eBay

gammaraydigital · ‎07-26-2021

I just started selling again on ebay after quite a while, and I'm shocked at the selling costs. I feel like they used to be *much* lower than that, even just a few years ago when I was casually selling stuff from time to time.

Net of $56.07 on an $79.74 sale is ridiculous - I'm trying to recoup costs on equipment we bought in the past and never used. This particular item just got me back less than half of what I paid for it, yet it's basically brand new.

How is anyone making any money here if they're not selling cheap garbage at outrageous markups? It's making me rethink selling anything here at all - these fees are like 27% of the price. Is this normal, or are the fees higher because I'm using a new account with no history and it's just higher at first? If that's the case, at what point do the fees drop? I'll sell cheap stuff until then so I don't lose my shirt.

gammaraydigital · ‎07-26-2021

when contacting ebay about manged payments: ask for a payment specialist..
Oh on account closed it may be the limits and such with your listings seems to be an account that was fraudulent..

The account that was closed had three items listed, totaling maybe $200? If they don't want you to list that much, set a limit and don't let you pass it. Instead they summarily removed the listings and shut down the account, refusing to tell me anything about why, lest I try to game their (clearly faulty) AI or something. In the end, talking to competent support people got it fixed, but I fear my account is in some kind of half broken state as a result.

Knowing how ebay has handled their web development over the past 20+ years, and that sometimes clicking a link takes you to pages designed a decade ago, I expect there to be many bugs here. I have a little inside knowledge about how things work there from programmer friends who long since left because of the dysfunctional development environment. Suffice it to say, the place has always been a complete mess. So things like this happening don't really surprise me.

they may link this account with that NARU one and cause you a lot of problems..

NARU?

gammaraydigital · ‎07-26-2021

@slippinjimmy wrote:
If you think your fees are 27% then you probably are not running the numbers correctly. As a generalization fees should be in the 14 - 15% range MAX.

Yes - see my post above. Item sold for (rounding here) $65. Shipping was $14, this made it $79. I got $56. When you factor in the sales tax, the ebay fee looks like 27%. But this is only because they're including shipping in the total sale which increases the price from the sale price to the sale price + shipping, which I don't think they used to do. If I recall correctly it used to be a separate thing.

Anyway, it wasn't until I looked back at the actual auction (i had been looking at the sales summary) that I remembered I accepted a lower offer on that. The original sale price was $79, which is why I was confused at first glance.

Bottom line, the fee is basically what people are saying, once you factor out the shipping.

gjs_16 · ‎07-26-2021

Well...

If it's "basically brand new"...

That unfortunately is highly objective...

We have no way of knowing what that means, take into consideration the vast disparity between what sellers consider as "basically brand new..."

But lets just assume that your "basically brand new" item is just like it was when it left the show room floor, has very little to no dust, no visible wear and tear, no coverup paint job, the list goes on but lets just say if it were a car, it has less than a thousand miles on it, how about that?
That's "basically brand new," right?

Are we there, or are we coughing a little?

Lets assume we're there...

That item SHOULD sell for about 90% of MSRP or whatever it's basically retailing for now.

So if you're barely getting less than half maybe you should consider raising your prices.

Assuming the item was in "almost as good as new" condition.

So if your item sold new for right around $100 you should've been able to get close to ($90 PLUS shipping PLUS Fees) for it. Remember the buyer pays all these things, the seller simply dispenses the item and rakes in the cash.

One other thing, HISTORY (best counted in years) of the account doing the selling can greatly affect your end sale price as well.

donsdetour · ‎07-26-2021

@gammaraydigital wrote:
when contacting ebay about manged payments: ask for a payment specialist..
Oh on account closed it may be the limits and such with your listings seems to be an account that was fraudulent..

The account that was closed had three items listed, totaling maybe $200? If they don't want you to list that much, set a limit and don't let you pass it. Instead they summarily removed the listings and shut down the account, refusing to tell me anything about why, lest I try to game their (clearly faulty) AI or something. In the end, talking to competent support people got it fixed, but I fear my account is in some kind of half broken state as a result.

Knowing how ebay has handled their web development over the past 20+ years, and that sometimes clicking a link takes you to pages designed a decade ago, I expect there to be many bugs here. I have a little inside knowledge about how things work there from programmer friends who long since left because of the dysfunctional development environment. Suffice it to say, the place has always been a complete mess. So things like this happening don't really surprise me.

they may link this account with that NARU one and cause you a lot of problems..
NARU?

Not a registered user: old term for such is NARU,

Glad you got what ever was wrong with that account worked out.

Trouble with one can cause trouble for all accounts you have...

Just think on the programing: Old stuff with many patches: how many browsers this day an age: yep I bet programing is a night mare.... to say the least..

soh.maryl · ‎07-26-2021

eBay has charged the final value fee on the total price, including shipping, for about 10-12 years now.

gammaraydigital · ‎07-26-2021

Just think on the programing: Old stuff with many patches: how many browsers this day an age: yep I bet programing is a night mare.... to say the least..

It's what I did back in the 90s. But the way you're supposed to build a web site is to decouple the data from the front end in such a way that you can easily make changes. Way back in the day, people wrote desktop apps to make bulk listings on ebay easier, and ebay didn't want to anger those customers who used them, so they started down a road of patches and hacks to allow those apps to keep being used. Eventually they built their own stuff for batch uploads, but so much of the underlying code was ancient. I'm sure a lot of that has been removed, but the fact that you consistently bounce between pages with totally different navigation, or totally different design, tells me they have a lot of what programmers like to call "cruft" -- leftover bits of old code.

Just today I was offered the new seller dashboard or whatever they're calling it, and it looks like they might finally be moving in the right direction. But even that brings you back to old looking pages, so there's a lot to deal with yet.

numisnorway · ‎07-26-2021

If everything has gone up, which is true due to money printing then so does the items sold on ebay.. this however does not justify an increase in fees.

luckythewinner · ‎07-26-2021

I feel like they used to be *much* lower than that, even just a few years ago

Your are remembering incorrectly.

I'm trying to recoup costs on equipment we bought in the past and never used.

It is very unlikely that you will recoup the original cost of equipment by selling it on eBay. Very few people here are prepared to full retail plus another 20% to cover shipping and eBay fees.

How is anyone making any money here if they're not selling cheap garbage at outrageous markups?

I do it by acquiring quality items at low prices. But that is a skill that not everyone possessesm, and not everyone is capable of learning. If it were easy, everyone would be selling here and everyone would be rich.

It's making me rethink selling anything here at all - these fees are like 27% of the price.

The fee schedule is available to everyone on this website. Smart sellers know the fee schedule and calculate the fees and the potential for profit before they list an item, not afterward.

are the fees higher because I'm using a new account with no history and it's just higher at first

The fees are the same whether you are brand new or have been here for 20 years.

If that's the case, at what point do the fees drop? I'll sell cheap stuff until then so I don't lose my shirt.

Again, the fees do not change. But if you do not take the time to learn how eBay fees work, you will liekly lose your shirt no matter what you sell or how long you sell it.

luckythewinner · ‎07-26-2021

@gammaraydigital wrote:
Item sold for (rounding here) $65. Shipping was $14, this made it $79. I got $56.

If an item sold for $65 and the seller got $56 after fees and shipping the item, then the combination of shipping, fees, and sales tax resulted in an effective fee of of 13.8%

($65-$56) / $65

salvageselling · ‎01-08-2024

i started on ebay 20 years ago, and yes, bottom line, they are charging a larger percentage fee than they used that far back. it's a ripoff, last time i'm selling on here. your better off using craigslist/facebook marketplace/similar.

yea, you should know the fees, but most of the repliers here sound so righteous and want to make you feel bad and gaslight you, but yea, its a total rip!

kh-leslie · ‎01-08-2024

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.