EBay fee structure

[tubamirabilis100]

I was confused about how Ebay charges their commission of 12.5%. I sold an item for $165 and was charged $23.94 fees for Ebay's commission. This was way above their advertised 12.5% which should be $20.63.  So I called Ebay to ask for an explanation. It was a very convoluted answer. It turns out that they take out 12.5% from the total ( not the item sale price), which includes tax and shipping. I never heard of a commission for a sale that included shipping and tax. So Ebay is making money off of the fact that I have to pay tax on the sale item as well as making money off of the cost of shipping the item.  I'm not even sure if this is legal but it's beyond greedy and is definitely unethical. I could see a commission on the actual sale item, but the tax, the shipping ??? 

Also, Ebay says they charge 6% sales tax, 6%  of $165 should be $9.90, not the $14.02 they charged me.  The icing on the cake was for Ebay to charge me $7.43 to print out a shipping label even although the buyer had already paid $10.79 for shipping. If I were able to bypass Ebay's shipping and just take the package to the post office, they wouldn't charge me $7.43 to print out a label. What a total rip off.

This has been a good lesson for me. I'm positively done with selling on Ebay. There are other ways to sell things. 

[chapeau-noir]

---

@mamica wrote:

 Same here but worse I was out of pocket 33%. It looks like my  almost 30 year involvement with them is about to be over. 

---

30 years? 🤤 

[tdumonde2014]

Actually they have been a member for 9 years in September under this ID.

[chapeau-noir]

They could have several IDs, though, one of which is mimeographed!

[fab_finds4u]

Is anyone else so sick and tired of the posts about  eBay fees?

When sellers paid eBay 10%, and paid PayPal 2.99% plus .30 of the total payment it was just ducky to fork over 12.99% plus .30.

Didn't hear complaints.

But now, in Managed Payments when you have to fork over 12.55% plus .30 which is slightly LESS than 12.99% everyone goes berserk.

I have a solution. B!tching ain't gonna change it.  If you can't handle it don't sell here. 

BTW, PayPal just raised their fees

[releasethekraken_1]

---

@fab_finds4u wrote:

Is anyone else so sick and tired of the posts about  eBay fees?

---

Oh, yeah. It's mind-boggling how little these people knew about what they were being charged. And not just occasional sellers; people who do tens of thousands of dollars in sales every year didn't have a clue.

And they think they're running a business. More like a fire drill.

[fern*wood]

@tubamirabilis100 

Hopefully you found your way back to read the answers  to your issues.

[tubamirabilis100]

I agree, I haven't been paying attention to the fee structure, that's for sure. It only came to light when I sold a simple Royal Albert bone china plate for $15 and ended up with next to nothing. I should have just given the plate away. 

"Your buyer paid you $10.79 for shipping. eBay charged you $7.43 for POSTAGE, not to print a label. They give that $7.43 to the USPS. You keep the extra $3.36. You've sold here before; why is this hard to understand?"   

Yes, I understand. It's kind of screwy for sure. What a convoluted mess. Somehow, I could think of an easier way to do it - like maybe when the buyers pays the shipping I can just print out a label. Instead, the buyer attaches the shipping costs to the sale price and then I pay (supposedly the same amount give or take a few dollars) the shipping and print a label.!!!!  .  Like I said - unnecessarily convoluted and excessive. 

You've sold here before; why is this hard to understand?"    I guess I don't go along with getting screwed. I finally saw the light. I'll continue to buy on Ebay but never sell. It's not worth the trouble, i'd rather give the stuff away.  

I'm questioning the ethics of Ebay charging their commission based on shipping and tax costs. Shipping  has nothing to do with the item I am selling for which I have no problem paying Ebay their commission. Same for charging me their commission on the tax I paid. Pretty sleazy. I agree with the  one person that said Ebay's team of lawyers have probably reseached this to the n'th degree and decided its legal - legal like Bank of America's legal where they were  charging their own customers a fee to withdraw their money from their ATM machine - that kind of legal. 

After you add it all up and figure it all out ,what the seller actually comes out with in the end , it's pretty bad. It's shameful they could charge sellers a commission on the shipping of an item as well as a commission on the tax I had to pay. 

Buyyourextrastuff hit the problem right on the head. " I cannot believe that in this day and age people still don't know that the fee is, essentially, padded over the selling price to include a commission based on costs that do not net a return to the seller. eBay puts P. T. Barnum to shame" . 

[stainlessenginecovers]

Have you ever purchased something on the internet before? Not 1 place on the planet has the 'buyer' pay for their 'own label'.  It would never work as the buyer would have to print it and mail it to you, which is simply not done anywhere. 

Regarding with how fees are applied; applying fees to the total is something that credit card processors have been charging the store every time you've ever used a credit card..on the price WITH tax. The TOTAL. 

Ebay, along with everyone else, charges a fee on the 'to the door' price. You can buy socks for $10 at the store. You pay $10.80 with tax, and that processor charges Walmart a fee on that $10.80. Now you purchase from Walmart website, you pay Shipping plus Tax for a total of $15.80. The processor charges their fee on the $15.80. Always have, always will. 

[legalnurseconsultant]

I've been selling (& buying) for over 20 years and am more confused than ever.  I just pulled up my performance and it's saying that my selling costs were 35.3% of my sales!

Net sales:  $1141.11

Total sales:  $1888.75

Selling costs: $666.20 which is 35.3% of my sales.

Can someone please help me understand how 35% of your sales is fair? Or am I not understanding something?

[mam98031]

---

@mamica wrote:

 Same here but worse I was out of pocket 33%. It looks like my  almost 30 year involvement with them is about to be over. 

---

@mamica 

There is NO category on Ebay that has a 33% FVF.  Absolutely NONE.  If you are putting what you paid for shipping into that number, it does NOT belong there when you are talking about your fees that Ebay charges.  You are being unfair in your assessment of what Ebay charges you.  Since you have been with them for almost 26 years, you should have been able to figure this out  by now.

[mam98031]

---

@legalnurseconsultant wrote:

I've been selling (& buying) for over 20 years and am more confused than ever.  I just pulled up my performance and it's saying that my selling costs were 35.3% of my sales!

Net sales:  $1141.11

Total sales:  $1888.75

Selling costs: $666.20 which is 35.3% of my sales.

Can someone please help me understand how 35% of your sales is fair? Or am I not understanding something?

---

@legalnurseconsultant 

Look closer at what that screen is telling you.  The answer is right there in front of you.  I'm unsure as to why this is confusing as it tells you if you look at the screen that it INCLUDES what you pay for shipping.  That has no place in when you are figuring your FVFs with Ebay.  You have been here long enough to know that your FVFs have never even gotten close to 35% on ANY sale.

The answer is in the details.  It is the details that many simply don't see.  You aren't the only one that has thought this however it escapes me to understand it from a long standing seller.  You have to know what fees you are paying Ebay so you can properly price your items.  If before you thought you were paying 10 or 12%, don't you think you would have noticed long before now that you were being charged 3 times that??

That screen is a lousy design and it fools a lot of sellers.

Here is a link to prove to you what your FVFs are with Ebay in MP.  Remember that in the MP FVF it also includes the money processing fee that you no longer pay separately to PayPal.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/store-selling-fees?id=4809

[mam98031]

@tubamirabilis100 

Have you ever thought of looking to the Policy Page for fees to answer your questions.  It does contain the answers.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822#section8

Sales tax fluctuates by state and even areas of any given state.  

"The icing on the cake was for Ebay to charge me $7.43 to print out a shipping label even although the buyer had already paid $10.79 for shipping."  What??  The buyer paid YOU $10.79 for shipping of course when you bought the shipping label Ebay charged you for it.  Who else would they charge?  The buyer paid you, why wouldn't you pay for the shipping???  

Ebay does have discounted shipping rates.  If you want to take your packages to the Post Office and pay for the shipping there, that is absolutely an option.  You will however pay FULL RETAIL price when you go to the PO and will not get benefit of online discounts.  But you are right, you can take it to the PO if you want to.

" So Ebay is making money off of the fact that I have to pay tax on the sale item..."  NO.  You do not pay sales tax, the buyer pays sales tax.  It was part of their payment.  Sellers NEVER pay sales tax.  Ebay pulls it right after the buyer pays because Ebay is required by LAW to process and remit it to the proper state.

You just need to sit down and spend some time learning about these processes.  You are making lots of assumption and blaming things on stuff that is so incorrect.  You are likely to feel much better after you learn this stuff.  It isn't as big of a deal as you are making it out to be.

[tubamirabilis100]

When I  asked Ebay to explain how they arrived at the commision on the sale, it was Ebay that told me they charge a commission on the sale price, the tax and the shipping. It made sense because the commission was greater than 12.5% of the sale price. By the way, even if I didn't pay the sales tax, they still charged me a commission based on the sales tax amount. 

What was more unsettling was that fact that with their new policy of "managed payments" they had access to my checking account because I had to furnish that information to them to set up the new was of doing things.  I questioned Ebay about access to my account and they reassured me it was only so that they could deposit money from my sales into my account. Just last week I got an Email that said I owed "fees and expenses" and that they were going to take it from my account "ending in xxxx" within the next three days. This alarmed me as I didn't want Ebay taking money out only depositing money in.  Fortunately I had opened  up a separate checking account  with nothing in it, in another bank than the one I normally use. Somone could get my account number and could get into my account and clean me out. With all the verbal and written reassurances about security I just don't like the idea of Ebay having my account number to my checking account,especially when I get an email from them saying I owed additional fees and expenses and they would withdraw them within three business days. Paypal was much safer.

[releasethekraken_1]

“Somehow, I could think of an easier way to do it - like maybe when the buyers pays the shipping I can just print out a label. Instead, the buyer attaches the shipping costs to the sale price and then I pay (supposedly the same amount give or take a few dollars) the shipping and print a label.!!!!  .  Like I said - unnecessarily convoluted and excessive. “

You want to take control of the postage purchasing process away from sellers and rely on buyers to do it, and you think that would be LESS convoluted? Seriously?

What could be easier than the seller paying for a label and printing it? How would the seller add a handling charge in your scenario?

If you still think you’re being screwed after everything has been explained to you, your decision is probably for the best.

[legalnurseconsultant]

I appreciate your apparent knowledge, however I do not appreciate the way you "talk" to me. You do NOT have the right to deprecate or denigrate anyone on this forum. This is a community forum where we help each other. We are all in this together, and it's wonderful when someone can give advice in a kind and helpful manner, not putting them down and making them feel like they're an idiot. 

After 45 years of being an RN, and the majority in management, I told my nurses many, many times that "it's not so much what you say to someone, it's HOW you make them feel". Maya Angelou was absolutely correct.  If we can't be kind to each other, and enjoy the mere process of helping each other understand, answer questions, etc, then we have no place being on this forum.