EBay excessive fees

[z50jam]

 I joined EBay in 1999 so been here a while with thousands of deals but I recently listed a motorcycle service manual on EBay Oz, it sold to a buyer in the USA. I had the size and weight listed correctly at 1.1 Kg, EBay under charged the buyer postage, when I got to the post office the postage was $10 more than eBay had charged. So after I received my payout $60.81 and deduct postage $57.15 I received $3.66 for my sale! The eBay fees are out of control and greedy!

So after I contacted eBay and they refunded me $10 postage as they agreed their Oz postage rates were wrong! 
so let’s look at the fees sale price $25 +their postage rate $51.56=76.56x12.18% =9.33 plus .77 international fee + .27 final value fee +$1.04 gst =$11.41 so my $25 sale is reduced to $13.59 that’s minus 45.56%. And if EBay had of charged the correct postage it would have received even less!

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

[twyngwyn]

What is the item number?

[rocket2retro · Accepted solution]

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).

[domino-710]

Set your own postage. 

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

Simples.

[springyzone]

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@z50jam wrote:

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

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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.

[z50jam]

267459787321

[z50jam]

Yes good advise! The fact eBay charges 12.18 % on the postage is an absolute rote! And makes selling overseas not worth the effort. Thanks.

after 26 years here on eBay I may look for another platform that’s not so greedy!

[z50jam]

Won’t sell overseas, too much trouble.

[twyngwyn]

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@z50jam wrote:

267459787321

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No exact match??

[batsniper]

I completely agree with you. eBay's fees are obscene when you do international sales. Their strategy is to advertise a fee that's around $13 percent - at face value that seems reasonable, almost trivial. But then they also slug you with fees on shipping and customs (both paid by the buyer) and you don't get extra income on that. It's almost like eBay is penalising you for shipping internationally. So it's a matter of luck if you get a local or international buyer. If you're willing to ship globally, the chances of getting an overseas buyer are high. For many Europeans, Asians or even North Americans it's often cheaper to buy from Australia than the US because Australia Post's costs are quite reasonable in comparison.

I have added a 20% handling costs for international buyers to cover eBay's hidden less transparent fees. 

The good news is that if you sell under $25k, your fees will be reduced significantly from 12 May (unless they have changed their plans. I guess eBay is feeling the sting from the competition. Many sellers have reported that their sales are down. I regularly check how often items for a certain category sell in Australia - at the moment it seems like the platform is dying. I'm pretty sure that the coming fee change is their last bid to turn things around...