eBay

thehappyretailseller · ‎08-06-2019

OK. I am venting here! Ebay KNOWS that items have to be shipped! I know shipping used to not have fees and that some people would charge $99 for shipping and $1 for the item to avoid eBay's fees, but instead of charging fees on ALL shipping, eBay should give us an allowance for shipping and charge fees on ANYTHING ABOVE that allowance! So if you have an item that sells for $100 and based on the buyer's location it will be $12.50 to ship it, eBay should NOT charge their final value fee on the $12.50. Anything you charge ABOVE $12.50 should have a percentage taken out! If eBay did that, then they would STOP CUTTING INTO MY SHIPPING MONEY and they can STILL get the people who try to game their system! Ebay has the ability to tell how much something should cost to ship! So it is NO PROBLEM for ebay to calculate what shipping should be, charge a fee on anything above that amount and STOP gouging sellers by chipping into their shipping money with the final value fee!

I HATE PAYING A FEE ON SHIPPING WHEN I ACTUALLY HAVE TO SHIP THE ITEM! THAT CUTS INTO PROFITS! I EBay should stop doubling dipping into the shipping pot! ESPECIALLY when we have to pay fees just to get the money from Paypal too!

UGHHHH....We should band together and start a Change.org petition about this!

OK. Now that I have had my venting time, let me go and try to sell something!

fern*wood · ‎08-06-2019

I understand venting about things, but I find it better for my mental health to do something myself rather than depend on others to change what I don't like. Since I don't wish to cover these fees (or any fees), I work them into my prices---either in the asking price or a handling fee. Unless I mess up, my profit doesn't take a hit and my buyers pay the fees.

a_c_green · ‎08-06-2019

@thehappyretailseller wrote:
So if you have an item that sells for $100 and based on the buyer's location it will be $12.50 to ship it, eBay should NOT charge their final value fee on the $12.50. Anything you charge ABOVE $12.50 should have a percentage taken out!

You are correct in your assessment of where the problem is, but you're beating the greasy spot in the road where the dead horse used to be. eBay has flat-out stated some time ago that they are not going to change that. You'll need to factor that expense into your pricing.

forgottenape · ‎08-06-2019

this is there because of all the honest sellers out there that sold items for less than a dollar and charged 2000 for shipping. learn the history of why things are the way they are

mansons2005 · ‎08-06-2019

Oh, those in glass houses..............

"learn the history of why things are the way they are"

The OP explained the "history" of which you speak in the opening post. Mayhap you should learn to read comprehensively so you know what is actually being said...........

parkersparrow · ‎08-06-2019

@thehappyretailseller wrote:
OK. I am venting here! Ebay KNOWS that items have to be shipped! I know shipping used to not have fees and that some people would charge $99 for shipping and $1 for the item to avoid eBay's fees, but instead of charging fees on ALL shipping, eBay should give us an allowance for shipping and charge fees on ANYTHING ABOVE that allowance! So if you have an item that sells for $100 and based on the buyer's location it will be $12.50 to ship it, eBay should NOT charge their final value fee on the $12.50. Anything you charge ABOVE $12.50 should have a percentage taken out! If eBay did that, then they would STOP CUTTING INTO MY SHIPPING MONEY and they can STILL get the people who try to game their system! Ebay has the ability to tell how much something should cost to ship! So it is NO PROBLEM for ebay to calculate what shipping should be, charge a fee on anything above that amount and STOP gouging sellers by chipping into their shipping money with the final value fee!

I HATE PAYING A FEE ON SHIPPING WHEN I ACTUALLY HAVE TO SHIP THE ITEM! THAT CUTS INTO PROFITS! I EBay should stop doubling dipping into the shipping pot! ESPECIALLY when we have to pay fees just to get the money from Paypal too!

UGHHHH....We should band together and start a Change.org petition about this!
OK. Now that I have had my venting time, let me go and try to sell something!

How would that work? You know you can claim the cost of the fees on your taxes.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎08-06-2019

Ebay has fees. They have to find the most fair way to allocate those fees to sellers. The total price is the most fair. That way a seller with "free" shipping, one with exact shipping and one with shipping and handling will pay the same fee on the same total.

Ebay has fees. If they stop using the shipping portion they will increase the percentage on the rest. The result will be the same except fee bandits will go back to hiding all their profit in the shipping bucket.

This complaint is conflating fees on your revenue with your shipping expense. Why should the shipping expense be backed out when there are so many other expenses?

Why the concern on fairly allocated fees when buyers pay them anyway?

Fees are not going down no matter how much people complain about the way they are allocated to sellers.

realtorchamp · ‎08-06-2019

Ebay gets kick backs from the shippers too. Makes me sick...Ebay is like a demagogue...Everything for them..and not you..I quit..Prices way too high...with the **bleep** fees and all..

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-06-2019

The main reason for the change was that eBay wanted sellers to offer ‘free’ shipping. But if sellers put the cost of the shipping in their item price, they paid fvf on the shipping cost and sellers who kept the shipping cost separate had an advantage as they did not have to pay fvf on shipping. To encourage sellers to offer free shipping they began charging fvf on the total amount that the buyer paid.

trene-n-josh · ‎08-06-2019

And how is e-Bay going to determine the shipping allowance on each item?

reallynicestamps · ‎08-06-2019

I HATE PAYING A FEE ON SHIPPING WHEN I ACTUALLY HAVE TO SHIP THE ITEM! THAT CUTS INTO PROFITS!

I never pay for shipping.

My customer pays for shipping.

Even on my Free Shipping items where the cost of shipping (and packaging and insurance and yes, shipping FVF ) is included in the asking price.

I am able to source postage stamps at a greatly discounted rate ,low enough that I even sell discount postage on eBay, but not everyone has that opportunity.

upgradedendmills · ‎08-06-2019

Any fixed cost that adds to the price of an item only serves to make the item less attractive to buyers and drives down sales. The items I normally sell are shipped 1st Class package so the 10% surcharge amounts to about 50 cents on most packages and I am able to absorb it myself rather than pass it on to my customers. I list most of my items as "free shipping" and build the cost of actual shipping into my pricing based on an Eastern zip code. Just a number, and sometimes I am a few pennies over and sometimes I eat a few pennies. Whenever possible, even with "free shipping" I combine and discount or rebate the savings to my customers

kensgiftshop · ‎08-06-2019

@thehappyretailseller wrote:
I HATE PAYING A FEE ON SHIPPING WHEN I ACTUALLY HAVE TO SHIP THE ITEM!

You are not paying a fee for shipping, you are paying a fee on the amount that was collected from buyer.

When you pay the Pay Pal fee, you are paying a fee on the shipping money you collected also.

If Ebay would do their fee like Pay Pal and make it one transaction instead of two transactions, I bet people wouldn't even think about it.

Have a great day.

fuzzface50 · ‎08-06-2019

As Trene mentioned, how are you going to determine correct shipping amount? some of us pack better than others. Some just jam it in a box to small with no cushioning. Others would be double boxing the same item to protect the item better. so 1 seller could be a pound or 2 difference from another seller. Then we each ship from a different location to different destinations. Not sure how you are going to say a certain item would ship at x amount, it is impossible..

As mentioned this fee isn't going away anytime soon. even other sites charge a similar fee

Best way is make sure you sell products that you have enough profit built in to cover all your fees here and have some left over for future investments, toys, bills and as someone else used to mention(sorry I forget who right now) enough for a jelly donut.