"The actual percentage you pay to eBay is higher [than] the stated category FVF."
Incorrect. Here are the first three sentences in the portion of eBay's User Agreement which explains calculation of the Final Value Fee. I have bolded the part that I think you are having trouble understanding:
"We charge one final value fee when your item sells, and you don't have to worry about third-party payment processing fees.
This fee is calculated as a percentage of the total amount of the sale, plus $0.30 per order.
The total amount of the sale includes the item price, any handling charges, the shipping service the buyer selects, sales tax, and any other applicable fees."
We continue to see posts from sellers here in the Shipping forum and the Selling forum who insist on repeating that eBay's fees are truly greater than what eBay "states" or advertises.
Those posters have failed, in my opinion, to read and understand this simple language:
". . . a percentage of the total amount of the sale . . . ."
Now -- having said that, and tried to help people understand that for a couple years now -- in e-v-e-r-y eBay listing, there is usually only one "known": The price of the item. (Some sellers often include a handling charge, which is also a "known.") Even in an auction, the seller can sit back and (ideally) watch the bids pile up until the auction ends. At that moment, the seller knows only the amount of the winning bid. (Plus, maybe, his handling charge.)
"Unknowns", therefore, are (1) whether and how much sales tax the buyer will be required to pay, and (2) the exact amount of postage or other shipping costs, due to variables such as whether the parties agree to in -person delivery or the buyer chooses to pay more for a faster delivery method.
It seems like human nature to work with only the "knowns" and not pay as much attention to the "unknowns."
SO !! What many sellers choose to do is keep an estimated fee percentage in their heads. They estimate the percentage of the item price, the only "known" in the equation of many sales. I have seen sellers post that they estimate fees to be around 20% to 25%. In my experience (as my selling ID), I estimate my fees will be about 30% of the item's listed price -- this also helps me decide on the price I want to set for any Thing. If I end up with more than 70% of the Thing's listed price, so much the better. But I have estimated eBay's fee to be about 30% of the listed price.
These estimated fee percentages, by definition of "estimate", do not equal eBay's stated/advertised FVF percentages. Estimated fee percentages only serve to help sellers have an estimated idea of what their net earnings from eBay will be.
