Reality check? Fee percentage of selling price

[bluemorningglory]

I think that I am not offended by the amount of fees that are charged, but by how the fee structure is frustratingly hidden by Ebay/Paypal. I decided to sit down with a calculator, and find out how much (on average) fees are really costing me. I wanted an average percentage number, so that I could glance at an item while shopping, and say, "Ok, it will cost me this much to sell it. Is it worth buying it to sell on Ebay?"

Let's assume that I am a small seller without a store. I go to a yard sale, and buy some ordinary piece of trash, say the classic frog beanie baby. I intend to sell it on Ebay, and ship it in a small Priority Mail flat rate box. The buyer will use a credit card to send me the money via paypal. What percentage of my selling price will Ebay keep?

I decide to list the item for $10 with buyer paying shipping of $4.95. The auction ends with one bid. I "sold" my item for $10. What percentage of that $10 selling price did Ebay keep?

I started with the Ebay fee calculator, which states that Ebay fees for this item will be a mere $0.90, or 9% of the selling price. I follow a footnote to find that Ebay will also charge me a final value fee on shipping. That is another $0.45 in fees. Why did Ebay put in big bold numbers that my Ebay selling fee was only $0.90?

Next, I go to Paypal. After several frustrating page views, I find that I do not qualify for the 1.9% rate, but the 2.9% rate. This rate is applied to the entire amount sent to me, $14.95. Another $0.43 in fees. I also notice that this 2.9% is in addition to a flat fee of $0.30.

So, add it all up: 0.90 + 0.45 + 0.43 + 0.30 = $2.08

On an item which sold for $10, my selling fees were 21% of the selling price.

We have run several numbers through the calculators, and selling fees of about 20% of the selling price seems to be a fairly consistant estimate for my selling style.

Of course, you should try running a more typical item (high/low price, other categories) for items that you normally sell. For a $1 item with 50 cents shipping, your selling fees would be about 50% of the $1 selling price.

In general, fees would be about 12% of total amount (price plus shipping) sent by seller, plus 30 cents.

[saintpaulgolf]

They're taking more than we imagine. More than I imagine all these years. Recently it's become more noticeable to me...probably because they keep going UP. Around 10% at least, and then who knows how much more they are swindling in their scams.

[ramseybella]

10% final value fee 10% shipping fee deduction and what Ebay's little brother Paypal takes now.

In the beginning Ebay didn't charge a percentage for shipping, why the change? Because slime balls started listing buy now for the shipping cost and up the shipping cost at the value of the item to get around the finale value percentage..

Screwing the honest folks and gaining again another fat profit for themselves.

[markiku]

well If you have a store on ebay , ebay would save you 20% on final value fee if you were in good standing and sold a certain amount per month etc etc

Now as of May 2017 I realized that it has been reduced to 10% off of FVF, that`s half 

Now Here in Canada we are charged tax on the ebay fee`s since November 2017 now that the Canadian Goverment forced ebay to register as a Canadian company if they plan to do business here

THEY have to be registered in Canada,

I think they were registered in Switzerland?

[arkybarby]

  So if they know that people are using the shipping to get ahead, then that means they who it is and I doubt it happens enough for them to use this as an exuse to make more 100% profit off of shipping fee's.  I guess their 70% avg. profit is not enough.  The final value fee should be reduced to 5% to give something back to the people that make that profit for them!

[arkybarby]

  Yes, it's just a bull$#%@ exuse to add to their already 70% profit margins.  How often did this happen and I'm sure they knew who was doing this so they should be punished.  Take a look of what they profit after everything else is said and done.  10% when this first started, yeah I can see that but when this went global with billion$ involved they could have over time shaved that percentage and give back.

[noofie]

dont forget the insanely high store fees now pushed on us

the forever increasing usps shipping rates

the increasing costs of goods

etc etc.

the calculations i did today would have ebay almost making half the money i do.

then they turn around and also control the exposure you get now "throttling"

so they can control how much you sell or how much you make

ebay makes money off of real estate - store fees. 

its guaranteed income for them.

making money off the sweat of the sellers backs and then treating them like garbage

and offering NO customer service thats decent. 

[bugle205wyk]

You’re a jerk. For those of us who don’t use eBay regularly this post was a great “reality check “. Charging 20+ percent is ridiculous. I won’t sell via eBay again.

[johnroberttucker]

You may have forgot to include the use of space in your home, electricity, heating and cooling costs for office space, time and effort used to shop for items to sell, internet provider fees, packing and shipping supplies, computer costs, printer/printing supply costs, time used for photographing and listing, gas wear and tear on vehicle for all of the above, travel time to post packages,  and the occasional dealing with customer issues. I figure the percentage is about the same as an auction house at 30-35% as of 2018

[volcanokid]

Thank you. I thoght the fee total was around 10%.  20% seems more like what it has been costing me. Good job posting this informtion.

[clearlyrobert]

Also now the ebay fee on the postage and the fact that postage has gone up .

[andywarenchak]

The reason ebay did this is because people were charging $1 for an item and $25 shipping taking away from ebays profits that they only use to charge on sale price. So they then said we are now gonna charge the percentage on shipping too.

[slyders_finds]

And then we have trolls like you that have to rub it in. Kick rocks. 

[artprogear]

And this is exactly why I now list my items in free classified forums related to the types of items that I wish to sell. It should NOT cost this much to sell on Feebay!!!

[artprogear]

So why not have a linked shipping calculator? Link it directly to the USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc. Let that determine the actual shipping cost, with no margin to pad the shipping by the seller? Then charge EVERY seller the normal fees with NO fees based on shipping. Problem solved. In this computer age, there's no excuse for assessing fees based on shipping cost! Oh wait... Yes there is... GREED!!! I buy on eBay occasionally but I no longer enjoy selling here. Thanks Feebay!

[artprogear]

The shipping listings should never have been allowed to exceed a reasonable amount based on the item. If someone was caught pulling that scam, ebay should have suspended them. Second offense, expelled them. That could have ended that practice by sellers early on. Note to ebay: it's about common sense... Put your profits (because we all know that's what the shipping based fee is really about) above your clients and you will notice a decline in profit and clients when the clients realize and move their business elsewhere.