Ebay fees at 18.55%

[retrowise]

I have a store just for a bit of fun and looking at my recent statement, I had $492 sales in one monthand Ebay hit me with 18.55% fees and that's not including Papyal fees.  I'm not on managed payments yet and from what I read, the fees will be even higher. I can't even imagine what fees people without a store must pay now. With these high  rates it might not be even worth selling unless one find the stuff for free on the trash.

Considering I have to also use my own computer, car, packing, time, etc, which all cost money, I'm starting to wonder about the whole point of doing Ebay, it's just not fun anymore, it's become more of burden than anything else.

What are your fees and are you happy to pay them?

[jellybirddesigns]

I'm not sure why you've read that the fees on MP will be higher? I've checked my sales and I'm still on a touch over 12%.

Did you have any subtitles or promotional fees on any of the listings? These can really add up. On some of my listings I have a promotional fee of around 7% for when it sells.

You do need to definitely account for all the consumables that go into a sale such as packaging, petrol, etc. For me personally, I run my shop as a business and report it to the ATO as such. All the things I buy during the year are deductible, including the kilometers I travel to the PO (I keep a log book). You can also adjust your postage fees to account for a "handling" charge, which Ebay allows. Many sellers add an extra $1-$1.50 on top of the postage price to cover the consumables.

Lastly, you can open a MyPost business account. I'm not sure if they still have the special on, but for the first 3 months you're automatically put onto Band 3, so when you scan the QR code, you get a discount on any tracked postage label at the counter. I'm on Band 4 and I get an average of $1.74 off the price of a tracked parcel label, which is quite significant. The label itself still shows $9.15, so the buyer is unaware of the discount.

[digital*ghost]

The FVF as a proportion of sales revenue is going to vary depending on the [item price : postage ratio], total order value, and how postage costs are handled (i.e. included in item price or charged separately). Plus whether GST is being included or not. 

eg for me, who charges tracked postage separately on items starting from around $3, which are also in the most expensive FVF tier, and doesn't pay GST on fees, on a sale where someone only buys one $3 item, the fee as a percentage of sale price is going to be about 55%, but on the total it's going to be about 16-odd %. If someone buys 2 of those $3 items it'll drop down to about 14.5% (i.e. the higher the sale price or order total, the smaller impact that 30c transaction fee is going to have on the percentage.

On average I'm probably paying around 15%. It's cheaper than Etsy for me though (where I also sell), but obviously a lot more expensive than my website. Even though Etsy's FVF is only 5% - that doesn't include payment processing, and they charge USD 20c per item sold as a listing fee (20c up front to list, and 20c per listing renewal, which is counted as 5 renewals if someone buys 5 of an item). This is a killer for low-value, high-turnover items. I guess my fees are closer to 17-18% of my revenue over there. (Don't get me started on their off-site ads BS, as that really grinds my gears and sometimes adds an additional 12% FVF to an order total 😭). 

Am I happy to pay it? Well, I'd be happier if I didn't have to 😆 I choose to because I make a decent living afterwards, still. 

[gutterpunkz05]

Mine comes in at    13.97%

which includes   FVF,  Store Fee,  Promotion Fees   and    GST

No  PP  Fee  as it is now included in  Ebay  FVF

[jellybirddesigns]

I'd forgotten to add the store fee percentage, so it actually takes mine from around 12% to about 13%, or maybe a touch over, depending on the volume of sales that month.

@digi - I agree with you about the lower value items on Etsy being higher priced in terms of fees. I've read a few forum posts over there that mention it.  And you're right, if you're paying US20c on a $1.00 item, compared to US20c on a $100 item, then the fees are probably barely worth it at that price point.

I find that my Etsy fees overall are a bit higher than Ebay's, (but not as high as Amazon), but as it's a different market, I can adjust my base prices accordingly.

[eol-products]

I gather a few people pay the extra promotional fees which would add up end of the month. I still have a featured store which reduces the FVF but is then mostly taken away by the extra $30 store cost.