Shipping FVF

[shawnbrite]

How do we get eBay to move away from the FVF on Shipping? Its a killer. Cant we get an option for actual shipping costs with no FVF and a limited handling fee with and FVF. to at least augment the costs. 

If it costs me 7.15 to ship flat rate and a dollars worth of packing goods let me pay the FVF on the dollar that I charge and not the actual shipping fee.

[*coins]

Hi, @shawnbrite.

Do you know why eBay started charging the FVF? The FVF on sellers' shipping charges was added because sellers were listing $100 items for $1 with $99 in shipping charges. That is very unfair to eBay, so they added a fee to shipping charges.

There isn't a chance that eBay will remove the fee, so the only thing to so is live with it. Good luck.

Alex

[*help_no_brakes*]

Why are you not rolling all fees & costs into the price of the items you sell?

[johnrj1226]

That won't  happen eBay has been doing that  since 2011.  Back then  the folks that  offer "free shipping" rolled their  shipping charge into the  selling price essentially paid a FVF on the shipping portion. and the folks with  a separate FVF paid none and some sellers sold the item very cheap but shipping charges were outrageous.

Somewhere in the total price that a buyer pays me they  pay for that FVF on shipping ( we seldom do the free ship thing) as well as all other selling costs and our profit margin .

Hard to see how a  10% FVF  on a $7.15 shipping charge (or 71.5 cents) can be a  "killer" unless you have a real close margin. 

You might want to look at reducing  the cost of  "packing" materials - a buck seems high from here.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

The FVF is a commission on the total amount paid by the buyer, exclusive of sales tax. There's no way for eBay to know how much you actually pay out of pocket -- not everyone uses eBay online prepaid postage.

Paypal does the same thing -- the percentage applies to the total amount paid (including sales tax) -- just as VISA and Mastercard do when a vendor uses these payment processing services.

And, yes, all transactions must be treated equally! No favoritism for sellers who itemize shipping and handling charges vs. those who offer "free" shipping.

Your job is to factor your expenses into the selling price, the shipping and handling amount or a combination of both -- BEFORE you list an item for sale. Most sellers charge the retail postage cost and use the difference between that and the commercial rate to help offset expenses. Others add a small handling fee.

Others simply add a percentage so that the net amount comes out where they want it. For example, if I need to get $50 for an item, with postage and supplies estimated at $8, I add $10 to the total. So the selling price becomes $60 and the s&h $8. Or I might decide on $55 and $13. Either way, the buyer pays $68, of which $10 goes to eBay/Paypal and $8 goes to USPS and my supplies fund. I get the remaining $50 to cover the cost of goods and other expenses.

~~C~~

[lja440]

Fees are just a business expense. You have to take them into account when you list.

I use this formula:

What I have in the item+any and all listing costs= sub total+ 3-5% self-insurance+30% minimum profit= Item Total.

If this is under or at the trending price all is good

When listing with Free Shipping I then factor in my best shipping costs INCLUDING the s/h FVF to zone 8. If this is still under or at the trending price with Free Shipping I list.

If the item does not support me making a profit at the trending price then it gets considered for inclusion in some type of lot to increase the number of customer searches, or it is considered for my B&M.

Bottom line is, the old way, without the FVF on Shipping didn't work well for eBay or for sellers that didn't lower item prices and inflate the shipping. I like the FVF on shipping because before when people searched by the lowest price I was buried so far down that sometimes my items didn't even ever make page 1.