Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

I'm starting to think is it really worth sellling on ebay, we get charged fees on what we sell then we get slugged again on a ebay fee on the postage. We don't profit on postage, and actually loose money, we also have to pay GST on the postage costs also . It we inflate the postage to cover these costs then the customer will shy away as postage is too high. If you increase postage to cover the fees then eBay get an even bigger slice as they take a fee on the higher postage charge.

Seems a win win situation for Ebay, but not so win win for the seller.

 

May be we should all start selling   just the item and stating postage will be charged separately direct to customer ?

Then ebay won't get a fee on postage cost .

 

  Ebay should take a good look at the situation, if it wasn't for sellers then ebay would have no revenue.Smiley Sad

 

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

You mentioned Facebook selling.

It's true that there are a lot of specific sales sites but I was talking to a man a while ago & he mentioned another way to sell on facebook.

He was starting up a very small business with solar panels for caravans, that sort of thing.

He said for a fee, a seller could have facebook put ads into the stream of a target audience.

The seller chose the audience area & size.

 

I presume the fee would vary but from memory, it wasn't all that much, I was surprised.

 

This man was from Warrnambool so he was going to get his ad put on to-I forget exactlyhow many- but to thousands in his own specific area & surrounds.

 

This approach wouldn't work for a casual seller but if someone had a specific line of something it could be worth looking into.

 

I find some of the the buy/swap/sell pages on FB aren't as attractive to me as a buyer(although some family & friends love them) but I have bought quite a few things from Buy my things on FB, which is a consumer group that negotiates a cheaper group prices on items the members suggest.

 

Ebay is still the name most buyers would know though. They don't go to quicksales because most of them have never heard of it. I went a few times in the past to look-nothing on it I was after. Ebay, dozens of choices.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

I don't get any ads on Facebook, so it wouldn't matter how much someone paid, they're not going to show up on my pages. I don't even get them on the app because I have an ad blocker on my phone. A lot are going with ad blockers these days, probably more than we realise. I notice it with my YouTube page that gets thousands of views but very little ad revenue because most people have ad blockers on their computer. Maybe 1 in 100 sees an ad, if that. No ad, no revenue.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

Quicksales (then Oztion) was my very first experience into selling after having to give up markets some years ago.  First couple of years were pretty good but it all dried up from several a day to 1 every month if lucky.  Unfortunately there will never be the exposure that there is on ebay.   The Carsales was promoted but rarely the Quicksales.  Actually met quite a few great sellers & or buyers at meet ups from there.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on


@cushioncovers wrote:

On average, between Ebay and PP, the amount is around 12-13%, so just allow for that in your base pricing.

 

My basic postage is $2.95 and will actually cost me $2.00 at the counter. That 95c then goes towards the fees, envelope, packaging, petrol, etc, so I'm not out of pocket. My actual item prices have the fees built in to them, with the average item costing $18.00, I deduct $1.80 from that to work out my profit after fabric/labour costs.

 

The only difference is that I don't pay GST because my sales are not high enough.

 

Alternatively, you could offer "free" postage, but just build it in to the total price. Yes, you'll still pay 10% to Ebay, but buyers will think they are getting a bargain and your items may rank higher because of the "free" postage.

 

Like others have said, many of us have tried other venues for selling and whilst I have have a small success rate on the other "E" site, in reality, for every 1 item I sell there, I sell over 100 on Ebay.


Everyones business is different and the ebay and paypal fees vary A LOT between different sellers. If you include free post or a nominal postage cost in your listings, you could calculate fees at 12 - 13% of total sales including post cost. 

 

 If a seller has a store and charges full postage and sells lower priced items, ebay fees and paypal fees could easily be 25% of total item sales price.

 

My two stores have an average item price of around $35 and average postage cost of around $10.50. I pay for mid sized stores ( around $50 a month I think ) and exceed my free listing numbers so pay for some listings.  Ebay and Paypal fees take around 20% of my gross merchandise sale price, not including postage.

 

It is important for sellers to be aware of exactly what fees they are paying as this has a big impact on profit.

 

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

I agree. Firstly those that don't agree are fortunate that their postage costs are small and obiously have high profit margins.

"Hiding postage" in the buy price is stupid, buyers see right through that.

 

I'm getting extremely annoyed with ebay suggesting Free Post or lowering asking price to increase my sales, yeh way to go ebay - I should sell at a loss so you can skim more fees, this is unsustainable greedy corporate/bank mentality.

ebay transactions should be win/win/win for Buyers/Sellers/ebay in that order of priority, pull your heads in ebay, without happy Buyers and Sellers YOU DON'T HAVE A BUSINESS!

 

The cost of sale for me is approx 14% including Paypal's cut and that's not including listing fee's. I cant afford to sell anything under $9 unless it will fit in an envelope.

Someone mentioned 10% discounted ebay/Australia Post 500g & 3kg bags, thats right, thats the ones that have just had a price rise and you buy the bags and postage through ebay plus a cut for paypal.

The stench of corporate greed is getting stronger.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on


@jonnonoosa wrote:

 

"Hiding postage" in the buy price is stupid, buyers see right through that.



Actually, not everyone sees through the Free Postage.

We have had buyers and sellers coming to the boards wanting to know which shipping company should they use to get free postage on their items.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

Yes I understand what you're saying but ebay are still the number 1 platform for sellers and buyers and no matter how much

a buyer or a seller complains about anything or loses their privilages there will come along more buyers and sellers.

Of course ebay will tell you to list cheaper, post for free, they still get their cut no matter what a seller gets.

Free postage doesn't mean a buyer sees right through it but a buyer knows that the postage has been included in the sale price,

and it doesn't matter to most buyers because they know that they have to pay for postage either way,with it showing or in the sale price.

The only way postage is free is when an auction starts at 99c with free postage stated in the listing.

I know heaps of sellers that have free postage and they're still selling big time.

 

Buyers and sellers come and go so ebay will always have a business but you and I might not, we're just a grain of sand on a beach.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

I thought it was 15 % ebay and paypal fee of gross price of the item?

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

The rule of thumb is that the combined ebay and paypal fees are approximately 13-15% of the final price + postage.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

Just had a quick squiz through Facebook's "Marketplace" - yeesh...

 

Firstly, it's only available for 'phones at this point. Hands up all those who love running their eBay account from their phone? Search functionality's every bit as bad as Gumtree. I collect old TV magazines - if I enter "TV Week" into a search on Gumtree, I get every listing that mentions TV. Same deal in Marketplace.

 

And the search range is just lousy - I can search for items in a 100km radius of location, and that's it. At least on Gumtree, I can specify "Australia" as the location. Buyers who live further than 100km from you will never see your items...

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