eBay fees on Shipping and Taxes

[vintagetibits]

I am selling Ribbons below $5.00 and shipping runs from $3.75 to $4.75. No handling included. Usually my price is around $3.49 a yard and most sales are 1 yard. Ebay is adding in the shipping fee and taxes  (some states have very high sales taxes)  which are paid by the buyer to my sales amount. After ebay deducts their 12.75% from the new total, I am netting around $1.82. Highway robbery!! Does anyone know how to stop ebay from using this inflated illegal calculation of total sales for their base calculation to charge their fee. It's not correct in any money system I have dealt with and I am 71 years old. Does anyone know of the law ebay is using to inflate the total of sale amount?  Shipping is not an item sold, nor is the taxes. After my cost, I am making roughly 75 cents per sale. Is this right? The ribbon cost more than that. What to do??  

[monroe67]

"We do pay taxes to use the roads. What planet are you on?"

He's across the river south of Detroit.  
I bet they pay taxes to drive on the roads in Canada, too . . . . . .
And to buy petrol and to buy goods in stores, etc., etc.  

[monroe67]

"YES YOU ARE 100 PERCENT WRONG ,,,I MAKE GOOD MONEY SELLING MY COMICS FOR A FEW BUCKS--SO YOU SELLERS STOP MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS PLEASE"

You -- stop yelling!  

[femmefan1946]

You are selling ribbons by the yard.

Raise the value of each sale by making each "lot" at least five yards.

 Based on that Green Tan Cranberry Plum Plaid Wired Ribbon 2.5" x 1 yd Farmhouse Country Linen  

your $4.39 sale just became a $21.95 sale.

Your shipping cost did not rise. Sales taxes (paid by the buyer, not by you) did rise.

You pay fees on the total amount.

If you are grossing 75c per sale before your procurement costs, losing that single yard $4.39 sale saves you money.

Not all sales are worth making.

Managed Payment is more transparent than Paypal +eBay payment was, and a lot of sellers are learning that their money making business has been a money losing hobby for years.

[femmefan1946]

@vintagetibits 

@nobody*s_perfect 

You can buy US postage at a discount here on eBay.

Beware of the rolls of Forever stamps- apparently there are a lot of counterfeits. But any stamps from 1900* to the present are still valid for postage and you can get good buys on those.

*Actually earlier but US history is not my forte.

[monroe67]

"Do NOT GIVE ADVISE TO ANOTHER SELLER TO SEND THEIR STUFF WITHOUT TRACKING!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS THE MOST INACURETE ADVISE YOU CAN GIVE--let the seller decide that--and then he will learn and adjust ,,but just to say send it with no tracking??? you should be ashamed to say this with your amount of feedback you have--JUST DO NOT GIVE ADVICE NEXT TIME PLEASE----"

I am amused at posters who advise other posters not to give advice.   It's just so incongruous that I find it funny.  

Most people who have visited this Selling Community Board for a few months learn to know who is giving helpful advice and who is not.  

However, I do agree with you: "let the seller decide that" -- whether to send an item without tracking.  
My selling ID has sent about 10-15% of her sold items this year without tracking.  The description section of those listings always states that tracking will not be provided, in an effort to keep postage charges low, so the buyer knows not to watch for a tracking number.  And those items have always been low-enough-priced that, if I lose any dispute, it is not going to cause a financial hardship for me.   (BTW, my selling ID has never faced a non-delivered claim that was not true, and very few not-as-described claims.)  

I daresay most of us sellers do figure this out with experience.  Sometimes those lessons are expensive though.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

Don't know how old you are, but if you want to be the oldest poster here, you'll have to beat 89 in May.....  

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I can't beat that.  That's why I said "Apparently" -- I'm old enough to know better than to spout absolutes!  😉

[monroe67]

"(BTW, my selling ID has never faced a non-delivered claim that was not true, and very few not-as-described claims.)  "

Oooooops-- it's too late for me to edit that post.  

Should say: my selling ID has never faced a non-delivered claim.  Period.  That is a true fact.  
There have been a very few non-as-described claims -- like, only one.  It was a 50-year-old crewel embroidery kit that had never been opened.  When the buyer opened it, she found that the cellophane tape the manufacturer used on the fabric completely ruined it.  Destroyed.  Could not be cleaned and used.  

[wrong66]

?

[wrong66]

Sorry, I can't explain how you might make money on a $5.00 comic. How would I know? Maybe you could explain just how much you make, with a breakdown on shipping, fees, etc. 

[johnrj1226]

The eBay fee structure is nothing  new it  has been  around  even before the Managed Payment fee structure was in place..  Back when eBay & PayPal were together - eBay charged 10% FVF and PayPal charged 2.9% +30 cents on the entire amount the buyer paid.  Sellers needed to recover those  fees, plus other costs like shipping handling, packaging + there profit margin into their selling price.  If you couldn't achieve  your profit targets find something else to sell that would meet your needs.  The eBay fees on shipping/handling charges have been around since 2011.  Nothing illegal about how fees are accessed by eBay.  Collecting  sales tax on the transactions was not eBay's doing - there are 5 states that have no sales taxes.  BTW I am a '44 model and sold for a living for over 4  decades to take care of my family needs  - food, housing, transportation  vacations, college expense etc.

[wrong66]

??

[ms.rodriguez*]

You already got a bunch of answers from my colleagues.  In case one of them forgot to mention it,  you have no choice but to raise your prices.    Do it soon because starting on Oct 2 until Jan. 23, the post office will have their holiday rate increase.  You can thank that horrible Postmaster DeJoy who is slowly destroying the US postal system. On my 2 seller accounts where I sell mainly cheap diecasts in the 5-10 dollar range, I have already started raising my shipping prices.   No choice.

[wrong66]

???

[lakefor94]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

You are selling ribbons by the yard.

Raise the value of each sale by making each "lot" at least five yards.

 Based on that Green Tan Cranberry Plum Plaid Wired Ribbon 2.5" x 1 yd Farmhouse Country Linen  

your $4.39 sale just became a $21.95 sale.

Your shipping cost did not rise. Sales taxes (paid by the buyer, not by you) did rise.

You pay fees on the total amount.

If you are grossing 75c per sale before your procurement costs, losing that single yard $4.39 sale saves you money.

Not all sales are worth making.

Managed Payment is more transparent than Paypal +eBay payment was, and a lot of sellers are learning that their money making business has been a money losing hobby for years.

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@vintagetibits  might be a great idea for you. 

[joliztoyco]

So I "made up" the very concept Amazon is based on. Automated buying and selling?? Click on an item...punch in how many, and it auto-fills your address?? You know...it "automatically fills in your address.??
Another click on "pay now" and boom! Your payment method pops up, and you pay. It's on it's way. No human interaction whatsoever. Most people would say that's "automated". 
So you're telling us sellers on Ebay don't use this method?
Really?
And dating myself by using the term "Power Seller" and you having no idea what they were?
That's funny.....
Thank-you for your visit.