Including shipping in fees

[Anonymous]

I was wondering why eBay includes shipping cost into the amount of percentage they take.  I ship through the United States Postal Service.  Shipping is separate from ebay and its getting quite expensive . I'm trying to figure this one out.   Any ideas or maybe someone could explain it to me ?

[richard1rst]

This one has been beaten to death. There have been more posts on this than can be counted.

eBay is NOT charging you a fee on the shipping. They are charging you a commission on the total amount of the money they process without regard to the source of the funds..

Buy something at a local B&M store and pay with a credit card. The card processor does not separate item cost from tax from delivery fee. They charge a fee on the total being processed. Ebay is the same.

[buyselljack2016]

@Anonymous 

Old answer posted a thousand times is that sellers would sell a $100 item for $1 with $99 shipping to avoid eBay fees, so eBay took care of the problem the easiest way for eBay.

You sell for $20 with $21 shipping.

I sell an item for $41 with shipping included.

Who should pay more in fees?

[inhawaii]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was wondering why eBay includes shipping cost into the amount of percentage they take.  I ship through the United States Postal Service.  Shipping is separate from ebay and its getting quite expensive . I'm trying to figure this one out.   Any ideas or maybe someone could explain it to me ?

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#1)  Because they can.

#2) Sellers used to sell a $100 item for $1 + $99 shipping to avoid paying fees.

[chapeau-noir]

 

[inhawaii]

Far out!   Groovy!

[richard1rst]

That is so cool. Noel Harrison would be so proud.

[lepke1979]

Because of people trying to cheat the system. And to make it fair to those that do free shipping.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thank you.  That makes sense.  I don't have a criminal mind so I never thought that people would do such a thing but ,I'm finding how that people are cruel and they take advantage of others .   Such a bummer that people are like that.   

[chaos215bar2]

This justification doesn’t hold up when you’re using eBay to pay for shipping, though. When you pay through eBay, they know exactly how much went to shipping vs. other costs.

Not only that, but for high shipping fees, eBay screws the seller because they don’t include the final value fee when calculating how much the buyer should be paying for shipping. If you don’t intentionally pad the size and weight of an item, the further the buyer is, the more you have to pay out of pocket to cover fees eBay charges on the shipping amount.

And as for fairness for free shipping? If you don’t want to cover shipping fees, then don’t use free shipping. Don’t put your own choice on other sellers.

[buyselljack2016]

This justification doesn’t hold up when you’re using eBay to pay for shipping, though. When you pay through eBay, they know exactly how much went to shipping vs. other costs.-

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Again, eBay took the easy way.  Sure they know when the label is purchased through eBay, but do you think they are going to sit there and write code to differentiate fees for "purchased on eBay", "purchased elsewhere" ?

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And as for fairness for free shipping? If you don’t want to cover shipping fees, then don’t use free shipping. Don’t put your own choice on other sellers.

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Sellers already know that there is no "free shipping".  Sellers already know fees apply.

My buyers pay the shipping (and shipping FVF) when shipping is free, and when they pay it as an additional amount.

[monroe67]

"This justification doesn’t hold up when you’re using eBay to pay for shipping, though. When you pay through eBay, they know exactly how much went to shipping vs. other costs."

This argument has been made before.  You are not the first to express this opinion.  

But that argument:  Does.  Not.  Matter.  

The truth is that
eBay charges fees
to sellers
as a percentage 
of the total amount
paid by the buyers.  

The total amount paid by buyers includes:  "the item price, any handling charges, the shipping service the buyer selects, sales tax, and any other applicable fees."  That quote is directly from eBay's User Agreement, Section 5, Fees and Taxes.  

With every set of toys you have listed for sale, you are deemed to have accepted eBay's User Agreement.  Whether you like it or not.