Percentage taken by ebay from seller on shipping is OUTRAGEOUS

[ro_3387]

Since ebay forced everyone to stop using paypal they also decided to take %12 from shipping that the customer pays.  I think this is OURAGEOUS.  What right does ebay have to take anything from shipping.  People pay money for shipping which already expensive and it's for shipping not for ebay to take.  This seems really greedy since the seller doesn't make anything on shipping.  Why should ebay?

[ro_3387]

The more shipping is for the customer. The more comes out of the bottom line for the seller.  I can't think anything more unfair.  It means the farther a customer is a way the more I have to cut ebay in to the sale.  

[cumos55]

There was once a time when fees were only charged on the sold item..

eBay had increased the percentage fee charged on the sold item.  Then some sellers chose to reduce the cost of an item to $1.00,  and have a shipping cost of $60.00, when the actual cost for shipping  was much less than the $60.00   .... perhaps something like $20.00.

That was when eBay chose to charge  a fee on the total of item price plus shipping.  The percentage  for the fee was reduced when fees were charged on the total of item price plus shipping . 

The total value of fees charged on a transaction were the same before and after the  fee was charged on the shipping cost as well as the item price,,,, The percentage used for the calculation of the fee was lowered when the shipping cost became a part of the total value, item price plus shipping cost,  of a tranaction.

[recped]

You're a little late to be complaining, eBay has charged FVF's on shipping for ELEVEN years!

Two reasons why they made that change in 2011

1 - Sellers who used a "shipping included" pricing method were penalized

2 - Sellers would list items for $10 plus $50 shipping to avoid paying fees

FYI - When fees on shipping started eBay also reduced the overall percentages which meant that for the "average" sale with "average" shipping fees remained essentially the same. Sellers of low value but heavy or large items paid more, sellers of high value lightweight item paid less and everyone else paid about the same.

seller doesn't make anything on shipping

Smart sellers have a handling fee built in to cover the fees no matter how eBay wants to calculate them.

[reallynicestamps]

Paypal and Managed Payments charge their fees on the ENTIRE transaction.

This includes selling price, shipping fee, and sales taxes.

This is also Standard Practice in the finance industry.

When you buy a pair of shoes at Clarke's and pay with a credit card, the shoe store pays their fees on the sale including on the sales taxes.  If you buy shoes from Crocs Canada online, CCa pays fees on the sale to their payment processor on the price and the sales tax and the shipping fee.

There are differences.

EBay's Managed Payments has one fee (around 12.55%) that cover the entire process based on the FVF. PP fees were based only on the total of the payment (around 2.9% but recently raised).

The fees on payments are much more transparent now that eBay is handling the entire process and charging fees immediately, compared to the less forthcoming PP fee schedule and confusion caused by having fees split between two entities up to a month apart.

I'm annoyed that my Store subscription fees are taken once a month and if that happens on a Wednesday, my bank account is charged rather than being able to leave enough in the account to cover charges.

[byto253]

Unfortunately Sellers did this to themselves with rampant fee avoidance, then with noses in the air would lecture anyone complaining that buyers look at the total transaction price with shipping.

I always thought that the easiest way to deal with fee avoidance is that a FVF is not charged on shipping purchased through Ebay shipping as the exact shipping amount is known.  That makes sense since the reason for charging it was to get rid of fee avoidance....  but once you get a $$taste$$...

[mrdutch1001]

Most selling venues charge fees on the TOTAL amount of the transaction. It just so happens that eBay sellers from years long ago caused a problem and eBay decided it was best to charge fees on the shipping as well as the item price. But in the end it really matters not as the fees are on the TOTAL amount of transaction. Sellers agree to these fees when they sell on eBay > sellers choice=sell on eBay or not....

[reallynicestamps]

@byto253 

deal with fee avoidance is that a FVF is not charged on shipping purchased through Ebay shipping

I see your point, but then you have wierdos like me who use postage stamps to pay for postage, and those using freight forwarders like ChitChatExpress, and of course all of us who ship by LetterPost which is not available online.

And of course, Free Shipping means that the cost of shipping is not a line item, but is included in the selling price. This was one of the reasons eBay gave for charging fees on shipping.

[byto253]

Yup, I'm a weirdo to 😁   Just thought it logical.