Absolute disgrace that Ebay takes a 12% or more fee off the postage cost paid by the buyer, should just be off the purchase price of the item, just makes it even more uneconomical for the seller to use Ebay
It won't change, for the reason eol-products mentioned. There was fee avoidance going on big time before ebay closed that loophole.
Of course there is no such thing as free postage. Not on ebay, not on any sales site. Postage cost always has to be included in the price. I can tell this is happening even in big companies. For instance, I use a site called cashrewards, where I often get a small % discount if I buy from a lot of companies.
Yet when I do buy from one that includes 'free postage', I have noticed the % is never calculated on what I actually paid but on a lesser amount. That difference has to be the allowance for postage.
You're not going to change ebay's policy at this point so you need to make sure you up your prices enough to cover fees and also allow for a profit margin you are happy with.
You're not going to change ebay's policy at this point so you need to make sure you up your prices enough to cover fees and also allow for a profit margin you are happy with.
But they are only a ""hobby'' Seller (lol), they can't be expected to understand that. Ok that was tongue in cheek, as looking at their sales history and number of items listed, I would question their hobby claim, and if they don't understand they should stop trying to run a business.
I agree. I keep bringing this up constantly. The postage I charge is not part of my profit, I need to use to to ship the item. Ebay keeps encouraging and rewarding sellers who offer free postage. The only way i could do that is to include the cost of postage in the price of the listing, which will lead to the final fee being calculated from this amount, which is exactly what ebay does anyway, but it is just NOT right. I am just a hobby re-seller, I don't make much profit as it is, and this Catch 22 situation is chewing away from that even further. Ebay is great platform and lots of things are very good here, but the issue with the fees is just pure greed, and I don't understand why it's necessary, I am certain they would be making enough money of the sellers even without it. Please, I urge all of you to keep complaining to ebay and asking for a change.
I think the ATO would beg to differ on that one. 758 active listings. 36 items sold in the last 6 weeks. 2.9K items sold overall. I hope you are telling the ATO about this, because if you aren't, they WILL find out, and you'll find yourself in a power of strife. Might be worth checking out the ATO site for what they deem to be a "hobby seller". You aren't it.
As for your issues with the fees, If you sell an item for $20 with $10 postage, you are paying fees on $30. If you sell an item for $30 with "free" postage, you are paying fees on $30. There is absolutely no difference in the fees whether you have a listed postage cost, or so called free postage.
I tried listing my items with "free" postage and sales dropped right off. For some reason, the buyers were happier seeing a postage cost. It also meant that if they want to buy multiple items, they can combine the postage. They could get 6 items for the $10 postage cost, instead of technically paying for 6 lots of postage, under the curtain of "free postage".
Oh, did I mention that you're NOT a hobby seller? If you have top rated seller status, then you are selling too much to be classed as a hobby seller. The fact you mentioned that you are a "reseller" means you aren't a hobby seller, because you are buying to resell. You are a business seller and should be paying tax on your items.
I used to work for ATO and they do get information from 3rd parties such as eBay, so I really hope you have been declaring income from all sources or when ( not if!) they catch you, you will suffer!
eBay fees and charges are so unfair. They charge 13.25% fee on total amount that includes item price+tax+shipping cost. As you know eBay already collect the tax money from buyer in full. Seller never receive the tax amount from buyer, but eBay somehow manage to deduct 13.25% fee on it from seller. First they deduct tax money then they deduct fee on it. Like I am paying fees on amount which I never received.
