What is the advantage of selling on eBay

[annsmenagerie]

I don't understand why people aren't leaving eBay in droves and moving to other selling platforms. The fees are extremely high and they calculate fees even on mailing charges that are coming out of my own pocket. I can't for the life of me figure out how they are calculating the fees using the percentages given cannot get to the fees they charged.  And you absolutely can't get an answer through automation and no way to speak to a human. This seems to be ripe for consumer lawsuit.

[youn2240]

ebay told me I am not allowed to leave. 

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@annsmenagerie wrote:

I don't understand why people aren't leaving eBay in droves and moving to other selling platforms. The fees are extremely high and they calculate fees even on mailing charges that are coming out of my own pocket. I can't for the life of me figure out how they are calculating the fees using the percentages given cannot get to the fees they charged.  And you absolutely can't get an answer through automation and no way to speak to a human. This seems to be ripe for consumer lawsuit.

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@annsmenagerie 

What other options (platforms) would you suggest are better (less fees) that have the same or better opportunities (buyers) for others to see their goods.? 

[kensgiftshop]

Their fee is based on the total amount the buyer pays.

[susanb1872]

The final value fee is based on the total amount of the sales meaning the item price  + shipping + sales tax. Most items will have a 13.25% fee of the total sale (also there is a 40 cents per transaction fee). There are situations where the fee % could be different depending on the category and also depending on if you promote the item.  Did you pay about $3.00 in fees for the last item you sold?

[janet9988]

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@annsmenagerie wrote:

I don't understand why people aren't leaving eBay in droves and moving to other selling platforms. The fees are extremely high and they calculate fees even on mailing charges that are coming out of my own pocket. I can't for the life of me figure out how they are calculating the fees using the percentages given cannot get to the fees they charged.  And you absolutely can't get an answer through automation and no way to speak to a human. This seems to be ripe for consumer lawsuit.

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You are still selling here. How come you are still here given your complaint?

  Final value fees are 13.25% on the total amount the buyer pays in most all categories.

If the buyer pays 100.00 then your fee is $13.25.   Not that hard.

[dbfolks166mt]

      I still list and sell on eBay mostly because of the size of the buyer base and the EIS international program. I do not find the fees to be excessive unless you are using promoted listings. The fees are not that difficult to figure out and are outlined in the following. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822 

     All it requires is some basic math skills to estimate what your FVF's are going to be. The actual fees may be a bit off since you don't know in advance what the sales tax or shipping may be. If you are paying the shipping out of your own pocket then that is potentially a flaw in your business strategy. 

     That being said I diversified long ago across multiple platforms and venues. Some of that divesture was driven/forced by eBay's constantly growing list of prohibited and restricted items as well as the VERO program. EBay used to account for about 90% of my sales by volume, that percentage has dropped to around 20% over the last several years. 

     As for the fees they charge all you have to do is look at the order details for any item you sold and it will give you a breakdown of the selling costs for an individual item. You have been selling less than 6 months if you don't understand the fees you may want to take a short break until you do. You may also want to look at your no returns policy. That only applies in remorse returns and it does NOT translate to no refunds. 

     I will have to agree with your assessment of eBay's customer support. 

[monroe67]

"The fees are extremely high and they calculate fees even on mailing charges that are coming out of my own pocket."

Why do you say the mailing charges are coming out of your own pocket?  The first few items I saw in your 151 current listings do show a shipping ("delivery") charge that your buyers pay.  Essentially your buyer is advancing the mailing costs to you, so that you can mail the item to them after they pay.

"I can't for the life of me figure out how they are calculating the fees using the percentages given cannot get to the fees they charged."

The basic Final Value Fee (FVF) is really a very simple calculation. 

First, eBay retains a 40-cents fee per order.  (If you have a total sale that is less than $10.00, that fee is only 30 cents.) 

Second, eBay totals up all the amounts that your buyer pays to arrive at the Total Amount of the Purchase:  item price + sales tax + shipping cost as shown in the listing.  eBay's FVF is a percentage of that Total Amount of the Purchase.  The percentage varies among categories of items, but for most items the percentage is 13.25%.  

Example:  If I were to buy your $9.00 decorative butterfly kitchen tile, I would pay the following:  

$9.00 + .70 (my sales tax) + 8.06 (the shipping price shown to me in your listing) = $17.76.

eBay's fees:  $17.76 x 0.1325 = $2.35 + that 40-cents per-order fee = $2.75.

Of course, if you, as the seller, have chosen to participate in eBay's Promoted Listing program, and you have chosen a percentage to pay to eBay for promoting your listings, you will also have to pay that percentage to eBay in addition to those $2.75.  

[kandf_vintage_finds]

I take responsibility for all my listings.  I understand what the fee's are and agree to them before I even list an item.  It is no secret and the fee's are well published for all to see and decide if they want to jump in and play.  I understand what my profit margins are so I am never surprised that eBay (Heaven Forbid) took their fee's off the top.  It is possible to make money here if you understand what you are doing.   Ripe for a consumer Lawsuit?  Lol!    I do wish you luck!

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Ebay's fees are competitive with other high traffic internet marketplaces. The calculations are similar.

The sellers who stay here do so because the buyers for their items come to Ebay.

I have no idea what other marketplace would draw more buyers for what you sell, and some would make it exceptionally difficult for you to list your items.

I left Ebay in 2008 and came back because it was the most hospitable site for my merchandise.

[movieman630]

The other question is why is ebay abusing the sellers who have been loyal and chose to stay?

I've been a full time seller on ebay since about 2008.  I've always maintained ebay as my PRIMARY selling platform online.  I've worked hard to build my store and be a good member of the ebay community.

Last year I made the mistake of clicking on one of the $100 to try offisite ads promo.  Well I discovered that if you sell anything related to Police patches and insignia this is a bad idea.  Items that have been allowed forever on here were suddenly being flagged by the AI sorting through the listings to promote as in violation of policy.  When you appeal and get a human involved the CS reps aren't specialized in categories and have no idea how to handle it.  Their decisions are different depending on the rep.  There's no uniformity and you find yourself with violation after violation for items that are not truly in violation.

Then the PL...  I tried it for a year.  All it did was end up costing me an additional $9K in fees for the same amount of sales and work I had for the previous year. 

This year I came back from 2 weeks off for the holidays and so far the first two weeks of this year have been down about 50% from what they were in the first two weeks of 2024. 

I turned off all PL's knowing full well I'm going to be punished even more for doing so.  And I'm right of course.  My sales are way off.  Today I'm zero so far for the day which is highly unusual. 

Basically they're suffocating me.  I will probably lose about 50% of my sales and traffic this year because of their algo & AI games. 

Unfortunately they don't yet seem to care that cutting my income by 50% is also cutting the fees they make off me by 50%. 

I thought we had a good thing going here.  I guess I don't matter.  My family doesn't matter.  My children including a 10 month old can starve for all they care. 

That's what loyalty has gotten me.

[marnotom!]

Some sellers are able to make eBay work for them, some are not.  eBay isn't for everyone.

Some of the advantages eBay has over similar sites is that you have one of the largest potential audiences for your items on the internet, and you can offer international shipping for those items at no to very little additional risk, aggravation, or cost.

Like others, I am wondering what you're comparing eBay's fees to if you find them high.

[simba6]

It's like reaching the summit of a mountain.

It is a place to sell that has buyers.  If you sell at an in person flea-market. You have to haul your merchandise, set up tables and wait for buyers.  The whole time it's starting to rain and your standing in a spot that was the sheep judging pen for last weeks county fair.

[annsmenagerie]

In your example, $13.25 plus $.40 for a total of $13.65.  Thank you for your response.

[annsmenagerie]

Thank you very much for your response. I think I was just frustrated that the fee is calculated including the postage. I sale on another site where the percentage is based on cost of item sold only.  I also only looked at the chart and missed the text for the charge of either an extra $.30 or .40.

As many pointed out, I am new to this site and am learning.

Thanks again.