fees

[learning4]

Any chance Ebay Billions $ profit company lower exorbitant fees if enough sellers complain?

Sold 3 item: $38.47, payout $27.89 = 27%

Member since 2002 going to start research on lower price selling venue.

[brightlightbookseller]

Nothing exorbitant about the fees.  They're middle of the road for online sales venues.  There's no reason eBay would lower them that I can think of.

[rosszonebricks]

That's the conundrum isn't it?  There are other venues (RARE, btw) that may charge less fees, but... 1% of the traffic.

So is it better to pay more fees, or make nearly infinitely LESS sales overall?

[reallynicestamps]

You are likely right that your payout was 27% of the selling price.

BUT

The fees are  charged on the buyer's PAYMENT.

Your  buyer also paid shipping and sales tax and we pay the fees on those too.

Plus a 30c service fee on each payment-- that's 90c of the $10.58 in fees right there.

And I'm assuming you didn't opt for the Promoted Listings program, which raises the fee by a minimum of 2% of the entire payment.

[theteamsetguy]

@learning4 ,

Unless you are included your shipping fees, are paying for promoted listings (which is optional) or sell cheap items with high shipping charges you shouldn't be paying 27% of your sales to eBay.

Ebay charges the their final value fee for the total amount the buyer pays including shipping and sales tax.

Example:

$40.00 price of widget

$15.00 shipping fee paid by buyer

$4.80 sales tax

$59.80 total paid by buyer

$7.92 Final value fee to ebay @13.25%

.40 swipe fee to ebay 

$8.32 total fees to eBay which is 13.91% 

Shipping fees paid to eBay are forwarded by ebay to the carrier you choose and are not fees to ebay.

[soh.maryl]

Have you ever heard of any business that would lower their fees or charges in response to popular demand?

Well, if you have, please note that eBay is not, and will never be, one of those.  

[learning4]

No promoted listing. Mostly books with media shipping, buyer paid

[robbie31415]

It's cheaper than the other marketplaces for the most part if you don't use promoted listings. And even then you have to calculate the loss of promoted listings to using the PPC ad campaigns on them.

Honestly, FBMP has the cheapest rates I've seen, the problem is I tried it and people just don't seem to really buy my media products there. So a bit higher fees and actual sales? Or very very very slow to nothing sales and save a little on fees?

If eBay's fees were abnormal then I'd complain, but since they aren't, I just have to accept the fact they are a cost of doing business.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

On the whole, I assume that my selling fees will be about 20% of my sale price. And they usually are that or a little lower. I ignore the shipping and sales tax when I do this calculation, but do not exclude the FVF on them.

The bulk of my shipments are under 1 lb Ground Advantage or 1 lb or over Media Mail. My shipping is fixed price to all US destinations. I target breakeven on shipping fees each month, and meet my target or take in a little more than I spend.

I do not promote.

I do not consider selling expensive to ship items which have a low product cost.

I do not sell low margin products.

Ebay's fees are in line with the other established marketplaces which sell similar items to mine, and actually sell them. Etsy is cheaper but my experience with vintage items on Etsy is they do not sell, unless you underprice dramatically. And often not at any price.

IMO you have some items listed which are too inexpensive to sell on Ebay, and even with your untracked shipping you are paying too much in fees if they sell. Expecting Ebay to lower fees on such items is expecting Ebay to give away its services.

[learning4]

Yes I have, although not many. Since the customers accept the abuse it may be time for regulations. I'm reminded of the image of mass graves in Ireland due to famine and they were exporting food from Ireland at the same time.  Unrestrained capitalism is deadly as any other unrestrained  power. As you can see in my words I am angry.

[inhawaii]

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@learning4 wrote:

Any chance Ebay Billions $ profit company lower exorbitant fees if enough sellers complain?

---

No.

[monica-sells]

skewed examples....bad math....

you can't compare selling something for 2.97 and charging 3.07 for shipping

that is a losing proposition...i don't care what platform you are selling on....

[yuzuha]

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@monica-sells wrote:

skewed examples....bad math....

you can't compare selling something for 2.97 and charging 3.07 for shipping

that is a losing proposition...i don't care what platform you are selling on....

---

Yep. Out of curiosity, I took at peek at OP's listings and I can tell you for a fact that they're losing money on shipping for almost every single one. That's not an eBay problem, that's a basic math problem.

[monroe67]

learning4:  "Sold 3 item: $38.47, payout $27.89 = 27%"

You must learn how eBay calculates their Final Value Fees (FVFs).  
eBay retains a percentage of the total amount paid by the buyer.  
In most cases, the buyer pays the price of the item + shipping cost + a sales tax. 

I see you are in Oregon, which has no state-wide sales tax.  I sure hope you understand that consumers in 45 of the other 50 United States do pay sales taxes to their states, which can range from as low as 4% to over 10% in, for example, the Los Angeles, California, area.  Moreover, some states even charge their sales tax on the price of postage that the buyer pays.   

An eBay seller has no way to know, at the time he/she lists an item, whether the buyer will have to pay sales tax, how much sales tax, and whether that buyer will also have to pay sales tax on the shipping cost.  

As other posters have responded to you, many eBay sellers estimate 20% of their item's price will be deducted before they get their eBay payout.  My selling ID estimates 30%, and then I hope for the best.  

Since you've been selling on eBay for so many years, I also hope you realize that eBay's FVF percentage also varies depending on the category of items that are sold.  Your earrings (beautiful tiger eye, BTW) will be charged a 15% FVF, embroidery kits are subject to a 13.25% FVF, and books are subject to a 14.95% FVF.  AND eBay also retains a $0.40 per-order fee when the total sale is more than $10.00.  (If the total sale is $10.00 or less, the per-order fee is $0.30.)

[aeparts1]

Please let us know when you find that "lower price selling venue".

Thanks.