eBay fees...

[leafscards]

Is anyone else getting sick of looking at the fees that we are charged by eBay/PayPal.....listing fees, final value fees, PayPal fees/brutal exchange rates offered by PayPal.....everytime my eBay monthly bill comes in I just shake my head, they have you comin and going...and even staying.....still trying to figure out where I get a 20% discount for being a Bronze PowerSeller....feels to me like I'm paying eBay an extra 20%.......X-(

[coxengines]

Nope, the fees are fine, a cost of doing business and way, way lower that running a brick-and-mortar store.

15% total fees to sell on line seems fair enough.

Bernie

[ujr1867]

I have to agree with Bernie - we have no problems with the Ebay fees. It's the cost of doing business.

No different then our regular customers walking into our brick and mortar store and getting a 15% discount on our items. And our cost of servicing these customers is a fraction of the costs involved in our real world operation.

[bilge21]

Put it this way.. I pay around $200 a month in fees between Ebay and Paypal. This is while working my own hours at home and I get Canada-wide exposure. That exposure leads to extra sales where the buyer bought direct from me instead of going thru Ebay. Many of my repeat buyers deal with me directly after having first dealt with me via Ebay.

If I opened a brick and mortar store, not only will I be paying a minimum of $1000 a month, I will also be paying utilities, taxes, etc., and would have to be there at least 10 hours a day. I would also have to either hire someone to watch the store while I do my local deliveries or pay someone to do the deliveries. Will I make more money by having a brick and mortar store than I am now by selling on Ebay part time and selling locally the rest of the time (I deliver free locally too, so no walk-ins)? Hell, no!

I make more money via Ebay and no store, and have more time to take care of the quality, research & development of my product and more time for myself.

[marcopoloca]

Yes, a word or two of appreciation for eBay 🙂

At first we all thought like you and hated all those extra fees which seem to put us at an unfair advantage, but then you have to ask yourself how'd you get all those exposure and customer without eBay?

eBay could have done a better job with all the bugs that they have and really improve on their customer service, but all in all i have to say Thank You to eBay who provided me with this platform for income and flexibility 🙂

[horsinarounddiscounttack]

I don't mind the fees so much, but really resent the fees PayPal charges to change US dollars into Canadian - way higher than the bank rate. They also won't send US dollars into Canada into a US dollar bank account. I am looking into opening a bank account in the States to see if that will work.

[pierrelebel]

"fees PayPal charges to change US dollars into Canadian - way higher than the bank rate"

Really?

Have you checked the spread charged by Canadian banks lately?

Take a look at any Canadian bank online foreign exchange calculator. You will find the spread (combination of buying and selling a currency)approaches 4.5% to 5.0% (2.2% to 2.5% each way), about the same as PayPal (2.5% each way) and all major credit card issuers (2.5% each way).

For larger amounts ($10,000+), most banks will give you a discount on the spread. I know I get about 1% discount at BMO when I convert amounts of US$10,000+.

PayPal also offers discount of larger conversion transaction.

At RBC (Canada's largest bank), this afternoon,
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/RBC:TKJPII71A8YABkDajWo/cgi-bin/travel/fxconvert.pl

I converted Cdn$1,000 to US$ and the proceeds back to Cdn$.

At the end, I had paid RBC $44.96 fee in exchange conversion spread. 😞

[axe_n_gear_music]

"I don't mind the fees so much, but really resent the fees PayPal charges to change US dollars into Canadian - way higher than the bank rate."

It is a bit of a rip changing your US into your CAD account, but I just wait over a period of 1-3 weeks and wait for the best possible exchange rate, and withdraw a few thousand then. Its a big difference when the rate is say 1.0005 than when its 1.0250 for example on several thousand. The extra dollars are better in my jeans than theirs, so I will always be patient and withdraw only when it is heavily in my favour. Works for me, and I cant be bothered opening US accounts, etc.

And when the exchange rate is low, I buy up more stock with my Paypal $, so there are good options if you do it wisely, and make your $ work for you.

Cheers,
AXE

[iwantmyriokarma]

1, It's pretty easy to get an American US bank account then just take american funds out, and then use a much better exchange.

2. The question is not whether 15% is a good deal for us, but whether it's really "competitive" "Free market" etc, for a venue that takes no responsibility in transactions to charge 15% of whatever goes on here. Does it really cost ebay 15% when I sell something? Ebay is really a monopoly.

[femmefan1946]

1.) The bank must be a US bank. A US dollar account with a Canadian bank.

The two US banks most often mentioned that accept Canadian customers are Centuara (Royal Bank of Canada) and TDNorth (TD Canada Trust). You can enquire at your local Canadian branch about opening an account at one of these subsidiaries.

They have tightened up considerably since I opened a Centaura account about 5 years ago. I closed it when I worked out that it was costing me more than the PP fees. Banks have service fees, eh?

2.) EBay is your landlord. If you want to have a business in this shopping mall, you have to pay the rent the landlord demands or be evicted. You could go to a smaller venue, with lower fees and fewer customers, but your wasted time has value too.

I have used several of the better known sites over the years. The River offers less visibility and for Canadians higher costs. The Moon has np buyers and moving your stock is difficult. The Ranch has easy stock listing, but the site is hard to manouever and again, very few customers. The Doll craft site has a very specific clientele, although if you fit, you may do well. IO is overwhelmed by crooks and does not policing.

I'm still with The Ranch, but although my product is on at least one HandPickedList a week, I get maybe a dozen sales a year.

I can't afford it is not the same thing as It's too expensive.

[zarzuella]

Banks have service fees, eh?

No. As long as I keep $100 minimum on deposit in my TDNorth (or whatever they call themselves now) account I have no service charges whatsoever. They did do away with the free check printing, though 😞

[iwantmyriokarma]

2. The point is that ebay is arguably a monopoly with prices that are not competitive. If you're business needs to buy WIDGET every month and every other person selling WIDGET is bought out by "e-widget", and prices go up 100%, you wouldn't say that its not too expensive, even if you could still afford it.

Ebay has revenue of 9B and a gross profit of ~6B. Doesn't seem high to you?

[iwantmyriokarma]

They have tightened up considerably since I opened a Centaura account about 5 years ago. I closed it when I worked out that it was costing me more than the PP fees. Banks have service fees, eh?

Centura charges me $2 a month. That's about what the commission is on a currency trade of $200. Are you telling us you don't clear $200 USD a month?