Final value fee on shipping is just wrong

[syncrosurf]

Ok - I know that this has been beat to death but it just irritates me to no end that Ebay does this.

You basically cannot sell anything heavy on Ebay without paying a 20+% fee.   If they are offering "discounted shipping" to help offset the fee, this to me means that they are just overcharging the buyer.  This is such a blatant cash grab that I have to remind myself to only use Ebay as a last resort.  

Alright - rant over - just need to vent in case anyone is listening.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Fee is 12.55%

Although this is just a rant; you owe it to the Front Row Ticket holders to get it right.

Correction over. 

[tdumonde2014]

It's been that way for 10 years, are you just now noticing it?

[iamalwaysright]

Okay let’s move this into the rants category.

@stainlessenginecovers They don’t want to hear that kind of reply. You can’t correct a rant, they likely won’t even come back to read it. Just read the rant and nod quietly. 🙂

[kensgiftshop]

@syncrosurf 

You don't pay a 20+% fee.

[postingid7659]

Actually when you subtract the fees from the actual amount one collects on a sale it works out to 20% or so. 

eBay could easily set it up so you don't pay fees if you use calculated shipping, but they prefer to make money on it.  Now that they collect the money themselves, they're pretending to be a bank, they have a legit reason to charge.  

[monroe67]

Gosh, on most of the stuff I sell, when I subtract eBay's fees from the actual amount I collect on a sale, it always works out to about 12.55% plus the $0.30 fee on every sale.  

One of my selling ID's listings sold today.  The winning bid was $47.00 plus postage of $3.59 = total sale was $50.59.  (This happened to be a transaction that is not subject to sales/use tax.)

The actual amount collected on this sale was  $50.59.   eBay's fees consist of the standard 12.55% of $50.59 = $6.35 plus that $0.30 on each sale = total fees to eBay $6.65.  

Total sale $50.59 and total fees to eBay $6.65:  6.65 divided by 50.59 "worked out" to precisely 13.1448%.   Which is much, much closer to 12.55% than to the 20% "or so" that you state in your post above.  

Obviously, there will be variables among sales.  I am sure that if I sat down to calculate a "Total Total" fee charged by eBay on each of my transactions since I got into MP in March or April, I would see some percentages higher than 13.1448% and maybe one or two that are lower.  But I truly doubt any of them would "work out" to anywhere close to 20%.  

You must be doing a few things differently from me, if you're paying eBay 20% in fees on your sales.  

[syncrosurf]

My complaint is when shipping approaches the cost of the value of the item sold. I just paid $20 on a $99 sale with $70 shipping. Sure seems like 20% to me.   I'm not talking about $6 shipping, I said you can't sell heavy things.   I think my rant is accurate.

[powell-memorabilia]

$20 on a $170 item is about right.

[Anonymous]

My problem isn't having to pay on the shipping, that's old news and I accepted that when I started selling.  MY issue is having to pay the FVFs on the state taxes.  Most of the time it can be reasonable and with eBay doing the work by taking care of the taxes for us, I'm usually okay with it.  BUT when a state like California charges 10% of the items value, it makes selling to the folks there VERY expensive for both the buyer and seller.  I know a few other states charge 10% so I'm not picking on CA, just using as an example.

[northwestvarietyshoppe]

I am not understanding what your RANT is about........  before I buy ANY item on here, I look at the listed price PLUS the shipping BEFORE I click the "agree to purchase" button and pay for it...... so what you're saying is youi don't like the shipping charges.... THEN DON'T BUY IT....... its easy.  I don't get what youre' saying. Ebay doesn't CHARGE you anything as a buyer....... only the seller does. Ive been on here for 21 years in two different states......  I'm not understanding what you're saying..... how is it Ebays fault when you agree to pay the shipping before you purchase an item? If you were a SELLER on the other hand, there are a hundred things I could tell you about............... lol. 

[justafemster]

And back to the same old explanation. 

Many many years ago, ebay didn't charge on the shipping, so sellers would list for $0.01 with $20 shipping, paying no fees.  The seller who would list for $20 with no shipping would get hit with fees and the seller who listed at $15 with $5 shipping, paid some fees.

Do you see the issue?  The customer was paying exactly the same in each scenario, but the seller could manipulate the prices of their fees.  

And that's why we now pay on the total price.  

[syncrosurf]

I am the seller.  It's not $20 on a $170 item, It's $20 on a $99 item.  It's not that complicated, Ebay charges 12.5% on the item and 12.5% on the shipping.  If the shipping is a wash (which it should be) the extra 12.5% comes out of my $99 item.  If your $99 item costs $5 to ship and my $99 item costs $100 to ship - I pay twice as much as you to sell. 

Ebay certainly provides a valuable service and  12.5% is a fair fee. 20% is probably not.  You can defend them all you want, but there is no way they should be charging a commission on shipping.  They just do it because they can.

[stainlessenginecovers]

$20 on a $99 sale with $70 shipping means you paid $13 on the $99 Sale and $8 on the $70 Shipping. Real shipping should've cost you $63 so the $7 is paid for by the Buyer. 

If you are charging exact amount of shipping cost, you're doing it wrong.

[luckythewinner]

---

@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

Fee is 12.55%

Although this is just a rant; you owe it to the Front Row Ticket holders to get it right.

Correction over. 

---

I think the OP was pointing out that because the fee extends to the shipping, the effective fee on the actual selling price is often around 20%. (Not to mention that the 30 cent fixed fee means you are often paying more than 12.55%, especially on lower-price items.)

If I sell a widget for $10 with $3 shipping:

1) Remembering the 30 cents, I am actually paying 14.8% of the $13 total amount in fees.

2) Remembering the 30 cents, I am actually paying 19.3% of the $10 selling price in fees.

Moral of the story: when talking about eBay fees as a percentage, it helps to indicate that you are talking about eBay fees as a percentage of what 🙂