eBay Fees | Selling | eBay Canada EN

eBay Fees | Selling | eBay Canada EN

Buying & Selling

eBay Fees

Summary: murphcrud expresses frustration with eBay’s fee structure, especially regarding inconsistencies in how fees are calculated on sales to different US buyers. They note discrepancies in how eBay calculates fees based on sale and shipping prices, leading to confusion. marnotom! suggests that differences in domestic shipping fees might explain the discrepancy and advises examining eBay's guidelines and transaction details. mrdutch1001 and ricarmic clarify that eBay uses domestic shipping costs to calculate fees to avoid discouraging international shipping. Ultimately, murphcrud appreciates the community's input and plans to adjust listings to better align with eBay's fee calculations.

It was a typical chat with eBay on this subject with the same result as most chats that I have had with them - 'very little help and nothing resolved'.

So I turn to you - the knowledgable people of the universe -

How does eBay arrive at what there fees are based on? I understand all of the percentages of all the charges and taxes; I just don't understand how they arrive at the number that they use to base these percentage charges on the sale amount. The following example of parallel sales that I recently made from Canada to different US buyers, both in South Carolina and both on low value items (under $10 ea)

First item had eBay fees charged on sale price only, not including postage.

ie: item price was 6.95 mailing charge 1.95 eBay charged fees on 6.95

Second item had fees charged on 5.94

ie: actual item price was 4.95 mailing charge 1.50 and yet fees were based on 5.94.

Actual difference what I was charged is very minimal but unexplainable by eBay.

The exact amount that their fee was based on for this second item is 20% higher than the item price itself.

Any reason for this surcharge? I couldn't resolve it with eBay, so I am asking if anyone had this similar issue or have an explaination why the fee details have different calculation methods. Thanks

Can anyone explain

murphcrud

2641 View listings

Posted 2 years ago·Last reply 2 years ago

24 comments

reallynicestamps

·2 years ago

Where were you sending the item?

Alberta has only GST. BC has PST & GST. Ontario has HST. Oregon has no state sales tax. NY has state sales taxes but NYC also has a city sales tax.

Fees are charged on the sales taxes*.

There are different fees on different categories.

My main category is Collectibles (stamps) where fees are 13.5%

But I also sell Books where fees are 15%.

*We pay fees on the taxes. We do not pay the taxes themselves which eBay charges to the customer and remits to the appropriate tax authority.

ricarmic

·2 years ago

@reallynicestamps aren't your fees (before tax) in the "stamp world" a more affordable 9.35%? Mine are...

reallynicestamps

·2 years ago

@ricarmic

My goodness, you are right!

And of course with the Global TRS status, we get another little discount.

I have always just thought of fees etc as being about 20% of gross and been happy when the month end looks lower than that.

I've mentioned I'm dysnumeric and can't easily handle numbers, right?

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/store-selling-fees?id=4809

The stamp category is waaaaay down at the bottom of the list.

murphcrud

OP2 years ago

With these fees obviously computed, one would think that they would think that they would be consistent. The first item, the fees were based on item cost only and not item plus mailing fee. The second item. which was also sent to the US (SC), fees were based on item cost, plus a mailing fee. That mailing fee used by ebay for this calculation was the amount that I would have charged a Canadian buyer not a US buyer, which should have been higher. Not complaining, just wondering how this can happen.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·2 years ago

@murphcrud wrote:
With these fees obviously computed, one would think that they would think that they would be consistent. The first item, the fees were based on item cost only and not item plus mailing fee. The second item. which was also sent to the US (SC), fees were based on item cost, plus a mailing fee. That mailing fee used by ebay for this calculation was the amount that I would have charged a Canadian buyer not a US buyer, which should have been higher. Not complaining, just wondering how this can happen.

Here are a couple of tools out there for checking fee calculations. There are others. You can give it a test and see if helps make the numbers add up better.

https://www.ebayfeescalculator.com/ca-ebay-fee-calculator/

https://investomatica.com/ebay-calculator/canada

-Lotz

marnotom!

·2 years ago

What were the prices for shipping within Canada for these items?

murphcrud

OP2 years ago

I think that you might have hit on something with that question.

Item one was Free shipping to Canada

Item two had a .99 shipping charge to Canada.

But why should that have made a difference?

marnotom!

·2 years ago

Because you offered free domestic shipping on the first item, you got a bit of a break as the item shipped internationally.

Details are on this page in the section on Final Value Fees, but they're a bit of a brain-bender:

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees-managed-payments-sellers?id=4822#section2

murphcrud

OP2 years ago

You say a "Break" !!!,, From eBay??? C'mon.

marnotom!

·2 years ago

No, I said a "bit of a break," not a "break". 😜

murphcrud

OP2 years ago

I think that somehow my Canadian shipping fee of .99 for this second item, somehow has glitched over to be included with the price of the item, which now would make the amount which the fees were based on as being 5.94 - that doesn't make it right on eBay's part, but what other explanation could it be?

mrdutch1001

·2 years ago

If you go to your transaction details the transaction breakdown of fees is shown, so I don't know what further explanation is needed.

murphcrud

OP2 years ago

My transaction fee breakdown shows 5.94 x 13.25% = C$0.79

So, if anything it should show the item price plus shipping which is 4.95 + 1.50 (6.45 x 13.35% = C$0.89.

But when I compare the first sale, no mailing fee was included transaction fee breakdown.

So, are you telling me that both are incorrect?

marnotom!

·2 years ago

@murphcrud wrote:

I think that somehow my Canadian shipping fee of .99 for this second item, somehow has glitched over to be included with the price of the item, which now would make the amount which the fees were based on as being 5.94 - that doesn't make it right on eBay's part, but what other explanation could it be?

Your fees were based on a $4.95 item with 99 cents domestic shipping.

@mrdutch1001 explained it in message 6.

murphcrud

OP2 years ago

Why are fees based on domestic shipping when the item was mailed to the US???

Where does that make any sense?

marnotom!

·2 years ago

@murphcrud wrote:

Why are fees based on domestic shipping when the item was mailed to the US???
Where does that make any sense?

As international shipping charges are generally higher than domestic shipping charges, eBay determined way back in the days before the GSP that charging FVF on international shipping charges would discourage sellers from offering international shipping.

mrdutch1001

·2 years ago

IDK...understanding fees has never been a problem for me...my statement/invoice makes sense to me so I have no problem with it...

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

murphcrud

OP2 years ago

Well, My Friend, then can you answer my question? I reviewed all of the selling fees and none addressed my question.

mrdutch1001

·2 years ago

shipping fees are generally based on lowest domestic shipping cost...0.00 vs. .99

murphcrud

OP2 years ago

That doesn't make a lot of sense as my shipping fee to the US buyer was $1.50 not 99¢.