eBay Takes Almost 50% in Fees on Trading Cards

[dpotesta44]

On a 99 cent trading card with free shipping (69 cents), eBays fees are .43 cents  leaving me eating .13 cents per transaction. I knew selling cards at this price with free shipping was low margin, but I had no idea eBay would actually take fees that left you in the negative. 

[mtgraves7984]

"...  but I had no idea eBay would actually take fees that left you in the negative."

@dpotesta44 

Yep. The selling fees are set. eBay doesn't take a seller's positive/negative end money into the equation. A bit wiser, no?

[dpotesta44]

I have most certainly learned something today. Increasing some pricing to compensate. I'll get a drop in sales, but at least I'm not paying the customer to shop with me anymore. 

[dhbookds]

always pays to check your costs before pricing something..........

[dpotesta44]

That was trying to be competitive within a saturated market. Tons of other sellers offer the same pricing. 

[aeparts1]

If it sells for less than $10, & you didn't get it for free, it is not worth the time to try & sell it.

Just my opinion.

No way I would ever try & sell a card for $1.49, I'm here to make dollars, not cents.

[onefootflipper1]

You would best serve yourself by delisting all those 1.25 cards and throwing them in the trash. If we count even 5 cents for supplies (envelope, label) then you clear 6 cents on those.

Luckily they also have almost zero sell through. Imagine if people actually bought them. Lets say you had a killer day and got 120 orders.  You would then be looking forward to about 6 solid hours of packing and pulling cards to clear $7.20. Not counting the equal amount of time you spent listing and filing them away in the first place.

I have times card processes extensively, and they are not even worth pulling and shipping at less than $2.84 shipped. They need to be worth more like $3.84 shipped to also be worth listing in the first place. I still have an 11,000 card store that is mostly 2.84 shipped, but I don't make new listings in it anymore.

[1richdoug]

Been selling here some 7 years now; made 3-4 K month during Trumpian years, now 4-500 during Bidonomics!  You cannot sell a card for less than 3.00 here in todays market! = 30c per card, 40c fee, .70c stamp .50 ave to pur.=1.90 ==1.10 profit. sell 60 of them and you pay for your 60.00 store!  very simple math here.  BTW, you cannot factor your time in as you find card, address and stamp! That is on your "dime"

[titipeo]

eBay fees are clearly listed. The only fees that are not listed is the time to list, photos, package and ship item, this includes gas money, tape, glue, labels, paper, electricity, among others. It is sellers responsibility to see where he will be at and put a price to this. Not everyone takes into account all this and come surprised when their gains become negative and realize that you are literally paying someone to buy something from you. At the bare minimum, eBay fees will be .14, free shipping is not free, as you are still paying for it, at minimum is is around .60, that's already .74 on a dollar item, leaving you with a quarter left to divide between "time to list, photos, package and ship item, this includes gas money, tape, glue, labels, paper, electricity, among others" you can clearly see that a quarter wont cover all that. 

Some sellers will have low priced items to attract people to them, build up feedback, or they just simply do eBay as a hobby and don't mind wasting their $ and act as if they are non-profit. If you are doing as a business and make money, it doesn't make sense. You need to re-evaluate your inventory, perhaps combine and sell as a lot, get rid of it, or use local free selling venues that will yield lower exposure such as c-list or fb-market.

Good luck. 

[m60driver]

I no longer list cards or postcards or anything I can ship in an ESE for less than $6 these days.  And due to this, at estate sales I no longer even bother to look at postcards other than glancing to see if there are any RPPC cards.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

There are many items which are not worth the effort of offering and selling online.

There are many sellers who are attempting to sell such items.

Any item listed on Ebay uses Ebay resources. Ebay will be paid for the use of its resources whether you make any money or not.

The only reason to sell such inexpensive items is because you cannot think of anything else to sell. Ebay values its resources more than you do your time.

Often the only inexpensive collectibles worth listing are those which are cross-collectibles. I might list a postcard featuring a 19th century actress at a price which a postcard dealer thinks is insanely high. I will sell it at that price to a theatrical collector who thinks it is a bargain. It is not just an actress postcard, it is an actress he cares about and fits his collection of theatrical items.

A common baseball card, post 1970 is in general, not worth the effort to me. Many stars aren't either, and so too are many 1950's and 1960's cards.

[mustang707]

@1richdoug  said "Been selling here some 7 years now; made 3-4 K month during Trumpian years, now 4-500 during Bidonomics!"  The trading card market is not influenced by whoever sits in the Whitehouse. For the past several years, people have been pulling their stacks of trading cards out of the closet (especially during  the pandemic) and hoping to cash in. But now, the trading card market is very over saturated and not as lucrative as it once was.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @dpotesta44 

Did you forget about the FIXED (and nonrefundable) 40-cent 30-cent** transaction fee that’s collected on every order under $10 … regardless of the item price?

** (thank you, @nobody*s_perfect )  🙂

[nobody*s_perfect]

The fixed fee is 30 cents for transactions up to $10, so that's part of the 43-cent eBay fee that he  mentioned.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

no one can make money on a .99 sale. 

Best to sell in lots. 

by player?

by team?
by limited insert lot?

by same brand & year for those trying to complete a set and so on.