Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

I'm starting to think is it really worth sellling on ebay, we get charged fees on what we sell then we get slugged again on a ebay fee on the postage. We don't profit on postage, and actually loose money, we also have to pay GST on the postage costs also . It we inflate the postage to cover these costs then the customer will shy away as postage is too high. If you increase postage to cover the fees then eBay get an even bigger slice as they take a fee on the higher postage charge.

Seems a win win situation for Ebay, but not so win win for the seller.

 

May be we should all start selling   just the item and stating postage will be charged separately direct to customer ?

Then ebay won't get a fee on postage cost .

 

  Ebay should take a good look at the situation, if it wasn't for sellers then ebay would have no revenue.Smiley Sad

 

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

eBay gives sellers a 10% discount on postage if using eBay postage, which I guess is to make up for the 10% slug on postage.

 

but I agree it's getting expensive. I just happened to look at my fees paid from July to Sep 2016 and was horrified I paid over $1100. I'm not a business or big time seller but was shocked at that amount in just 3 months.

 

ive noticed a huge drop in sales.,I get the majority of sales during the big free listing promos, then when they finish its only one or two sales here and there. Don't know why, but it's just what I've noticed.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

If you include the postage cost inside the total pricing (ie free postage), then you can utilise 

Click and Collect and get the free ph logo etc.

This way you can include the fee that ebay charges aswell, without looking expensive

to the buyer.

 

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

Ebay should take a good look at the situation, if it wasn't for sellers then ebay would have no revenue.

 

Sorry but you are totally wrong as according to ebay buyers are the bread and butter not sellers. Ebay insist that if it wasn't for buyers then there would be no sellers. There are more sellers that get booted off ebay than buyers. There are also other sites to sell on without any fees but ebay seem to still be the best selling portal.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

If you're paying high fees, then you must be selling a lot. I don't pay any fees, my buyers do. I charge above the postage rate to cover the postage fees and I make more than enough on each item to cover selling fees and still make a big profit. My average profit after all fees is around 1,000%. Sometimes it's way higher than that. One example was an item I paid 90c for and it sold at auction for $86. My postage cost star is 5 on all 3 accounts, so obviously the buyers have no issues paying extra for it. I don't pay for packaging, so that helps a bit.

 

I've tried listing on other sites and had 1 sale. I gave up after 12 months and focused on here. While I agree the fees are higher than we'd like, we have the exposure here. Not having a store, I only pay if I sell.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

Oh boy, just our of interest, what on earth did you buy at 90c and sell for $86/ (only if you want to share)

Way to go!!Smiley Happy

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

Alternatives? Gumtree's free, but pretty useless - set prices (no "auction" format), hideous lack of search functionality, sold items stay up until the seller removes the ad (and they can be up for months after the item's been sold), majority of items are "local pick-up only", there's payment issues, contact issues, and so on.

And just from a cursory examination, Facebook (which so many people are touting as the main alternative) is at this point nowhere near as good as eBay for basic sales potential - sure, there are no listing fees / final value fees, but there's incredibly limited reach: you'd be posting your items in a Group which may have, say, 25,000 members (and even that's a pretty big group - most have maybe a couple of thousand members).

 

And that's the absolute limit of your potential buyers. Many FB sales / auction groups are "closed" (meaning only group members can see items posted there). Pretty much anyone can see an eBay listing; and if you're listing shipping as "worldwide", that's a potential audience of millions. Far greater chance of moving your item.

How do you even find an item for sale on Facebook? Until their "Marketplace" feature comes in, there's no Search functionality that will make it simple. For all the myriad faults with eBay Search, it's still relatively easy to find an item.

 

Some FB groups are auction-based, but most are the equivalent of "Buy It Now" - you put the item up, with a set price. So, no more buying an item for $15 and getting $1200 for it (as I've done in the past), no "two buyers trying to out-bid each other and driving the price through the roof" jobs - you ask $25, you'll get $25. Assuming it sells at all.

And then there's the knuckle-draggers and trolls to deal with: post an item, sit back and wait for a numpty to pipe up that it's not worth even half that, one to offer you a third of what you've listed it for, another to offer the same item for $10 less than you are, another to claim it's a repro, and so on. In the various car groups, it's standard for a flame-war to break out in the comments, and the post to be deleted as a result. So you have to post again...

If a sale falls through, there's nothing you can do except repost the item, and maybe complain bitterly to the group admin. And if you purchase something and get taken for a ride, best of luck getting your money back - from what I've seen, most FB sellers ask for bank deposit, cash, money-order, etc. No PayPal reversal, no credit card charge-backs, no seller address on file.

I agree entirely that eBay's fees are far too expensive (especially on sub-$100 items where postage alone can be $15 or so), but at the moment, it's still the only game in town so far as regular sales go.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on


@springyzone wrote:

Oh boy, just our of interest, what on earth did you buy at 90c and sell for $86/ (only if you want to share)

Way to go!!Smiley Happy


A vintage brooch.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

On average, between Ebay and PP, the amount is around 12-13%, so just allow for that in your base pricing.

 

My basic postage is $2.95 and will actually cost me $2.00 at the counter. That 95c then goes towards the fees, envelope, packaging, petrol, etc, so I'm not out of pocket. My actual item prices have the fees built in to them, with the average item costing $18.00, I deduct $1.80 from that to work out my profit after fabric/labour costs.

 

The only difference is that I don't pay GST because my sales are not high enough.

 

Alternatively, you could offer "free" postage, but just build it in to the total price. Yes, you'll still pay 10% to Ebay, but buyers will think they are getting a bargain and your items may rank higher because of the "free" postage.

 

Like others have said, many of us have tried other venues for selling and whilst I have have a small success rate on the other "E" site, in reality, for every 1 item I sell there, I sell over 100 on Ebay.

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Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on


@roverlordoffroadspares wrote:

I'm starting to think is it really worth sellling on ebay, we get charged fees on what we sell then we get slugged again on a ebay fee on the postage. We don't profit on postage, and actually loose money, we also have to pay GST on the postage costs also . It we inflate the postage to cover these costs then the customer will shy away as postage is too high. If you increase postage to cover the fees then eBay get an even bigger slice as they take a fee on the higher postage charge.

Seems a win win situation for Ebay, but not so win win for the seller.

 

May be we should all start selling   just the item and stating postage will be charged separately direct to customer ?

Then ebay won't get a fee on postage cost .

 

  Ebay should take a good look at the situation, if it wasn't for sellers then ebay would have no revenue.Smiley Sad

 


its a pitty that not many buyers go to Australian based "quicksales" with almost 1.6million items listed..easy to list items and navigate the site,  no fees etc but, yep there is a "but", no one goes there to buy..such a shame..

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