Ebay is getting too expensive to sell on

[roverlordoffroadspares]

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.

[chameleon54]

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@iamalabel wrote:

I thought it was 15 % ebay and paypal fee of gross price of the item?

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The fees vary depending on the value of the items you sell, wether you have a store, how much your postage cost is compared to item price etc. ( ebay charges commisions on your postage cost too ) and wether you are paying for any listing fees.

If you sell a car part or heavy kids toy for $10, it will probably need to be sent in a 3 kg satchel at around $14. For non store sellers, ebay charges virtually 10% of the item sale price and the postage. In this example your ebay fees will be nearly a quater ( 24% ) of the merchandise sale price. You can add paypal fees on top of this.

If you use more than your allocated free listings, a listing fee can also be added on top, further reducing your merchandise sale price. The listing fee could easily be $1.50 , so in this example your ebay fees could potentially be 40% of the item sale price. 

Like all things on ebay there is no one size fits all. You need to work out your fee % based on your own circumstance.

[digital*ghost]

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@performance_parts_clearance_centre wrote:

Firstly, it's only available for 'phones at this point. Hands up all those who love running their eBay account from their phone? Search functionality's every bit as bad as Gumtree. I collect old TV magazines - if I enter "TV Week" into a search on Gumtree, I get every listing that mentions TV. Same deal in Marketplace.

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According to Facebook, their users (read: buyers) on there prefer to browse available items near them rather than look for specific things, which makes sense in terms of the whole ethos of Facebook, and how current BSS groups work (i.e. there seems to be a few people who want specific things, but most of the time members will just spot something and go, I'll 'ave that - it probably suits 'impulse buy' items a fair bit, and niche-specific groups seem to do ok, but I'm guessing if someone wants (or is selling) stuff that needs to be drilled down to very specific criteria, it'll be hard (or harder) going. 

[waddingtonfirstaid]

You do know that if you aren't providing free postage your items will show way, way, way down the search results, possibly a hundred or so pages after those who do offer free postage. Just putting that fact out there in case people think there is a way around eBay slugging fees on postage.

Looks like my reply above did not go directly under the comment it relates to.

Oh well, I must say I agree 100% with the fact eBay slugs its sellers way too much in fees and then good 'ol Paypal takes it's cut. All up, you're looking at around 15% going to very weathy entities who do not even invoice and pay GST in Australia for what they swiftly take out of the country.

[lyndal1838]

Paypal and ebay are overses companies so are not liable for GST....at least not until the Government changes the rules.

[chameleon54]

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@weducational2 wrote:

You do know that if you aren't providing free postage your items will show way, way, way down the search results, possibly a hundred or so pages after those who do offer free postage. Just putting that fact out there in case people think there is a way around eBay slugging fees on postage.

Looks like my reply above did not go directly under the comment it relates to.

Oh well, I must say I agree 100% with the fact eBay slugs its sellers way too much in fees and then good 'ol Paypal takes it's cut. All up, you're looking at around 15% going to very weathy entities who do not even invoice and pay GST in Australia for what they swiftly take out of the country.

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That is probably a fair comment to make if some-one is selling mobile phone cases or childrens clothing where there are literally millions of listings.

I sell specialised items where in some cases there are less than 1000 listings in the total catagory. If some-one wants the specific item I have, often it is the only one listed wordwide on ebay so it is not so important wether I charge postage or build it in the price and offer " free " postage. A few of the items I sell are things I have made specifically for my ebay store to my own design. They are good sellers and a couple of these regularly place on the first page in their catagory, even with postage charged seperately on top of the item price.

Like all things on ebay, there are no hard and fast rules. What works for one person could be a disaster for some-one else with a different type of product. Sellers need to try different things until they find what works for them.

[englishrosegardens]

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@weducational2 wrote:

You do know that if you aren't providing free postage your items will show way, way, way down the search results, possibly a hundred or so pages after those who do offer free postage. Just putting that fact out there in case people think there is a way around eBay slugging fees on postage.

Looks like my reply above did not go directly under the comment it relates to.

Oh well, I must say I agree 100% with the fact eBay slugs its sellers way too much in fees and then good 'ol Paypal takes it's cut. All up, you're looking at around 15% going to very weathy entities who do not even invoice and pay GST in Australia for what they swiftly take out of the country.

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That's not my experience.  I've checked best match for certain products and some products at/near the top have free postage but many more don't.

[daintreejudi]

I used to think like you, but after listing all my fees paid and what I receive on a monthly basis in a spread sheet, I am more than happy with the results. I think that if you compare what you are paying to what you would be paying if you had to rent a shop or a place in a shop, it isnt so bad.   The only thing that I am extremely cross about is the percentage taken out for postage, I think this is so unfair to the sellers, I try to cover my costs on most items I sell, but occasionally I lose big time, especially if it is an overseas item.  I do try to charge extra on postage to cover the costs of bubblewrap, tape, paper & petrol taking items to and from the post office.  If a buyer complains about the cost of the postage, I try to explain to them the reason why I charged extra and mostly they are obliging as they did not know that 10% was lost to Ebay, nor did they take into account the costs of the actual postage to the seller.  However, every now and then a particular petty person will come along and give you a bad review because you had the audacity of charging extra on the postage!! even though they were refunded.  This I find hard to take, as I am, and I am sure most people are, reputable dealers and if Ebay did not charge that 10% then there would not be a need for sellers to charge higher postages.  I also wonder why Ebay do not allow Sellers a place to add an amount to cover the costs of postage & handling.  Unfortunately, we are all at a disadvantage now because greedy Australia Post has also just increased all their charges on parcels, they made over a billion dollar profit last year on the parcel delivery section (thanks to Ebay and online sales) and international postage charges are over the top - no wonder our sales have all fallen away!  But then what can you do - we all complain about Ebay postage charges but nothing ever changes!

[davewil1964]

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@daintreejudi wrote:

I used to think like you, but after listing all my fees paid and what I receive on a monthly basis in a spread sheet, I am more than happy with the results. I think that if you compare what you are paying to what you would be paying if you had to rent a shop or a place in a shop, it isnt so bad.   The only thing that I am extremely cross about is the percentage taken out for postage, I think this is so unfair to the sellers, I try to cover my costs on most items I sell, but occasionally I lose big time, especially if it is an overseas item.  I do try to charge extra on postage to cover the costs of bubblewrap, tape, paper & petrol taking items to and from the post office.  If a buyer complains about the cost of the postage, I try to explain to them the reason why I charged extra and mostly they are obliging as they did not know that 10% was lost to Ebay, nor did they take into account the costs of the actual postage to the seller.  However, every now and then a particular petty person will come along and give you a bad review because you had the audacity of charging extra on the postage!! even though they were refunded.  This I find hard to take, as I am, and I am sure most people are, reputable dealers and if Ebay did not charge that 10% then there would not be a need for sellers to charge higher postages.  I also wonder why Ebay do not allow Sellers a place to add an amount to cover the costs of postage & handling.  Unfortunately, we are all at a disadvantage now because greedy Australia Post has also just increased all their charges on parcels, they made over a billion dollar profit last year on the parcel delivery section (thanks to Ebay and online sales) and international postage charges are over the top - no wonder our sales have all fallen away!  But then what can you do - we all complain about Ebay postage charges but nothing ever changes!

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They do. On calculated post. On others, you simply add it to the postage or item price.

eBay provide a postage service (a subset of Click & Send). This is about 10% lower than the equivalent AP service, so it might pay you to look into using it.

[shepherdsrule]

I guess it is up to the sellers (business owners) plan on how they want to see their business progress and what medium they choose to run it from.

An eBay store (account) can allow many to stay home (if they have kids etc) very few overheads (post and a trip to the PO), it really can work well if you have a properly built business structure that factors the outgoings into the price of your products.

And let's face it, eBay may seem expensive, but not as expensive as selling from saya BM store or a popup store, market stall - rent, insurance, wages (if needed), workcover, and you still have the same pesky costs for the stock you purchase to enable you to sell on.

In the grand scheme of things, eBay is the easy way to make a bit of side cash without the business headaches, so realistically, I doubt anyone really thinks they will become the next Bill Gates selling on eBay.

and.........

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

same can be said if eBay had no buyers - 6 of one, half a dozen of the other - IMO

[collect247]

Do you stay up all night?