The fees are outrageous!

[jazzyxena]

Is it just me or the amount of money ebay is taking from sellers now making it not worth selling anymore? They are even putting fees on the sales tax??? What on earth? They are being extremely greedy 😡

[reallynicestamps]

The PoshMark dotCA fees, which I looked up yesterday, are $3.95 for a sale under $20 or 20% of a sale over $20Cdn. And Poshmark provides a flat rate of C$13.49 fee and GST/HST on expedited shipping for all orders. Shipping fees and GST/HST on shipping is paid for by the buyer.

https://poshmark.ca/fee_policy

Etsy has a different format, starting with a 20c listing fee which renews monthly if the item is not sold.  We could compare that to an eBay Store subscription of about 2c for a Basic Store with all 1000 listings used.

Their transaction fee (FVF) is 6.5% on the Entire Payment plus a credit card handling fee of 3% plus a non-refundable 25c. The final sales price of a product includes tax and shipping same as eBay.

https://synder.com/blog/etsy-seller-fees/?utm_term=&utm_campaign=blog-dsa&utm_source=adwords&utm_med...

Interesting, not that either site would be a choice for my product line.

[mrdutch1001]

Etsy's listing fees are 20cUSD per listing for duration of 4 months plus all those other fees similar to eBay...

[mooshygirl]

Ha! my thought exactly! I have been with ebay since 1999. I am in Canada, i recently sold two collectible dolls and got paid 98.70cad which includes shipping. Ebay is holding the funds so i could not use the proceeds from the 2 sales to ship the dolls so i was out of pocket for $48 actual shipping costs because i generally undercharge for shipping to be competitive. Then ebay has deducted $23 from my $98 in fees so i will end up with $75 less the $48 shipping ive paid for a total profit of  $27 which is about what one of the dolls cost here in canada...I was selling the dolls to help  pay bills.I am just gutted by this. EBAY IS NOT WORTH DOING ANYMORE

[hummel7063]

EBAY IS NOT WORTH IT! FEES ARE WAY TO HIGH! Had a similar thing happen, ebay is withholding funds till item finds buyer, out of pocket for shipping fee, they took 13% off the purchase price of $1160, now there are taxes on both parties even though taxes have already been paid when orginally bought, getting double taxed, this whole world is being run by taxes and rigg politicians through miss management. Shipping costs have gone sky high as well, normal $40 to ship now its $76 for same item, the whole system is about to crumble. Taxation was suppose to be temporary in 1913 but that was another LIE.

[mrdutch1001]

For those of us who still know how to make selling sites work for us, we are still of the belief that eBay is still worthwhile.

"FEES ARE WAY TO HIGH" - compared to what?

"Shipping costs have gone sky high as well," -shipping costs are what they are... and that has nothing to do with eBay...

"the whole system is about to crumble." - what system?

this is 2023, not 1913...

it is what it is.

C'est la vie!

Que sera, sera!

[reallynicestamps]

@mooshygirl 

If you buy your shipping labels through eBay you can use Held funds.

Buying through eBay also gives you small discounts on some Canada Post services.  Buying at the counter doesn't.

So you have a Solutions for Small Business card? That also gives you discounts at the counter.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/business/small-business.page?

With parcels, where the cost varies with destination, it is a Bad Idea to use Flat Rate Shipping. When I have an item that cannot ship Letter rate, I use Calculated* and list on dotCA.

This makes your selling price look a little lower and the total price is exact and to the customer's doorstep.

You don't mention sales tax, which is relatively newer, but that too varies. While we don't pay that, the buyer does, because it is invoiced through our sale, we do pay fees on that portion**.

You sold at $98 plus Flat Rate Shipping, and miscalculated how much shipping would cost you.

That took you down to $50.

EBay fees at 12.9% would be ~$12.64, putting you at$60.64 from which eBay will remit whatever sales taxes, perhaps another 5%? putting you at $55.04***.

And of course, whatever difference between what you charged the buyer for shipping and what shipping actually cost you.

There is no Free Shipping. When we use it, we are putting our shipping cost into our asking price, this goes for underestimated Flat Rates too, the difference will come from our selling price.

Which is the best deal?
A $50 doll with $25 Shipping?
A $75 doll with Free Shipping?

A $50 doll with Calculated Shipping of $ 35?

The first two may be popular with buyers, and buyers looooove Free Shipping, but lose profit for the seller.

The last puts more money in the seller's pocket.

*Because most of the world's market is in the USA, I usually list there. Only bulky items are listed on dotCA.

** To be more precise, we pay eBay fees on the ENTIRE customer payment, not on the individual parts of the payment. Both shipping and sales taxes are going to be variable and unforeseen.

*** And two 30c non-refundable service charges, easily forgotten.

[reallynicestamps]

now there are taxes on both parties even though taxes have already been paid when orginally bought,

Taxes are levied on used goods too.

Have you never purchased a used car?

The sales tax is on the transaction not the item.

Taxation was suppose to be temporary in 1913

That's an urban myth. And an American one.

The US federal income tax was made permanent in the 1930s.

[tk-mart]

Yup just sold an item for 580 and made 380

[t-vulture]

Late to the party but hopefully some sellers will read this.

There may be some misunderstanding about ebay and/or paypal fees on payments, versus ebays commission on the sale itself here. And also a tax issue.

I've been in contact with a few 20+ year sellers that are noticing how ebays fee structure makes it not worthwhile to even bother selling small value items on ebay, and in particular, selling them internationally.

Here's how it works. There is a listing up right now for a bench vise for $109.00 US.

I looked at the listing for an example of exactly what is happening here.

Subsequently, I received an "offer" via ebay messages to buy the vise for $90.00 US.

Bear with me on this please.

I am in Canada. So that listing comes up showing that shipping to me in Ontario Canada is.... sit down... $185.06.

Do the math: 90 + 185.06=$275.06.

Ebay fees (sale only, not payment) 13.25% of $275.06 = $36.45.

Ebay fees as a percentage of the ITEM price are: 36.45/90x100= 40.5%.

This is an excellent example of how sellers get ripped off on low value items, and it can actually be worse.

One seller I spoke with sold a TV Remote control to someone in the UK.

The item was $5. The international shipping on the item was ~$30.00. Total: $35.00.

13.25% of $35 is $5.20.......

Yes, it actually cost him money to "give" that  remote to the person in the UK. The fees were higher than the item price.

IMO this is criminal. But Ebay is the only game in town when it comes to this.

BTW: I discovered this as I was thinking about putting up an antique vise I have that's a lot heavier than the one I mentioned above. Needless to say, I won't be listing it.

 

[ricarmic]

Just a note about this:

One seller I spoke with sold a TV Remote control to someone in the UK.

The item was $5. The international shipping on the item was ~$30.00. Total: $35.00.

13.25% of $35 is $5.20.......

Yes, it actually cost him money to "give" that  remote to the person in the UK. The fees were higher than the item price.

This is only true if the items domestic shipping is more than zero. If it is domestically free shipping there are no fees on the additional international shipping costs. Based on the price that probably isn't true but my point is that international shipping costs are not always assessed fees......it is one of the advantages free domestic shipping provides.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@reallynicestamps 

@mooshygirl 

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be how it works or just happened in my particular case. There have been other similar annecdotal reports of this happening. Would have to take them at face value. I've had funds pulled from my bank account on several occasions to cover both store fees and shipping. Even in one situation to cover where I refunded right after payment. The customer changed their mind after payment and wanted to update shipping service. There is no way within eBay to send a secondary charge in those sitatuations. (Same goes for refunding for late delivery, then customer receives a day or 2 later.) Because the item had some value and expensive shipping attached the refund/credit was substantial. The funds were pulled from bank account. New account so no overdraft. Got dinged for a 45.00 fee from bank and not told not a lick I could do about it. Because the incoming payment was pending they did not pull from those fees. It should have been a straight reversal. My bank account should never have been involved.

For new or  returning sellers the situation can be even messier with those kinds of discretionary eBay holds. As per the original coles notes on MP shipping/fees was supposed to be pulled from Pending or released fund. Apparently this was never a true or a factual statement. Fine. Hold the pending funds but bill charges to that pending uncleared balance. (When I've asked eBay directly about these kinds of situations I've never been able to get a straight honest answer.) 

-Lotz

[ricarmic]

It appears to me that if your balance is negative, a refund is automagically pulled from your bank account instead of looking at pendings.

In my case:

-store fee put me in negative territory

-pending sales funds were enough to make overall balance positive

-refund automatically pulled from bank account during this time, overall balance would have been enough

Having said this, I'm often in negative territory right after store sale and listing fees (I sell a lot of stuff in two categories so have oodles of 8c 2nd listing fees) and they are accumulated, I think to the $10 amount before they're billed to the account.

The refund was $10 which if memory serves is the magic accumulation number so that might be why it was automatically billed to the account....

OR refunds ignore "pending" funds altogether.

That's the first time I've had a refund billed to my account, I'll have to keep an eye on the circumstances if it happens again.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@ricarmic wrote:

It appears to me that if your balance is negative, a refund is automagically pulled from your bank account instead of looking at pendings.

In my case:

-store fee put me in negative territory

-pending sales funds were enough to make overall balance positive

-refund automatically pulled from bank account during this time, overall balance would have been enough

Having said this, I'm often in negative territory right after store sale and listing fees (I sell a lot of stuff in two categories so have oodles of 8c 2nd listing fees) and they are accumulated, I think to the $10 amount before they're billed to the account.

The refund was $10 which if memory serves is the magic accumulation number so that might be why it was automatically billed to the account....

OR refunds ignore "pending" funds altogether.

That's the first time I've had a refund billed to my account, I'll have to keep an eye on the circumstances if it happens again.

---

@ricarmic 

In my case the original payment was was still in a state of processing because they paid less than 1 hour previously. I should not be funds out of pocket for money I have never actually physically received. Since that situation I've always watched transactions like that very closely and why I was EXTREMELY apprehensive about switching to eBay Labels when Shippo was working flawlessly.

Jumping forward I've had a few situations where store released funds were sent to bank and store fees were pulled next day. Because there was now a zero balance they got pulled from bank. There may sometimes be a tiny window(grace) but this is not always the case. It might have been closer to optimum if sellers were given the option to choose a specific day for transfers to bank vs the first tuesday of the month. eBay did recently change store fees date from  3rd to 1st with no heads up. It just...happened.

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

---

@ricarmic wrote:

Just a note about this:

One seller I spoke with sold a TV Remote control to someone in the UK.

The item was $5. The international shipping on the item was ~$30.00. Total: $35.00.

13.25% of $35 is $5.20.......

Yes, it actually cost him money to "give" that  remote to the person in the UK. The fees were higher than the item price.

This is only true if the items domestic shipping is more than zero. If it is domestically free shipping there are no fees on the additional international shipping costs. Based on the price that probably isn't true but my point is that international shipping costs are not always assessed fees......it is one of the advantages free domestic shipping provides.

---

If the domestic shipping is less that the international shipping the fvf is charged on the domestic shipping, it doesn't have to be free.

The total amount of the sale includes the item price, any handling charges, the shipping service the buyer selects, sales tax, and any other applicable fees. If you offer 1-day or international shipping as well as a cheaper or free option (like domestic shipping), the total amount of the sale is calculated based on the cheapest domestic option you offer. If you only offer 1-day or international shipping but no cheaper option like domestic shipping, the total amount of the sale is calculated based on the service the buyer chooses.

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822&st=3&pos=1&query=Selling...

@t-vulture 

[ricarmic]

Hmm in my case it was also "immediately" refunded for that item (was overpaid shipping) which was in pending status. I don't know if the "total" balance would have been positive or negative if the item(s) which I refunded upon were taken out of the pending "pile".

I'll pay more attention to the details next time.

[ricarmic]

@pjcdn2005 very good point, I guess I'm "free shipping" biased! 😉

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

One thing that I miss about the old system is that if you accrue five figures worth of eBay fees a year, and pay them via a credit card with cash back, you'd get a few hundred dollars every year back. 

The fees would be difficult to justify for casual sales. I'd go as far as to say that eBay should consider some sort of promo where sellers get a handful of transactions a month exempt from fees. Something really low, like 1-5 transactions up to x amount of dollars. Someone who sells 1 or 2 items a month is not going to really benefit from the platform in the same way that someone who sells a few hundred items a month does. So it becomes less likely that people who haven't tried to sell on eBay before will try out the platform if they think they will have to give eBay $20 for every $100 they make (since the fees are about 15 percent, but also apply to tax and shipping, which a seller doesn't get to keep).

The fees seem to be roughly in line with other market places. It just comes down to whether you feel you get appropriate value for what you pay in fees. I think on the .CA website, there are a lot of things eBay could do to tremendously boost the value that sellers get. Mostly adding more marketing options for up-selling and cross-selling. Buy 3 get 1 free, coupons or promotions to turn single customers into repeat customers, etc. As of now, those are not available to Canadian sellers.

They have done a good job of improving the value to Canadian sellers by working with Canada Post to offer better shipping rates. Those rates are not available on other platforms. Those are the type of things that I like to see eBay doing because it adds value to the platform. I don't care about how much I pay in fees as much as I care about what kind of value I get for those fees.

[pjcdn2005]

Yes you are! 😃

[t-vulture]

Looking closely at their explanation, if you don't offer domestic shipping - in this case he put it up as a listing specifically for the person in the UK - then they charge FVF on the entire shipping amount.

If he had put domestic shipping in that directed listing, it appears he would have paid less fees.

--------------

And to point out a true oddity, the first six letters of your ID broken into 2 sets of 3...

ric arm

The first three letters of my first and last name in the correct order.

I'm sure this is important. Or meaningless.

Thanks for the clarification.

The original poster also pointed out that they charge fees on the tax they collect for the government.

This appears to be true based on their own example.

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822#section10

The cell phone has free shipping. (He's still paying fees on the shipping, it's just not separately identified.)

The example shows the FVF as 13.25% of the total price of the phone (with the tax included) and the 30¢ insertion fee. ($400 for the phone and $24 tax, they calculate the FVF on $424.00)

[t-vulture]

---

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

The fees would be difficult to justify for casual sales. I'd go as far as to say that eBay should consider some sort of promo where sellers get a handful of transactions a month exempt from fees. Something really low, like 1-5 transactions up to x amount of dollars. Someone who sells 1 or 2 items a month is not going to really benefit from the platform in the same way that someone who sells a few hundred items a month does. So it becomes less likely that people who haven't tried to sell on eBay before will try out the platform if they think they will have to give eBay $20 for every $100 they make (since the fees are about 15 percent, but also apply to tax and shipping, which a seller doesn't get to keep).

The fees seem to be roughly in line with other market places. It just comes down to whether you feel you get appropriate value for what you pay in fees. I think on the .CA website, there are a lot of things eBay could do to tremendously boost the value that sellers get. Mostly adding more marketing options for up-selling and cross-selling. Buy 3 get 1 free, coupons or promotions to turn single customers into repeat customers, etc. As of now, those are not available to Canadian sellers.

---

That's where I dropped off pretty much any selling on ebay. Last item I shipped was a toy to someone in Wisconsin. I believe it was right after Covid hit.

The item sold for $15.00 (the opening bid) and by the time I paid the ebay fees I didn't quite clear $8 from the sale. At $8.00 clear, that's 46% fees in total.

BTW, at least Canadians have the option of Kijiji for selling things locally across Canada. And for the most part, it's free. Ebay Classifieds were free many years ago. It was the US version of Kijiji. But they charge listing fees now from what I've seen on Ebay Classifieds.

And Ebay OWNS Kijiji. Go figure.

When it comes to literally worldwide auction services, Ebay pretty much has the market cornered on it.