Selling 3rd party items.

[max-power-models]

Just wondering what the norm is for selling 3rd party items. I have read before that the split is 50/50 where all fees and associated costs are paid by the eBay members. Is This best practice or is there a new method?

[patttx2232]

Is the 3rd person your mum? would you expect her to pay 50%

Surely if you are selling for a 3rd party it is up to yourselves to decide how the charges are split..

occasionally I sell an item for a friend....as it is MY ebay account, and the fees ...listing FV paypal fees etc are paid in full from the sale of the item , the the profit is shared (40-60 or whatever)

Is there a practice  like this that is condoned by Ebay?

[glenbankloel]

We have a group of items that we are selling for a 3rd party and have an arrangement of 60/40 with her. 60=us, 40=her. We thought long and hard about this split before we started as wasn't sure if it was too high on our side.  However, have found it is pretty right and the split is on the final amount that is left after fees and costs.  

By the time you take into account your handling, photographing, listing, storing,packing and posting and maintaining and occassional tweaking of the listing, and forwarding payment to them, we are comfortable with this break down.

Quite a few sellers do this as a private arrangement with someone that they know, and you will probably see some replies come back with different scenarios, but i guess that you have to take into account who you are dealing with as the 3rd party. If it is someone that you trust and are very comfortable with (i.e. family member) then you could decide for a smaller cut, but we decided that as this was a very quick arrangement and someone that was just an acquaintance then we would take the higher amount to cover us for any problems. Thankfully our silent partner has left us alone and all going well, she has a full time job and not interested in selling herself. We pay her quarterly, found this a lot easier than monthly payments.

Maybe try it for 3 months and see how it goes, with the option to continue, change the deal, or cancel the deal if not working for you?  Hope this is helpful , good luck.

[putney32]

whatever % you decide, and it is entirely up to you, you should have an agreement in place with the seller in writing.

you will have the $$ amount on your eBay a/c as 'income' and will need to show those sales as 'vendor' sales, making sure you include the payment to your vendor as outgoing, and just the commission you take as income,   otherwise, the figures ebay supply the ATO and your figures will not be the same and the ATO will count all your sales (be they yours or your vendors) as income.  ask your accountant the best way to set this up, before the end of tax year

[joethenuts]

putney you are 100% correct. also  they should talk about what if there is a problem ala the buyer does not get the article or a dispute in condition and ebay awards the buyer a refund and then takes it  from your account  ala does the second party pay a % of the cost of the goods to the 3rd party.mmmmmmm

[max-power-models]

Thanks for the feedback, I may have the oppurtinty to buy a large collection of items. Just in case my bank balance cant back it up I was looking at suggesting a 3rd party sale. DDont worry everythnig will definatley be going down in ink and signed.

Cheers

MPM

[chameleon54]

I used the ebay services of a stay at home mum with small kids for awhile. She would list the items, handle everything and pay the ebay fees. ( this was a few years ago before fees got expensive.)  The mum took 40% I got 60%. This was on items that averaged around $30 in value. The lower the value of items, the more the 3rd party would need to make it worth their time to do the listing.

It all worked out fine without any major dramas, but that was before defects, 180 day return policies etc.