ebay wantsto keep our shipping costs to a minimum, they and paypal charge fees on shipping costs??

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

Shipping charges are paid by the buyer to the seller,who in turn pays the shipper.

EBay realizes that the lower the shipping cost, the happier the buyer is. Even if the shipping fee is accurate to the penny, the buyer does not like to pay it.

For this reason eBay encourages sellers to use Free Shipping as a sales tactic. Please note that Free Shipping just means that the cost of shipping is included in the cost of the item.

Which is cheaper:

A $5 item with $10 shipping

A $10 item with $5 shipping

A $15 item with Free Shipping

Which will get the fastest bids? Which will generate negative feedback about price gouging?

A little history.

At one time sketchey sellers were offering items for very low prices (an iPad for $1.00? Woot!) but with very high shipping (postage on the iPad $700.00? Ack!)

The advantages were;

Dumb buyers would order the widget for the cheap price without checking the shipping cost. Fury and angst followed.

The seller paid FVF on the $1 only, and nothing on the shipping fee.

EBay effectively stopped that practice by instituting the Shipping FVF. At the same time, they reduced most listing fees.

It annoys sellers, of course, but buyers are unaware of the change.

[j44b]

Thanks, so therefore the seller has to pay the difference due to the shipping calculator not taking in account of final shipping fees charged by ebay and paypal. Is this a correct assumption

[pocomocomputing]

Treat the item price plus the shipping you charge in a listing as income for the sale of the item. Then figure out your costs - item cost, ebay fees (listing, Item FVF, shipping FVF), PayPal fees, actual shiping cost, shipping materials cost, then what is left is your profit (hopefully).

Do not expect shipping cost to cover all costs of shipping. Just get close to what it will cost you. You could add a shipping handling fee to the shipping cost to cover ebay FVF and materials but that drives up the visible cost of shipping. I would transfer that cost to the item price as much as possible without the item price becoming non competitive.

If no profit can be made due to the costs, then the item is not meant to sell on ebay.

Do not get stuck in the mindset that the shipping cost in the listing has to cover all shipping cost. Treat shipping in the listing as part of the total income for the sale of the item and use the total to cover costs.

Many sellers charge a lower shipping cost in the listing to make the shipping look competitive with USA sellers. Because shipping in Canada is higher than USA shipping, you have to make less overall profit compared to the USA seller. Just a reality that Canadian sellers have to deal with.

[femmefan1946]

If no profit can be made due to the costs, then the item is not meant to sell on ebay.

poco - that deserves to become a mantra like pierrelebel's Sell what you know:Know what you sell.

One minor current blessing . Canadians are now buying in Canadian dollars and selling in US dollars. The original reason was because the US economy is the largest in the world, but with luck we will soon be back where we were a few years ago with an 80 cent loonie.

[countryhunter2004]

5-Nov 19:03:00	Vintage Train Railroad Engine Lantern Light Locomotive lamp Rare !! Final price: US $400.00 (Auction), final value fee of US $40.00 converted to C $45.61 at a rate of 1.14035 (as of 05-Nov-14).	141461830365	Final Value Fee	C $45.61
13-Nov 13:08:00	Vintage Train Railroad Engine Lantern Light Locomotive lamp Rare !! Shipping and other costs less sales tax: US $95.00 (Auction), final value fee on shipping of US $9.50 converted to C $10.83 at a rate of 1.14035 (as of 05-Nov-14).	141461830365	Final Value Fee on Shipping	C $10.83

Talk about ripping sellers off !!

[tyler@ebay]

Hey everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began I have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread!