Fees

[pwil-23]

Well, I've been selling on Ebay for about 3-4 months now. And each month I am shocked at what Ebay takes in selling costs.  For the month of November, I sold $397 worth of items. Between taxes/government fees, Ebay fees (final value), account level fees and adjustments, and the real shocker, shipping labels, coming in at a whopping 113.00, I was left with $197.00!!  44% of my total sales went to COSTS!  I posted on Mercari two large Christmas dolls, also posted on Ebay, which sold today for $104 for both, including shipping.  My net will be approximately $86!  I made a decent profit with minimal COST!! Does ANYONE know how to mitigate these outrageous fees?  Especially with regard to the labels. For what I've been shelling out for labels I could have bought one of those high-end label printers so many of you suggested I not purchase. I don't know what to do. I've got over 200 new items I'd like to post, but if I'm going to keep getting hit like this, I think Mercari will serve me better.

[mam98031]

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@firesteel_surplus wrote:

For all the talk of the "high end thermal label printer" and ink and all of that. I am using a Rollo Thermal Label Printer. You can probably find them here but I think I bought mine on Amazon...I'm not sure.

$189. Not sure if that quantifies as "high end" but it works great for me. Mine is the USB "Commercial Grade." There is also a wireless. There are also other brands out there that I am sure that works great. But that is what I am using and it works for both USPS and UPS labels. I don't ship FedEx because we don't have a FedEx store in town.

Mike

Firesteel Surplus

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No need for a "high end" thermal printer, or at least not for me.  Between all the sites I sell on I ship 100-150 packages per week.  All by myself, I might add.  I use and old Zebra ZP 450 printer I bought used years ago off Ebay.  It is still going strong.  Thermal printers have far less to break down in them than other printers.  

When I bought mine a few years back, I paid about $150 for it and I got a bunch of supplies / labels with it.  One of the best purchases I've ever made.

[mam98031]

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@pwil-23 wrote:

Thank you for bringing to my attention the fact my shipping costs are relative to the cost of many of my items.  Will barely break even if I don't address this.  And thank you for posting all the links.  I will definitely access each one.

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You are very welcome, I'm glad I could help.  I think once you dive into this a bit more you will find that you have some issues with what you are charging for shipping.  Oh and keep in mind, we have YET ANOTHER Postal increase coming on January 22, 2023.  So more fun yet to come.

[fallsong26]

Agreed! 

Ebay takes almost 13% of my sales and they tell sellers you can list for free

yet they ALWAYS take that listing fee on the back end of the sale.

I had my dog accidently break an item I had a bid on and so I had to cancel the listing early

What does ebay do...they EXPLOIT that by charging me yet another fee for cancelling a listing 

of 10%

Greedy corporation not a good match for someone struggling big time

I do all the work, finding items, cleaning items, listing with photos and measuring every single item - and then taking an item to the postal takes time/gas every day! Ebay takes way to much money from sellers and routes complaints such as this back to eachother -not reading nor taking any action to assist.  Etsy for sellers is MUCH better

[fallsong26]

for over 10 yrs. I had ebay TAKING ship fees on every sell I made 

Thousands of dollars they made for stealing that. I did all my own hand written labels

Now I realize they charge the difference once you ship if you do not use thier labels and that is yet another way they exploit fees out of HARD work the sellers do ALONE

[fallsong26]

ebay ONLY gives no ship fees if you use THIER labels

For years I did my own because I did not have a usable printer nor could I afford one with ink

I am disabled and live well below poverty level- I sell on ebay to survive daily 

Ebay takes what they call a shipping fee on every sale if you pay in line at the postal and do your own labels

They never explained those fees to me for years I asked so many and no one with ebay could explain it! I paid an extra 4-8 dollars on every ship I made. Yet I paid for ALL my shipping with handwriting my labels and time/gas to go to the postal

Greedy corporation.

[femmefan1946]

and the real shocker, shipping labels,

First , you do not pay for shipping.

Your buyer pays for shipping.

Second, if you are offering FREE SHIPPING, you should know that this is just a marketing term that means your cost for shipping is included in the asking price for the item.

Which is cheapest?

A $10 item with $5 shipping.

A $5 item with $10 shipping.

A $15 item with Free Shipping.

The buyer always pays for the shipping. And those three price models attract three different customers, so there is no wrong answer.

You do pay fees on both your selling and your shipping income.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@fallsong26 wrote:

ebay ONLY gives no ship fees if you use THIER labels ... Ebay takes what they call a shipping fee on every sale if you pay in line at the postal and do your own labels ....

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I am sorry that you did not understand how eBay charges their fees.  The final value fee is a percentage of the buyer's total payment, including whatever they paid for shipping and handling.  It is not connected to where you purchase your postage.

If you purchase postage labels through eBay, you will pay a discounted postage rate; it costs more to purchase postage at the Post Office counter (except for Media Mail rates).

[bonjourami]

"Sarcastic Karen- your not a rockstar

Just an prideful narcistic wannabee"

Sorry to see this strange response, had my eye on several of your items, but Ill just move along.

[getzappy]

They are increasing the fees on most things once again so I will be increasing  the price of all of my items by 3% and having a sale on the other sites I use. Ebay can charge what ever goes they want because all that matters is it sales. Use multiple sites to sell and price your items according to those fees.

Many business have priced themselves out of the game. I'm very curious what those china sellers pay. They should pay more because the USPS supplements items shipped from there to USA. They really pay almost nothing compared to USA sellers to ship here. The government subsidized their mail to USA when china was a poor country to assist them with moving up. This should be revoked along with 5% of ebay fees.

Beyond all of that the traffic is all but gone on ebay, much fewer shoppers. Remember peeps ebay is not the only game in town so play with the others to increase your sells

[freeyoursole]

I've been selling now 18 Years and this is most likely my last - fees are just getting out of hand - with freight costs and fees....and then my vendors are opening up stores on Ebay and I cannot compete with their pricing.....seller metrics are almost impossible to achieve..so we'll see....It was a GREAT RUN and did during the best of times!!! It's time to move on.....

[modernkat]

I don't know why you are using labels for shipping?  They are expensive and you can print your labels on plain white paper, cut out and tape onto the box. You don't need a "fancy or expensive printer" to do this.

Plus buying your postage thru eBay saves money instead of paying at the post office.

I hope you know to add the shipping cost separately, or as part of the total purchase price in your listings.

[jman0312]

Was the box/envelope you use to ship in given to you for free? Did ebay take 13% of shipping, yes & yes, continue to say shipping is a part of your fees..kinda obvious

[gail5176]

Some of your shipping costs seem low, especially for the pottery items, can you really ship pottery heavy items for $10.65?

[mauinui10]

Aloha! Im a little late to your post but I have had the same problem. Just about 45% of my sales go to eBay and shipping. The biggest rule to remember is when you are finding something to sell, make sure its under 15oz, so you can use 1st Class. Otherwise, use Flat Rate USPS for heavy items. Last bullet point would be to check out YouTube vids on POLYBAGS or POLY MAILERS. That is the saver, right there. PIRATESHIP website will take the Polybags dimensions and signup is free. Hope this helps and I am not repeating other answers. Good luck and remember that Customer Service and the Small Things you do is Paramount!

[jackdempsey101]

Yes there is always extra fees on fees on fees on fees on fees.

I had international shipping that was 4-5 x the local shipping  so ebay charge 4-5x their fees 

Then there was another "international fee"

Then there was the fees on the buyers15% VAT that you had to pay,

then there is the listing fee

then thereis the promotion listing fee

Then their is monthly subscription fee

Then there is the gst

So the final valuation fee advertised at around 10-12% ends up being

30- 40+% of sale

So yes your right If your doing "free shipping" then cost of fees and shipping could be 40-50+%

Ebay Final valuation  fees are  a "bit" deliberately  misleading, but who would sell on  ebay if ebay  was less deceptive  disclosed that  full ebay  fees are 30-40% of a sale for small store?

Then there are the monkeys