Ebay fees of 10% on shipping charges.--- totally unfair in the first place -- BUT SEE BELOW.

[adtokens]

If a seller combines shipping of items in the same package, does ebay charge their 10% fee on the shipping charges for each item which is sold, even though the second item is being shipped for free or a nominal charge.  For example, I sell coins and tokens, and charge $2.50 Nationally and $3 across the border.  When I send out my invoice for two or more items and combine shipping, eBay has still recorded individual sales, and individual shipping charge fees.  What can be done about this?

[rose-dee]

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@adtokens wrote:

What can be done about this?

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Set up automated shipping discounts in your Seller Preferences.  This should capture multiple sales and apply only the shipping charge you specify, i.e. no duplication of FVFs on shipping.  

That said however, I think this will currently only work if the buyer is using the .ca checkout/cart system.  There has been a known incompatibility between the cart/checkout on .ca and .com for some time (see the Wed. board sessions and search under "cart" -- the eBay.ca staffers have been promising this will be solved for some time now, but so far I don't think it's been implemented). 

So, if I have a U.S. buyer who makes a multiple purchase and ends up paying full shipping on everything, in most cases I refund the excess shipping less the FVFs on the excess.  If it's a minor amount, I often don't bother, but that is one way to recoup the FVF losses, at least until eBay gets its act together. 

Otherwise, we Canadian sellers just have to wait until eBay finally gets the cart disconnect between .com and .ca fixed.  Who knows when that will happen. 

[adtokens]

Thank you for the explanation, Rose-Dee.  Sometimes the greed of ebay fees (10% on our shipping charges???) really bothers me, but we have to live with it if we wish to use their platform for our sales.  Thanks again ....

[recped]

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@adtokens wrote:

If a seller combines shipping of items in the same package, does ebay charge their 10% fee on the shipping charges for each item which is sold, even though the second item is being shipped for free or a nominal charge.  For example, I sell coins and tokens, and charge $2.50 Nationally and $3 across the border.  When I send out my invoice for two or more items and combine shipping, eBay has still recorded individual sales, and individual shipping charge fees.  What can be done about this?

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That is not my experience. When I combine purchases I'm charged a FVF on shipping based on the actual shipping paid.

For example, to the USA I charge $8 for the first item and $2 for each additional. If a buyer purchases 3 items they will pay $12 in shipping, The fvf is charged on the $12 not 3 x $8 ($24). On the eBay invoice the $12 is divided amongst the 3 items ($4 for each item).

 I don't use calculated shipping and I don't have any automatic combined shipping rules.

[pjcdn2005]

The shipping fvf charge is based on what the buyer originally pays for shipping fees.  If the buyer is invoiced $10 in shipping charges and pays that amount, that is what the fvf will be based on. But if the buyer originally paid $20 for shipping and was then refunded a portion of that, the seller will still be charged fvf on the original amount paid...$20.

It may be possible to get a credit for fvf in that situation if you phone ebay customer service but I haven't tried to do that.

[femmefan1946]

It may be possible to get a refund on the shipping FVF, but time is money.

At 17 cents a minute (minimum wage in ON), how long can you spend on getting the refund before you spend more of your time than you get back in money?

If you don't want to spend time with a bored and clueless eBay clerk, just reduce the amount of the refund by the pennies of FVF.

[mr.elmwood]

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@adtokens wrote:

Thank you for the explanation, Rose-Dee.  Sometimes the greed of ebay fees (10% on our shipping charges???) really bothers me, but we have to live with it if we wish to use their platform for our sales.  Thanks again ....

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Your math is very different from mine, but then, I use US dollars. I charge flat rate to the USA, have for years.

For the 0-250 gram small packet I have charged $8 US to the USA, my primary market. FVF is 8%, not 10%, for me, so, I collect $7.36. Yesterday, I was being charged $7.28 on Paypal shipping.

AFTER FVF, I was making 8¢ per parcel, not paying.

Maybe my business model is different, but, FVF on shipping does not cost me anything.

When they originally brought in FVF on shipping, eBay reduced other FVF so that the whole thing was darn near cost neutral to me. You are looking at one factor in isolation as opposed to all factors in conjunction with each other.

[tangramaton]

I understand that ebay are saying that the charge on postage is to curb abusing the seller from making money on the postage, but can anyone explain to me how the charge by ebay itself is not a dishonest charge? 

[pierrelebel]

"how the charge by ebay itself is not a dishonest charge? "

There is nothing dishonest about it.  eBay charges a fee on the value of the transaction and sellers should view the listing fee schedule to understand how much it costs to sell on eBay.

Basically, eBay is telling sellers that the Final Value Fees will be the same if they sell an item for

$20.00 + $20.00 shipping

or

$30.00 + $10.00 shipping

or

$40.00 with "free shipping".

Sellers are free to decide what works best for them.  Either way the buyer pays $40.00 and eBay gets its cut on that value.

It is easy to forget that eBay lowered FVF at the time they started charging on the shipping charge.  At that time, many sellers ended up paying less to eBay, more so when the shipping charge was a small percentage of the value of the item sold.  I was one of them and saw my fees lowered by more than one thousand dollars that year.

[quality-cellular]

Ebay used to charge FVF only on the price the item sold for.

But many Sellers were taking advantage of that and lowering the selling price and inflating the shipping to avoid fees.

Here is an example of how many Sellers used to do things to avoid fees.

If a Seller sold an item for $50 with $10 shipping ($60 total), they would instead sell it for $10 with $50 shipping. The Seller would save on fees because the FVF would be charged on the $10 instead of $50.

It is because of all the Sellers that were trying to avoid fees by inflating the shipping cost. Ebay had no choice but to charge the FVF on shipping as well.

The buyers end up paying the fees anyway. When I figure out my selling price, I calculate what my total cost is. This includes the item cost, shipping cost to import item, brokerage fees, shipping cost to customer, packing materials (bubble mailer, mailing label, etc), Ebay and Paypal fees. After knowing my total cost, I figure out my Selling price.