Cost me more in fees than I earned in sales

[perg34]

I am new to eBay and I feel stupid! I listed 8 items. Sold two, my earnings total $125.00. I have 6 items still active. EBay charged my bank account $22.35 because of fees, shipping charge adjustment.  I came here to make money and it cost me money and I made nothing for my items. What does it mean when it says last for free? I paid to list and it was after April 1.

I need to get educated because I will not be listing my items and then pay to have people buy

[soh.maryl]

Thank you for the explanation.  

[monroe67]

Perg34:  You WILL lose money on those Princess House Crystal Pets.

You set a reserve price, which is known only to you and eBay's computers.
This is what eBay's fee schedules say about the fees for setting a Reserve Price on an auction:
              "$5.00 or 7.5% of reserve price, whichever is greater (maximum fee $250)
                   Charged whether or not your item sells."

I have no idea what reserve price you set.  Let's say it's $10.00.  7.5% of $10 is only 75 cents.  $5.00 is greater than 75 cents.  eBay will charge you $5.00 on an auction with a $10.00 reserve price.  Even if it doesn't sell.

The only silver lining I see with that listing is the possibility that nobody will bid enough to meet your reserve price. 

Meaning you would not have to accept payment from the highest bidder, and you can list the crystal animals again. 

But eBay WILL take money from you for what you might see as a "failed" auction.  

Lesson:  Do Not Add Reserve Prices to eBay Auctions!  

[ms.rodriguez*]

NEVER ever start an ad at a price that ebay suggests. NEVER.  

Ebay does not care if you make money or not. They just want the item to sell. That is why they suggest 99 cents.

Learn to research a starting price for your item. Take time off and spend a few days reading the hundreds of posts here.

[coolections]

Sounds like you had no clue about paying to sell on Ebay. Yes, you charge the buyer shipping. When the buyer pays the shipping, you take that money away from the total to get the label. Then Ebay takes the fees you owe them from your total. It is NOT free to sell on Ebay. If you made nothing on your first few sales at least you now know to raise your prices.

[coolections]

@dbfolks166mt   What you keep posting about fees is misleading to new sellers. It makes new sellers think it only cost 14.39% to sell on Ebay. The item listing price was $76.00 Net revenue was $63.42.  (76.00/63.42 = 16.55%) to sell on Ebay. Typically, if the item is a little more costly on shipping the % goes up.

[dbfolks166mt]

@dbfolks166mt   What you keep posting about fees is misleading to new sellers. It makes new sellers think it only cost 14.39% to sell on Ebay. The item listing price was $76.00 Net revenue was $63.42.  (76.00/63.42 = 16.55%) to sell on Ebay. Typically, if the item is a little more costly on shipping the % goes up.

     There are two pieces to this the first is the eBay FVF's and my calculations are correct the shipping cost is NOT part of the eBay fees but it does factor into the FVF calculation. The second is the eBay selling cost which only factors into the selling cost if there is a +/- between what the buyer paid for the shipping and/or what the seller factored into the price when they offer free shipping. If they are the same then it has no impact on the calculations. If however the buyer paid more for the shipping, or what the seller had factored into the price for free shipping and the actual cost the seller paid for the shipping then the sellers net revenue increases. The opposite is also true if the seller had to pay more for the actual shipping than what the buyer paid or they had factored in the net revenue decreases. 

    As for the model the effective rate will change and is NEVER static. A seller can use the model to change the variables like cost, sales tax, FVF based on the category and the received shipping funds and the actual shipping funds and it will recalculate the effective percentage. 

     FYI your calculation in our reply is incorrect.  (76.00/63.42 = 16.55%) Try creating a similar model to the one I have posted I can give you the cell formulas if you need them and play with the numbers. I have a larger model that factors in 100% of all selling costs based on what I know about things. I use it in advance of posting an item to determine my bottom line net revenue or ROI after all expenses including income taxes are factored into the model. 

[monica-sells]

There is nothing "misleading" about fees....it is 3rd grade multiplication.....

I sell an item for 100.00 

state tax average (for this example) is 7%

total amount processed on my behalf is 107.00

My Final Value Fees on this transaction were 14.48 total

My trusty calculator says that is 14.5% (rounded) of my item listing price.

Your creative accounting is just simply not accurate....this notion of "item price" and "selling price" designation is baloney...it is not real life...

[kit-kaboodle]

Is there any software that we can put all of this info into that spits out the profit, as I do it all by hand, very time consuming

[dbfolks166mt]

Is there any software that we can put all of this info into that spits out the profit, as I do it all by hand, very time consuming

     There are probably some cost model packages out there I simply use an EXCEL spreadsheet and adjust a couple of numbers to find my starting/listing price that gives me a pretty close idea of what my payout will be. 

[cogus70]

To me it's how it seems to go yet they keep taking almost every cent I make cause they prepay labels outta past sales, then double charge you a final value fee cause after the final fee ya have pay the final after final fee like **bleep**. Then they charge a few on shipping,and sales tax as well, then add the part back on to yours to avoid tax liability. It's a big hoax for them to bank and the sellers get yanked.. 90 days $400 me guessing less then.  $150 straight robbery