I post overseas (or at least I did until Ebay decided they were no longer going to support E.U. country posting via their Ebay postage labels) Postage is calculated automatically, and so long as Australia Post, supports postage to that country, the International postage label (which includes the customs information) comes up automatically. You don't need to physically sit there and do the math's (as you state) as it is done for you?? You do realise that you are cutting out a HUGE market for many sellers (myself included) by cutting out international sales. I have (at this stage) posted to the U.K. N.Z. Taiwan, Finland, Buenos Aires, Ireland, Canada and Mexico without Issue. A number of these countries, I have also posted items to multiple times. Information on what you can post and postage costs is freely available via the Australia Post, website or simply google and finally, adding in costs doesn't automatically make everything work smoothly..........sometimes things happen regardess.

You must have posted this item via an Australia Post, International Postage, tracked Envelope as Ebay (Australia) has not supported postage to the U.S. (or any other U.S. governed country) since early September 2025, and as a result, won't allow you to print out Ebay generated postage labels to the U.S. (or U.S. governed countries) There is a limit to how heavy the item can be within these envelopes. I think the maximum weight is 500 grams? (and or half a kilo) So at 1.1 kg, your item was well over the minimum postage weight requirements. I am surprised that all you got was a requirement to pay extra on the postage, as normally, an item this overweight would bounce back to the sender. I have sent items overseas and apart from some additional fees around VAT collection, I have never been charged 45.56%. Mind you I do know where you are coming from in regards postage to the U.S. I had a U.S. seller late last year that bought an item off of me. I ended up having to refund her, as it was going to cost $66.00 in postage to mail out to her (via DHL) when the Teapot she bought from me, only cost $14.00. Apart from posting items that fit into international, tracked envelopes, (which doesn't happen often as most of what I sell, doesn't fit the category to mail out, using envelopes) the U.S. is a market that is currently out of bounds for me. But I still agree, Ebay could be doing a whole lot better.

1-Ebay publish their fees and they state they take % of shipping as well

2-It is your responsibility to price your item so that you receive what you want after all the costs

3- The simplest rule is to add 20-25% to the amount you want to end up with for your item to cover those fees

4-Only use eBay calculated shipping if you are using eBay Postage

5-You are not going to find another platform that facilitates selling used books worldwide with the number of buyers eBay has

@z50jam wrote:

 

can somebody please explain how selling on EBay is a good fair deal?

It's not necessarily cheap but what you're paying for is wider exposure & easier sales conditions  than you're likely to get on eg Facebook marketplace.

On ebay, you can list something and a buyer can buy and pay, you can see the details and post it off etc, all without having to meet the buyer or engage in a discussion. On marketplace, even if you agree to post items, some buyers will be expecting almost instant replies to queries or offers etc

The downside is yes, on ebay you pay fees. They  are based not only on the sale price but on the postage cost as well, if it is separate.

But the fee structure is available in the help section and you can calculate in advance what you are likely to be charged and set your prices accordingly. You might be better off limiting some sales to Australia, as rocket2retro advised.

Whether you sell on ebay or not is up to you though. Personally, I would weigh up what you plan to sell and how likely it is to appeal to a wide audience, how big/heavy it is etc

If it has wide appeal or is bulky, maybe try marketplace or gumtree, if it is more a niche product and you want Australia wide exposure, use ebay.

Set your own postage. 

Do your homework on - postage - fees - and extras.

Simples.

I don't post overseas for this very reason. You need to do the maths and have a good idea of your total costs before listing. Alternately when listing the item there is a 'calculate estimated fees'  button.

I set my item price to cover my purchase price, final value fee and fee on postage, whilst leaving a profit margin that makes it worth the effort (of listing, packing, posting etc).

You need to treat it as business deal and be aware of your costs (in my case before even buying the item).

What is the item number?