How do I call e-bay directly?

[brburt_12]

E-bay's fees are outrageous, as they consume 30% of my sale price. I have tried to resolve this issue but they simply do not reply. I have submitted a return phone call 5 times so far... Can anybody out there hep me

[monroe67]

"Unless you pay for an anchor store, it's a big secret, no number exists"    Not true.  

Please see the response from "caldreamer", Message 7 of 15 in this thread.  It includes a link to eBay's Selling Fees page for non-store sellers.  Once you open the link, scroll down to see the full chart of Final Value Fees (FVFs) percentage numbers that apply to various categories (kinds) of things sold on eBay.  

Examples: 45 rpm vinyl records are subject to eBay's standard 13.6% FVF, while sales of jewelry carry a 15% FVF.  

That FVF percentage is applied to the total amount paid by the buyer, not merely to the price of the item.

The total amount paid by the buyer will most often include an amount that the buyer pays toward shipping, and buyers in most of the United States will also pay sales taxes.  

Edited to add:  Re ". . . . it's a big secret, no number exists."  

It occurs to me you may have been trying to say "no telephone number exists."  

That's very different from the existence of a percentage number for figuring eBay's Final Value Fees.  

For this thread, though: I think the OP has gotten his/her question answered, about how eBay's fees are calculated, and he/she didn't have to try to speak to any eBay representative on a telephone call. 

eBay does not charge any 30% fees unless a specific seller has, for some unknowable reason, chosen to pay eBay 30% for promoting his listings.

[chapeau-noir]

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@inhawaii wrote:

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@gurlcat wrote:

Sellers calling just to complain is exactly the kind of reason I would make it hard to reach me, if I were eBay. 🙄

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I call ebay all the time.

#1)  To complain about the high fees.

#2) To complain that my sales are slow.

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Don't forget the reverse-throttling! 

[bashort]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

There is no eBay final value fee that is that high.  eBay's final value fee for sellers is calculated on the total of the item sold price, the shipping cost and the state sales tax, if applicable, plus a few other less than a buck fees.  Plus "promotion" is more.  

If you figure it at 30%, you are including some numbers in your calculations that aren't applicable.

Please return and show us the figures you used.

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The OP said 30% of the sale price, no 30% final value fees and yes you can get to 30% of sale price rather easily without promoting

[slippinjimmy]

"Sale Price" includes shipping, perhaps you meant Item Value?

[1786davycrockett]

@brburt_12 

That trombone which you just sold for $1526.00 with "free shipping" certainly must have put a pain in your wallet.

You DO realize that "free shipping" is not really "free" -- right?  That's paid for by YOU (the seller), and would be included in the total sales amount.

So your FVFs would have been based upon $1526.00 + taxes + shipping + 40 cents.

The eBay FVF on musical instruments is 13.25%.

So how much did you eat in "free shipping," and what was the amount of sales tax (if any)?

[keziak]

If you think ebay is bad try Fulfillment by Amazon.

[mam98031]

@brburt_12 

Ebay does NOT charge a 30% fee on ANY category.  Now your selling fees PLUS what you paid to ship the item may add up to 30%.  No matter where you sell on the internet, you will end up having to ship the item to the buyer and there is a fee to do that.  NOT an Ebay fee, but Carrier costs. 

[johnrj1226]

You are calculating incorrectly - unless you opted for additional eBay cost features - like promoted listing,  bold headline copy for listings,  store fees etc.

It is always a good idea to  calculate your "cost of  goods sold" before you list anything then there are no surprises unless you calculated  incorrectly..

[soh.maryl]

Why would you say that?  All of the fee information is clearly posted in more than one place for the OP to read.  

[broto_64]

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@gurlcat wrote:

Sellers calling just to complain is exactly the kind of reason I would make it hard to reach me, if I were eBay. 🙄

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I can pretty much guarantee a good 90% (thou likely more than that, maybe 98% or 99% but we'll just say 90% to stay on the side of accuracy)... A good 90% of people who called ebay called for reasons that absolutely did not require support, the rest were telemarketers. Between those two it's easy to see why corporations decided customer support was a waste of finances.
The ensuing help sections however, that is a pretty sad state of affairs.

[gurlcat]

Depends on what you mean by "need" though.  As you admit the Help section (I think you mean the pages that give information on fees, the user agreement, instructions on what to do "if" etc.) are vast, poorly organized, and often poorly worded.  So even if 90% of user calls (or wannabe calls) are technically needless, I do have some sympathy for sellers, and buyers for that matter, still being confused after trying to find the answers in those pages.  

And here I will add that even though the pages often provide a direct link to the Community, that link goes straight to the Mentors forum, where many questions simply go unanswered, or get answered by only one Mentor, who may not provide the most correct or complete information.  Sometimes it's great, but honestly it's hit-or-miss.  

All that said, I don't get the sense that this^ particular OP even tried to figure out their fees before concluding they are outrageous. 

[monroe67]

"The eBay FVF on musical instruments is 13.25%."

One tiny little correction:

eBay's FVF on sales of musical instruments by non-store sellers is currently 13.6%, and has been for a couple years now.  

With an exception for sales of Guitars and Bass Guitars.  Their FVF is 6.7%. 

[soh.maryl]

Did you forget #3, To complain that someone else outbid you at the last minute and you would've bid more?

[soh.maryl]

The reason you can get to 30% is, as more than one person has pointed out here, is that you are calculating the FVF on only the price of the item.  

[annadryl]

Was this the trombone guy? I'm betting it was the shipping fees on that one.

(And he's not coming back here with details)