Why is eBay charging the seller a commission on shipping charges they collect from the buyer?

[excel2bfree]

I sold a larger item that cost a lot to ship.  I calculated the actual shipping charge which the buyer paid for.  Until this larger item sold I had not noticed I was being charged a commission by eBay on the shipping charges.  How is it fair that you have to pay a commission for shipping that you make no money on?  That cuts into any profit you make on the item and in some cases could put you in to the negative.   This makes NO sense and exhibits greed on the part of eBay.  It is to me to be very unethical to do this.  As it is eBay make close to 10% commission on each sale as it is.  Considering the volume of sales they have everyday they are making a TON of money!  GREEDY!  GREEDY!  Is anyone else **bleep** off about this or is it just me?

[southern*sweet*tea]

Ebay has been charging a fee on the total amount the buyer pays since 2011. You've just now noticed? Most all selling sites do the same.

If seller A sells an item for $10 with "free" shipping, and seller B sells the same item for $5 with $5 shipping, why should seller A pay $1 in fees and seller B pay only 50 cents?

[therogue-trader]

From what I understand, some/many sellers were fee-dodging by charging high shipping rates with low item prices, so ebay decided to charge their FVFs on the combined amount

"That cuts into any profit you make on the item and in some cases could put you in to the negative"
It does, but you should be accounting for that and either don't bother selling something that you'll lose money on or just eat the loss.

[johnrj1226]

@excel2bfree 

BTW PayPal also charges a fee on the shipping charges too.

As another poster stated the eBay fee on shipping has been around for 9 years and has been shown on your monthly eBay statement activity.

[orangehound]

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@johnrj1226 wrote:

@excel2bfree 

BTW PayPal also charges a fee on the shipping charges too.

As another poster stated the eBay fee on shipping has been around for 9 years and has been shown on your monthly eBay statement activity.

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PayPal also charges their fee on sales taxes collected ...

[nextcycletech]

I think that the OP is calling out Ebay, that if you are buying shipping thru Ebay - it is clearly shipping costs and not a dodge around item fees.

I didn't realize that PayPal is collecting fees on sales taxes.  Considering that they seem to be intercepted by Ebay and don't even seem to be hitting my account, seems a bit of a stretch.

We don't need to discuss PayPal retaining fees for partial/full refunds when clearly any expense with supporting that transaction partially/fully has gone away......  

[fern*wood]

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@orangehound wrote:

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PayPal also charges their fee on sales taxes collected ...

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I can one up that---those being put into managed payments this July will also be charged final value fees on the sales tax charged on every listing for the new combined percentage of ebay/Adyen fees.   That will be in the vicinity of 11 to 13 percent instead of just 2.9% with paypal.

[soh.maryl]

The state sales tax is collected by eBay and, after pausing briefly in your Paypal, is remitted by eBay to the appropriate state.  eBay does not keep the money, nor does Paypal.

That final value fee on shipping, as others have stated, has been around for 11 years, so you, as a seller have been paying it for that length of time.  It was initiated for the reasons stated here by other responders.

If this is causing you to lose money, then presumably it's been causing you to lose money throughout your entire selling career here, or for at least the last 11 years.

[njdiscgolfer]

Ok so lately some of my larger items I list as Parcel Select as a cheaper option have not been available to the buyer resulting in only expensive Priority options for them. I then get the 'ol 'why are you charging so much for shipping' routine when I do not charge that, the USPS does and I am not making money on shipping in fact I am losing because the more expensive shipping is added to FVF's. This has only started the last month or 2. I suspect this is a way for Ebay to pull another money grab on their sellers. It also results in items selling for less, as when the bidder sees the shipping they will only go so high when the shipping is high. So the seller gets whacked twice. Less money for their item but more final value fees overall. Am I wrong here? This is definitely a 'thing' lately.

[disneyshopper]

Ok so lately some of my larger items I list as Parcel Select as a cheaper option have not been available to the buyer resulting in only expensive Priority options for them. 

Depending on where the buyer is located, often times the difference between Parcel Select and Priority is less than fifty cents, and Priority is a lot faster than Parcel Select.

[nextcycletech]

Almost all of us realize the FVF has been calculated on shipping for quite some time now.  It was justified based on skew in prices from item price to shipping to avoid the FVF.   

Conveniently overlooking that the shipping is calculated by Ebay, paid thru Ebay, does not mean that just because it has been there a long time makes it right.   

Using the fact that it has been in place a long time does not justify it, if the reason it was instituted no longer exists in which shipping fees are bought and paid thru Ebay.