Fees

[ridge_top_farm_wv]

I am a top rated seller starter store with 100% positive feed back with over 300 listings , I work hard at managing my store but the Ebay fees are destroying me at best I am making 30 to 40 percent profit and Ebay is taking the rest...does anyone have any advice or suggestions of what I can do to increase my profits unecessary fees etc...

Thank you

[ebooksdiva]

Savvy sellers incorporate their selling fees including shipping, if offering free shipping, into the price of the item. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

If you have a Starter-level store subscription and you have 300 listings, then you are paying about $15 per month in insertion fees (50 x $.30), so it's probably time for you to consider upgrading to a Basic-level store subscription.

As a Top Rated Seller, you could be getting a 10% deduction on your final value fees if you offered free returns and 1-day handling rather than "Buyer pays" returns and 5-day (!) handling.

When you do charge for shipping, be sure you're charging enough, and when you offer free shipping be sure that you have covered the shipping cost in your item price.  I bet those 48-inch cherry boards cost more than $12 to ship.  You can set up your listings with a built-in shipping calculator which will automatically figure the cost from your ZIP Code to that of any buyer; you just enter accurate package weight and dimensions.

Other than that, the main way to make more profit is to charge more for your items and/or for shipping and handling. Most sellers would consider a 30% profit to be just fine.

[inhawaii]

Ebay is very transparent and up front  about what their fees are.

It is up to you, the seller to calculate and  figure out what to sell items for so that after all the fees and expenses you make exactly the profit you desire.   It's called "net profit".

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @ridge_top_farm_wv 

You have sold 19 items in the last 90 days.  I would calculate the "average" sale price but you engage in the Offer process which does nothing but drive prices down and I have no clue what price you accepted for the offers?  For argument sakes let's just say your average is $ 20 (item price NOT shipping & sales tax) and you are only making 30-40% on the money then you are netting about $ 114.00 to $ 152.00 on the 19 sales int he last 90 days ... 

I think what might help is to offer some higher value items and driving your average sale price up.  300 listings is fine if at least 50 of them sell before the items automatically relist each month (on the day the listings were created).  However, based on your recent sales history I doubt that will happen so you should End enough listings to avoid paying insertion fess as @nobody*s_perfect mentioned.  Ended listings will be moved to your Unsold file and remain there for 90 days.  You can Relist them as other items sell.

You can certainly pay for a larger store but I would not do that until your average sale is over the monthly store fee.  That is how I opened my first store, that meant I only needed one "average" sale per month to pay for the store fee.

[pls-consignments]

In addition to the great advice given here, I would add that in any business, "counting the costs" should always be done before you start selling. That means, know what your COS will be as well as your net profit. If you're doing this as a hobby, then I wouldn't loose sleep over it, because whatever you net on eBay will most likely always be more than a garage sale table. 😊

[fern*wood]

Hi fellow Wood County seller!   The fees probably aren't hurting you as much as all that free shipping on the big/heavy items.  Some of the listings that charge shipping look too low to cover the postage, so that is coming out of your pocket too.   Good luck to you---big/heavy items are difficult to deal with now with shipping costing so much.

[fbusoni]

Calculate what your fees will be before you list a given item.

Then add those fees into your asking price, in addition to whatever profit you want to make.

This is what I do and it works quite well.

If you are concerned that you will not be able to ask a price that incorporates the fees so that the fees are paid for by the buyer, then you may need to look into selling in different categories.

[ridge_top_farm_wv]

Hello neighbor

[ridge_top_farm_wv]

Thank you very much.

[ridge_top_farm_wv]

I appreciate your opinion...it really helps.

[buyselljack2016]

Many companies would be singing that life is good if they had a 30-40% profit margin.

[stainlessenginecovers]

---

@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

......As a Top Rated Seller, you could be getting a 10% deduction on your final value fees if you offered free returns and 1-day handling rather than "Buyer pays" returns and 5-day (!) handling.......

---

@nobody*s_perfect 

I thought all you had to do was 'offer 30 day returns' and NOT necessarily 'Free' returns? (along with the 1 day shipping, being TRS etc)

[nobody*s_perfect]

They upped the ante several years ago.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347

[isaiah53-57]

@ridge_top_farm_wv

Well the last thing you want to do is take the advice of some posters here who think their buyers pay for all their costs - I'm not sure why this fallacious concept  is mentioned on these boards so often - Most often times those touting this absurdity are posters who seem to think the most highly of themselves and their business acumen - Its very odd - Following this, fools errand will drive you to the poorhouse - Here's why:

Take an item that has a market value of $40 - if costs/fees will amount to $15, the only way it is possible to plan for your buyer to pay for your costs would be to list it and sell it for $55.

If you took this advice, you would only be adding to all the over-priced junk on this site that drives buyers away in droves - Used items here that are listed for more than new on other sites - causing non-organic buyers to discount this site at a glance when doing google searches.

You likely wouldn't sell it  anyway due to all the $25 to $40 ones listed, and if you did, then you ripped off your customer.

How long do you really think you would stay in business operating under this business model?

More food for thought... Maybe these people are deluded and think that just because a buyer bought their $40 item for $40 means the buyer paid for their costs? - Sorry - You cleared $25 out of the $40 after costs, so how did your buyer cover your costs on an item valued at $40? - Because you would have been willing to sell it for $25? hahahaha Ok...

So what you want to do is sell items people want/need, even if only on occasion, and add pictures as attractive as possible to entice people to pay top dollar for those items - a $40 item that you sold for $40 - Wow - Thats what you are shooting for - and guess what?...if you do that, your buyers sure as he11 didnt pay for YOUR costs... You'll never be able to get rid of your costs and you'll never be able to pass them on to your buyers... The only thing you can do is work to reduce or control them... Thats one of your most important jobs in selling - and its one of the reasons we dont list here anymore...