Why does ebay take a percentage of the shipping cost as a fee?

[mannteuffel]

Why does ebay take a percentage of the shipping cost as a fee?

[raanana]

Do you read or just replying to your own thoughts ? Be well and godbuy 

[loc2blue]

Hi ! as I see you are a long time seller also, why are you shocked that old time sellers just finding it out , maybe they were too busy listing ,packing,etc, so they have no time to look into these things, as I see you have a lot of time on your hands and that is why you know this up dates, what you sell under 20 items a year???? you have more time than a pre schooler playing, Im happy you are so informed, but us "old time sellers" real sellers "not look at me how much I know about Ebay", keep yourself busy, and maybe you too can miss some updates, your sales show how dedicated you are,, so why are you lecturing Sellers who have no time like you to look into stuff like this,, now if I could I would make you a trophy, as the smartest seller on Ebay

[mrdutch1001]

Making assumptions and comments says much about your character ...so full of arrogance and contempt for small sellers...  What you may see now is not  the totality of my eBay selling...I no longer have the need nor the desire to be a large volume seller(even though many years back I held a top rated seller status for 10 years) Sorry to disappoint but I have been selling on multiple selling sites for 20 years and just because I choose not to be a large volume seller on eBay does not make me any less experienced than you....

C'est la vie!

Que sera sera!

[baydealz]

I agree that this is old news and a warranted workaround by ebay to thwart the sellers who offered low priced items with overly high shipping charges.  However, as another long time seller, the error is in the fact that there is no way to compensate for that in the shiping charge - ebay should automatically include it or allow the seller to include a surcharge or % surcharge.  You can kinda do this by estimating flat fees, but if you use ebay automatic calculation, you are assured to lose out that commission, why not an option of whether buyer or seller pays for that?  I'm fine with honest, trasparent and tight shipping charges, but if you gotta prepare to lose commission on an actual cost, no one benefits.

[pjcdn2005]

If you use calculated shipping you can add a handling charge to compensate for the fees. 

[zolita2000]

selling on eBay is a pain in neck. They just care about their profits and do not care about sellers. They take some percentage (more then 15% in the category I sell) of the final price which is the combication of item price and shipping fees. Not fair at all and it is 100% scam and fraud. When I started selling here, it was not like that and then they imposed these rediculous policies to me and other sellers.

[mrdutch1001]

There is no scam>this is eBay's site and eBay's right to set the fees wherever they so choose! The fees are set out and selllers know exactly what they are in advance so where is the scam or the fraud? IF YOU are so dissatisfied with the way eBay runs its business, why are you still here listing items? you have a choice>Take it or leave it...

[marnotom!]

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@zolita2000 wrote:

selling on eBay is a pain in neck. They just care about their profits and do not care about sellers. They take some percentage (more then 15% in the category I sell) of the final price which is the combication of item price and shipping fees. Not fair at all and it is 100% scam and fraud. When I started selling here, it was not like that and then they imposed these rediculous policies to me and other sellers.

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I'm not sure about what "rediculous" policies you're referring to specifically, but when you started selling on eBay, you were paying separate fees to eBay and to the payment processor, which was PayPal at the time.  Now the payment processing fees are part of your eBay fees, which may be part of what makes that percentage look so onerous.

As was pointed out earlier in this thread, if eBay didn't charge fees on the entire transaction value, the final value fee percentage would be higher than it is now.  Some sellers don't realize that when they attach shipping to their listings, they're offering their buyers a value-added service and that service is just as part of the sale as the item itself.  Make your items local-pickup only if you prefer.

In the early days of eBay, my wife and I sold some stuff on a consignment basis for some friends.  I can't remember the percentage we charged, but it was more than 15% but less than 50%.  Whatever that percentage was, we discovered that it wasn't nearly enough to cover all the time, labour, and materials we needed for the sale.  Does that make us greedier or more "scammy" than eBay?

[isellrealcheap]

The total charge to the buyer includes HST and shipping and you also pay fee on that as well. Its works out to 23% actual sellers fee in Canada. It wasnt always like that. Its was 10% sellers, 2 % paypal and postage was a wash.

Its literally doubled since they sarted.

Cheers

[mrdutch1001]

"Its literally doubled since they sarted"....

and so has a lot of things! especially since Covid...there's not a lot in this world that has not had significant price increases over the past few years. Get used to it! The DT era is back !

C'est la vie!

Que sera, sera!

[transtraders]

IMO eBay should be charging a lower(much lower) % on the shipping portion as the only service they provide on that portion of the sale is the payment processing.

eBay lost ALOT of sellers when they started charging fees on the shipping portion.

I get it, its their platform, but we don't have to be happy about it, and we should be able to let eBay know our feelings on the situation.

[john_koenig99]

Yeah, something to consider. There are other platforms that don't have some of said charges, with lower sale fees too. I am considering switching to those, altogether. 

[dobo5250]

PLAIN AND SIMPLE ANSWER IS ______CAUSE THEY CAN--- END OF POINT- EBAY DOES WHAT EBAY DOES- when i was in the dog  house here with ebay  for months -- they where charging actual  costs over 25 % of my sales dollars and i did't make a dime for months   with the shipping part it was very small in comparision to the the whole charge of cost of doing sales on ebay that it really din;t matter --- now that iam under 

20 % of my sales go to ebay  with store costs /promo costs/ reg commision of sale etc etc -- and with now i have had to go back to free shipping rolled in to sale - just to make any sales and increase promo to 5 % iam finding creative ways to save on shipping best i can---  reuse of packaging material- free boxes from shoppers best place for small boxes-- discount stamps when possible- accuate sizing and weight caluations before shipping etc etc  - i agree with one of posters above most people do not calcuate  their hourly rate working to keep ebay going -- my accountant makes me write every min spent on ebay work then he is constantly trying to convince me that it is not worth the effort -- going on the doe would be better he saids----- there was a point when the write offs offsetted other incomes  and the ebay loss  but those days are gone 5 year rule came and went -so now its all hope --- so the little that ebay dings me for tax on shipping  just means once less coffee a day and or two less beers on the weekend 

but i keep hoping that things will turn around  and get better-- so i can rise myself up from 2.89 per hour pay rate 

[marnotom!]

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@isellrealcheap wrote:

The total charge to the buyer includes HST and shipping and you also pay fee on that as well. Its works out to 23% actual sellers fee in Canada. It wasnt always like that. Its was 10% sellers, 2 % paypal and postage was a wash.

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When PayPal started out, it was free for many US users.  I guess it got greedy, too.

[marnotom!]

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@transtraders wrote:

eBay lost ALOT of sellers when they started charging fees on the shipping portion.

How many?

Sure, there were probably some sellers who left eBay after it started charging on the entire transaction value, but given how some categories are saturated with sellers, it's likely that this was a small percentage.  I'd speculate that the majority of those sellers who left were ones who were inflating their postage charges rather than ones who were leaving out of some sort of sense of principle.  Remember, eBay dropped its FVF percentage when it started charging on the entire transaction value, so some of those who left because they couldn't afford it probably didn't crunch enough numbers.

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@transtraders wrote:

I get it, its their platform, but we don't have to be happy about it, and we should be able to let eBay know our feelings on the situation.

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Seeing as this has been the situation for at least a decade and a half, I think eBay is well aware that its fee structure doesn't make everybody happy.  In fact, they're probably aware that nobody likes paying fees.  As long there are enough sellers willing to put up with them, it is what it is.  Keep in mind that some international eBay sites are experimenting with eliminating private seller fees and maybe the North American sites are taking notes.

[mrdutch1001]

"eBay lost ALOT of sellers when they started charging fees on the shipping portion." ...Hardly! sure there were lots that left temporarily, lots that said it, but didn't do it , and those that came back with their tail between their legs because there was no other alternative that provided sufficient business.

Nowadays, fees on shipping are common for just about any site worth utilizing...

[byto253]

At one point they did not and seller's abused it horribly by jacking up shipping costs and selling at a lower price in order to avoid fees.  e.g.  Item should sell for $100 , but is listed at $60 with a jacked up shipping cost.  Only pay fees on $60 instead of $100.  Low cost items were very bad, so something that would have been $10 and $2 shipping may have been listed for $3 with $9 shipping.   Other folks did it on a much lower level by adding $2-3 to shipping costs to save a bit. 

The no fee on shipping rewarded fee avoidance behaviour like this.  It was against the rules but enforcement for all but the most outrageous was difficult and the volume huge.   

Hence, fees were charged on all shipping costs.   Now with the implementation of eBay selling shipping labels there is a case that fees could be excluded for shipping labels bought through eBay but by the time that occured the extra revenue from fees on shipping was well established and here to stay.  

[recped]

Not only did no fees on shipping lead to uncontrolled fee avoidance it also punished sellers that were encouraged by eBay (and ecommerce in general) to sell with "free shipping", as everyone knows "free shipping" is in most cases "shipping included" those that offered that were effectively paying fees on shipping.

Another long forgotten thing, when fees on shipping was introduced in 2011 eBay also dropped regular FVF's to compensate. This divided sellers into three groups, those with very low shipping charges had lower overall fees. Seller with moderate shipping charges had very little change and sellers with high shipping charges paid more.

I was in the low to moderate range for shipping so for me the fees on shipping had a minimal effect on my bottom line. Seller of low value but heavy/bulky items paid more.

Given that fees on shipping have been around for 14 years I don't know why this subject keeps getting some sellers riled up as if it just started. Especially for sellers like the OP (of this now one year old thread) who has been selling for 20+ years.

[byto253]

I pretty well have a cut and paste to respond to these posts now  😋 😎

[transtraders]

I don't understand why a lot of you are irritated by someone asking a question on a message board. Its a valid question. If you don't like it then don't reply.