Final Value Fees

[11bravo87]

Does anyone else think it less than ethical that eBay is calculating final value fees on item sales price AND shipping charges and taxes? Asking for a friend.

[pcobra93]

I think if there were a class action lawsuit on the fees for taxes, Ebay would lose badly. I am not sure on the shipping. I know it is not legal to charge taxes on shipping....but not sure on "fees".

[wesk_36]

No, not ethical, is it even legal?

[asset_liquidators]

Ethics were thrown out the window in 2008 when the arrogant John Donahoe took over and the company and it's employees took on that persona of arrogance and have carried it forward. 

Each year, and each Seller Update with "Good News", they ratchet it all up a few notches.

[11bravo87]

Understood. I have been selling on eBay since 1998 and have witnessed the decline first hand.

[11bravo87]

Are there no attorneys on these boards?

[11bravo87]

I'll join the class action.

[ben-sanford]

Ebay claims that the final value fee is a little over 12%, but then when you look at the way it is calculated, the fee can be closer to 40%.  I recently sold an item for $5.  But shipping was $7.97, and then there was some sales tax as well, so the Ebay fee on my $5 item was $2.09.  While maybe it was ~12.5% of total transaction the way they calculate the fee, it was almost 42% of my sale - and not really worth my trouble.

[wesk_36]

I think ebay ethics really took a dive a year ago when 6 top ebay executives were brought up on criminal charges and some already have plead guilty, then followed by the CEO's resignation.

Makes me wonder how many of the remaining ebay executives/employees are dirty?

Criminals;

director of safety and security
director of global resiliency
manager of global intelligence,
and eBay Global Intelligence Center staffers

https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/16/ebay_execs_charged/

[luckythewinner]

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@11bravo87 wrote:

Are there no attorneys on these boards?

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I'm sure there are. And they know that eBay can calculate their fees pretty much any way they want to.

PayPal has charged fees on shipping for decades.

[kensgiftshop]

@11bravo87 

Since the other sites I sell on do the same thing, I don't have a problem with it.

Just like other sites and Pay Pal, their fee's are based on the total amount paid by the buyer.

[luckythewinner]

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@ben-sanford wrote:

Ebay claims that the final value fee is a little over 12%, but then when you look at the way it is calculated, the fee can be closer to 40%.

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eBay claims their final value fee is 30 cents plus 12.35% of the total payment for domestic transactions, and that is how they they calculate it.

The 40% you are talking about only happens when you choose to calculate the fee using a different formula than eBay does.

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@ben-sanford wrote:

I recently sold an item for $5.  But shipping was $7.97, and then there was some sales tax as well, so the Ebay fee on my $5 item was $2.09.  While maybe it was ~12.5% of total transaction the way they calculate the fee, it was almost 42% of my sale - and not really worth my trouble.

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If that sale had happened before you were in Managed Payments, PayPal's 2.9% would have been more than 2.9% of your item price too. Again, that is what happens when you change the formula and then act surprised that an apple isn't an orange.

[11bravo87]

So, you think it is ethical? That we should be charged 12% of what we pay the USPS to ship our products? I know they can do it, but my question is: Is it ethical?

[11bravo87]

Wow.....eMafia

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@11bravo87 wrote:

So, you think it is ethical? That we should be charged 12% of what we pay the USPS to ship our products? I know they can do it, but my question is: Is it ethical?

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Of course it's ethical, because Ebay tells you they are going to do that up front. If you read your seller agreement, you KNOW that fees are charged on the total amount the buyer pays you - item price, shipping cost and tax if applicable.  When you read that seller agreement is up to you, but I assume that smart sellers will read it before they post their very first listing. It's no surprise.

If they didn't tell you up front in the terms that are readily available for all sellers to read and understand before they list their first item, then yes it would be very unethical.

In the list of unethical behaviors that are out there today, this doesn't even make the list.

Just my half cent opinion.