Selling fees charged on shipping costs result in net loss!

[smithnarb]

I just received my first direct to bank payment and noticed that eBay charged me fees that included the shipping charges. My net proceeds were $79 on an item that cost me $85 to ship. **bleep** eBay? I just lost money and the item I sold. This is **bleep**, you shouldn’t be collecting fees on costs that we sellers have to pay. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

eBay has been charging the final value fee on the buyer's total payment including shipping since 2011.  Sellers have to build this expense into their pricing strategy.

[calntom]

....

[powell-memorabilia]

@smithnarb 

Painful lesson learned.  You have to know your potential shipping costs + associated fees when you are listing, and price accordingly.  Given what you charged for shipping, there was no way you were going to make money on this sale.  

[farmalljr]

LOL. Kind of a sucky lesson, wasn't it?

You as the seller, need to be aware of ALL the rules you are selling under. You also have to know your stuff when it comes to shipping.

It's NOT eBay's fault because you messed up. It's yours. So, are you going to LEARN from your mistakes and do better, or are you just going to sit around pointing the finger of blame at everyone BUT yourself?

Many important steps you SHOULD have taken, were not done. Now you pay the price. Good luck with that. 

[luckythewinner]

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@smithnarb wrote:

I just received my first direct to bank payment and noticed that eBay charged me fees that included the shipping charges. My net proceeds were $79 on an item that cost me $85 to ship. **bleep** eBay? I just lost money and the item I sold. This is **bleep**, you shouldn’t be collecting fees on costs that we sellers have to pay. 

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IMHO selling on eBay requires learning the fee structure and using it to calculate an item's profitability. Unfortunately, not all sellers bother to do this.  

[iart]

This has been a rule for about a decade. They had to do it because sellers were selling items for a penny and charging $300 for shipping. Ebay does a lot of things I don't like but this is the fault of sellers - not ebay.

[divwido]

Amen.

[l5vw]

I have noticed alot people are still listing items with extremely high shipping costs and maybe lower item prices. Wondering what would be the advantage to that now ?

[smithnarb]

While I understand the lesson here, I don’t really have too much control over the shipping costs. I don’t mark it up, it depends on the size of the item and where I am sending it. If someone closer to me would have won, I would have had a profit, it just so happens that the person was on the other side of the country. I would basically have to price in another potential $60 or so to cover the possibility that the shipping costs would be high. I’m not a retailer, just selling some of my kids old toys. While I appreciate all the condescending feedback that I am an idiot, I just think it’s a bad model and they should work to improve it. Call it constructive feedback for eBay. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@l5vw wrote:

I have noticed alot people are still listing items with extremely high shipping costs and maybe lower item prices. Wondering what would be the advantage to that now ?

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As this thread illustrates, some sellers are still unaware of this fee structure.

Some buyers don't pay attention to shipping costs, and only notice the selling price.

Many states do not charge sales tax on shipping costs, so buyers in those states would pay less in total for an item that's $10 with $300 shipping than for an item that's $300 with $10 shipping.

[powell-memorabilia]

@smithnarb 

You can set up your listing to use calculated shipping.  I don’t, because shipping isn’t usually a large percentage of my total selling price, but

this is a must with lower end items with high shipping costs.

[evry1nositswindy]

Use calculated shipping rather than a flat fee.  Box your item(s), weigh, and then add this information when you are listing it.  Input package size, weight, and then indicate type of shipping.  Ebay doesn't figure the shipping cost, as this would be impossible.  Each seller has to input the information and then when someone purchases the item, the cost will vary depending on where they live.  If you go with free shipping, figure out the shipping cost to the zone furthest from you and add that to your sales price.  Hope this helps.  We have all been there and I would dare to say every seller here has experienced this...once!

[nobody*s_perfect]

" I would basically have to price in another potential $60 or so to cover the possibility that the shipping costs would be high."

If you set up calculated shipping with accurate package weight and dimensions, then each buyer will pay the correct postage cost based on their location.  To cover the final value fee, many sellers leave the shipping calculator set up to charge the retail cost (which is the default) so that their online postage discount covers the expense.

[smithnarb]

I entered the information correctly, measured the box and weighed it before listing. I just don’t have a shipping discount to cover it. I appreciate the idea though. I didn’t see any way to up an up-charge to cover it, plus I don’t know if that would be necessary from the start because it would depend on where the seller lives. I don’t  want to rip anyone off on shipping,  but I don’t like having to pay someone to buy my old stuff!