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.

[11bravo87]

I agree. However, the seller agreement has undergone some rather extensive changes since I started do this. eBay of old was a much more user friendly and profitable place to do business.

[dhbookds]

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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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Yes..........we are being charged a % of the money that ebay handles as a payment processor.........  That's on all the money for the transaction.......  Just like a cc charges interest on balances over 30 days.....it's based on all the money, not excluding sales tax, shipping charges, etc.  And that charge on the shipping has been in effect for quite a number of years.........same as paypal did before MP was born. 

[releasethekraken_1]

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@11bravo87 wrote:

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.

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It's perfectly ethical AND legal for eBay to charge FVF on shipping because:

1) They tell you they're going to do it

2) Before they started doing it, sellers would cheat them out of fees by pricing their items really low and jacking up the shipping cost to make up the difference. Same price for the buyer, but much lower fees.

It's also perfectly legal for eBay to charge FVF on sales tax. I don't think they should, but I don't own eBay. And for anyone who will reply "PayPal always did it", be aware that PayPal is a money processor, responsible for the full amount of money they're transferring. If eBay only charged the payment processing % on sales tax, that would be equivalent to what PayPal did, but charging their sales FVF (typically 10%) as well is an entirely different matter, and one that no one has present a logical argument for.

[soh.maryl]

In the end, does it really matter who agrees that it is ethical for eBay to base their charged on the total sale?

Or that some strongly disagree?

Given the size of eBay, would imagine that they have a legal department, composed of more than a handful of attorneys, that has determined that it is legal to do this.

Again, eBay's sand box, so eBay's rules.  

[powell-memorabilia]

Ethical?  Yes.  Smart?  Yes.  Legal?  Yes.  Do I wish that they didn't do it?  Absolutely.  

I'd LOVE to go back to the days of only paying FVF's on the item price.  I'd have some pretty expensive shipping if that was the case,  and monster sales on my items.  

Fees on the tax I'd love to lose, but I'm better off with the MP fees on everything than the old PayPal fees + eBay non-MP fees.  

[itscalledapostingid]

When the selling fees go up I raise my prices a little. I raise them every year when the USPS rates increase too.

[basketsbythebeach]

It is legal to charge tax on shipping because I sold with a direct sales company.

Also, you have to understand that eBay has a team of attorneys like Amazon (who doesn’t pay taxes) because they find EVERY LOOPHOLE to capitalize on and defraud us with. The newspaper just listed huge corporations and companies that don’t pay ANY taxes because the numeric are aligned n their best interest. We are selling on their platform to make them richer and they set these guidelines to tamp our profits. It’s a big game. 

[basketsbythebeach]

I too remember the good old eBay selling days. Back in 2002, photos weren’t even required and I sold collectibles based on my description alone. Through the years, their legal team and investors probably tracked what sellers were profiting and eBay changed the policies and numerics along the way in a language that we can’t monitor and they can get away with called LOOPHOLES.

I’m convinced there are sellers who get scammed by the fees and buyers who get scammed by sellers but in the end, eBay rules win because there is not one legal firm willing to stand up to corporate. 

[steelvalleyvintage]

I've actually lost money on a sale because of this. I used to sell some heavy items for cheap. Thanks to their commission on shipping costs I've quit selling on ebay.  Thanks to Amazon I don't do much buying anymore either.

[releasethekraken_1]

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@basketsbythebeach wrote:

but in the end, eBay rules win because there is not one legal firm willing to stand up to corporate. 

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But that couldn't possibly be because everything they're doing is legal? Not one legal firm has the stones to challenge anything, but that's not a clue?

[basketsbythebeach]

In regards to taxing  on shipping, I’m thinking it’s only legal to tax on shipping in states that ship the item if and only the item is taxed in that state. Does that make sense. I sold a direct line product back in the day and customers were always questioning taxation on shipping and that was the explanation we were told to use.  🧐