Why I'm leaving eBay: A Seller's Perspective

[voltagevillage]

After much consideration, I have decided to end my relationship with eBay. As a seller, I take great care to ensure my listings are accurate and honest, but unfortunately, I have consistently felt mistreated on the platform. Despite my efforts to provide excellent customer service, eBay's buyers seem to have the upper hand, and it's nearly impossible to maintain a perfect rating here due to abusive behavior. The platform's dispute resolution process is heavily biased towards buyers, leaving sellers vulnerable to unwarranted claims and refunds, and often resulting in lost profits and damaged reputation.

In addition to these issues, eBay's commission fee of 25% is exorbitantly high compared to the industry standard of 5-12%, which further puts me at a competitive disadvantage and limits my ability to grow my business. Moreover, eBay's business model appears to be outdated and unsustainable in the face of growing competition from other e-commerce platforms. In order to maintain its position as a leader in e-commerce, eBay must restructure its entire business model and prioritize the needs of its sellers.

While eBay still has an edge in the auction market, this is not enough to sustain its business in the long run. eBay needs to acknowledge the concerns of its sellers and take concrete steps to address them. Until then, I will be exploring other platforms that offer fairer terms and conditions for sellers, and a more balanced and equitable dispute resolution system.

[monica-sells]

@coolections 

just curious because ,,,,well, just because....

This recent sale I sold 2 items for 16.90 and got a payout of 14.72

(that is all that matters...right...payout to sale price?)

with your creative accounting, what was my percentage....I can see without any calculation it's not 25%

oh...this is a 14.95% category (books)

[susanb1872]

@monica-sells Some posters are usually the wrong term to describe the fees. In some cases they said that ebay charged 25% (or some thing close to that). That is clearly not the case but the effective rate for fees is close to 25 %. In your example you were charged fees of $3.92+.39 ad fee for a sale of $16.90.  The effective fee rate is 25.5%---$4.31/$16.90=25.5%. Shipping should not be added to this calculation because you are not selling "shipping". You are just selling books. Other posters have a different view of this calculation.

[dbfolks166mt]

Maybe we should try solving something easier than calculating the effective fee rate on eBay. 

[dbfolks166mt]

Keep believing and telling yourself at least once a day to remind yourself of your story.

     I really don't have to I deal with it every day and taught and tutored business finances for over 30 years. 

[monica-sells]

thanks for that response...

if you eliminate all the noise, and get down to basics

in your example, I should get 12.59 payout (16.90 - 4.31)

yet I got a 14.72 payout.....

and Fx = 4

[gabe101907]

your right, nothing sells, even at below cost. Then you keep getting screwed by the system that allows people to steal, and there is nothing that the worthless ebay will do, they need to go bankrupt. What is an alternative, site that is similar but less worthless ?    

[inhawaii]

---

@gabe101907 wrote:

your right, nothing sells, even at below cost. Then you keep getting screwed by the system that allows people to steal, and there is nothing that the worthless ebay will do, they need to go bankrupt. What is an alternative, site that is similar but less worthless ?    

---

Spoken like someone who currently has items listed here for sale.

Where would you rather sell your items?

A) A worthless site

B) A less worthless site

[*fleur-de-lis*]

I saw your post and had to commiserate.  I don't think I will ever sell anything like my riding mower for local pick up ever again.  These fake 'bidders' come out of nowhere and bid up the price to where other serious bidders can no longer bid and then skip out on the payment.  They have NO intention of buying it, they are just doing it to cause trouble for everyone including the seller and the other genuinely interested buyers.  The most recent one is someone from New York, how in the world was he planning on a 'free local pick-up' when the item is located in the Midwest?  Don't tell me you were gonna have a local 'friend' pick it up for you, then you should have paid for it already.  There is NO way to report these fake bidders and you are right -- it's like everything is set up in favor of the BUYERS.  Never again.

[susanb1872]

@monica-sells  The difference in the 2 payout numbers is the shipping discount of $2.13 you received. I did not factor that in but you could use that to reduce your ebay fees (and therefore the effective rate) or some people like to apply the shipping discount to other selling costs like shipping supplies.

[dbfolks166mt]

just curious because ,,,,well, just because....

This recent sale I sold 2 items for 16.90 and got a payout of 14.72

(that is all that matters...right...payout to sale price?)

with your creative accounting, what was my percentage....I can see without any calculation it's not 25%

oh...this is a 14.95% category (books)

     In your example you sold two items

Your gross revenue = $24.88 (Order total - $2.00 sales tax which is not part of your revenue)

Your FV and PL fees = $4.31 or an effective rate of 17.32%

Your shipping cost = $5.85 or 23.5%

Your total eBay selling cost = $10.13 or 40.7%

Your payout = gross revenue - selling costs = $14.72

This is your eBay net revenue but not your bottom line net revenue, or your selling cost percentage, and it is not your profit. From that $14.72 you have to subtract the COGS, supplies, Federal and State income tax and other costs to get to your bottom line. 

[dayditty]

As a fellow record seller who prides himself on getting records out on time my qualms with eBay lately have been with this verifying account slaps I’m getting. It was one thing to hold my payments while they needed to very a bank statement. Now they wanted my ID and while that needs to verify eBay killed 26 of my auctions. I had paid for promoted listings and had had an auction ending today. I guess those sales are gone. 

[coolections]

@monica-sells   You got lucky and you charged your buyer 26.7% of your fees that you gouged on shipping. Good for you but in my experience most buyers will pass on those charges. That is why you looks like Ebay took less. If you had charged your buyer actual ship cost your numbers would be much higher from Ebay fees. Take the $2.13 and add that to your asking price; you would see Ebay actually took 23.2 %

[goldgoose]

I had sold for 22yrs. I am also selling on another platform. I think eBay's heyday has come and gone. I would rather consign, donate or sell my items at a yard sale. I BLAME ALL THE PROBLEMS on eBay. Without the sellers, there would be no eBay. I don't even buy off eBay anymore. It's Amazon or Temu for me. After posting this I will probably have all my listings dropped to the bottom of the search. IT IS WHAT IT IS

[fashunu4eeuh]

OP remains on the site, with multiple sales since the date of posting.

[soh.maryl]

In your original post, you used the term "commission fee", leading many of us to believe you were referring to the FVF which, of course, is not 25%.