topic Ebay charging fees including postage in Selling

Ebay charging fees including postage

blue.rival — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:56:36 GMT

Hello. I am one of those sellers just about Killed off by EBAY's greedy ways . . For December we sold $5509 in items. Cost base was $2952 . . . ENTER EBAY - Fees were $835 - 15.3% . . . . We do all the work, give Ebay more $$$ for postage and take the hit at the POST OFFICE. Is there an alternative? The Current Ebay Fee structure amounts to theft - maybe they want the low level sellers gone??

Ebay used to be a worth while avenue to SELL ..................... not now. We're ready to pull the plug.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

i-love-my-sheep — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 22:16:42 GMT

There are a few other sites, but they don't have the traffic that eBay has. It also depends on what you are selling.

Your items could possibly do well on a regular website because they are the type of thing that people would google if they needed it. A Facebook page might be OK too, but it's getting traffic to that which is the issue.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

saarzi — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 00:42:58 GMT

With all due respect, maybe you need a change of business plan and/or price structure, along with a new marketing plan.
In Australia, 15% is an average commission or fee structure for a business providing you a platform to sell your products, both online AND off in the manner that Ebay does. Its the same in most types of retail commission plans, travel and tourism, even business management services... etc etc.
This 15% is only a little higher than how much it would cost a business to do the same themselves. Sometimes its actually cheaper to involve a third party.
Generally you get what you pay for.. theres no way to do the same thing for cheaper. you might compare other websites and think their fees are cheaper, but marketing is less, exposure is less, brand is lower etc etc.
Its the same offline.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

blue.rival — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 00:55:01 GMT

Fair enough - thank you for the reply. Surely - you don't agree though to EBAY's postage charge cut? That's pure theft

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

phorum_junkie* — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 01:25:03 GMT

Most of my items post for $7.15 and I charge $7.99, the fee on the postage component is just under 10% so my postage covers the extra fee and I raised the prices of my most popular items by around 30 to 60c to cover all my other packaging costs like the ebay satchels, ziplock bags, tissue paper etc.

My fees over my three selling ids, despite selling about the same number of items, are actually less than they were last year Nov to mid Jan when you had to pay 50 bucks for a store to get 200 free listings, there were no free re-lists on non store items and you didn't get 40 free listings a month either.

Yes there are other auction sites but they have an abundance of sellers and almost no buyers, yes selling on facebook is fee free but things sell for much less than they do on ebay and the majority have to be local so I will be sticking with ebay as long as I am still making enough money to make it worth the time and effort.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

saarzi — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 01:31:58 GMT

Ebay did that because people were selling items for $1 and charging $20 postage to avoid fees. If those sellers were a business and did that in the real world they would have legal action taken against them... so I understand why Ebay did that.
Technically Ebays policy is you arent allowed to pass this cost onto the buyer and can only charge "actual" postage costs. In the real world this would be all fees and costs associated with posting. In the ebay world (apparently) this means the packing cost within reason, and the stamp. If you were only charging this PRIOR to ebays postage charge, you would be losing money then anyway. Postage costs is really stamp + packaging + fees + staff or time (including youself even if a hobby seller) plus transport plus other variables. If youre only charging stamp plus packaging, the other money is coming from your 'profit'.

With or without the fee, ALL sellers, hobby or business need to balance money coming in with money going out and make profit. With retail, the very basics of this is done with the price of your items combined with volume sold. At the next level it also involves the value of your brand etc etc.

If you are not making reasonable profit, you need to sell larger numbers, adjust who you are targeting or how you are targeting them, change product, improve brand, or whatever else.

Ebays fee isnt *really* the problem... the business plan is.
Ik not sure Ebay is for those very basic hobby sellers, or those who are cleaning out their wardrobe, that dont know much about business and dont want to.
Thats why Ebay has another fee free business with a conpletely different business plan.... gumtree.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

cq_tech — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 09:20:16 GMT

@gtx305 wrote:
Ebay did that because people were selling items for $1 and charging $20 postage to avoid fees.

No, that was simply the pi$$-poor excuse that eBay used in an attempt to justify their disgusting and unwarranted imposition of 9.9% FVF on postage in addition to the item. If what you've asserted above was true, then why is it that in AU we pay that extra amount on all postage, both domestic and international, yet in the US, they're only charged the extra on domestic postage, while international postage is totally exempt from the additional 9.9%?

I honestly can't believe how many people were gullible enough to actually believe the BS that eBay spouted at the time. It was nothing more than yet another thieving cash-grab from eBay which, in the process, has virtually destroyed overseas sales from the Australian site, and cost sellers (and buyers) an extra fortune in unnecessary and usurous fees.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

thecatspjs — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 09:30:51 GMT

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

davewil1964 — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 10:25:37 GMT

@cq_tech wrote:
@gtx305 wrote:
Ebay did that because people were selling items for $1 and charging $20 postage to avoid fees.
No, that was simply the pi$$-poor excuse that eBay used in an attempt to justify their disgusting and unwarranted imposition of 9.9% FVF on postage in addition to the item. If what you've asserted above was true, then why is it that in AU we pay that extra amount on all postage, both domestic and international, yet in the US, they're only charged the extra on domestic postage, while international postage is totally exempt from the additional 9.9%?

I honestly can't believe how many people were gullible enough to actually believe the BS that eBay spouted at the time. It was nothing more than yet another thieving cash-grab from eBay which, in the process, has virtually destroyed overseas sales from the Australian site, and cost sellers (and buyers) an extra fortune in unnecessary and usurous fees.

However, if you use eBay's label service, for parcels going in satchels or boxes (especially), the cost is 10% or more less than the equivalent Australia Post service.

Is it THAT big a gouge?

And eBay postage was the main reason they got the charge past the ACCC. So maybe utilise the lower costs available.....

For parcels. For letters it shouldn't be a deal breaker.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

digital*ghost — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 13:26:38 GMT

@cq_tech wrote:
@gtx305 wrote:
Ebay did that because people were selling items for $1 and charging $20 postage to avoid fees.
No, that was simply the pi$$-poor excuse that eBay used in an attempt to justify their disgusting and unwarranted imposition of 9.9% FVF on postage in addition to the item. If what you've asserted above was true, then why is it that in AU we pay that extra amount on all postage, both domestic and international, yet in the US, they're only charged the extra on domestic postage, while international postage is totally exempt from the additional 9.9%?

The most telling thing that shows eBay did not introduce FVF on postage due to postage piracy is in the FAQs regarding no longer counting postage cost DSRs in a seller's performance rating (that alone undermines the FVF being due to postage piracy IMHO).

eBay's own statement is that postage rating DSRs weren't much of an indication of buyer dissatisfaction anymore, saying that - in a nutshell - even when a buyer rates a seller with low stars for postage cost, it doesn't affect whether or not they continue to buy on eBay.

In other words, while we do see that some buyers get quite ticked when they find out their sellers didn't pay as much as they did for postage, postage piracy in itself was not a big enough issue for eBay (or buyers) for it to be something eBay wanted to police in any way, nor punish sellers for.

The really funny thing is, eBay claimed that it was the increase of sellers offering free postage that contributed to postage costs (and buyer opinion of them) not having an overall adverse affect on the site....

Um, someone should remind eBay that buyers can't rate seller's postage cost DSRs when it's free post, so it's not possible for free-post items to provide any data whatsoever regarding whether buyers keep buying on eBay after they've rated a seller low for P&H costs.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

thecatspjs — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 13:59:44 GMT

Maybe their super spic research & ~~leading~~ questionnaires tell them what ~~they want us to believe~~ buyers think.

Minimal savings on post when FVF are added - and lets put in context, given eBay would get a MASSIVE corporate discount for MASSIVE volume of post processed and $$$ of extra profit go off shore to Swiss bank account - I simply can't see the broad benefit to Oz sellers nor Oz economy nor any actual postive flow on to Oz consumers TBH.

Lets not forget FVF on international post - frequently unable, or highly difficult, to be calculated by sellers until purchase is made.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

colilyon5 — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 06:39:20 GMT

You have sold nothing in the last 12 months,do you work for Ebay.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

twyngwyn — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 06:41:23 GMT

This thread dates from 2015.....it's a dinosaur

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

daydreams_12 — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 06:43:20 GMT

Did you bother to look at the date this DEAD THREAD was started.

If you look it has not seen the light of day for 5 YEARS

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

heihachi_73 — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 08:38:45 GMT

70c stamps, how I miss thee...

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

k1ooo-slr-sales — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 11:00:30 GMT

@colilyon5 wrote:
You have sold nothing in the last 12 months,do you work for Ebay.

**sigh**

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

davewil1964 — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 12:36:29 GMT

catspjs isn't even a member anymore. Is she an eBay employee too? Or any of the other posters who commented FIVE years ago and might not have sold much (or anything) in the last fifth of that time?

I won't ask what you are, as it's fairly obvious.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

lyndal1838 — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 15:56:42 GMT

That is a good way to start your posting on the boards......belligerent from the start.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

waddingtonfirstaid — Sat, 14 Sep 2019 00:50:30 GMT

What a 'lovely' comment to someone new here from someone old here who has the posting title of "Honored Contributor". This is why I rarely frequent these threads, due to this form of bullying and catty behaviour, only posting when I believe I have something really important to share, support and something that will directly help others for their future business on eBay.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone with a straight face can justify the level of fees and the tactics used by eBay to gouge in that area.

Re: Ebay charging fees including postage

k1ooo-slr-sales — Sat, 14 Sep 2019 01:37:47 GMT

@waddingtonfirstaid wrote:
Honestly, I don't know how anyone with a straight face can justify the level of fees and the tactics used by eBay to gouge in that area.

I'll put my straight face on and have a go.

Many years ago there was a push for sellers to offer "free shipping". As we all know, there is no such thing as "free shipping" . . . it should be called "postage included" . . . but I digress.

Those sellers who were including shipping in the price of their item in order to have their item promoted as "free shipping" were being slugged a final value fee (FVF) on the included shipping amount. This, coupled with what was becoming a widespread practice of reducing the item cost and inflating shipping charges, caused eBay to impose FVF on the "total transaction amount" which negated this practice.

eBay will tell you buyers prefer free shipping . . . and fees on shipping encourages sellers of Buy-Now items to list with free shipping . . . even though it only means they include the shipping in their pricing.

eBay also do as much as they can to take care of buyers. Some say they do too much! Fees on shipping protects buyers from unscrupulous sellers who were reducing item price but having inflated shipping and then offering refunds of 'item price only' when transactions went pear shaped.

Now, savvy sellers know to include the fees on shipping in their item price. For example, if a seller lists a dress for $49.99 with $9 shipping they would add on a handling charge of 90c to cover FVF on shipping. Smart sellers don't divulge the handling charge they include . . . they just include shipping at $9.90 (for the example I gave).

Any seller who is not factoring in their fees into the item price is doing themselves a disservice and should not look to blame eBay as they control their listing and shipping prices.

DISCLAIMER: I do not work for eBay (just thought I'd get that out there before anyone posts that old furphy).