Why does ebay take a fv fee from shipping?

[mikal3141]

curious. most people charge fair shipping prices. this includes the cost of shipping, the envelope, etc, etc. but i ask why is ebay getting to take 10% Is it becuase of people - the small portion- who charge stupid shipping costs to make a bigger profit?

[bb_cool_stuff]

Bingo.

There were some sellers that charged .99 for an item & had a ridiculous, overpriced shipping cost.

At one time eBay did not charge a FVF on shipping but now they do on the total price.

Again a few bad apples spoiled it for the rest of us.

Sad, but unfortunately reality.

[marnotom!]

I would think that it would also level the field for sellers offering free shipping.

A seller selling an item for $10 and charging $10 for shipping would pay less in FVF than one selling the same item for $20 but offering free shipping if shipping charges were not subject to FVF.

[rose-dee]

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@marnotom! wrote:

I would think that it would also level the field for sellers offering free shipping.

A seller selling an item for $10 and charging $10 for shipping would pay less in FVF than one selling the same item for $20 but offering free shipping if shipping charges were not subject to FVF.

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Quite right, and this is why, years ago on eBay, some nefarious sellers were getting away with charging outrageous shipping amounts (not always disclosed in advance!) on otherwise inexpensive items.   

As "bb" says, a few bad apples forced eBay to enforce against everybody. It has had the effect of making many sellers reduce (or eliminate) their shipping costs, so has been a good thing for buyers overall.

I have to admit I got caught once in this kind of scam on eBay as a buyer many years ago.  Only that one time, mind you... as they say, fool me once...etc. etc.

[pierrelebel]

"Why does ebay take a fv fee from shipping?"

Simple.  eBay changed its billing methods several years ago to match what its largest competitor (Amazon) does: Fees charged on the total value of the transaction (except for tax).

Now, when it comes to the shipping charge, about half the total value of all transactions is sold on a "free shipping" (shipping included in the selling price) basis.  As such, no additional FVF is charged.

For transactions where shipping is charged separately by the seller, Final Value Fees are calculated on the lowest of the first domestic rate or actual shipping charged.

When the policy was changed in early 2011, FVF were lowered (by 1% or 2%) on most fixed price transactions.  Sellers who already offered "free shipping" or with a very low shipping charge in relation to value experienced a reduction on overall fees payable to eBay.  Sellers with a relatively high shipping charge experienced an increase overall.  Sellers offering low priced items where the shipping charge is often as much as the value of the item saw their fees doubled.

The policy was developed by eBay.com, an American company, for its domestic market mostly.  Unfortunately, as a result, many Canadian sellers affected by the higher cost of shipping from Canada had to give up selling on eBay.

[sniffynose]

I haven't sold on eBay for a while and recently sold a camera, did the usual routine, quoted actual shipping price (which is never proper, as we get screwed on the insurance charges) so I'm already out an extra $5.00 for that, and then I pay my ebay fee right away (and of course another chunk goes to paypal) so I figure I'm done with it... nope I get another bloody invoice wanting another $2.00 for my final shipping value... So there's literally $7.00 I lost on a parcel that was under $20 to ship from Toronto to Montreal.

 you eBay.... seriously... this is how you treat solid sellers that actually play by the rules and even go out of their way to ensure a good and safe transaction by shipping with a proper insured format?!?!

One day I hope people  from these companies... I'm done with this bullcrap, count another Canadian out of this garbage scam site!

[femmefan1946]

quoted actual shipping price (which is never proper, as we get screwed on the insurance charges)  

Huh? Canada Post either includes insurance and tracking in the price of the service or it doesn't. If you mean you only charged the buyer the cost of the stamps on the package, without factoring in the GST or the fuel surcharges, that was your error.

Too late now, but if you had used Calculated Shipping the customer would have seen the entire shipping cost to his postal code before bidding. And you could have added a Handling charge to cover the cost of packaging, which would be considerable for a camera, I would think.

Further if you had used Paypal Shipping Labels, you would have received a 5% to 18% discount from PO counter prices depending on the service you used. And the buyer would not have known how much you paid for postage (as opposed to your cost of shipping) because PP labels do not show any amount.

Sounds like you went into this without knowing what you were doing, and then decided to pass the blame on. This is not the way grown-ups act.