Is it worth continuing to sell on Ebay?

[artforartssake]

It’s been a few yrs since I last sold on ebay, but when I did sell something recently I was SHOCKED by how much the fees have gone up by.

My item sold for $300. Ebay took 9.9% of that or $29.70. And because the buyer paid with Paypal, that took a further 2.4% + 30c or $7.50 off the proceeds. So that made total selling fees $37.20, on a sale of $300, or 12.4%.

In years past I probably would have paid $1 or so for the listing plus a few dollars for the final fee, but never anything as high as 12.4%.

And isn’t it a bit unfair to FORCE sellers to accept Paypal, knowing that they’ll lose 2.4% of the sale price + 30c?

Can you imagine the uproar if your bank charged you 2.4% + 30c for every deposit you made?

I’m moving interstate next year, so I have a fair amount of household goods to sell in the next month. But now I’m thinking of selling them on Quicksales, Gumtree or even Trading Post.

Is this a wise thing to do or should I just bite the bullet and stay with ebay? Because, to be fair to ebay, everything that I’ve listed with them HAS sold, in most cases reaching prices (before selling costs, of course!) at or above expectation. And since I’m moving, the stuff has to be sold, I can’t afford to have it lying around.

[bigbrickshop]

Is it worth it? It really depends on what you're selling.

If you want to get rid of household goods and they are more suitable for pickup than post then I would try Gumtree or your local facebook Buy Swap Sell first. You may not get as high a price but there's no fees involved.

[putney32]

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@artforartssake wrote:

It’s been a few yrs since I last sold on ebay, but when I did sell something recently I was SHOCKED by how much the fees have gone up by.

My item sold for $300. Ebay took 9.9% of that or $29.70. And because the buyer paid with Paypal, that took a further 2.4% + 30c or $7.50 off the proceeds. So that made total selling fees $37.20, on a sale of $300, or 12.4%.

In years past I probably would have paid $1 or so for the listing plus a few dollars for the final fee, but never anything as high as 12.4%.

And isn’t it a bit unfair to FORCE sellers to accept Paypal, knowing that they’ll lose 2.4% of the sale price + 30c?

Can you imagine the uproar if your bank charged you 2.4% + 30c for every deposit you made?

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you are not forced to use Paypal, you can sign up with Paymate and use them (check their fees first) or... you can take credit cards directly, just go down to your bank and set up a Merchant Facility with them, they will (at a cost of course) provide you with a device and a/c to take credit cards(ongoing yearly charges),  without you having to go  thru Paypal  ...

oh and I am sure you will be surprized when you find what a Bank charges YOU for that!!  makes paypal's 2.4% + 30c look absolutely a bargain

[artforartssake]

thanks for the advice

I'm selling only large household items like cupboards, a dining suite, chests of drawers, bed etc, that kind of stuff

[artforartssake]

thanks for yr comments but I've never heard of "Paymate". And in any event, do I really want to sign up for yet ANOTHER  web-based payment site with yet another login, password, details to be supplied etc etc

Ditto becoming a CC merchant via my bank. It's not worth it for about a dozen sales at most over the next 2 months

so is it poss to state on the listing that payment will only be accepted in cash or direct dep to my bank a/c prior to collection? Can I bypass Paypal altogether that way? I have a feeling this isn't possible or am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

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@artforartssake wrote:

so is it poss to state on the listing that payment will only be accepted in cash or direct dep to my bank a/c prior to collection? Can I bypass Paypal altogether that way? I have a feeling this isn't possible or am I wrong?

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 no you cant

you have to offer a "safe payment method" ie paypal. You cant force people to use bank deposit or pay cash.

[springyzone]

If you had a pick up item, I as a customer would be happy enough to pay cash on pick up, but if you were posting an item, I would never pay into your bank account. Why would I take a risk when I could pay via paypal?

That's how I do it on ebay now and I am sure a lot of other buyers would be the same.

Gumtree is generally good for pick up items, although you do get a few who contact you, sound interested, then you never hear back from them again.

[artforartssake]

snookered!

[clarry100]

At the end of the day its the buyer who pays all the add-on costs.

That's becasue as you are making up the price to advertise your item for you need to factor in all the various fees/costs.

That will determine a price you need to get to make some meagre profit.

If you think it will still sell at that go ahead and list it and see what happens.

The marketplace (buyers) will detrmine if/not they wish to pay your price.

That's how we do it and we are still able to make a bit of money from it.

We are never going to be millionaires but we can put bread & dripping on the table from it.

[cherry*135]

While you are honest, many online sellers aren't and buyers don't want to lose their money to a  scammer seller by depositing funds in their bank account, which gives the buyer no protection if they are ripped off.

Paypal is a payment option now for all sorts of online retailers, airlines etc.