Ebay's Final value fees increasing again

[lightlily_arts]

The Spring update shows that Final Value Fees are increasing again.  I'm not going to address any category other than Books and DVD's as that category has seen the largest increases in the past four years.   Although I rarely sell much in the book category I have yet to understand why books and DVD's were hit with the highest fees of any category.    Even though they can ship by Media Mail there is no  discount on shipping and you pay the same fees for shipping portion.

If you have been around for awhile  you may not know that the fees for Books DVD's and Music was increased by 25% back in September of 2018  from 9.15% to 12% for Store subscribers and from 10% to 12% for non-Store sellers. 

Now those fees are being increased from 12% to  14.55% for all sellers regardless of whether you have a store or not. That is a 37% increase since 2018.

[evry1nositswindy]

I sell mainly books--I sure noticed!  

[vintagecraze50]

I guess the only thing I can say about that is always the prices of everything keep going up and up with no end in sight. Raise your price as well to compensate until everything gets priced so high nobody will buy—LOL.

[dhbookds]

They typically control the supply (#'s listed) of things that are in over supply by increasing the fvf, since there is virtually no insertion fee anymore...........i.e. clothing at one time had a higher fvf than most other categories.......books have gone up and down the gauntlet as long as I've been here.........  Guitars have been a "favorite child" for a while now.......with lower fees.

Undoubtedly, ebay looks at numbers to try to "balance" the marketplace without letting one category become too dominate. 

[slippinjimmy]

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@lightlily_arts wrote:

Although I rarely sell much in the book category I have yet to understand why books and DVD's were hit with the highest fees of any category.   

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In early 2017 Amazon raised fees for the Media category, shortly thereafter (and not long before it closed) eBay's Half.com raised fees. After Half closed eBay raised fees in the Media Category. Still lower than Amazon and it helped keep/bring the book mega-sellers that had been using Half along with with many from Amazon.

eBay are usually quite strategic when it comes to fees thus the no/low fee deal for running shoes or high end watches and the increases in others. 

[lightlily_arts]

Actually my concern is that we will price ourselves out of making a sale unless you are willing to settle for pennies.  You have to decide how much you are willing to accept for selling your book after paying all expenses of shipping materials, final value fees, transaction fees, and shipping.  Magazines are considered to be books by category, but they aren't eligible for Media Mail.    Many buyers don't realize that you can't use Media Mail for magazines although many sellers do it anyways. You have to wonder how the Mega Book sellers make any money with such low prices.  Do they have some special contract for shipping?   Most of my hardcover books were fiction purchased through book clubs, and I just donated those to the local library.

[evry1nositswindy]

@lightlily_arts Raising all of my prices only makes the mega sellers prices look even better, but the have very poor service.  One look at their feedback will tell you that.  I guess time will tell if buyers want cheap prices more than accurate descriptions with no cancellations.

[dhbookds]

trick to beat the mega sellers to me is to do lots.........  haven't bought from them in a while, but they used to not combine shipping....... so if they charged 2.99 shipping for each book.....you could easily mail 5/6 etc for that.  Real readers don't hesitate to buy multiple quantities. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques · Accepted solution]

Your statement is not correct.

You say: "Now those fees are being increased from 12% to  14.55% for all sellers regardless of whether you have a store or not. That is a 37% increase since 2018."

No. 

If you are not yet in Managed Payments , your current fee is 12%. That will be going up to 12.20%.

If you are in Managed Payments, you are already paying 14.35%. That will be going up to 14.55%

So, the increase, whether in Managed Payments or not, is an additional .20% added to the current fee. 

And as we all know, the main reason those not in MPs currently pay less than those in Managed Payments is because they also have to pay an additional PayPal fee, which brings their total pretty much in line with those in Managed Payments.

The .20% addition to the fee is the same amount by which almost all increased fees were increased. The Book DVD category was not treated differently.

So, if you are already in Managed Payments, your FVF on a $100 purchase (including shipping and taxes in that amount) is now $14.35. In a few weeks, it will be $14.55, a difference of 20 cents on a $100.00 sale. If you have strong margins, you should be able to handle that without raising your price. It just depends on your business model.

[im-poor]

The comparison  was a 37% increase since 2018, not to todays fees. On todays fees the increase would be 1.39%.       .20%=.0020

[evry1nositswindy]

I have plenty of lots for sale by the same author.   I have noticed that's a winner.

[lightlily_arts]

My point was that the final value fees for books have been increased by 37% since 2018 and the fees for this category is higher than all the rest.

[ronssss]

ebay has been loosing sellers, so what do u expect....i pretty much stop selling on ebay years ago, that final value fee was the nail in the coffin...if u ask me, its legalized robbery..they should charge listing fee, and pay pal fee, sell a item for $1000, maybe $10 charge...look now how they rob u

[bin2500]

I was just switched over to Managed Payments 3/2021. FVF for Media increased from 12% to 14.5%. That is a 2.5% increase not .20%.

The question I have not been able to find an answer to; Why is the FVF for media higher than other items in the first place? I know it wont change the fact that the fees are higher, however it would be nice to know.

I don't list a lot of books, but for those that deal exclusively in media it can add up!

I did a search for "Books" and search results were approximately 24,000,000 items, I took an average of $10 per book (rough guesstimate) at 2.5% that results in $6,000,000 hmm...

Have a great day!

[nobody*s_perfect]

When you're in MP, you pay a higher FVF rate to eBay but you pay nothing to PayPal. Most sellers find that their total fees work out about the same.

It's just a coincidence that your switch to MP came at about the same time as the .2% rate increase, so you felt both changes at the same time.

When eBay increased the FVF for those media categories, most posters figured that their reason was "because we can." Also, most items in those categories are eligible for economical Media Mail shipping, which nets eBay less FVF on the shipping portion of the transaction.