Any way to lower listing fee's or avoid them?

[thebestcomputers]

Been selling myself here for about 4 months now and took our company from not much on ebay to a power seller status and doing not too bad but the listing fee's are killing me! Not really making any money as most listings are costing about $5.00. Is there anything I can do to reduce listing fee's or get past them? Thanks to all that reply. I save by using a picture hosting site and I know Ebay needs to make money but this is rediculous. Is there any other options for listing items that would be cheaper? Thank-you

[vesivus]

Are you talking final value fees? I've noticed you have an online store and lots of items listed there... so those listing fees are only pennies a month per item, right?

If it's final value fees, maybe you should charge more in your buy-it-now to cover the $5.00 fee (ie: Add $5 to your price).

That's about all I can suggest. If you're treading your margin so close that $5.00 / item on a $150 item is make-or-break, I'd revisit your pricing.

John

[shoplineca]

I have high listing fees because I use both a reserve price and a BIN, however it is a formula that works for me with my customer and product base.

I am assuming that you are hosting everything outside of eBay and doing all your own HTML without subscribing to their bold and highlight etc.

I note that sometimes you start an auction at your reserve with a BIN and an 'immediate payment'. Why dont you just start those auctions at your reserve (without using a reserve) and forget about the BIN? That will save you listing fees and you may get more for your product.

The problem you are finding is something that eBay changed this year. Last year their listing fees were bearable and made it terrific to list as I do and to list higher priced items however eBay increased its listing fees this year so that its a win win for eBay (if the product sells they win, if the product doesnt sell they win, if someone backs out as a NPB they win) Sorry I guess that makes it a win, win, win for ebay.

Malcolm

[shooger]

If you're starting an item with a BIN and starting price at the same (or very close to the same) I'd recomment just using "Fixed Price" auctions. They don't allow bids, only BIN, and they're a little cheaper. If you go with just the auction (and no BIN) then you likely won't get any bids at all, because people don't want to enter into a bidding war and wait a week to see if they can get something. They want to buy it right away.

But if your BIN is a lot higher than your starting bid, then having both is probably good. Sometimes someone will need it right away, and sometimes they're willing to put in a proxy bid and wait and see.

Hosting your own pic only saves you if you need multiple pics - eBay gives you one free.

Your store items are costing you next to nothing to list, so I think you're referring to the "final value fee" which is based on how much something goes for. If you're paying a lot in FVFs, that means you're making a lot of money. Don't complain 🙂