eBay

jazzyxena · ‎11-24-2022

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 😡

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎11-09-2023

Classified sites are great for certain types of items, but placement is a big factor in how much an item sells for.

There are certain things I have collected over the years. Let's say a collectible that would easily sell within a month on eBay for $500 would sit on Kijiji for $50-$100 or less with zero interest simply because placement wise, eBay is a much better place to market collectibles.

Classified sites are great for items that are in high demand, or for liquidating large collections where you're open to taking pennies on the dollar to potentially sell them to a business or reseller or fellow collector who is only buying it because of the absurd loss in value you're willing to take. They aren't good for collectibles or niche items that are in low-demand.

The major benefit about giving people 1-5 free sales a month would be that as a marketing cost, it only costs eBay money if/when something sells. It also would draw more people to the platform. Someone who gets into the mindset that eBay is a good place to sell things may be more likely to buy something or be enticed by eBay's promotional banners on the main page. Also, most people who decide to use eBay in a low volume capacity are never going to directly make eBay money, but a small percentage of them may eventually become active high-volume sellers. If you are involved with a business, or want to start up a business, you're more likely to do it on a platform you are familiar with.

The way I see it, let's assume that someone who sells thousands of items a year is happy with the value eBay's marketing efforts give their business for the cost of the fees. It's very unlikely that someone selling a handful of items a month is going to be happy, because they simply aren't invested enough in the platform to capture that value back. Offering some sort of discount meant to entice low-volume sellers to remain on the platform would cost very little, but might increase the amount of people willing to engage with the site.

ricarmic · ‎11-09-2023

@t-vulture

Yep one pays fees based on the "after tax" amount. These are simply the new realities of selling here.

One has to make sure one understands the fee model and incorporate it into their "cost of goods sold" model. Generally this will be more true for folks trying to run a business here as opposed to folks trying to get rid of their own stuff who won't be as used to this fee model as compared to other places they've sold.

I've been selling a long time, long before there was an internet. The current "high" fees (I think of them as advertising costs) have lately only now risen to the rate I was used to in the old pre-internet print world, however I now have access to the "world" audience, and for the most part for me in my world it was very very expensive to try to get international folks to find my stuff in the old print days.

Interesting coincidence regarding the ID, if I understood what was to come when I created my ID in 1999 I'd never have picked ricarmic. It was my old university ID from the age when 8 characters was as much as a computer could handle! (Think of the 1980ish days when one coded on punched cards!). By the time I realized how widely it was going to be used I had it set up everywhere and it was too much work to change it. The only good thing about it is that it so far has never been already in use when I go to create a new ID on some other site!

marnotom! · ‎11-09-2023

@t-vulture wrote:
And Ebay OWNS Kijiji. Go figure.

Actually, eBay sold off its online classified sites--including Kijiji--a few years ago, although in the process it acquired a roughly two-fifths stake in the company that purchased them:

https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/21/adevinta-acquires-ebays-classifieds-business-unit-in-9-2b-dea

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/21/tech/ebay-classifieds-adevinta/index.html

t-vulture · ‎11-10-2023

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:
Classified sites are great for certain types of items, but placement is a big factor in how much an item sells for.

There are certain things I have collected over the years. Let's say a collectible that would easily sell within a month on eBay for $500 would sit on Kijiji for $50-$100 or less with zero interest simply because placement wise, eBay is a much better place to market collectibles.

Classified sites are great for items that are in high demand, or for liquidating large collections where you're open to taking pennies on the dollar to potentially sell them to a business or reseller or fellow collector who is only buying it because of the absurd loss in value you're willing to take. They aren't good for collectibles or niche items that are in low-demand.

The major benefit about giving people 1-5 free sales a month would be that as a marketing cost, it only costs eBay money if/when something sells. It also would draw more people to the platform. Someone who gets into the mindset that eBay is a good place to sell things may be more likely to buy something or be enticed by eBay's promotional banners on the main page. Also, most people who decide to use eBay in a low volume capacity are never going to directly make eBay money, but a small percentage of them may eventually become active high-volume sellers. If you are involved with a business, or want to start up a business, you're more likely to do it on a platform you are familiar with.

The way I see it, let's assume that someone who sells thousands of items a year is happy with the value eBay's marketing efforts give their business for the cost of the fees. It's very unlikely that someone selling a handful of items a month is going to be happy, because they simply aren't invested enough in the platform to capture that value back. Offering some sort of discount meant to entice low-volume sellers to remain on the platform would cost very little, but might increase the amount of people willing to engage with the site.

You're right about the classified sites. One thing good about Kijiji (over sites like craigslist) is that they actively protect the customers by encrypting email addresses of all messages, in both directions.

It works TOO well in some cases. Because you can't attach images within their own messaging system and, if you reply from your mail reader (Windows Live Mail, etc.) it strips images out of your reply. It also encrypts your email address if you put it in the message body. The only way around it is use an email address Kijiji doesn't know about.

Ebay does this too although ebay allows attaching images to replies.

There's also conventional auctions that are online. HiBid is one I've used. But it is kind of half way between Kijiji and Ebay. You get better offers/bids than on Kijiji but they don't have the reach of ebay because most don't ship items.

t-vulture · ‎11-10-2023

@ricarmic wrote:
@t-vulture

Yep one pays fees based on the "after tax" amount. These are simply the new realities of selling here.

One has to make sure one understands the fee model and incorporate it into their "cost of goods sold" model. Generally this will be more true for folks trying to run a business here as opposed to folks trying to get rid of their own stuff who won't be as used to this fee model as compared to other places they've sold.

I've been selling a long time, long before there was an internet. The current "high" fees (I think of them as advertising costs) have lately only now risen to the rate I was used to in the old pre-internet print world, however I now have access to the "world" audience, and for the most part for me in my world it was very very expensive to try to get international folks to find my stuff in the old print days.

Interesting coincidence regarding the ID, if I understood what was to come when I created my ID in 1999 I'd never have picked ricarmic. It was my old university ID from the age when 8 characters was as much as a computer could handle! (Think of the 1980ish days when one coded on punched cards!). By the time I realized how widely it was going to be used I had it set up everywhere and it was too much work to change it. The only good thing about it is that it so far has never been already in use when I go to create a new ID on some other site!

We looked at the breakdown on the taxes and they seemed geared to to the shipping. It seems they charge commission on the amount of tax applicable to "domestic" shipping cost to the ebay shipping hub.

That said, say the shipping is $9 to the hub. The tax amount will be based on the location of the buyer. And few will be as low as any US state. I believe the US ranges from 5.2% to 9.55%. But Canada is on average 13%, and Europe is in a league of its own. UK is 20%, Sweden 25% and Hungary 27%. (Admittedly it's only on that $9 so it's not too big a deal.)

You're showing your age on the origin of your ID. Coding punch cards to process on an IBM 360. Programming in basic on a 300 baud Telephone Handset modem Typewriter Terminal... I guess I am too.

mrdutch1001 · ‎11-10-2023

"These are simply the new realities of selling here."

and that sums up the realities of most online selling sites these days...

this is not unique to eBay...most online marketplace facillitators have substantially increased their fees and/or now have taxes upon taxes.....

dobo5250 · ‎11-10-2023

i totally agree with you -- but its their game their rules their profit -- not ours hard to clear a profit anything less than 50 dollars for me

mooshygirl · ‎11-11-2023

No Compared to when I jined nearly 25 years ago-the fees are OUTRAGEOUS. OH, and Just a quick correction on Taxes in North America. US Fed Income tax goes back to the Civil war to help fund it. In the 1890's it was deamed unconstitutional by the 10th amendment. In 1913 it was brought back and made permanent by the 16th amendmen but The rates would go up and down during times of need like the depression and WW2 for example when extra with holding taxes came into effect. In Canada income tax only became a thing in The First World war (today happens to be Armistice Day) . OK NOW As for Taxes being charged by Ebay-that is some shady stuff there...I always said and will stand by this belief: EBAY is a global Yard Sale. They are putting on Airs by intoducing merchandise returns up to six months??? And the taxing??? NO! if i sell my lawnmower at a yard sale in June, i am not charging the buyer tax on that and i certainly dont expect him to come knocking on my door in November looking to return for full value. ITS STUPID & EBAY is not worth it anymore.

flipistics · ‎11-11-2023

@mooshygirl wrote:
OK NOW As for Taxes being charged by Ebay-that is some shady stuff there...I always said and will stand by this belief: EBAY is a global Yard Sale. They are putting on Airs by intoducing merchandise returns up to six months??? And the taxing??? NO! if i sell my lawnmower at a yard sale in June, i am not charging the buyer tax on that and i certainly dont expect him to come knocking on my door in November looking to return for full value. ITS STUPID & EBAY is not worth it anymore.

eBay (and other marketplaces like ETSY, etc) are mandated to collect tax by the government. It isn't shady on their part. Go complain to your local elected officials if you don't like it. BTW, while it's fairly new legislation here in Canada, it's been in place in the USA and most other countries for quite a while. We were late to the party.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎11-11-2023

@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

RE: Listing in 2 category charges

Have always been curious how this would be handled now that ebay no longer sends a combined invoice of selling fees. Is there 1 tax amount for the total or is each "infraction" considered its own entity and tax added per line item? Yayy rounding up.

-Lotz

mrdutch1001 · ‎11-11-2023

"that is some shady stuff there"... ???? There is nothing shady about it... This isn't an eBay thing...this is Government ...so please don't blame eBay because you don't unerstand the Canadian taxation laws and that eBay is required by law to collect appropriate taxes, just like any retail business...

BTW, this is 2023 and comparing prices from 25 years ago is what is "outrageous"....do you know what the price of gas was 25 years ago? or the price of a loaf of bread or a litre of milk?

Don't like the current eBay fees? Don't think eBay is worth it anymore? >>>well that choice is yours...

Life is full of choices....

C'est la vie!

Que sera, sera!

ricarmic · ‎11-11-2023

@lotzofuniquegoodies I believe if one looks at the individual items they show after tax, so yes the rounding up does appear to happen when one looks at a line by line basis.

However the total assessment isn't done up until month end and it is assessed at the global level, ie all the individual 8c items are added up and then tax applied to the total, so the rounding issue goes away.

I believe this was talked about a lonnnnngggg time ago when ebay first began taxing their fees and this was mentioned back then... (by Pierre if I'm correct so that tells you how long ago it was!!!)

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎11-11-2023

@ricarmic wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies I believe if one looks at the individual items they show after tax, so yes the rounding up does appear to happen when one looks at a line by line basis.

However the total assessment isn't done up until month end and it is assessed at the global level, ie all the individual 8c items are added up and then tax applied to the total, so the rounding issue goes away.

I believe this was talked about a lonnnnngggg time ago when ebay first began taxing their fees and this was mentioned back then... (by Pierre if I'm correct so that tells you how long ago it was!!!)

@ricarmic

Pierre was a bit before my time. I know when they amended charge for Gallery it immediately started to display 1.05 (appears to be GST included for AB.) According to the announcement fee should be 1.00. GST should be after the fact on billing. Those nickels and pennies tend to add up on a per use basis. Guessing that was done in error and never corrected. Wasn't sure if the same magic math happened for 2nd catergory surcharges. With the grief I had had from cancelled after payment and refunds I've never wanted to test those waters.

Just did a test on 2nd category and it's showing .21 surcharge.

-Lotz

reallynicestamps · ‎11-12-2023

They are putting on Airs by intoducing merchandise returns up to six months???

Ebay allows Claims for refund for up to 30 days from delivery or last estimated date for delivery.

What you may be thinking of is the 180 days from payment Paypal allows for Claims. Most credit cards have similar policies for chargebacks.

And the taxing??? NO! if i sell my lawnmower at a yard sale in June, i am not charging the buyer tax on that and i certainly dont expect him to come knocking on my door in November looking to return

If you are not registered to charge and remit sales taxes, the taxman gets very fussy if you try it.

But.

EBay and most other venues are registered and must be by federal law as of July 2021.

The fees on taxes are fees on the service eBay provides by assessing,collecting and remitting those taxes to the appropriate agency, over 200 of them at last count, since some US cities and counties also charge sales taxes to buyers.

vancouversmalloutboard0 · ‎01-02-2024

I agree....I just sold something for 265$. They took 40$ from it! And I spent 60 to ship.....what a scam for doing so little and taking zero risk on their end

rocketscollectibles · ‎01-02-2024

One year later after my first serious year. I sold for $18000. Got took $5000 in taxes and fees. It's just abusive. Long term numbers are insane.

That's truly unfortunate as i'm ebay born seller. I learned to sell by learning ebay. But this plaform is not viable.

Any sale you can make outside ebay should be done outside ebay. Should not be like that.

mrdutch1001 · ‎01-02-2024

"Got took $5000 in taxes and fees. It's just abusive."

Noooo, you agreed to pay those fees,taxes,etc when you agreed to the terms of use for selling on this site. You can continue to complain till the cows come home, but it is still YOUR choice to sell on this site and it's by choice that you are paying said fees and taxes.

mrdutch1001 · ‎01-02-2024

It's best to know the fees BEFORE listing on eBay and/or any selling site...and it is a seller's responsibility to read and know all about selling, fees,etc prior to listing on a selling site. eBay provides the platform and tools for listing/selling...the rest is up to the seller.

reallynicestamps · ‎01-02-2024

A US seller posted this chart to the Seller Board there.

It is worth plugging in your own numbers to see what is really happening.

Many sellers think they are paying postage costs when they are actually being paid by their customer to buy shipping services.

And others think they are paying sales taxes on the purchase when they are paying "only" eBay's fees on the entire payment -- which includes the tax paid by the buyer to their own government.