mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
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@immapeacock wrote:I just sold a trading card on ebay for ¢.99 plus shipping. The buying paid a grand total of $4.02. Shipping cost is $2.83 which takes that down to $1.19. my fees we ¢.81 so I made a whopping ¢.38. what am I missing with fees here? I didn't see this problem until I started the new payment program. I'm kinda confused as to why I'm paying such high fees.
Can anyone enlighten me?
It is highly likely you were in PP's Micro Payments program which gave you significant savings on what they charged you to process your payments. MP doesn't have that type of program.
If I'm not mistaken, PP's Micro payment program has a 5 cent per transaction fee. In MP it is a 30 cent transaction fee. That would be the big part of your issue.
Your only path forward is to raise your pricing. Or maybe sell in lots [more than one item]. You really don't have any other choices unless you stop selling such inexpensive items. Sorry!
@immapeacock wrote:I just sold a trading card on ebay for ¢.99 plus shipping. The buying paid a grand total of $4.02. Shipping cost is $2.83 which takes that down to $1.19. my fees we ¢.81 so I made a whopping ¢.38. what am I missing with fees here? I didn't see this problem until I started the new payment program. I'm kinda confused as to why I'm paying such high fees.
Can anyone enlighten me?
It is highly likely you were in PP's Micro Payments program which gave you significant savings on what they charged you to process your payments. MP doesn't have that type of program.
If I'm not mistaken, PP's Micro payment program has a 5 cent per transaction fee. In MP it is a 30 cent transaction fee. That would be the big part of your issue.
Your only path forward is to raise your pricing. Or maybe sell in lots [more than one item]. You really don't have any other choices unless you stop selling such inexpensive items. Sorry!
@77-78yankees wrote:"Can anyone enlighten me?"
--You're basically wasting your time making .38 selling 1 trading card. Hope that helps..
That isn't really true. There are lots of sellers that currently use PP micropayment program for just these types of listings. They are very inexpensive listings that buyers tend to by multiple listings from the seller. The money processing fees are really low so it very well can make this a profitable business. But buyers of multiple items is a real key.
In MP this isn't going to work anywhere near as well because MP does not currently have a micropayment option. So these sellers are taking a huge fee hit and need to re-adjust their business models until such time that MP offers micropayments.
@photojimaz wrote:I totally understand your frustration. I'm selling old CD's just to get rid of them at $0.99 and with the new MP I find I'm losing an extra 2 - 3 cents per CD. Eventually I'll probably leave ebay because this was just a past time and it's become a lot less fun for a little less money. Eventually ebay may become just large store sellers and prices will probably be no better than actual stores. Buying antiques and hard to find stuff may still be worth it but average everyday stuff won't be. Even now I find some electronic items and household stuff is cheaper at say Walmart.
Until MP evolves enough to hopefully offer a micropayment program, you will need to change your business model in order to survive here. As will ALL the other sellers moving into MP from PP micropayments.
Clearly selling at a loss is not worth selling. So you will need to increase your pricing by at least 25 cents to cover the additional 30 cent per transaction fee in MP verse the 5 cent transaction fee in PP micropayments.
You also may consider selling in lots a little more often or a couple in a listing. Something to make it attractive to buyers while allowing you to be paid for your time and products.
It is unlikely that having to raise your pricing by 25 to 50 cents an item is going to strangle your sales. But you won't know until you try. I wish you nothing but good luck for the future and hope you find a way to work within the new fee structure.
And don't forget to raise your shipping fees as Monday the fees go up for USPS.
@djobcek79 wrote:Its generally very very stupid. Ebay gets % off item you sold. Thats ok. WHY should Ebay get anything else?
Shipment expenses are something, what I, as seller do not keep.
Few days ago i sent CD i sold. Postage was 5 euro, but actually i paid (with bubble envelope) about 7. Then Ebay charges me and wants me to pay money from something, i didnt earn.
Simple said, if you sell goods and spend thousand euros on postage, greedy Ebay asks you to pay them 100 euros. So you pay 100 more euros out of money you earned from selling certain goods.
Once you are in MP, Ebay is then processing the money too which isn't what they did before.
@photojimaz wrote:People use to selling things really cheap and then jackup the shipping price because ebay didn't take a percentage of this. I'm sure that is why they started taking a percentage of shipping. I do agree with you tho. Seems like ebay could have figured a better way to handle this because people like you and I who do not make any money off of shipping get cheated.
I'm not complaining about MP, I understand ebay is just a business. I'm just saddened that a lot of smaller sellers may drop out. Bigger sellers can sell cheaper and drive the small guys out. I only sell as a hobby and honestly could stop tomorrow and really won't miss the extra money. I feel sorry for the people who do need the extra money and are trying to scrape by. As a buyer I would will also miss the smaller sellers as I only buy collectible older stuff from time to time. Ebay is a well recognized name and I'm sure they will survive even if all the small sellers disappear over the next few years. Though I do believe they will then find themselves competing with bigger sites and I do not think that will go their way, but only time will tell.
FVFs on shipping has now been around for more than a decade. One would reasonably thing people would be use to it by now, but I guess not. Ebay is not the only site to charge on shipping and is likely one of the last of the bigger sites to even do it.
There are many reasons why some do not want to go into MP and it isn't just because they don't like the program. That certainly covers the issue for many of the sellers but some also don't want the money going into their bank account for a variety of reasons. Others can't get a bank account. It is a mixed bag and not just because they don't like the program.
