eBay

the24-7shop · ‎02-10-2024

I usually don't post on the public forums at all. But I have been selling on Ebay for over 23 years and just

recently I sold a Sirius boombox with the receiver in great condition. Was listed for $35.00 after the fees were taken out my pay to me was $21.40 **bleep** am I not seeing something is wrong here?? I really am thinking outside the box here and is it worth my time and energy to let these people make actually more than I do ... I don't think so I will reconsider my selling options moving forward

toysaver · ‎02-10-2024

I estimate selling fees before I list and pass it on to the buyer.

hartungcards · ‎02-10-2024

You need to think outside the boombox. That $36.90 for shipping a $35.00 item is going to kill you.

adkhighker · ‎02-10-2024

Yes, 38.8% being what it cost you to sell that item is definitely tough to take. Ouch. That's why so many people selling lower priced items that require higher shipping costs to ship anything weighing over a couple of pounds are paying such high percentages to sell here anymore.

powell-memorabilia · ‎02-10-2024

You didn’t list a $35 item, you listed an over $70 item. That’s the way the buyer looks at it, that’s the way that eBay looks at it.

monroe67 · ‎02-10-2024

" . . . I have been selling on Ebay for over 23 years and just recently I sold a Sirius boombox with the receiver in great condition. Was listed for $35.00 after the fees were taken out my pay to me was $21.40 **bleep** am I not seeing something is wrong here??"

This type of question always makes me wonder if the seller has never paid any attention to eBay's Order Details on any other sale they made during the past 22 or 23 years. No, only this most recent sale brings up questions about eBay's fees.

The only thing that "is wrong here" is the seller's knowledge, understanding, and acceptance of eBay's fee structure. If I had been the buyer of that boombox: in addition to $35.00 for the boombox, it would have cost me more than $36.00 to have it sent to me. That's $71.00. Then, I would have to pay sales tax on $35.00. That would have been an additional $2.71, for a total payment of $73.71.

Using those numbers, with the assumption that I had purchased that boombox, the seller would have netted about $24.93. The sales tax percentage in my area is less than 8% and my state (California) does not tax postage paid by the buyer.

Assuming the buyer was in a state with closer to 10% sales tax that would apply to both the boombox and the postage:
a $21.40 payout seems reasonable.

Like many other sellers, including "toysaver", my selling ID takes the position that my buyers pay my fees.

laststopgeneralstore · ‎02-10-2024

That's your fault. Seeing as you've been on here for 23 years that means you've accepted and read the updated terms and conditions and seller updates roughly 46 times. Looks like you also charged the exact amount in shipping that it costs to ship out the item which means right off the bat you lose almost $4 in fee's just to shipping, not including fee's taken out of the item price & taxes. Next time calculate what you actually need to charge so you come out on top instead of ending up with less than expected and proceed to blame eBay for your lack of due-diligence even though they lay everything out very clearly for us.

johnson_junk_company · ‎02-10-2024

Fudging shipping costs to save on FVF’s is against those lovely “terms of service” you’re trying to use to make your point……

stainlessenginecovers · ‎02-10-2024

@johnson_junk_company wrote:
Fudging shipping costs to save on FVF’s is against those lovely “terms of service” you’re trying to use to make your point……

Where did you get that wrong information from?

What do you consider 'shipping costs?? Just the label?

If a label cost $10, seller needs to add at least $4 ($14 total to the customer for shipping) to cover 14% ebay Fees, cost of box, bubblewrap, tape, label, ink etc.

This site allows a seller to use 'Calculated' and then ADD a Handling Fee- which is obviously MORE than what the shipping label costs

fab_finds4u · ‎02-10-2024

What do you mean exactly by fudging shipping costs? Charging more than actual shipping?

It's allowed.

Many sellers charge the buyer retail but pay for discount shipping.

Many sellers also add a handling cost to the shipping.

Is that what you mean by fudging?

There is no saving on FFV's. It's based on the total cost the buyer pays.

Excuse me if I'm wrong but it looks like you didn't know that.

tobaccocardyahoo · ‎02-10-2024

I believe many sellers did not know what they were paying in fees when the PayPal fees were separate from the Ebay fees.

Ebay Managed Payments has opened a lot of eyes to what has been the case for a long time.

It is true that the marketplace facilitator tax has exacerbated the problem. Ebay decided not to be an unpaid tax collector, and that means the seller pays for that service. I always resented being an unpaid tax collector for the state I was operating in, and had no option but to do it.

I now live and operate in a no sales tax state.

When the cost of shipping is close to or more than item price, it is a dubious choice to offer the item, especially if it is going to most coastal states or older cities.

Most of my items are small enough to fit in a half inch tall mail slot in the lobby of my building. This was buy design. None of my items are short margin.

I have thousands of items which do not meet my current strategy. In the past, my solution to items which were not suited for online sales was in-person auctions. Most of my auctioneers who ran them are not running any more. I may have to have an on-site auction run by one of these auctioneers in the spring.

Remember most buyers will adjust what they are willing to pay for an item to allow for shipping costs. The Ebay fees have the same effect on your profit and my profit as the shipping costs, which have just had their annual increase.

yoonix1 · ‎02-10-2024

EBay is transparent on all fees. Roughly 20% of the sale goes to EBay ( for fees, subscription, etc), not including shipping cost. In your case you're over this 20%. I wonder what happened.

adkhighker · ‎02-10-2024

I believe many sellers did not know what they were paying in fees when the PayPal fees were separate from the Ebay fees.

The same can be said for a lot of the ones on this forum who are the first ones to holler at someone who's been here for over 20 years, scolding them that they ought to know how eBay works, when it's clearly obvious the OP knows more about how it works than the ones doing the scolding. Half of those eBay cheerleaders don't even know themselves that 13.25% in fees often ends up costing sellers twice as much as 13.25% or more. At least the OP can see it just isn't worth it to sell something at such a high percentage of cost to sell, which as far as I can tell was the point of their post.