipping is charged when the buyer pays, just in case a discount is given for combined shipping or a higher charge for speedier shipping. These fees are charged to your account and you are billed either the 15th or 30th of each month.

Sellers have been paying a 10% FVF on shipping since 2011. ebay charges a 10% FVF on the entire transaction: item price plus shipping. Sellers are charged 10% FVF on the item price immediately when the item sells. It does not matter where you purchase the postage. The charge on shipping is made when the buyer pays, since shipping may have changed due to upgrading the shipping service.

ebay did this because for years, some sellers would charge $1 for the item plus $50 for the shipping. ebay was losing a lot of money on FVF. When ebay went this route, they gave sellers free insertions and they dropped the FVF to 10% across the board. Previous to this, there was an insertion fee on each listing, depending on the opening bid, and a tiered FVF depending on the category of the listing.

You need to list with Calculated Shipping. Enter the packaged weight, rounded up to the nearest pound. Enter the dimensions of the package/envelope, rounded up to the nearest inch, and the method of shipping. This way, ebay can calculate the shipping from the buyer's zip code to your zip code. If you charge the retail counter rate, but print your labels via ebay or Paypal, you will be charged the commercial base rate. You don't lose any money this way. The difference in rates is enough to cover the FVF on shipping.

You regisered the same year I did.  You don't remember paying a separate fee to list EACH item?  I remember paying $2.25 to list one item, and if it sold, I paid 18% on the item price.  I was a happy camper when ebay announced a 10% FVF across the board and gave us 40 (now increased to 50) free insertions.

[gagnon234]

This is a member to member forum so registering a complaint here won't do much good. You might try ebay's facebook page. 

[animatron]

Thank you for this advice.

[mecheng]

What will eBay do about this? 

Nothing.

And remember, final value fee is based on the TOTAL amount of the sale.. (item price PLUS shipping cost). It's been this way since 2011, and was instituted because members were selling an item for $1 and charging $99 shipping... thus paying ten cents in fees rather than the correct ten dollars. So eBay said "enough" and changed the policy to reflect the total amount of the sale. 
PayPal's processing fee is 2.9% plus $0.30, and is independent of eBay fees. 

[kh-vince]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.