Ebay's Final Value Fees Too High!

[blondtxnurse]

Am I the only one that is concerned with ebay's recent increase in final value fees?  Ebay is making it hard to make even a small profit off items sold!

[susan122465]

Just sold an Imac, $1450.00 final value fee was $145.00! then close to 3% for paypal also an ebay company! This is crazy! they want to be partners with sellers! 10% is an outrage! I could see 10% up to $100.00 but after that it needs to be 2 or 3%!!!! I will not sell anythig on ebay! creigs list is free!

Alan Wheeler

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@blondtxnurse wrote:

Am I the only one that is concerned with ebay's recent increase in final value fees?  Ebay is making it hard to make even a small profit off items sold!

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[susan122465]

just told ebay i will not sell on there site! sold $2,000.00 worth had to pay $200.00 + 60.00 paypal fees! And i did free shipping! I will sell on creigs list or somwhere else!

[ladieshighfashions]

Nope,I am not concerned.  No matter how many times they raise the fees it is up to us sellers to adapt to the increases.  We have to incorporate ebay costs into our costs per item,not shipping.  I have found thast you can not go wrong with going by ebay shipping suggestions.  If ebay raises their fees anytime soon,sellers will continue to list.  I read somewhere once that when ebay raises fees they see a huge listing jump which would indicate sellers may not like the increases but they are willing to adapt.

[johnrj1226]

Bon Voyage!

Which ever way you go - all your costs to sell an item need to be paid by your buyer, include the profit margin you wish to make.  By the way there is no such thing as free shipping, it is simply marketing "eye wash" - it is a real cost  and should be recovered from the buyer.

[widgetbroker]

I've been an on and off seller on eBay for over a decade and there has always been a thread about fees being too high. For me,  the bottom line is this: where else are you going to get this kind of national exposure in an auction format? The exposure is worth it to me. Imagine - take eBay out of the picture. Now how much would you pay to have your product advertised to the entire country, or the entire world? I think of that and the fees don't seem quite so high anymore.

And since I deal primarily in collectibles, I try my best to get a low price on the product to begin with. If I don't, I'll try Craig's List first.

Ebay isn't for every product, and you have to have a little business savvy to keep your sales successful. All the numbers for fees are laid out plainly in the policies on this site. Sorry, but anyone who is surprised that they didn't make any money after selling their product didn't do their homework.

[digitalfilm]

I am shocked to find out how much Ebay is NOW charging for their final fees. I just sold a used item for $1300. and for charged $130. 10% of the selling price and in addition to the large fee to PAYPAL. EBAY just lost a seller (ME) because of their greed !!!

[ezcd]

Holy **bleep**, I haven't sold anything on eBay in a while, had I known the current fees, I wouldn't have even bothered! Why are you screwing us eBay? I've been a member for 15 years! What a scam!

[multimedea_media]

Not hidden. Not inaccessible. Not suddenly popping out from nowhere. Not a nefarious plan sent down by the Alien Overlords in order to take over our universe. Has been around (and broadcast and announced and talked about) for quite some time. Quite a bit less than the majority of other venues so many tout about being better/less expensive/more buyers/less evil than Ebay.

I would say 'get a clue', but so many people just don't want a clue...

[nelson141992]

eBay is still a bunch of greedy **bleep**s who don't care about the sellers at all and take money from them.

[johnrj1226]

In a nut shell, to be an effective seller one needs to know their product, know what the market  price is for that product, knows what all their costs will be & their desired profit magins target.  Set their sales price to recover all costs & profit from their eventual buyer.  Promote the product through an effective eBay listing (pics & word description).  Then deal with customer/buyer with a "sense of urgency & integrity", when in doubt do what is right.

eBay/PayPal & eBay sellers have a lot in common - they(we) both take money away from their customers/buyers to cover our costs & make a profit.

[smokescreen2001]

I am also done. I guess I will be looking at other smaller sites to sell my items as I know that I was not always paying 10% for just ebay fees. With paypal and ebay fees combined I cant even offer free shipping. The fees are much too high to make a decent profit anymore. 

[audiobeep]

I just started selling on Amazon, and in two weeks I sold more than I sold on ebay for a month add to it the higher ridiculous fees for a computer no human interaction whatsoever. Selling at a very low margin with high fees where often times ebay fees are more than my actual profit currently. It is hard for us casual sellers, I am bleeding...I am just emptying my inventory then taking a hard look at alternative options. ebay fees should not exceed 4% in my opinion and more than that is not a good lasting business

[ohiobucknative]

I will no longer be selling on ebay and instead will use craiglist.org

Nothing offered by ebay is worth 10% of the selling cost of the item.

[bhef2310]

I agree these fees are ridiculous. I thought I just made a good sale and pocketed $150 profit. I was wrong eBay got the majority of that and I am not even sure what PayPal is getting yet. I think this is my first and only time selling on eBay! It is a shame because I really enjoyed it and could see it being a viable way to make some extra money. Oh well.

[superpickerupper]

$150 profit on a $650 sale is roughly a 22% markup. You also pay FVF on the shipping so allowing $20 for shipping your eBay fees are going to come to about $67. and your PP fee will be 3%-4% so that's another $26.80, you'll be left with about $56 net. Roughly 8%. That's pretty slim for a low-volume operation. Electronics is a tough racket. Lots of competition. eBay may not work for you unless you can get a gross markup of around 30%-40% and turn your inventory quicker. So you either have to buy cheaper or sell higher for it to make any sense. Acheiving/retaining TRS status will save you 20% on the FVF but it is extremely difficult to maintain that status the way the rules are currently set up. One or two customers having bad days can cause you to lose TRS status for a year so you can't really count on the 20% discount in your calculations. You would need to sell that item for $725 or buy it for $450 to make it worthwhile and have a healthy business.