eBay fees are INSANITY! Am I the only one?

[rob2e]

I thought I was doing people a solid by listing auctions starting at $0.01. I thought it would be nice to sell something for a penny if no one else bid besides the first person. I listed MANY DOZENS of auctions. I then started noticing I was PAYING eBay money, not RECEIVING it.

An auction for a book sold at 1 cent plus $3.19 (the minimum shipping amount for media mail) and eBay charged me a 14.6% fee INCLUDING fees based on SHIPPING! So I have to pay 80 cents, PLUS the $3.19 shipping to earn one penny. Auctioning that book COST ME 79 cents (as the buyer paid the shipping).

First, it's insane to charge 14.6% of anything less than what it would COST you to auction something.

Second, charging a final fee on the SHIPPING?!?!

Am I the only one? Am I missing something? This seems very bad.

[kosmosattik]

@rob2e  "USPS is crazy as well. Are you saying I should make my lower auctions NOT auctions, but just set a buy price?"

You can try that.  But be aware that many, many used books, CD's and especially the VHS tapes you sold for a penny have little or no market value above the cost of shipping.  And even if you could sell for a couple of bucks + shipping is the net after fees worth the time and whatever it costs in the way of shipping materials?  Even if that's not a discouragement they could be sitting unsold forever.

To illustrate the point, Goodwill has a store in Bradenton FL where every book with few exceptions are $2 or $3, paperback or hardcover, many of which were best sellers or coffee table books.  If you want to "do a solid" then donate used books to your local library where they will likely end up on a table priced at $2 or $3 or $5 at an annual book sale.  Or give them to Goodwill. 

As hard as it is to swallow, much of these kinds of materials are best given away or put in the trash.  You may see some high volume sellers of CDs and books pricing for a few bucks plus shipping.  I'm guessing they bought out inventories for pennies on the dollar and are happy to make money a couple of bucks at a time selling in volume.  

[ebooksdiva]

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@rob2e wrote:

I thought I was doing people a solid by listing auctions starting at $0.01. I thought it would be nice to sell something for a penny if no one else bid besides the first person. I listed MANY DOZENS of auctions. I then started noticing I was PAYING eBay money, not RECEIVING it.

An auction for a book sold at 1 cent plus $3.19 (the minimum shipping amount for media mail) and eBay charged me a 14.6% fee INCLUDING fees based on SHIPPING! So I have to pay 80 cents, PLUS the $3.19 shipping to earn one penny. Auctioning that book COST ME 79 cents (as the buyer paid the shipping).

First, it's insane to charge 14.6% of anything less than what it would COST you to auction something.

Second, charging a final fee on the SHIPPING?!?!

Am I the only one? Am I missing something? This seems very bad.

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Yes, you're missing eBay's Seller Fees policy. Selling fees | eBay

I also sell in books & magazines in this category your FVF is 14.6% plus 30 cent transaction fee for the ENTIRE amount your buyer pays. Price of the item + shipping + Taxes

It's not bad when you use commen sense when you sell something. Selling something on ebay for a penny makes no sense to me. If you want to use action style start your auction with the lowest amount your willing to accept for your item or use "Buy It Now" for the price you really want. 

FYI-The cost of Media Mail has gone up since yesterday in case you weren't aware. It was $3.19 It is now starting at $3.49.

[nickelsanddimes2015]

I think you need to reevaluate your business plan like now. It looks like you're going to be  owing ebay at the end of today when many of your listings end.  Never list anything at a penny unless you know for a fact that it will bring good money because it's a hot item. You need to calculate all your fees and worst case scenario shipping fee for the items before you list the item.

For instance you have that Ozark 32 oz mug for sale on bid for $6 free shipping if it sells for $6 plus tax you have to pay on that total so say the total is:

$6.25 minus your fees will be 12.9% + .30 = 5.14

Then minus your shipping which will be a minimum of probably 4.50 if the buyer is close to you so you would make .64 but if the buyer is further away you will owe ebay because you will be in the negative.

[katzrul15]

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@rob2e wrote:

Ya, my problem is I'm operating from a point when I was selling 20 years ago and doing well, I admit I didn't keep up with the changes now that I'm just dumping out my garage and collectibles.

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@rob2e 

You might be better off donating the items and taking the tax write-off.

Lots of Sellers jump back in and think e-Bay has not changed.  It's changed drastically the past several years - even the past months.

Good luck to you.  Sorry your illumination came at a price.

[maxine*j]

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@kosmosattik wrote:

...  If you want to "do a solid" then donate used books to your local library where they will likely end up on a table priced at $2 or $3 or $5 at an annual book sale...

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But check with the local library first.  The libraries in our system will accept only hardback bestsellers published in the last two years, in excellent condition with dust jackets intact.  That's it.  Period.  No hardbacks older than two years, or hardbacks of any kind except bestsellers.  No paperbacks.  No magazines.  No VHS tapes.  No CDs.  No DVDs.

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[katzrul15]

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@maxine*j wrote:

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@kosmosattik wrote:

...  If you want to "do a solid" then donate used books to your local library where they will likely end up on a table priced at $2 or $3 or $5 at an annual book sale...

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But check with the local library first.  The libraries in our system will accept only hardback bestsellers published in the last two years, in excellent condition with dust jackets intact.  That's it.  Period.  No hardbacks older than two years, or hardbacks of any kind except bestsellers.  No paperbacks.  No magazines.  No VHS tapes.  No CDs.  No DVDs.

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Same here.  Even Half-priced books won't take most of the stuff(s) any longer.

[chapeau-noir]

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@rob2e wrote:

Ya, my problem is I'm operating from a point when I was selling 20 years ago and doing well, I admit I didn't keep up with the changes now that I'm just dumping out my garage and collectibles.

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@rob2e  It's a real learning curve at that point - like starting up again. 😣  You could just list your items at a consistent rate at fixed price (it's better to list consistently over a period of time than everything at once) and get familiar with the platform again.  You'll have funds held for a bit since new/returning sellers have to go through the 'probationary' period, but the stuff will be leaving your garage and you'll get some money in for it.  Just review the fees schedule and make sure you're building in at least enough to get your money out of your items.

When I've house cleaned I generally just aim to recoup expenses - my aim is get the stuff out of here, so I set sale prices.

Large, heavy items are better sold in person due to shipping costs.

Good luck!

[buyselljack2016]

I think it was a terrible decision on the government's part to allow USPS to raise rates at a time when the nation is struggling with out of control inflation

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It would be nice nice for buyers/sellers/everyone if USPS rates could remain the same, but not realistic.

Even with this increase, MM still does not pay it's own way, and what
"the government" should allow, ..........................  is the elimination of MM rates 

............. to reduce some revenue losses.

[2013grotz]

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@maxine*j wrote:

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But check with the local library first.  The libraries in our system will accept only hardback bestsellers published in the last two years, in excellent condition with dust jackets intact.  That's it.  Period.  No hardbacks older than two years, or hardbacks of any kind except bestsellers.  No paperbacks.  No magazines.  No VHS tapes.  No CDs.  No DVDs.

Indeed.  In trying to get rid of this kind of stuff, I'm finding it a lot harder to give away books, magazines, VHS tapes (I could fill a warehouse with what I trip over in thrift/garage sales for that), CDs, DVDs, and so on.  Just such a huge supply of it people are handling that nobody wants.

Bad for me because that's about all I have (90%) in stock that I haven't moved to my ebay to try to sell yet.  "Cleaning out": Once you get one of those and finish it and don't want to keep it, what then?

Good news though is I don't really buy a lot of that new anymore simply because I see a lot of it - and they're often willing to take huge discounts if I haul more of it off.  More to read/listen to/look at when that happens, and if those things move I indeed make a profit on each one easily, but more to handle that "what do I do with it now?" question on what doesn't move.

[rob2e]

Wow. VERY helpful thank you so much. It's a shame some here on the forum just lash out with comments regarding in effect "how stupid" I am. But we know that people who act that way are emotionally troubled, and even though I'm not a religious man, all we can do is offer our thoughts and prayers. Ha!

Thanks again. I really appreciate the time you took.

[rob2e]

Thank you. Valuable insight from a person who has a 2 feedback rating and has been on eBay since 2017.

Appreciate it.

[rob2e]

For your under $85 items, what do you do? Throw them out? Donate them? Keep them until they ARE worth $85? What is your solution? It seems like a good idea to have a higher threshold, but I personally can't bring myself to throw out things I purchased. So how do you handle that?

[soh.maryl]

Did you know that there are a great many eBayers who have more than one ID as they are allowed to do so?

Your remark about that 2 FB indicates that you didn't know that.

Some of us have one ID for buying, one for selling and maybe one for posting here.

[rob2e]

It seems the other advice about having a low threshold to list (one guy said $85) seems good. Make sure that prices cover your costs.

Thanks for that insightful look. I really do appreciate people like yourself taking time to offer great advice and help, instead of the other responses here that just attack.

[rob2e]

Hadn't considered the "send offers to watchers" idea. Great advice.