Ebay rates

[van13sina]

Anyone else think that a 10% final value fee is ridiculously expensive?

[ypdc_dennis]

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@van13sina wrote:

Anyone else think that a 10% final value fee is ridiculously expensive?

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Do you think amazon's 15% is too high?

[ricarmic]

I would say that if I compare to the days before the internet, I was very very happy if an ad in a newspaper returned 10x the sales, ie if I could sell $1000 for every $100 of printed advertising cost I was very very happy.

Now in my case, the way I choose to sell here, counting the store fees, FVF, paypal fees etc, I'm running 15-20%, which still was an AOK return in the "olden days".....

[femmefan1946]

And then we can look at the cost of a B&M shop.

• Monthly rent
• municipal taxes
• garbage collection, because that's not covered by city taxes
• Moneris for the credit /debit card machine (about the same as Paypal charges)
• GST(actually paid by customers but...)
• PST (actually paid by customers but...)
• bank charges on commercial account
• wages for staff
• payroll taxes
• liability insurance, fire and flood insurance, insurance on shipped goods.
• cleaning costs
• furnishing store
• advertising
• BIA fees
• smaller customer base.

Most eBay sellers are not running a business on that level -- although at only $30,000 gross annually we are required to register to remit GST/PST/HST.

Your costs as an online seller are more than 10%.

• There is also 10% on your shipping (but only on the first domestic fee, all others are the same as that).
• Thirty cents plus 2.9% to Paypal (3.7% on non-Canada sales) which is probably lower than the Moneris fees. Although the money is turned over to you almost immediately, unlike American Express or Amazon.
• Insurance on shipments, whether postal, third party or Cookie Jar (self) Insurance.

All of which is why there is a business axiom-- you make money when you buy, not when you sell.

Another way of saying, you need to know your real costs, not just your purchase price.

[cumos55]

The cost to sell at a local auction could be 25 %.... and possibly 35 %.... with a cap of about $250, with no charge for the value above this $250

In some situations  the percentage could be as high as 50 % for low priced items......    and ranging down to 25 % for items sold at over $100.

Whether it is auction or fixed price (Good Till Cancelled, GTC) on eBay,  the seller is always in control..... in auctions it is the start price  while with GTC it is the actual price paid by a buyer

[mrdutch1001]

according to eBay's seller stats my fees for selling on eBay are just under 15% which is acceptable compared to the alternatives which are next to none for me as I have tried other venues with little success. (Have never tried nor do I have any desire to even attempt to sell on Amazon.). For me, the fees on shipping costs are what has affected me the most, so I have had to re-think what I list on eBay and put a lot of my items on other lesser known venues and "hope" for a sale. Selling locally has also been an option that I have dabbled in for items that have higher shipping costs.

[van13sina]

Dude its not the old days , 10 % is really high , even 3 % is very high

[van13sina]

Well for a store you don't need to pay for shipping and ebay does charge tax for Canada ( they charge me 13 % instead of 10 % ) and than there is the paypal fees and a store you get tax return for business expenses

[van13sina]

Amazon and etsy are also very expensive , but ebay is one of the most expensive 

[ypdc_dennis]

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@van13sina wrote:

Amazon and etsy are also very expensive , but ebay is one of the most expensive 

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Amazon is way more expensive than ebay when it comes to charging fees.

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

I actually sold a book on AZ this week, now I just have to wait a month to be paid-- less the 15% fee.

My buyer paid $6.49 for shipping-- on an item I also had listed on eBay with free shipping. (The book itself was the same price on both venues.)

We have to balance our costs vs the number of sales. I've listed on several 'free' sites and had one or two sales a year. Mostly I would visit occasionally to remove items sold on eBay. AZ is turning out about the same for me.

[tobey_arih]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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@van13sina wrote:

Amazon and etsy are also very expensive , but ebay is one of the most expensive 

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Amazon is way more expensive than ebay when it comes to charging fees.

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what if you get a biz acct on anazon? would the fees come down? for my needs I couldn't stand Anazon, the basic account was useless to me.  Anazon caters to big fish so they get the fees (storage, listing,  account, etc..). At least on Ebay, the basic level is palpable due the seller has more control than on anazon.  But there security risks with Ebay that Anazon is more apt at controlling. ie CC-AVS, hacked accounts

But but that non-store FVF is bad overall.  I have said before that Ebay should concentrate internally to reduce their overhead. Make that COO work for his/her money, for bloody sakes.  Not dish out a "beta' Rate table.

Offtopic,  what is this hoopla with shopify?  I have seen several marketeers touting 10k a day in the first month.  Dropshipping >> Alex becker and Kevin David, and Tai Lopez.  I have yet to see an actual online storefront.

[ricarmic]

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@van13sina wrote:
Dude its not the old days , 10 % is really high , even 3 % is very high

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Yes certainly things have changed a lot.

Remember my world is a long established "mail order" world (stamp collectors), and I'm only paying 6.15% FVF in my category.

Currently, in addition to the "old ways" of advertising, I sell on 2 other sites. On a month by month basis, despite all the "feebay" beliefs out there, in my case at least, eBay is usually the cheapest when one considers the total cost of selling on the site (not only the FVF aspect). If it is not the cheapest, there is marginal if any difference.

Ebay is also far ahead of the other sites in terms of monthly sales. 

When I choose the sites I sell on, because I don't have time to list everywhere, I focus more of my time on the best returning site. So far that has been eBay for a long time. 

Where one sells is ones own choice. As long as I can maintain my margins according to my cost model I am ok. 

So far so good. 

[momcqueen]

If you want value for what you pay to eBay in fees, please ask for assistance with your listing Titles and Item Descriptions.

[van13sina · Accepted solution]

Ebay is a lot like Facebook and Twitter in that they certainly collect a lot of personal information from you , but they don't want you to make money or be successful , its more about collecting information , at least thats my judgment 

[zee-chan]

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@van13sina wrote:

Well for a store you don't need to pay for shipping and ebay does charge tax for Canada ( they charge me 13 % instead of 10 % ) and than there is the paypal fees and a store you get tax return for business expenses

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Please scroll up and refer back to femmefan1946's post about what you DO need to pay for a physical store. Those are a lot more expensive than shipping. And well, *buyer* pays shipping, not the seller. Seller can choose to include the shipping cost into item price, or leave it separate. 

Technically speaking it's not eBay that's charging the tax, it's the government. eBay is *collecting* tax to send to the government. If eBay is not for you, you can always go elsewhere and be more successful, right? 

As for information collection, once you step your foot onto the internet, your information IS being collected whether you want to or not. Facebook, Twitter, and eBay isn't any worse than anywhere else on the internet, really.

[user1004]

Yes, not only do I think eBay is ridiculously expensive but they try to control everything and today is the day where they stop controlling me. EBAY, THE FANCY COIN GUY HERE, I USED TO OPERATE MY ONLINE STORE WITH YOU GUYS...BUT TODAY IS THE DAY WHERE I CAN SAY, YOU CAN TALE YOUR FEES, YOU RULES AND YOUR POLICIES AND STAND BY THEM EVENTUALLY ALONE, IN THE DARK. YOU GUYS ARE THE CROOKS, YOU GUYS STEAL AND PLAIN AMD SIMPLE, MAN I HATE EBAY
EBAY SUCKS
EBAY STEALS
EBAY CONTROLS
EBAY THE DEVIL

[user1004]

if any of my old customers need to get a hold of me. Thanks for nothing eBay, you bunch of sap sucking, blood pressure rising bunch of no good for nothing of less then nothing. Today you lose a bit, but tomorrow you'll lose alot