topic Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort in Selling

Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

queenslander — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 07:36:15 GMT

Just had last Months Fees In over 17% for selling and of course the POSTAGE Fee Ripoff.

SMALL Sellers are being Hammered by Ebay disgusting.

Fees as a percentage of your sales

This month's eBay sales and fees

	Total monthly sales
AU $49.70

	Total monthly fees
17.83%

Based on your monthly fees and credits totaling AU $8.86, your fees as percentage of your sales is 17.83%

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

royalshelley — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:08:25 GMT

I AGREE!!

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

saarzi — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:09:07 GMT

where did you get this chart? I know ive seen it somewhere, cant remember where it is...

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

joethenuts — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:17:31 GMT

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm no comment is this how to spell karma

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

mbselections00 — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:40:38 GMT

Go to your current invoice and scroll down the page

Hope it looks better than poor queenslanders !

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

mbselections00 — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:44:57 GMT

Have to agree, mine wasn't quite that bad, but I fear with almost non-existent sales since my last invoice (15/3/15), my next one will probably look worse !!

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

clarry100 — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:47:02 GMT

That does seem a bit high.

Across our two basic stores our average fees as a percentage of total sales is running at 15.3% for the current tax year so far.

It was about that last tax year as well.

And that inludes PayPal fees as well.

Do you print postage labels inside ebay that might be included in that total? We do not use that service.

As a matter of interest our postage costs are running at 12.8% of total sales over the same period. We mostly use large letters.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

chameleon54 — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:53:27 GMT

When selling very cheap items in the $2-$5 price range you really need to rely on selling very VERY large numbers of them to make it worthwhile. To make $200 per day you may need to sell 100 items every day or 36,500 items per year to clear $200 per day profit. Thats 100 items to find from storage, pack and mail. Maybe 20 questions every day to answer etc. etc. Listing fees on cheap items also push the total % fees up as you have indicated, meaning ebay take a greater share of your sales figures.

Unless the items are of a generic nature where you just grab it from a large box, stuff it in a padded mailer and print the label, it is very hard to make cheap items pay on ebay. Is it worth looking at a different higher value product mix ???

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

mandysrdb — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:54:01 GMT

interesting that my post about this a few hours ago was removed! wonder why?

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

joethenuts — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 08:57:08 GMT

um even if your fees were 10% is it woth the effort ,is it worth selling $2 items , tgen take out postage fees ,paypal fees ,costs of products and packaging products , but if you are happy making 78 cents a week ,who am I to say anything.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

heihachi_73 — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 09:24:17 GMT

Haven't sold a single thing in the past five days. The sooner April and December are devoid of public holidays coinciding with archaic Christian rituals, the better. Apparently the sheer amount of non-Christian people in Australia doesn't matter. Even time-and-a-half on Sundays is utter nonsense - people can deliberately pick for example Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday as their 40 hour work week and get paid more simply because they choose those days (likewise, night workers also get paid more than 9-5ers for no reason whatsoever, it's not like the Indian guy in your local 7-Eleven is working 20 hours straight seven days a week - at least I don't think he is!). Time-and-a-half pay was supposed to be for working extra days/hours, as in working 6 or 7 days a week instead of 5.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

saarzi — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 11:41:06 GMT

ahh ty got it 😄

mine sits around 15%, not much better.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

mbselections00 — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 11:50:23 GMT

Yay, glad you found it, sorry it didn't look better Mine was 11.7%, but I don't use eBay post, so need to take postage & paypal fees into account on top of that.

Sales this month so far are less than a quarter of last month with only 8 days to go - scary !!

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

queenslander — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 20:53:01 GMT

Clarry

I also do not use Ebays Postage labels, Paypal fees are more again.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

i-love-my-sheep — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 02:00:10 GMT

@heihachi_73 wrote:
Haven't sold a single thing in the past five days. The sooner April and December are devoid of public holidays coinciding with archaic Christian rituals, the better. Apparently the sheer amount of non-Christian people in Australia doesn't matter. Even time-and-a-half on Sundays is utter nonsense - people can deliberately pick for example Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday as their 40 hour work week and get paid more simply because they choose those days (likewise, night workers also get paid more than 9-5ers for no reason whatsoever, it's not like the Indian guy in your local 7-Eleven is working 20 hours straight seven days a week - at least I don't think he is!). Time-and-a-half pay was supposed to be for working extra days/hours, as in working 6 or 7 days a week instead of 5.

WOW, that's a bit harsh. As a shift worker, I can tell you now, if they removed the penalty rates for working after hours or weekends, when all the 9 to 5'ers are either sleeping or out enjoying a day on the water, they'd have no-one to work after hours or weekends.

Look at the options. Get paid the same rate on Sunday as what you'd get on Wednesday. Sunday, go to work for same pay or spend time with your family or friends. It's a no brainer.

Who do you think is going to save your life in the middle of the night if you have a heart attack or a car accident and there are no ambulance or medical workers because they all now only work 9-5, 5 days a week. Who's going to put your house fire out when all the firies have the weekend off because it's not worth their while.

Try working in a shift working job where you have to stay up all night while everyone else is sleeping. Where you have to work all weekend while everyone else is out enjoying themselves. Try working 40+ hours just on a weekend, let alone having to work the rest of the week. No, those shift workers can't do the same things on their days off during the week because their friends are all at work in their 9-5 jobs and the kids are at school.

As for deliberately picking Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun to work, that is utter nonsense. It's called a roster. I don't work weekends or after hours by choice. I do it because that's what I am rostered to do as it's part of my job. I do one in 4 weekends. If I had my way, I'd do none.

And yes, I did work over Easter while everyone else was having a wow of a time with family. I also worked over Christmas, where again, everyone else was on holidays or spending much needed time with their family. I didn't get to have a holiday. I didn't get to spend time with family. I was barely able to gulp lunch down before having to go and deal with all the other idiots who decided to have one too many and get into fights, or drive the car and smash themselves into a tree.

I also worked NYE and NYD, having to deal with drunken morons who had nothing better to do than make an arsh out of themselves.

How dare you begrudge anyone for getting paid to work days and hours that you couldn't imagine doing, in a job that would quite frankly make the average person want to vomit.

Rant over.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

mbselections00 — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 02:50:42 GMT

Well said and totally agree with you, having one shift worker and an early starter in our house, I have an idea what it can be like.

(lol, it's also why I'm often prowling the boards in the wee small hours, staying awake to wake my daughter up, or waiting for her to get home). She was a baker by trade, so for years was at work every morning at 2.30am. She changed jobs & is a train guard now and so of course works all different hours, sometimes starts at 3 or 4 am, sometimes finishes at 2am, can virtually start at anytime of the day or night depending on the roster - and can work 10 or 11 days straight.

She is abused, spat at, has all sorts of things thrown at her, has been held at knife point, has witnessed the results of attempted & successful suicides - Friday nights & weekends of course are the worst, so yes, she deserves every cent she earns, as do all the people (including your good self ) who work crazy shift hours around the clock and work in positions most of us could not stomach - fulfilling jobs most people would reject because of the hours and/or conditions.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

funkyflamingo* — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 06:54:54 GMT

I’d like you to do my job. I work weekends and midnight until 0800 full time. Yes, I get paid at a higher rate than the 9-5’ers, and I have been doing it for years. No one in my department wants my hours due to the lack of sleep you as the phone rings, door bells go, building going around etc etc. including, the unsociable hours and it is also very hard on your body. There have been studies that people who work these hours is more likely to get sick. If it wasn’t for us shift workers, the world would come to a halt. So when you are in dire need to go to a hospital, you will be thanking the shift workers, Dr’s, nurses, scientists, cleaners, cooks, paramedics, reception staff who attend to your needs and saving your life. I know for a fact if there were no shift penalties, I wouldn’t be working the hours I do, and I doubt anyone would do the same, unless you’re putting up you hand to work these crazy hours for the same pay as 9-5’ers! You wouldn’t last 5 minutes.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

i-love-my-sheep — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 12:37:54 GMT

@retrovintagecollectables3195 wrote:
I’d like you to do my job. I work weekends and midnight until 0800 full time. Yes, I get paid at a higher rate than the 9-5’ers, and I have been doing it for years. No one in my department wants my hours due to the lack of sleep you as the phone rings, door bells go, building going around etc etc. including, the unsociable hours and it is also very hard on your body. There have been studies that people who work these hours is more likely to get sick. If it wasn’t for us shift workers, the world would come to a halt. So when you are in dire need to go to a hospital, you will be thanking the shift workers, Dr’s, nurses, scientists, cleaners, cooks, paramedics, reception staff who attend to your needs and saving your life. I know for a fact if there were no shift penalties, I wouldn’t be working the hours I do, and I doubt anyone would do the same, unless you’re putting up you hand to work these crazy hours for the same pay as 9-5’ers! You wouldn’t last 5 minutes.

Oh how I wish I could give you 1,000 kudos for this post! People who have never done those hours have absolutely no idea. It's surprising how many people think you sleep all night when you work night shift! They forget that the world doesn't stop because they go to bed, or it's a weekend or public holiday where they're kicking back having a few cold ones. Funny how people b*tch about religious holidays, but are happy to have the time off.

My afternoon shift is from 2.30pm to 11pm. That doesn't mean I actually get to go home at 11pm. I may not get home until 7am the next morning. If my next shift was a 9.30am to 6pm, then I'd have to go back at 5 and work for an hour, but get paid for the whole day. Usually they would tell us not to bother coming back for the hour.

If it happens that I'm going back on another afternoon shift, I have to somehow get some sleep during the day, go back at 5 instead of 2.30 and risk being there until 7am the next day. If I leave at 3am, I'll go back at 1pm the next day if I'm rostered a 9.30 to 6 shift. The next day after that might be a 7.30am to 4 or 6pm. Having such erratic sleep like that really plays up with the body, let me tell you! The risk of serious health issues in my industry is high.

Of a weekend, from 1pm Saturday to 7am Monday, there are only one lot of staff rostered. We could be there for that entire time. It's rare that it happens, but I have been caught once from 1pm Saturday and leaving at 7am Monday morning with absolutely no sleep and barely time to grab a glass of water, let alone something to eat.

That whole time, I could be getting eBay messages from buyers and have no way of replying to their messages until I get home. I am not allowed to carry my phone during work hours and even if I'm on my break, mobile reception is carp. That's a long time until I can reply and potentially miss out on sales. Still, that's the risk I take by working the hours that I do and getting paid penalty rates for my efforts.

Funny how heihachi_73 hasn't been back after that comment.

Retro, I'm not sure which industry you are in, but thank you for doing it!!!

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

stephanies6125 — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 15:32:32 GMT

Hi I didn't know that pie chart existed. I just looked at mine and it's at 34%!!! Does anyone know how to reduce it? I sell bugger all these days due to all the changes. I was going to downgrade to a basic store but my monthly invoice would increase because of listing fees.

Re: Fast becoming NOT worth The Effort

heihachi_73 — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 20:44:56 GMT

Don't worry, I have been here, just speechless at Australia Post's inability to get anything right, not to mention being stuck in the dark ages alongside the banks. Such as sending an item back to me after the person at the counter affixed a stamp which somehow managed to come off midway through postage. I wouldn't be surprised if this counts as my fault and I end up having to pay postage again and get an INR-request/negative/1-point-DSRs from the buyer who's been waiting a week already.