albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@coolections wrote:@pf9000 OP, pay no attention to the others replying. You are correct, figure 15%. If you expect to receive a payout of $30, when you list your item add your shipping cost and approximate cost of state tax + 30 cents. Add that to your asking price and that will cover the 15% it takes to sell here and still receive a final payout of $30.
This is the most ridiculous argument and only serves to confuse people more.
The fact is that the fees are calculated based on the total amount payment made by the buyer, which is 12.9% + $.30.
If as a seller, you want to calculate the percentage of fees based on your selling price, that's going to be a higher percentage (usually) but it's NOT the way those fees were calculated.
What if I sell an inexpensive widget for $10 but because it was very heavy, it costs $35 to ship. For ease of calculation, I'll assume buyer lives in NH where there's no sales tax so FVF on the $45 sale is $5.81 + 30 cents.
Using your flawed math, the seller would be paying 61% FVF based on the $10 selling price of the widget.
@zero29zero wrote:I don't understand how that's "flawed math" as I just see the raw numbers (cash) as in:
what was the cost to sell the item?
#1 selling a $10 item that costs $35 to ship is pretty foolish
#2 if seller did so and paid the $6.11 to sell their $10 item, yes they paid 61% in fees
just have to agree to disagree, I guess
You are confusing two different things. The percentage of fees that Ebay charges is NOT the same as your total cost of sales [cogs]. It is a portion of that, not the full amount.
You as some other sellers have confuse the two things which are totally different numbers.
The percentage of fees Ebay charges any seller is NOT the same as "the cost to sell the item". But your Ebay fees are a PORTION of "the cost to sell the item".
1. That depends on the item and how rare it is. The cost of the item does not drive the shipping costs. The weight of the item does.
2. Shipping COSTS are NOT part fees Ebay charges. Ebay pays no attention whatsoever to how much you pay for shipping, but how much you charge the buyer for shipping. Shipping costs are separate and a part of your COGS.
So what exactly are you looking for? Your percentage of Ebay fees or your percentage of COGS? And if you want your percentage of COGS, then you MUST add in the price you paid for the product [if any] too as it is part of COGS.
The percentage that Ebay charges is a completely separate percentage and is ONLY as described on the Seller Fee policy page.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822
@zero29zero wrote:It seems that you may be misinterpreting what I'm seeing as my %
I'm not talking about cost of goods, profit/loss
I'm not talking about shipping charges
It's a simple formula; what price did I sell my item for minus the dollar amount ebay charged me for the sale equals the % of money I paid for making that sale
as I said before everyone sees things from a different perspective, to you I'm just "confused" but I just look at what it cost me to make a sale
What you pay for shipping also has NOTHING to do with the percentage of fees Ebay charges any seller. Your cost to ship is a COGS, not a fee charged by Ebay.
Shipping charges are NOT a fee Ebay charges you, it is a cost of service by the carrier that you choose and you choose to have Ebay pay your vendor [carrier] directly for that service.
"It's a simple formula; what price did I sell my item for minus the dollar amount ebay charged me for the sale equals the % of money I paid for making that sale" NO it does not. Unless you don't have any cost for the items you sell.
This thread is about the EBAY FEES a seller pays. Not the cost of shipping or anything else, simply the fees that Ebay charges it's sellers.
This thread isn't about determining your cost of sale, ONLY the percentage of FEES that Ebay charges. Ebay doesn't charge the amount for shipping, the carrier the seller choses does. And many sellers on Ebay don't have their shipping run through Ebay in the first place. They buy their shipping elsewhere.
What you are describing isn't what the thread is about as no other costs play any part in what Ebay charges as their FVF on a sale. What the seller pays to their shipping carrier has nothing to do with how much Ebay charges in fees.
@zero29zero wrote:Did you actually read the part about =I'm not talking about shipping charges or cost of goods=???
Here's the deal;
I sell my $100 item at a live auction the charges 35%, I'm charged $35 commission
You sell a $100 item on ebay with shipping & tax, you're charged just 12.9% commission
I sell a $100 item on ebay with shipping & tax, I'm charged more that 12.9% commission
Just the way it is, I guess, wish I could get your rate
We live in alternate universes
Show an example of the red above.
@zero29zero wrote:Did you actually read the part about =I'm not talking about shipping charges or cost of goods=???
Here's the deal;
I sell my $100 item at a live auction the charges 35%, I'm charged $35 commission
You sell a $100 item on ebay with shipping & tax, you're charged just 12.9% commission
I sell a $100 item on ebay with shipping & tax, I'm charged more that 12.9% commission
Just the way it is, I guess, wish I could get your rate
We live in alternate universes
Please show the details of this. Just some random example will be fine. Show us the math too on how you come up with that Ebay is charging you more than they do other sellers for your FVFs plus a 30 cent per transaction fee.
@zero29zero wrote:OK, I'll give it a go here
I sell my item for $100
Shipping I charge is $15
Buyer pays 10% sales tax $10
Buyer's total payment $125
Ebay's charge 12.9% of $125 = $16.13
I've just paid 16.13% in commission to sell my $100 item through ebay
Well you are right, now I'm confused. That is 12.9% as Ebay states it will be on the total sale, which includes any separate shipping a seller charges and sales tax. So YES this is the fee and YES it is 12.9% of the TOTAL sale, therefore YES Ebay charges a 12.9% fee. This is accurate. It isn't a 15% fee or some other percentage, it is 12.9%.
Now you can rearrange those numbers anyway you see fit to get whatever number it is you desire. But the FACT remains that Ebay charged a 12.9% fee on the total sale. Which is what this thread is about.
Thank you for verifying what many of us have said all along on this thread.
@zero29zero wrote:Funny, it's actually 16.43%, I forgot the .30 transaction charge.
Funny, the 30 cent transaction fee is charged just like it was in PayPal, on every transaction no matter how much the total sale was. This fee stays the same and is NOT the same as the FVF percentage. So no. 30 cents does not make the percentage jump from 12.9% all the way up to 16.43% anyway.
According to you the total sale was $125.00. So 30 cents divided by $125 = 0.24%. So at most on the $125 sale the Ebay fees are 13.14%.
