eBay fee > 13% including postage, makes it critical to assign a product price. any formula?

[au.sri2]

hi

I was on ebay for 8 years, selling and buying. Never bothered to calculate what ebay is charging me after sale proceeds. 

But after a recent sale of a single product, and checked the details of variable fee charged and it is 13.4%. So, after deducting the postage charge and the ebay fee from the total money paid (including postage) by the buyer, what is left is less than my product purchase price. That is a LOSS. 

Then I back calculated the product price, to have at least few cents of profit. Then you know what i get was a very high selling price.  For your information, the original supplier has also an online shopping and listed the price of product much less than my CALCULATED product selling price on eBay. 

Its looks strange to me of this VARIABLE FEE as a percentage and that includes postage charges. I chatted with ebay agent and not convinced with some logic / suggestion given.  One suggestion is offer free postage if the buyer buys more items. This means unless a buyer purchased more items to avoid postage charges, i cant make any profit on single item sales. 

Also, he suggested to have subscription to reduce eBay fee. this is more tricky. May be works out for a regular and dedicated online business having lots of products to sell. But not like me who do sell only sporadically. [long story short is this much short. 🙂 ]

Share your views and ideas, please 

[padi*0409]

Have a look at "completed listings" with your product and increase your prices a bit to cover the fees.

I looked at your Cardamon pods you've sold and other listings for the same thing are significantly higher than yours.

[au.sri2]

Thank you for prompt response. I can increase the product price. Thinking of the same.

But then the fee deducted will also increase as a percentage. In this way is it not charging more from buyers?

Anyway, i have to increase it no other option as of now.

Regards 

[shiver_me_shrimp · Accepted solution]

You don't factor fees into your items? Now I understand how sellers can sell things I wouldn't consider worth my time.

I do the math in my head when considering a purchase:

Average sale price including post

minus 15% fees (because it's an easy number to work with and factors in potentially promoting it)

minus postage cost (usually $5-$9)

minus packaging materials - cost of goods

= is it worth your time?

It looks like there are some items you will only be making 50 cents on and that's not including packaging material or sticky tape used.

I usually don't sell anything under $5 unless it's free and can be sent for the cost of 1 stamp. 

[jellybirddesigns]

Fees have been 13%+ for a very, very long time.

Selling on Ebay is not suitable for everything under the sun, especially if your business model is not good.

Does your original supplier have an Ebay store, or a regular website? The reason I ask is because:

1) He is making a profit off you when you purchase from him, so you're not getting the best deal

2) His costs are wholesale, or extremely low as he probably purchases in bulk

3) He can therefore afford to offer a much lower price to buyers as his upfront expenses are much lower.

4) If he doesn't have an Ebay store, he is saving 13.4% in fees.

5) Even if he does have an Ebay store, refer back to points 1 & 2

Subscriptions are not worth it unless you have several hundred items and are making hundred of sales a month.

[jellybirddesigns]

Just to add - your postage costs are very high for some of the items.

I don't think many people are going to buy 50g of spice for $2.99 and pay $9.30 postage.

[imastawka]

I thought the same thing.

If you need tracking to cover yourself, send them registered mail - much cheaper than parcel rate, and it cuts down the fvf's 

[neuvecottage]

Your postage is high compared to product price. Have you considered using tracking envelopes? If your items are 500gram or lower and do not exceed 20mm in thickness, this may be a cheaper option.

[au.sri2]

Thank you many people suggestions. As i am not a regular seller on eBay, was the reason not much worried or bothered to check-on eBay fees, earlier.

Anyway, thanks for all suggestions and thoughts. 

Some, suggested Registered mail, tracking envelopes etc. Can they be used for sending such spice packets? Are they not for only documents? Any URL to share, so that i can check what you suggesting?

Regards

[davewil1964]

Australia Post has extensive information. Maybe check yourself? I certainly won't be doing your research for you, nor commenting on your insistence on tracking for low value items.