I just fully realized how much ebay actually charges in fees and I'm disgusted.

[brinstakilla]

I just took a look at my fees for the month from ebay, and I couldn't believe what I saw. They are taking a total of 27% of my profit from a $7 listing (most of my sales). They charge 10% on both the items price, AND the shipping price. This would be fine, if I actually made a single penny off the shipping cost. It just becomes an extra 10% for them to steal.

Here's a breakdown of how they steal 27% from a $7 listing ---

Insertion Fee: .35 cents

Final Value Fee (item): .70

Final Value Fee (shipping): .85

TOTAL: $1.9 fee on a $7 sale

It's absurd, and I'm going to look into moving my business to other places. They charge for everything under the sun, and this doesn't even account for the fact that PayPal takes a cut as well. On top of all this, they're raising the final value fees in April 😂🤣🤣

[therogue-trader]

Sounds like you should've run the numbers before selling the item.  They aren't stealing from you, you should've known what the fees would/could be before you listed.

[brinstakilla]

Fees should not cut into shipping costs that the seller will not see. It feels extremely deceiving. I saw someone come up with a poor excuse that it's like that 'because people used to list shipping as $100 and the actual listing as $1 to get around the fees', which is absurd. If you believe that ebay doesn't have the capabilities to implement a system that will detect/flag auctions doing that, or ensure that calculated shipping is used properly than I don't know what to say. It's entirely there to suck as much money from the seller as possible.

I've seen several other people discussing the same topic elsewhere, so I know I'm not alone. It's actually what made me look into it to begin with.

It's not about 'running the numbers'. They are charging more fees on the shipping money that I'll never see than they do on the actual item, and there's no way around that.

[stephenmorgan]

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@brinstakilla wrote:

'because people used to list shipping as $100 and the actual listing as $1 to get around the fees',

That was the reason initially however it is not the reason they continue to do it.  If you are using eBay shipping they know exactly what you are paying for shipping.  Anything above this (such a handling fee) I could  understand they want their commission.

Anyway it has not hurt their Business Model so they are not likely to change.  If you want to break even on shipping you have to add the commission fees deducted from the shipping as a  handling fee.

[divwido]

At least eBay is up front about it.  Some sites, one unnamed site, added a fee to sales that works out to be another 3.4% on top of the 10% and the cost to list.

eBay has told us ahead of time what the fees will be and they are not deviating.  other sites like to spring it on you.

And this is why we have accounting.

[chapeau-noir]

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@brinstakilla wrote:

Fees should not cut into shipping costs that the seller will not see. It feels extremely deceiving. I saw someone come up with a poor excuse that it's like that 'because people used to list shipping as $100 and the actual listing as $1 to get around the fees', which is absurd. If you believe that ebay doesn't have the capabilities to implement a system that will detect/flag auctions doing that, or ensure that calculated shipping is used properly than I don't know what to say. It's entirely there to suck as much money from the seller as possible.

I've seen several other people discussing the same topic elsewhere, so I know I'm not alone. It's actually what made me look into it to begin with.

It's not about 'running the numbers'. They are charging more fees on the shipping money that I'll never see than they do on the actual item, and there's no way around that.

---

Just as a note, they did try a system to detect overcharging of shipping before they implemented the 10% fee on shipping charge - it worked very poorly because of the large variety of items sold on this site and the impossibility of doing averaging.  They finally tossed it out and implemented the 10% fee.

Now Etsy (who is worse than ebay when it comes to sneaky tactics) has been pushing the same nonsense on sellers, but they are also charging fees on shipping.

I'm not crazy about any of it, either, but I incorporate that fee into shipping.

[lamber9347]

@brinstakilla I have no access to your fees so cannot doubt you have written your fees correctly. I was transitioned into MP on the 15th and have noticed my fees have been reduced slightly since then. 

For example here are two sales similar to your amount. 

Sale in March still using PP= $7.04 

Total in fvf, shipping fees and PP fees= $1.12

Sale in March using MP= $7.84

Total in fvf, shipping, transaction fees= $1.11

Notice the second sale is .80 cents higher then the first listed, but the fees are a penny less without PP. So I am not experiencing the increase in fees you are describing. Just pointing out so that you perhaps should double check your numbers or there is something different about your account than mine. Best of luck to you....

[inhawaii]

Great information. Thanks lamber!

[yuzuha]

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@brinstakilla wrote:

Fees should not cut into shipping costs that the seller will not see. 

---

They don't if you buy your postage either through eBay or through PayPal. The discount you get on the postage more than covers the fees. In fact, I don't think I've shipped a single thing yet where the postage discount didn't at the very least cover the shipping fees.

[releasethekraken_1]

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@brinstakilla wrote:

I just took a look at my fees for the month from ebay, and I couldn't believe what I saw. They are taking a total of 27% of my profit from a $7 listing (most of my sales). They charge 10% on both the items price, AND the shipping price.

If it took you 7 years to realize this, eBay's fees are the least of your problems. eBay has been charging FVF on shipping since before you signed up.

This would be fine, if I actually made a single penny off the shipping cost. It just becomes an extra 10% for them to steal.

The fee is well-documented, and itemized on every invoice they've sent you. They did it because sellers were, in effect, stealing from eBay by posting items with an artificially low selling price and jacked up shipping cost, to avoid fees.

Here's a breakdown of how they steal 27% from a $7 listing ---

Insertion Fee: .35 cents

You have fewer than 200 fixed price listings running; you're not paying insertion fees.

Final Value Fee (item): .70

Final Value Fee (shipping): .85

Selling low-priced items with relatively high shipping cost on eBay is a poor business plan. If you had been paying attention to fees since the beginning, as you should have been, this wouldn't be a surprise.

this doesn't even account for the fact that PayPal takes a cut as well.

PayPal has some nerve, charging for the service they provide.

---

You definitely should rework your business plan, including venue, items you sell, AND how you track costs, because what you've been doing clearly doesn't work.

[caribou_antiques]

What I find so funny are the people defending eBay in their deceiving billing practices. Yes, they state they will charge you based on taxes, shipping, and other fees but that does not negate the fact that not standard practice in business. And they don't state it clearly! We all know all of you defenders didn't read the 19 section seller agreement! Maybe next time I'll charge my nice customers a fee based on the tax and shipping from my website with Auction Ninja platform and see how they respond? I bet it won't be kindly accepted. They already complain about my 5% gavel fee that covers the cost of the platform. The plain fact is eBay always will find a way to increase fees without making it easily understandable. Ever since the recent acquisition of the platform, it has gotten worst. I have found its best to use eBay to gain clients and as a source of advertising for other platforms. 

[soh.maryl]

So what happened when you looked into moving to other places? 

[soh.maryl]

All sellers on eBay are expected to calculate the prices on the items they sell based on all their selling costs.

What is a "5% gavel fee"? 

Which of eBay's fees is not explained clearly? 

[jda04121]

The one's people don't read and complain afterwards.

[albertabrightalberta]

TBH, I'm getting a bit tired of reading at all the posts from people complaining about fees that have been there from the start, fees that have been well publicized and that all the complainers signed as agreeing to when they joined ebay. 

Not only that but most of the complainers are still using ebay months (or years) after threatening to leave!