Ebay fees on shipping

[pousseux]

Why I am desapointed with Ebay )0:   For 1 year I notice that many customers are dissatisfied and buy less and less on EBay because the shipment charges are made too exagerated... What I remark it is that eBay does not help a lot by taking 10 % on fees on  shipment charges )0:  example :  I have customer ask me how much shipping I tell him exactly shipping fees is 45.00$ but I need to add 10% on it to cover ebay fees )0:  now the customer need to pay 49.50$       Why Ebay take 10% fees on shipping ???

Thank you,  Mike

[maggiebvintage2010]

 "rose-dee":

You seem to have mixed up currencies, exchange rates, and also the weight ranges for price changes.  For Light Packet US, Cdn $5.00 (USD $4.14) is the price for ≤200 g, not 220 g.  For your example of 220 g, Canada Post has a listed price of $7.00 Light Packet (USD 5.80) and $8.13 Small Packet (USD 6.74), while Oversize Lettermail is $10.30 (USD 8.53), conversions done with Cdn $1 = US $0.83.

The Canadian dollar amount is a higher number than the US dollar amount, not lower as in your example.

[rose-dee]

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@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:

 "rose-dee":

You seem to have mixed up currencies, exchange rates, and also the weight ranges for price changes.  For Light Packet US, Cdn $5.00 (USD $4.14) is the price for ≤200 g, not 220 g.  For your example of 220 g, Canada Post has a listed price of $7.00 Light Packet (USD 5.80) and $8.13 Small Packet (USD 6.74), while Oversize Lettermail is $10.30 (USD 8.53), conversions done with Cdn $1 = US $0.83.

The Canadian dollar amount is a higher number than the US dollar amount, not lower as in your example.

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Whoops, you're right.  I list in $US, pay for my Canada Post (Paypal) labels in $Cdn, but my buyers pay me for the shipping in $US and I refund in $US.  A lot of numbers, and I got them turned around, sorry. 

The fact remains that due to CP's 2015 weight class changes, I'm finding I'm actually refunding my U.S. buyers frequently now for excess shipping paid (over my 2014 shipping rates) on a lot of Light Packet deliveries.  I normally don't bother increasing my shipping rates each year, as a courtesy to my buyers, but I got a very pleasant surprise this January when my Paypal labels suddenly started costing me less than my listed shipping amounts! 

So when I pay the $5.00 Cdn. on an item up to 200gms for example, my buyers have already paid me around $5.00 US (the rate I set last year for those items).  The CP charge is equivalent to around $4.00 to $4.20 US at the moment, and I reimburse my buyers since I like to charge them only what CP charges me.  

Accordingly, the refund is usually around $1.00 US, often more, including the next weight class in LtPkt, (the $7.00 Cdn cost).  I was actually recently able to reduce a shipping cost considerably on an item that previously fell into the ca. $9.75 range last year.   

In any case, what CP did in re-shuffling the weight classes/breaks has been of benefit to me!  I'm going to be able to revise most of my LtPkt shipping costs downward, and will leave them there for next year.  

No, my complaints are not primarily with Canada Post's U.S. services at the moment, but with the high cost of shipping larger items domestically.  As I said, that has limited the items I can sell that require parcel service -- they have to be of some value to make it worthwhile shipping them within Canada.  

[Anonymous]

Today I was working on posting items for Free (of course!) and always look at how much fees I owe eBay and noticed something strange.  The fees changes when someone bought an item which is no problem but the strange thing is that when the buyer made the payment and the fees remained the same!  Usually when the buyer made the payment and I see the fees changed is when I knew the buyer had just made the payment.

Now I wonder is that when a buyer yesterday bought 3 items and I don't see any fees on the shipping costs, it makes me wonder if eBay charges the final value fees on the sold prices plus the shipping costs (even I didn't send the buyer an invoice for 3 items), meaning eBay is taking advantage by charging final fees on shipping fees for 3 items.  I sold 3 items, I charge one shipping fee for the first item and no extra charge for shipping fees for the next 2 items, combined.  Now it looks like to me that eBay is charging the final vales on shipping fees on 3 items which shouldn't until I send the buyer the invoice with the right shipping costs (lower as I include free shipping for 2 items).  Is it right that eBay do that?  Any of you have the similar problems?

I wouldn't be surprised that eBay finds a way around it so they get the final value fees on each item for shipping costs when shouldn't!

[pjcdn2005]

FVF is charged on the actual shipping cost that the buyer originally paid. If they paid the shipping cost for one item, fvf would be based on that cost.  Did you actually look at your account to see if they overcharged you? 

[cumos55]

Free shipping...

Approach 1....

Seller includes the cost of shipping in the cost of the item....

Approach 2...

True free shipping.  Large corporations or any business with a local B & M store..... can offer true free shipping.

Sales from the B & M store  pay for the cost of shipping for items sold online....  True free shipping.

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

.

Selling items from a warehouse  stacked high to a ceiling... compared to a B & M location... cost less in storage of inventory...  In this situation some of the cost of the item covers the cost of shipping... lower storage cost. The price of the item does not change not lower....  when sold from a warehouse.

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

Many sellers on eBay do have a B & M store.

Then there are those that offer free shipping... with shipping included in the price.

eBay has been very careful ... free shipping is NOT defined... but presented as an option for sellers 

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

There was once a situation  when  management was talking to employees at a Walmart store.. as I walked by ... 

and the number $220,000 in sales each week popped out....  multiply that number by 52....  and  that is why "True" free shipping works for Walmart.

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

But not similarly for small sellers on eBay....  where the choice is shipping included in the price.... for everything sold on eBay... and only sold on eBay

[pierrelebel]

"Free shipping... or  True free shipping."

The reality is simple: buyers do not care if it is "free shipping" or "true free shipping". They simply do not want to pay more money for "shipping".

When buying online (eBay is a very small part of online commerce) the trend has been that buyers do not pay extra for shipping. 

Management at eBay recognized that trend a few years ago and has made many policy changes to encourage sellers to sell on the basis that buyers will not pay extra for "shipping" (charging FVF on shipping was one of those policy changes).  Now let's understand it clearly: eBay is an American company dealing mostly with domestic shipping issues. When foreigners (Canadians and others) want to use the site, they face policies prepared mostly for the American domestic market.  We have a choice: we adapt or go elsewhere.

Where else is there to go?  And that is the problem.  A growing percentage of the marketplace (buyers) are expecting "free shipping" when purchasing online, regardless of whatever venue you sell from.  Since many competitors find a way to offer "free shipping" (where buyers do not pay extra for shipping) sellers charging extra for shipping may find it more difficult to market their products.

Whether a seller offers "free shipping" by adding the cost of shipping to the product or absorb it in the gross margins, it does not change a thing: buyers always pay for it, directly or indirectly.

And life does go on.

[tch_ca]

I no longer offer free shipping domestically. As a seller, I consistently sell higher at auctions with shipping tagged on.  Psychologically people will bid on the initial item number and then worry about the "add ons" such as shipping and taxes (as long as reasonable). In other words, visually 10+2+2 does not equal 14.

[reallynicestamps]

That's an interesting point.

I rarely sell at auction, since most of my products are slow sellers (books, postage stamps, dress patterns) so the total price is I assume what my customer is looking at.

Whether that is called Free Shipping or Shipping Included, is not as important as the impulse to buy. And those customers want to know everything immediately.

I suspect this is also important to the emerging 'mobile device' buyer, who doesn't see the entire listing clearly.

The auction buyer has more time. She can place a low bid on impulse, consider the cost of shipping, increase her bid a couple of times or even cancel it if her first impulse was actually foolish.

And yes, there are a limited number of reasons that a bidder is 'allowed' to use. I'd rather not deal with a buyer who wanted to cancel but was not 'allowed' to. This is business, not a popularity contest.

And the 'competitor site' does not do auctions. Actually there are very few auction sites online that are similar to eBay.  So for a Fixed Price site, shipping included makes sense.

[reallynicestamps]

Another thought.

It seems to me that most of the auction sellers are occasional or low volume. I could be wrong. I often am.

With less experience at selling, using a separate shipping fee could be reassuring to the seller.

[komics4sale]

For sellers of smaller items (like stamps) with relatively lower values ($1 to $5), I don't think it is a very good idea to offer free shipping.

I tried it a couple of times & the results were more negative than positive.

The main negative was that a few buyers will purchase a few lots from you & pay for each item separately.

No matter how many times you instruct buyers to either wait for a combined shipping invoice, some will still purchase a $1 or $2 item & pay instantly......then buy another for $1 & pay again....& so on.

These multiple payments end up costing the sellers an extra 30 cents each time it is done.

As many of you know, Paypal charges their nominal fee for accepting payments PLUS 30 cents for each separate transaction.

For smaller value sales, this 30 cents can often make Paypal's fee higher than ebay's fees.

So I decided not to offer free shipping to prevent buyers from doing these multiple minor payments.

[tobyshitzu]

One if not the highest grossing seller in Canada still does 100% .99 start auctions, mostly with highish shipping

[pierrelebel]

"One if not the highest grossing seller in Canada still does 100% .99 start auctions, mostly with highish shipping"

That may be true and it works for him.

Reality is that more than half the listings available on eBay.com now offer "free shipping" and the great majority of listings on eBay are at fixed prices (BIN), not the auction format.

There will always be exceptions.

Personally, I would rather follow the overall online business trend than bucking it based on my personal preferences.  At the end of the day, the buyer decides and, so far, online buyers (including eBay buyers) have shown a growing preference towards "free shipping" and the fixed price (BIN) format.

Bucking the trend may work for some...  but it is not for me.

[mr.elmwood]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

"One if not the highest grossing seller in Canada still does 100% .99 start auctions, mostly with highish shipping"

That may be true and it works for him.

Reality is that more than half the listings available on eBay.com now offer "free shipping" and the great majority of listings on eBay are at fixed prices (BIN), not the auction format.

There will always be exceptions.

Personally, I would rather follow the overall online business trend than bucking it based on my personal preferences.  At the end of the day, the buyer decides and, so far, online buyers (including eBay buyers) have shown a growing preference towards "free shipping" and the fixed price (BIN) format.

Bucking the trend may work for some...  but it is not for me.

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The exceptions are always touted as the rule, are they not? Well, I know a guy, who knows a guy .... and that proves it.

[pierrelebel]

"I know a guy, who knows a guy ..."

Reminds me of the story about a lady entering a pet shop....

..and immediately spotted a large, beautiful parrot..

There was a sign on the cage that said $50.00.

"Why so little," she asked the pet store owner.

The owner looked at her and said, "Look, I should tell you first that this
bird used to live in a house of Prostitution and sometimes it says some
pretty vulgar stuff."

The woman thought about this, but decided she had to have the bird any way.

She took it home and hung the bird's cage up in her living room and waited
for it to say something.

The bird looked around the room, then said..

"New house, new madam."

The woman was a bit shocked at the implication, but then thought "that's
really not so bad."

When her 2 teenage daughters returned from school the bird saw and said,

"New house, new madam, new girls."

The girls and the woman were a bit offended but then began to laugh about
the situation considering how and where the parrot had been raised.

Moments later, the woman's husband Keith came home from work.

The bird looked at him and said,

"Hi, Keith!"

[Anonymous]

No.  I noticed that eBay charges FVF on the full prices that including shipping (never mind that I haven't send the invoice with the right shipping costs lower than listed for 3 items).  I tested it by paying my eBay fees and it comes to "$0.00" 2 days ago and today the buyer made the payment and it remains the same "$0.00".  Usually when the buyer made the payment, the eBay fees would increase but it didn't.

So the way I see it is clearly eBay charges the final value fees on shipping costs on 3 items (never mind that 2 items should be no extra charge for shipping as I will ship them with the 1st one).  Apparently eBay changed the way they charged the final value fees on shipping costs so they get more $$$ that way, very sneaky and greedy!!

[pjcdn2005]

I still think that you should check your actual invoice before stating it as a fact and spreading a rumour that may be false. There may be another explanation. For example, if you have free domestic shipping and the buyer was international. you wouldn't have been charged fvf on shipping at all.

[pierrelebel]

"Apparently eBay changed the way they charged the final value fees on shipping costs so they get more $$$ that way, very sneaky and greedy!!"

???

Here we go again!

Why do you bother to list here if eBay is so bad?

[pink*hummingbird]

Ebay Fees charged on shipping??? Stop ripping us off!! This highway robbery is not acceptable!

[pierrelebel]

Very old thread.  Very old policy change. Why complain now?

[recped]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

Very old thread.  Very old policy change. Why complain now?

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If Lithium would fix the stupid board these zombie threads wouldn't be popping up so often!