Selling Costs

[pwb0130]

Hey!

Just wondering what everyone is running percentage wise for their selling costs? I am at 30%, seems a tiny bit high but wanted to compare with anyone willing to share.  I got this number from the performance dashboard and then sales report.  This percentage includes eBay fees and shipping labels.  Trying to determine if I could be doing something better to save on some of these costs. 

Thanks!

[mam98031]

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@pwb0130 wrote:

Hey!

Just wondering what everyone is running percentage wise for their selling costs? I am at 30%, seems a tiny bit high but wanted to compare with anyone willing to share.  I got this number from the performance dashboard and then sales report.  This percentage includes eBay fees and shipping labels.  Trying to determine if I could be doing something better to save on some of these costs. 

Thanks!

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Depends on how you are arriving at that number and what you are comparing it against.  If you are just going by the number Ebay tells you, it may not be accurate since they haven't a clue as to what all your expenses truly are.  The most they can see are your Ebay fees for whatever you have fees for [store, listing, etc.] and shipping if you do it through Ebay.

So first off you need to break down what that 30% actually represents.

[slippinjimmy]

My "selling costs" as reported by eBay  ONLY include eBay fees because eBay doesn't know anything about my other costs.

Because of this eBay reports my selling costs at between 13 and 14% (varies depending on Sales Tax & International vs Domestic).

Very difficult to compare this number between sellers, for some shipping is a big cost, for others it's a low cost, fees also vary considerably between Categories (if you have a Store). Comparing between a seller paying 4% or one paying 10% won't tell you much. Also not meaningful is if seller A sells collectibles they pay nothing for and Seller B sell brand new current merchandise they buy at wholesale.

To have a meaningful comparision you would need two sellers with the exact same type of business model.

[pwb0130]

Hey!

Yes, it just represents the Ebay fees (store/fvf) and my shipping costs (most of my shipping is done through Ebay (I do use pirate ship when it makes sense). Obviously not my cost of goods - I was comparing it against a forum I follow (scavenger life) and it seems some of the sellers are running at about a 20% rate.  I wonder if part of it is is that I pay only the $59.95 store fee and most of these sellers have the $300 store fee - so I am paying more in listing over my 1000 free listings.  Hmm...

[mam98031]

[pwb0130]

Cool - totally makes sense.  Thanks for helping me think through that.

[mam98031]

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@pwb0130 wrote:

Hey!

Yes, it just represents the Ebay fees (store/fvf) and my shipping costs (most of my shipping is done through Ebay (I do use pirate ship when it makes sense). Obviously not my cost of goods - I was comparing it against a forum I follow (scavenger life) and it seems some of the sellers are running at about a 20% rate.  I wonder if part of it is is that I pay only the $59.95 store fee and most of these sellers have the $300 store fee - so I am paying more in listing over my 1000 free listings.  Hmm...

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That percentage can be so inaccurate because it includes shipping and taxes.  The straight Ebay fees is more important to see our overall percentage.  If there are taxes on my sales, that is passed on to the tax authorities.  I don't pay taxes by buyers do.  And shipping is a cost of sales for sure, but only part of COGS.  So is my product costs but Ebay doesn't have access to those numbers.  The only part of this number I personally find useful is the Ebay fee part.  But that is just my preference.