topic Re: Why are Final value fees so High in Selling

Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 01:28:22 GMT

Why are Final value fees so High?

Once E Bay final fees apply and the paypal fee as well we are looking at around 13%... then the shipping cost have to be met.

I know a fee should apply but this makes selling low priced items not really worth the effort.

Yes I understand Profit Viability of a product.... But with the turn over E Bay makes... I believe the 9.9% on both item and shipping as well, is a bit rich... especially for those of us non business sellers.

"Crickey Mate" suggests finding another Platform and I have found more than one... I can still use Paypal and it will give me all the protections I require; and my overhead becomes much less. Very soon I will stop selling on Ebay that is of course unless things change.

If anyone agrees with my point of view I suggest they vote for change with their feet as I will be doing.

Good Luck everyone

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

lyndal1838 — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 01:33:34 GMT

There have always been plenty of alternative venues to ebay but the problem is that the buyers do not visit them.

Before you give up your ebay selling I suggest you test the waters on those other venues....see how many sales you get in comparison to ebay.

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 01:50:28 GMT

Hi, Thanks

I have and and yes you are right; less traffic at the moment, but I am patient and as more people become aware of the selling and buying alternatives, things may change.

I do not depend on selling on E Bay for a living, it is a sideline. So, being protected by Pay Pal and other platforms is enough for now.

Also, through social media I will do a bit of, let's say, "awareness exposure" and see what eventuates.

As a buyer, ebays is pretty good.

As a seller, not so much - for me.

And, I'm sure that I am not the only one a little miffed with things like 9.9% on shipping, when ebay has no part in that... no effort on their part, just pure profit gauging.

All I am saying is that if everyone puruses issues such as that... maybe someting might change.

I am a small fish in a big pond, so I will not be missed; but, if a large school of small fish leave... well...

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 02:17:00 GMT

FYI REF: https://www.salehoo.com/blog/sick-of-ebay-try-these-alternative-places-to-sell#

Sick of eBay? Try these alternative places to sell... By Gina Broom..... So you're in a funk with eBay, or maybe you're just looking out into the big wide world of selling platforms to see what opportunities lay yonder. Either way, you've ended up here, and you wonder about the top alternatives to eBay and which ones will suit you most. No one can deny the power of eBay: Since 1995, eBay has held its place as one of the largest marketplaces in the world. It has turned thousands of hobbyists into PowerSellers and allowed thousands more to run profitable, at-home businesses. However, the eBay marketplace has evolved significantly in recent years, and various policy changes have prompted an exodus from eBay, as sellers look for other, more lucrative online marketplaces. Where there's a will there's a way, and this rise in need for other platforms has produced more options than you can shake the proverbial stick at. So what are these eBay alternatives? ***

Current Stats on voting on preferred selling sites eBay 31.62% Amazon 16.94% Etsy 9.1% Bonanza 9.32% Ruby Lane 0.48% Craigslist 8.54% eBid 2.22% My own online store 10.32% A niche-specific website 1.7% TradeMe 0.91% Other: 8.84%

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 02:18:30 GMT

FYI... Reference for Alternative seeling platform, Reasearch https://www.salehoo.com/blog/sick-of-ebay-try-these-alternative-places-to-sell#

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

lyndal1838 — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 03:05:27 GMT

spudd57joe wrote:

Hi, Thanks

I have and and yes you are right; less traffic at the moment, but I am patient and as more people become aware of the selling and buying alternatives, things may change.

I have been reading posts such as this for in excess of 10 years now as have all the members who come to the boards,

We are all aware of the alternatives to ebay and many of us have tried them.

Almost without exception the sellers have come back to ebay after finding that there is just not the traffic on other sites.

As a buyer I have visited and bought on several other sites but I still find I keep coming back to ebay for a better selection of goods and better prices.

You will need to be very patient if you are going to wait for the other sites to be any real competition to ebay I'm afraid.

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 03:39:01 GMT

thanks,
I have the patience of an oyster.... I have items on E Bay that have taken more than 8 months to sell.
and as I said if more people made their angst felt; things may change.
Can you honestly tell me you believe that 9.9% fee on postage is fair??

No worries I have sold a few items on other sites I.e in australia Gumtree and internationally on Amazon, and now depending on the item, trading post and others.
But that's what I prefere to do and if others wish to continue to be gauged ... ok.
I'm just asking that E bay be fair... and one day when other platforms become a theat they will, it's the nature of the beast.
regards, and happy selling

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

transport-posters — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 03:40:01 GMT

I've tried a bunch of other websites over the years, on and off again, and nothing comes close to eBay. eBay have an established hold on the traffic which will probably be this way for another 15 years, and that's just the way it is.

Gumtree (owned by eBay) has shown more success than other alternative sites but is full of people looking for near-free stuff and don't want to pay postage, so I just use it to bring traffic to my website.

The best other thing you can probably do is start your own website and get yourself into a good SEO ranking with Google searches.

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 04:14:15 GMT

Yes you are correct;
They check out my stuff on e bay and by on Gumtree and pay around 15% less.... While listing on e bay is free, i may continue to do that with certain Items.....
I however only sell new items on Gumtree; sort the non serious buyers from the serious on gumtree by stateing sales only go through paypal and offer postage / shipping as an option at a competive rate... also i state all sales are refundable and protected by Pay pal... and if the buyer contacts me by phone directly, I may be flexible....buyers can come and look but the item will not be taken off until purchase is made.... usually If they want the item ... they pay through pay pal.
Over the past 2 months gumtree has represented around 30% of my sales and E bay 50%; other 20%
Yes I am also looking into my own site should I decide to become more serious.
Right now trial and error

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

collect247 — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 04:15:14 GMT

It amazes me how ebid has only 2.2% traffic as it's nearly identical to ebay without any fees if you purchase the life membership.

Plenty of watchers but no buyers.

Some that sell on both platforms have a very very big difference in sales with ebay being the better but still choose to stay on ebid.

I have tried most platforms in the past 12 months since being booted off ebay and I have given up totally from selling as there was no comparison selling wise that even came close to ebay lol.

So for now I'm just buying on ebay,hopefully one day I might sell again on ebay lol.

Fees or no fees ebay won't ever be beaten.

PS most sellers incorporate the fees into their pricing as you would be well aware of this.

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

digital*ghost — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 05:22:56 GMT

I am a business seller, I sell a range of low value items (many under $5 ) as well as some higher value ones, I also think the FVF on postage is unfair, but if I compare eBay to other sites, even with all of their flaws, I can understand why it has the highest preference rate as indicated in the above percentages.

Amazon, for me, would be 20% FVF plus shop fees (in USD), that 20% includes payment processing, but it would mean I would have to raise my prices everywhere as my current pricing couldn't absorb the additional 8% in total fees, and a seller's total price there has to be the same or lower than it is elsewhere. They are also much more buyer-centric there, which would likely mean I'd have to build some other costs into my pricing.

I do sell on Etsy, which is (USD) 20c listing fee per item (not per listing), and a lower FVF of 3.5%. Payment processing fees vary depending on the payment method - PayPal is cheaper than their own direct checkout system. It can actually be a little more expensive for me to sell there than it is here, on the lower value, higher turnover items, anyway, due to the 20c listing fee and especially when an international customer uses direct checkout, despite there being no fees on postage.

I pay 8.5% FVF to eBay (I have a featured store so that adds $50 p/m to my expenses, and list in categories that are charged a higher rate), if I could pay 0% I would , but totally worth the 8.5% for what I get in return, IMHO, which is the largest customer base in Australia. The only thing I don't do here that I do elsewhere is sell internationally, the FVF on postage (and how it's charged) is one of the reasons why, but in the last week, international sales elsewhere have been twice that of domestic sales on both sites put together, so as far as I'm concerned eBay is the only one missing out on that action.

I plan to have my own site sooner or later, and at this stage that's really the only alternative selling venue I'm prepared to seriously consider, as any further investment of time and/or money in expanding my business and selling activities, is going to be exclusively for my business rather than anyone else's. However, I wouldn't leave eBay unless / until the expense incurred outweighed the benefits gained, and at the moment it's very far from doing that.

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

davewil1964 — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 05:37:06 GMT

Depends when the figures were taken.

I do know there are no country specifics when searching, so our stuff will be lumped in with all the Pommy stuff.

Most of the quoted sites aren't Australian, so I imagine many are not suitable for small Aussie sellers. Like me.

OP - have you heard of eBay postage labels? They are a subset of AP's Click & Send and are around 10% cheaper than the equivalent AP service. 9.9% covered.

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 05:42:39 GMT

Thanks for the info'
Food for thought....
However only beign a side line for me and not a business, e Bay is discouraging me from continuing to sell on their site and i have and will stop selling internationally; once the items I have listed already on their site have expired or they sell there or elsewhere...Funily enough I have had a little success with Gumtree and have imposed my own conditions on buyers to sort out the non genuine from the genuine... Any future business with E Bay will primarily be as a buyer or I forsee a good profit margin on the odd item here and there.
I'm hoping a viable competitor emerges so that ebays fees become more competitive
I will continue to explore my options and should I consider selling as a business, I will certainly look at my own personal store site

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 05:48:27 GMT

Yes, I have.
but I prefer to have a fair choice not be forced to go that route and still have E bay get 9.9% on something which is nothing to do with their business... it's becoming a matter of prinicple for me

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

davewil1964 — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 05:53:10 GMT

If you choose to pay more as a matter of principle, that is certainly a CHOICE you make, not something imposed by eBay.

Like most, I work within the framework eBay provides, trying to minimise my costs and maximise my profit within that framework.

I 'sell' on other sites and I can assure you sales are considerably higher here than on those. Regardless of me adjusting prices to allow for lower fees.

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 06:08:48 GMT

Like I said; a sideline / hobby; not a business for me.

And, I've been fortunate enough to have obtained the majority of my items listed at very low to no cost; so my profits are pretty good up until this lot goes..... so not a concern.

MY CHOICE indeed; and not compelled.

good luck and happy selling 🙂

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

digital*ghost — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 07:22:15 GMT

@spudd57joe wrote:

I'm hoping a viable competitor emerges so that ebays fees become more competitive

From what I have observed, viable competitors (to eBay), usually results in more advantages for buyers than it does for sellers, as when a site is actually big enough to be considerable and viable competition for eBay, they generally don't need to compete for sellers, so they actively compete for buyers.

There does seem to be a few benefits for sellers, if we look at US eBay for example, which is a huge market but has a number of established competitors, including Amazon, it's clear that the costs for listing are lower (more free listings, lower insertion fees when a listing is paid for), and they have more store package options as well, but their FVF are slightly higher, and store holders don't get discounted rates like they do here, no matter which package they sign up for, though Top Rated Sellers who tick all the boxes for premium services can get a discount on FVF (the other exception is FVF on international postage, as over there they only charge FVF on the first domestic postage option, which is obviously lower than international postage costs). All of which indicates they're actively encouraging more listings, but ones which give benefit to buyers (eg free 30 day or more money-back returns).

PayPal in the US also don't provide merchant rates to volume sellers anymore, but they still do here (I know that's not applicable to everyone, but it is another way costs can be reduced for anyone selling regularly as a business, so worth mentioning).

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

chameleon54 — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 08:33:27 GMT

@spudd57joe wrote:
Why are Final value fees so High?

Once E Bay final fees apply and the paypal fee as well we are looking at around 13%... then the shipping cost have to be met.

I know a fee should apply but this makes selling low priced items not really worth the effort.

Yes I understand Profit Viability of a product.... But with the turn over E Bay makes... I believe the 9.9% on both item and shipping as well, is a bit rich... especially for those of us non business sellers.

"Crickey Mate" suggests finding another Platform and I have found more than one... I can still use Paypal and it will give me all the protections I require; and my overhead becomes much less. Very soon I will stop selling on Ebay that is of course unless things change.

If anyone agrees with my point of view I suggest they vote for change with their feet as I will be doing.

Good Luck everyone

I dont disagree with most of the things you say, but suggest you have a look at ebays reports on profits etc to the U.S stock exchange. ( the only place you will find anything like accurate figures on how much profit they make )

It is very suprising to delve into the figures. Heck two years ago, they didnt make a cent...... LITERALY. ......Over the last three years combined their profit is less than 5 billion dollars. It sounds a lot but the big four Australian banks can each make that in 6 months.

We can argue the reasons why ebay dont make any money. Managment must take a lot of responsibility for the poor performance and general decline of the business and ebay is definately facing greater competition from other online sales platforms.

I dont like the high fees and commisions on postage anymore than anyone else, but I understand the company needs to charge the high fees or go broke and no longer be available for us to use.

Its pretty simple really.

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

spudd57joe — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 09:38:42 GMT

With all of the sales turn over, and having much much more of the market share than the other platforms... why are their profits so low??? Why are there so large losses????... Hmmm... management and Management performance may be in question.

If, from the turn over and billions being made World Wide, the company still shows minimal profit; then maybe a review of management practises, salaries and bonuses should be asked for by the share holders.

Just because the violins are being pulled out and played; dosen't convince me that some are not making a good good earner out of this poor little operation... I don't buy it.

And if anyone is happy with the way things are with fees etc. Then go for it and good luck with your endeavours. And I wish youi all the very best and success.

I am not trying to convince or suggest for anyone else to drop out of using E bay... I am just going to do what I feel is best for me. And, for me that means exploring other options for my self.... trial and error.... and who knows what's around the corner. Just because something is the way that it is, dosen't mean it has to be accepted; but if everyone accepts it without question, then nothing changes.

Good luck and I wish everyone a Happy and prosperous NEW YEAR. 🙂

Re: Why are Final value fees so High

davewil1964 — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 10:26:13 GMT

@spudd57joe wrote:
With all of the sales turn over, and having much much more of the market share than the other platforms... why are their profits so low??? Why are there so large losses????... Hmmm... management and Management performance may be in question.
If, from the turn over and billions being made World Wide, the company still shows minimal profit; then maybe a review of management practises, salaries and bonuses should be asked for by the share holders.
Just because the violins are being pulled out and played; dosen't convince me that some are not making a good good earner out of this poor little operation... I don't buy it.
And if anyone is happy with the way things are with fees etc. Then go for it and good luck with your endeavours. And I wish youi all the very best and success.

I am not trying to convince or suggest for anyone else to drop out of using E bay... I am just going to do what I feel is best for me. And, for me that means exploring other options for my self.... trial and error.... and who knows what's around the corner. Just because something is the way that it is, dosen't mean it has to be accepted; but if everyone accepts it without question, then nothing changes.

Good luck and I wish everyone a Happy and prosperous NEW YEAR. 🙂

All I am saying is that if everyone puruses issues such as that... maybe someting might change.

I am a small fish in a big pond, so I will not be missed; but, if a large school of small fish leave... well...