topic Re: eBay fees for sellers in Selling

eBay fees for sellers

music*2014 — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 22:27:32 GMT

I have been selling collectables on eBay for 1 year.

I have 3 accounts now. I list fairly inexpensive items. I don't add extras like subtitles etc. and I always use free insertions.

I am usually accurate in estimating postage costs for buyers

In one month recently, my total sales were $594 and my total eBay fees were $267!!

I know that eBay takes a higher % of the sale price for less expensive items, but all my hard work is going down the gurgler.

I rang the Phillipines hotline who told me that my greatest outlay was in postage costs.

It was suggested that I stop using the eBay postage labels. Would this help cut costs?

I would be grateful for some expert advice.

Thanks

Nina

Re: eBay fees for sellers

curraone — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 22:37:59 GMT

music*2014 wrote:.
I rang the Phillipines hotline who told me that my greatest outlay was in postage costs.
It was suggested that I stop using the eBay postage labels. Would this help cut costs?
I would be grateful for some expert advice.
Thanks
Nina

Sorry, that seems a silly response from the hotline. You still have to post the items, what do they suggest you do, hand deliver them? And ebay postage labels are cheaper.

And a little off topic, your postage costs seem all over the place. Why would you charge $9.20 to post a comic?

And wouldn't the flat rate ebay parcel rates work better for you?

Re: eBay fees for sellers

digital*ghost — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 22:41:38 GMT

@music*2014 wrote:

I rang the Phillipines hotline who told me that my greatest outlay was in postage costs.
It was suggested that I stop using the eBay postage labels. Would this help cut costs?

I think what they were saying to you is that the cost of the postage labels is added to your bill, so the actual final value fee total is less than the $267 total (say for example you sold 30 items that month, each sent in a <500gm parcel for $7.20 - that's 30 x $7.20 that's added to your bill, i.e. an extra $216 added on the the actual FVF that's being charged on each sale - this postage does have to be paid regardless of where you buy it, it just makes the eBay bill blow out quite a bit. I recommend making a couple of one-off payments during the month. I pay the outstanding amount on eBay around once a week, just so I don't have a huge bill at the end of the month.

Re: eBay fees for sellers

music*2014 — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 23:31:20 GMT

Thanks for your reply. Great idea to stagger the payments during the month.

So is the payment to eBay of close to half of my sales amount experienced by other sellers?

Have you any suggested ways to reduce this?

Am I doing something wrong?

Many thanks

Nina

Re: eBay fees for sellers

music*2014 — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 23:36:20 GMT

Thanks for your reply.

The hotline suggestion was that I label the items myself and add the Aust Post tracking numbers.

It seemed a bit odd, as you say, someone has to pay the postage.

Is there anything else I could do to reduce costs apart from lowering my postage charges?

Paying nearly half my takings to eBay seems pretty heavy.

Many thanks

Nina

Re: eBay fees for sellers

digital*ghost — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 23:52:39 GMT

@music*2014 wrote:
Thanks for your reply. Great idea to stagger the payments during the month.
So is the payment to eBay of close to half of my sales amount experienced by other sellers?

It would be by sellers who purchase postage labels through eBay.

I'll try and break it down another way, using my previous example of 30 sales with $7.20 postage, and those 30 items average $10 sale price with $7.20 postage. Your sale amount is $300, and you receive $300 plus $216 in postage costs from your buyers, making your gross revenue from buyers $516, even though the sales figure shown in eBay is $300.

The final value fee total is going to be $51.08, so eBay is charging you near-on 10% of your gross revenue in fees.

If you buy your postage elsewhere, eBay's bill is going to just be that $51.08.

If you buy the labels on eBay, suddenly your bill is $267.08, making it look like you only have $33-odd left from $300 worth of sales, but it is in actual fact a bit under $250 left from a $516 gross revenue - or, in other words, $248 left from $300 worth of sales.

I hope that makes sense?

Re: eBay fees for sellers

i-love-my-sheep — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 00:07:06 GMT

When I checked my January invoice, it said my fees were 11.35%. I don't use postage labels, I address myself and pay postage over the counter as I post. I was under the impression that fees were 9.9%, so not sure where the 11.35% came into it!

Re: eBay fees for sellers

curraone — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 00:09:30 GMT

final value fees 9.9%

add cost of listings

Re: eBay fees for sellers

i-love-my-sheep — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 00:12:12 GMT

@curraone wrote:
final value fees 9.9%

add cost of listings

I only ever use the free listing allocation. Is there a hidden fee in the freebie allocation?

Re: eBay fees for sellers

digital*ghost — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 00:18:59 GMT

@i-love-my-sheep wrote:
When I checked my January invoice, it said my fees were 11.35%. I don't use postage labels, I address myself and pay postage over the counter as I post. I was under the impression that fees were 9.9%, so not sure where the 11.35% came into it!

The percentage is of the sale amount, but fees are on the gross revenue. (eg FVF on $200 sales and $50 P&H charged separately, so FVF on $250, which is $24.75, but 24.75 is 12.3% of $200, so eBay will show 12.3%).

Just in regards to reducing eBay fees and postage costs, the only way you can really do it is to look at whether or not some of your items can go as large letters (the postage for these can't be purchased on eBay). Things like the comic, for example, could be posted for as little as $1.40, plus packaging (you'd want to use either a rigid envelope, or place card stiffeners in the package).

That way you can charge lower P&H, which in turn means a lower FVF on the sale total, even when the sale price is the same.

Re: eBay fees for sellers

curraone — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 00:25:07 GMT

@i-love-my-sheep wrote:
@curraone wrote:
final value fees 9.9%

add cost of listings
I only ever use the free listing allocation. Is there a hidden fee in the freebie allocation?

But sheepie, you have listed as "auction" - auction listings are not free.

and you have 187 listings - there are only 40 free BIN listings a month (unless you had a free listing offer of course)

Re: eBay fees for sellers

music*2014 — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 01:59:08 GMT

Could I ask you why you pay postage at the PO and why you decided not to use eBay postage?

Have you found it a better way for your business?

Do you upload the AP tracking numbers?

Does this provide reasonable safety for your deliveries?

I would really like to hear about your experience.

Many thanks

Re: eBay fees for sellers )

chameleon54 — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 02:37:44 GMT

music*2014 - Like sheep, I pay for my postage over the counter. I send enough to be eligible for a commercial AP contract and have run through the numbers with an AP adviser. Around half of my items go as large letter and AP advised these would not be much cheaper under contract. I buy most of my satchels in bulk lots of 100 and by doing this recieve quite a discount off AP,s reccommended rates. This discount comes in at around the commercial contract rate for a seller of my size, so no savings there. I would need to fill in a sheet each day if I had an AP contract and this would increase paper work making things just a bit more complex. By buying satchels in bulk I recieve similar postage discounts to those using ebays postage labels. I upload the satchel tracking numbers as I write the address onto the bag. I never have any problems with ebay post label cost mistakes. Dont end up with a huge postage bill to pay at the end of the month and just basically have complete control of my postage myself and can see it all happening in real time, picking up any mistakes as they occur. .

I have a seperate bank account set up specifically to cover ebay post costs with a debit card attached. The bank statements give me very accurate figures for tax purposes. I just present the statements to the accountant and thats it , postage costs done.

This works for me as I run my business on the KISS principle ( Keep it simple stupid ). That does not mean ebays post label system is any better or worse, just that I like the paying at the AP counter each day and I can see exactly what is going on without bill shock at the end of the month.

Re: eBay fees for sellers

go-tazz — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 03:15:23 GMT

@curraone wrote:
@i-love-my-sheep wrote:
@curraone wrote:
final value fees 9.9%

add cost of listings
I only ever use the free listing allocation. Is there a hidden fee in the freebie allocation?
But sheepie, you have listed as "auction" - auction listings are not free.

and you have 187 listings - there are only 40 free BIN listings a month (unless you had a free listing offer of course)

I get 40 per month on both account and they can be BIN or auction,

Free Fixed Price & Auction Listings

List Fixed Price or Auction for FREE every month.

Available at ebay.com.au

Re: eBay fees for sellers

i-love-my-sheep — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 04:14:29 GMT

@curraone wrote:
@i-love-my-sheep wrote:
@curraone wrote:
final value fees 9.9%

add cost of listings
I only ever use the free listing allocation. Is there a hidden fee in the freebie allocation?
But sheepie, you have listed as "auction" - auction listings are not free.

and you have 187 listings - there are only 40 free BIN listings a month (unless you had a free listing offer of course)

Most of my listings are thanks to the last 150 freebie promotion last weekend :). No way I'd pay insertion fees!!! If I run out of free listing quota, I don't list/relist anything until the next month, or a promotion is offered. I don't have a store, so get 40 free auctions/BIN a month. I always check when listing/relisting that the fee for that listing is zero.

Re: eBay fees for sellers

i-love-my-sheep — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 04:31:53 GMT

@music*2014 wrote:
Could I ask you why you pay postage at the PO and why you decided not to use eBay postage?
Have you found it a better way for your business?
Do you upload the AP tracking numbers?
Does this provide reasonable safety for your deliveries?
I would really like to hear about your experience.
Many thanks

I don't use eBay postage for a few reasons. Mostly, up until recently, most of my items were sent as large letter, which eBay postage doesn't cover. I also don't have a printer. I also don't like bill shock at the end of the month! I know that when I pay over the counter for a parcel, it's bought and paid for. Yes, it costs me a little bit more (well, it costs the buyer a little bit more), but I'm happy to do it that way and have never had any complaints from buyers about postage costs.

I always upload tracking numbers if I post a parcel. It's no guarantee it's going to arrive, but it keeps PayPal happy in the event of a non arrival. So far, I've not had anything not arrive. I have had some items (untracked) take a LOT longer than they should have (all to Victoria), but they got there eventually.

Your newspaper, the comic, the movie program and even the trading cards, I'd send them as large letter items. If you are concerned about tracking, you could send them registered, which is about half the cost of parcel post. A cardboard envelope or a regular envelope with cardboard to stiffen it would work OK and protect them enough from getting bent. As long as they don't go over 20mm or 500g, unregistered would be probably $1.40 or $2.10 to post (depending on the weight).

If you aren't sure about the weight of something, package it up how you would post it and go to the PO and get it weighed and ask how much it would be to post. Most of the time they are happy to do that if they're not flat out busy.

Re: eBay fees for sellers

curraone — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 06:37:21 GMT

hmmm; well I give up, why are your fees more than 9.9%?

Re: eBay fees for sellers

chameleon54 — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 06:46:35 GMT

Have you included the FVF on postage in your calculations. My ebay fees are around 15% once these are included. Quite a few of my items are sold OS so the postage component is fairly high, but even with local sales my FVF would be 13-14% of total sales.

Re: eBay fees for sellers

cherry*135 — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 08:56:13 GMT

I use eBay postage labels.I transfer the amount of the postage label from my Paypal into my seller account after I buy the online label.. so no big amounts due at invoice time.. already paid.

If a seller charges $8.00 to send, for example, a 500mm parcel ( e.g. $7.20 postage cost & .80c ebay fee on postage) then that the buyer is paying that.. not an expense that needs reducing if accurate postage costs are charged.

Re: eBay fees for sellers

englishrosegardens — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 07:57:57 GMT

I think you're still missing the point. The $267 isn't ebay fees - a lot of it is postage fees that are merely collected by ebay on Aust Post's behalf.

You'd have to be selling $1 and $2 items with $7.20 postage on them to be paying $267 in fees on $594 of sales.

I don't use ebay labels because I find they're much quicker to hand write than to fiddle around going through umpteen steps to print them. I also don't have to worry about my old printer suddenly breaking down, or printing a bar code that won't scan properly when I get to the PO.

I live in a small town and my PO only gets a pittance from AP for parcels that are pre-paid, but they get more if I pay when I lodge the parcel. If it was cheaper to print ebay labels it'd be a different story but if it's no different I'll give the local PO the benefit of the extra money rather than ebay. I don't know if ebay get a cut but it wouldn't surprise me one little bit. Even a few cents would add up over a lot of transactions!