ebay email "Your listings with calculated shipping will default to eBay Labels discounted rates"

[iredder]

Got this notice from ebay today that buyers will be offered the discounted rates at the same (? assumed but not specified by ebay) that we usually buy labels at, unless you opt out by 5.15.

Question: A hypothetical case - at present, buyer pays $5 for postage but discounted postage is $3. Ebay takes their cut on the $5 and I pay $3 so I am still in the black. However, if the buyer is offered the $3 discounted rate AND ebay still takes their cut, I will be in the red if I purchase the label for $3.

Do I have this correct?

[little.red.house]

Thank you for this. I just opted out and for the reason, I wrote that I might consider it if eBay stopped charging commissions on shipping fees. Thanks again.

[grindercb]

I've been playing with the shipping discount setting in the Shipping Preferences screen.  When I select the option to offer buyers standard rates without any discount, my own discount goes away.  I immediately went to create a listing and no seller discount on shipping rates appears at all.  I guess you only get the discount if you offer it to buyers.

So I opted out and will plan on buying my shipping from PirateShip.com where I can get the discount.  I guess the only other option would be to add a handling fee to my listings.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@grindercb wrote: ....  When I select the option to offer buyers standard rates without any discount, my own discount goes away. ...So I opted out and will plan on buying my shipping from PirateShip.com where I can get the discount....

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eBay sellers are  charged the eBay discounted price for their eBay shipping labels, regardless of how they set up the shipping option in their listings.

[fern*wood]

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@skoof wrote:

Especially with the change in the IRS  taxing the income. I think going from the $20,000 down to the $600 in one swell swoop was too much. I still think down going to the $5,000 is still too steep. I think it should drop to $15,000 the first year, to $10,000 to the next year, then to the $5,000 the next. It should not go to $600. I think those selling around the $600 is like having a yard sell. Your selling items that you want more from than what someone would pay at a yard and you paid good money for it.

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This myth has been beat to death.  There is no change in the IRS taxing.  Our sales have always been reportable, regardless of the threshold for the 1099k.   We have always been required to report even before any 1099ks were sent out.  

[twk]

If you saw eBay's 1st quarter report you would know why this is happening.....to try to increase sales on the site.  Shipping is expensive, no way about it.  But to put the cost of shipping on the seller so the buyer can get a better deal, well.....

IMHO, eBay is stagnant and has to do something for shareholders.

Sellers will just have to include the loss in shipping in the item price.  Actually, it is a no-win situation. 

[lloydsteventaylor]

I opted out

Will my buyers see the retail and commercial shipping price?

I opted out

Will that drop my listings in eBay search results?

[nobody*s_perfect]

If you opted out of showing the eBay price, then your listing will show (and charge) the retail price to your buyers.

[katsutter-0]

I opted out to the "survey" I received in April.  Apparently, that didn't count because now I'm getting a message on my seller hub page that says I still need to opt out unless I wish to offer the discount.  I've opted out twice today on the seller hub page, and the message just comes back again.  From my perspective, this is not going smoothly.

[janet9988]

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@lloydsteventaylor wrote:

I opted out

Will my buyers see the retail and commercial shipping price?

I opted out

Will that drop my listings in eBay search results?

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Probably... but ebay does not disclose ALL of the tactics used to lower or raise those search standards.

[warbler_ridge]

If the option was available to offer buyers shipping at the discounted rate plus 20%, I would probably opt into that because that's the calculation I've been doing on my own to come up with a competitive flat shipping fee that covers what I pay for shipping, plus the 15% seller fee collected by eBay and an extra 5% to help cover the cost of my shipping supplies.  That would be a seller option that would actually save me time and effort - and it would be more accurate than doing the flat rate, which I have to sort of average out to take into consideration shipping to different zones. It would also automatically adjust to any changes in rates.  I'm happy to pass on my discounted shipping rate to customers, the discounted rate just needs to reflect my actually shipping costs.  Discounted rate + 20%. Easy. And useful. 

I never got a notice about this, by the way. And when I checked my account, it is set to charge the full retail with no discount. Odd that not all accounts are being treated the same. 

[katsutter-0]

Even though I have now opted out of this process 3 times, the message is back on my seller hub page again tonight.  Do I need to opt out daily?

[aale5367]

TLDR: The main question/s is in bold lettering towards the bottom.

I always do free shipping for all of my items.

I used to use flat rate and/or calculated shipping thus the shipping fee would be "priced in" to the overall value of the item I was selling which was fine when a buyer would purchase just ONE item. So when a buyer would buy multiple items at once and I would need to do a combined shipping refund, I would actually lose out on some of the value of my items- (Example: I have a book that is worth around $10, but I list it for $6 with a flat rate shipping cost of $3.99 so my total after a sale would be $9.99, but if a buyer bought 4 of these books in one order worth $10 a piece [but listed as $6 + $3.99 shipping], I now make 4x$6=$24 plus only ONE [adjusted/refunded] shipping cost making me lose a decent chunk of money). Ergo I started just listing everything with free shipping so a book with a value of $10 I will list for $10 with free shipping so I couldn't lose money in a combined order situation.

I guess my question is this: Does this affect sellers that only use "free shipping" on all their listings? Should I even bother opting out? I did indeed receive the email about the new policy even though I have had free shipping on every listing for a long time now, maybe I received it because in the past I have used flat rate/calculated shipping. I will always sell using free shipping while "pricing in" the cost of shipping in to the listing itself. Maybe this has already affected me algorithmically, but when buyers filter by "Price + Shipping: Lowest First" it doesn't matter. A listing for an item for $5 + $5 shipping will still show up right above/below the same item from a different seller with a price of $10 + Free Shipping. I guess now I would just be losing to a seller that has the same $10 item listed for $5 + Calculated Shipping but oh well.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Sellers who offer free shipping, or who charge a flat price for shipping, do not need to care about the recent memo.  It only affects sellers who use calculated shipping.

[friskyflamingo]

Hi Devon,

How can I get a link so I can opt out of this change? Thank you!

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@friskyflamingo wrote: ... How can I get a link so I can opt out of this change? Thank you!

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Try this:

https://www.ebay.com/srv/survey/a/shipping.discount.optout?