20% Fees? A discouraging number.

[escuintla]

My new rant and ready for the scolding from the usual know it all seller.😁
I used to participate in these forums a lot but since I deal with media in a wholesale way (out there) I barely have time to list items and nonetheless come to this place to find out about the bad news, because with Ebay there's nothing good to see from but increases on this and decreasing on that. 🤐

Besides finding out about the increment of $0.21 in the media rate, I just sold an item worth $459.99 and to my dismay, again, not following the news, or seller's performance I got a $92 fee which makes it a 20% fee, more or less. 

I am sure that paying this much puts the brakes on my future sales in great numbers. I was going to list a huge ********** CD collection that is in the range of $60,000 so not knowing the specifics, again, my fault, I won't be selling it on this platform but on the outside because not only I lose 20% (fees) of the value but I will be dealing with a higher tax bracket. 

You guys take care. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

.....You dont pay for visibility, then ebay hides your listings, that is a fact. Your listings will not show up on other listing pages without promoted listings.

Simply put, the people claiming they dont use promoted listings are flat out lying.

---

That is not correct. I know MANY that don't, they do fine- all depends on the competition count. 

I searched 2 of your items and found PLENTY that were NOT sponsored, not to mention they were 25% to 50% lower priced (shipped) than yours.

CORVETTE PS2- you are priced at $13.90

Searched and NOT sponsored listings showed up in the 6,7,8,9 position on page 1 and they are priced at $5.90 to $10.95.

BE MY VALENTINE (VHS-Peanuts)- you are priced at $11.45 shipped.

Searched and NOT sponsored listings showed up in the 7th ($6.51) and 23rd ($6.50) 

[mam98031]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

I havent misrepresented anything. I pay 15% on every sale on ebay, and once I factor in promoted listings, my fees average 20 to 25% on average, and often eclipse the 30% mark. If I were to bid ebay's suggested ad rates, my fees would be over 30% easy on every sale.

You say the majority of sellers on ebay do not use promoted listings. Then they must not get any sales, because ebay will not show your listings anywhere on this platform other than organic search results unless you pay for promoted listings.

You dont pay for visibility, then ebay hides your listings, that is a fact. Your listings will not show up on other listing pages without promoted listings.

Simply put, the people claiming they dont use promoted listings are flat out lying.

---

Because, by your Choice, you pay additional FVFs to use the Promoted Listing Tool.  If you didn't make that choice, your fees would be back to the 15% for your category.

While Promoted listings work well in some categories, it isn't necessary for all categories.  The over saturated categories can be a very good time to use PL.

I get it that you are going by your experiences here, but not all sellers have the same experiences and not all sellers use PL and they do get sales.

"Simply put, the people claiming they dont use promoted listings are flat out lying."  And what do you use to back up that harsh and accusatory statement?  Certainly not Ebay's financial statements as they would tell you a different story.

[mam98031]

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@northern-tint wrote:

Our sales take a huge drop if we don't use it.  I suppose it depends on what you're selling and the competition for similar items. 

---

I've stated many times that PL works very well in some categories and not so much in others.  When a seller sells in a saturated category, PL can work very well for them.  So I completely agree with you.

[mam98031]

How much a seller nets @adkhighker is directly related to a seller pricing their items correctly.  Taking in consideration ALL their costs.  Many sellers clearly don't.  

[soh.maryl]

Are actual statistics available that prove this? 

[yuzuha]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

You say the majority of sellers on ebay do not use promoted listings. Then they must not get any sales, because ebay will not show your listings anywhere on this platform other than organic search results unless you pay for promoted listings.

---

I don't promote anything. Never have, never will. Somehow my stuff still manages to sell.

[gamersbaystore]

I'm telling like it is, though others are welcome to deny reality if they choose to do so.

If you don't use promoted listings, then your listings will NOT show up anywhere on this platform other than organic search results. That's a fact, and there's no argument that can change that.

[dbfolks166mt]

I'm telling like it is, though others are welcome to deny reality if they choose to do so.

If you don't use promoted listings, then your listings will NOT show up anywhere on this platform other than organic search results. That's a fact, and there's no argument that can change that.

     I never argued that fact and fully understand it and really don't care as either a buyer or a seller. If I am looking for an item I use nothing but organic search. You have sold 34 items in the last 90 days using PL, I have sold 37 without it. 

What I objected to in your post was being called a liar. 

[soh.maryl]

 Can you explain your "dealing with a higher tax bracket" remark?

How does selling an item on some other site, not eBay, cause you to be dealing with a higher tax bracket?

Doesn't that mean you would be making more money?

[dbfolks166mt]

 Can you explain your "dealing with a higher tax bracket" remark?

How does selling an item on some other site, not eBay, cause you to be dealing with a higher tax bracket?

Doesn't that mean you would be making more money?

     The concern may be that the net income from the sales would, when combined with other income, push them into a higher percentage tax bracket. The thing is your tax bracket is determined by your bottom line AGI which after all the deductions to the eBay gross income is generally considerably less. My total selling expenses, eBay and other, typically runs in the 70% range so 10K of eBay gross income results in 3K of net income. I don't have enough total combined AGI to wind up in a high tax bracket. 

[bashort]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

I'm telling like it is, though others are welcome to deny reality if they choose to do so.

If you don't use promoted listings, then your listings will NOT show up anywhere on this platform other than organic search results. That's a fact, and there's no argument that can change that.

---

This may be true on items with to many for sale but I rarely use promoted listings and just wait for the buyer to come along that knows how to search lowest price. 

[brightlightbookseller]

We don't promote listings until they've been up for 3 months.  Many sell before they're promoted.  No one is lying about this stuff.

[profitweb]

@stainlessenginecovers 

Without the shipping part, we pay 20.37% in eBay Fees (Ebay Fees $44,561 / Item Sales $216,421 = 20.58%).

ALL eBay Fees count, not just the Final Value Fees.  We need to pay additional Ad, Promotion, and Store fees to eBay to get $216,421 in sales.

Shipping counts because it's part of what they include in total revenue/sales numbers they show.  The total cost of selling on eBay must be kept in mind, including the time spent supporting customers, shipping out, storing products, etc..

When I sell on AMZ using their FBA storage and shipping, the total selling cost is less and INCLUDES Shipping/delivery costs.  We paid eBay over $44k last year just for website use and marketing.

eBay's customer service & fraud protection was mostly awful, usually a complete waste of time, and we do our own storage, shipping, and customer service.  They don't put decent, or many, resources toward supporting their sellers, even when they're making pretty good $ off of us.  That, and the lower sales prices eBay gets, has forced us to move to other venues.

[profitweb]

Correction:

@stainlessenginecovers 

Without the shipping part, we actually pay 20.6 % in eBay Fees (Ebay Fees $44,561 / Item Sales $216,421 = 20.58%)

eBay charges sellers fees on ALL $$$ eBay collects from buyers, INCLUDING the shipping and taxes eBay collects.  Our total, including shipping & taxes, was $253,099.  That is the number eBay uses to get 27% selling costs ($68,283/$253,099=.27).

ALL eBay Fees count, not just the Final Value Fees.  We need to pay additional Ad, Promotion, and Store fees to eBay to get $216,421 in sales.

Shipping counts because it's part of what they include in total revenue/sales numbers they show.  The total cost of selling on eBay must be kept in mind, including the time spent supporting customers, shipping out, storing products, etc..

When I sell on AMZ using their FBA storage and shipping, the total selling cost is less and INCLUDES Shipping/delivery costs.  We paid eBay over $44k last year just for website use and marketing.

eBay's customer service & fraud protection was mostly awful, usually a complete waste of time, and we do our own storage, shipping, and customer service.  They don't put decent, or many, resources toward supporting their sellers, even when they're making pretty good $ off of us.  That, and the lower sales prices eBay gets AND the extras they are charging on top of Listing & Final Value Fees, has forced us to move to other venues.

[profitweb]

But the higher tax bracket is only charged for the additional amount of income your've earned on that level, not all of your income.

i.e. If you earn $12,000, you're charged 10% tax for the first $11,000 and 12% tax on the $1,000.

So, if OP already makes $95k a year and any additional eBay income would fall into a higher tax bracket, ONLY that additional income would be taxed at the next highest tax bracket.

I do feel like original poster makes it sound like additional income will make them pay a higher tax rate on ALL their income.  To me, if you make more money and you only have to pay a few % more, you're still putting more $ in your pocket (you don't pay income tax on your total sales, just the profit margin).