Outrageous fees

[nussygolf6fh0]

I am over ebay. I cant believe they are charging around 11% for their cut. I am not a business, just a part time seller of stuff I dont need anymore. Taking 11% including a % of the postage is just BS.

Never again.

Off to Gumtree in the future.

[dazzledayz]

Admittedly, fees are high for what is offered by the service but I liken it to paying for advertising.

(that's actually how I account for eBay store and listing fees).

FVF's and PayPal etc are accounted for as "Banking" but that's beside the point.

What is actually the killer for media sellers is the PayPal fixed transaction fee of 30c plus the FVF on postage.

When postage plays such a significant part in overall price it raises the fee percentage hugely.

An earlier poster on this zombie thread sells DVD's.

If a DVD cost him $0.20 which he sells for $5.95 (an average DVD price on eBay) then here is the breakdown:

Costs:

1. DVD ............. $0.20

2. Post ............. $1.30 (cheapest estimate)

3. eBay FVF .... $0.56

4. PayPay ........ $0.45

    Total ............. $2.51

So ROI is ........ $3.44

% Profit is 57% (not too bad by retail standards)

% Cost is 43% (getting a bit high)

% Fees is 17% (now that's steep for a service and it's based on my rates as a featured store - an occasional seller would be over 19%).

Obviously, the higher your prices go, the less your fees become as a percentage of sale but only by a percentage point or so.

This forces the sellers of low cost items to go for volume and any cost reduction they can find.

In a market, this fuels a race to the bottom where only the very high volume, very low cost sellers can hope to succeed.

I see this in books all the time where occasional sellers come on and auction for $0.99 (where it usually sells) and charging $8~$13 for postage ie they are making a loss.

Even the ones selling BIN and pricing low are not factoring costs in correctly and so are making a dollar or so or, more frequently, suffering a loss.

This does nothing to actually support the marketplace long term.

A seller burned is a buyer tainted (with the stench of being used).

In essence, the decision to levee fees on postage, while serving to maintain short term profitability for eBay, can be argued as having had quite a counterproductive effect on buyer engagement.

(Buyers after all will eventually have a go at selling something)

The folk running this show are all (supposedly) well educated MBA's etc yet they can't seem to get short term gain out of forefront in their thinking.

It's really quite sad to see it all panning out.

[padi*0409]

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@dazzledayzwrote:

(Buyers after all will eventually have a go at selling something)

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That was my intention when I first joined eBay, but with the increase in eBay and Paypal's protection for buyers at the expense of sellers, fee increases, and the favoritism given to Asian sellers etc I decided not to risk selling.

That's had a dramatic effect on my buying on eBay, in the early days it was not unusual for my watch-list to have upwards of 150 items in it, now it peaks at around 30 items.............that says it all really, and I would imagine that their are plenty of members like myself, who think that selling on eBay could easily be a one-way ticket to losing money, not making it. 

I've also noticed that members in my saved seller list are consistently giving up with eBay, and I'm not talking small-time sellers either, they mostly have had feedback in the 10's of thousands or more.

[dazzledayz]

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@padi*0409wrote:

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@dazzledayzwrote:

(Buyers after all will eventually have a go at selling something)

---

That was my intention when I first joined eBay, but with the increase in eBay and Paypal's protection for buyers at the expense of sellers, fee increases, and the favoritism given to Asian sellers etc I decided not to risk selling.

That's had a dramatic effect on my buying on eBay, in the early days it was not unusual for my watch-list to have upwards of 150 items in it, now it peaks at around 30 items.............that says it all really, and I would imagine that their are plenty of members like myself, who think that selling on eBay could easily be a one-way ticket to losing money, not making it. 

I've also noticed that members in my saved seller list are consistently giving up with eBay, and I'm not talking small-time sellers either, they mostly have had feedback in the 10's of thousands or more.

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Sadly that's what I see too.

The buyers I see are no longer in the high or even middle hundreds of FB's either.

Mostly newbies now who can't even understand the site that well.

@I noticed another disappointed newbie tonight too - started a heavy book off @ $0.99 (auction) as suggested by eBay which sold with one bid.

A happy buyer but a really p'd off seller who would have lost a nice book and $1.80 odd into the bargain (and that's assuming no listing fees).

Before Postage FVF's they would have just had a bad result but no loss; now they goes into the red.

Yet another victim of ebay marketing hype who'll think much less of the marketplace as a result.

And so the rot continues (sigh)

[springyzone]

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@padi*0409wrote:

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@dazzledayzwrote:

(Buyers after all will eventually have a go at selling something)

---

That was my intention when I first joined eBay, but with the increase in eBay and Paypal's protection for buyers at the expense of sellers, fee increases, and the favoritism given to Asian sellers etc I decided not to risk selling.

That's had a dramatic effect on my buying on eBay, in the early days it was not unusual for my watch-list to have upwards of 150 items in it, now it peaks at around 30 items.............that says it all really, and I would imagine that their are plenty of members like myself, who think that selling on eBay could easily be a one-way ticket to losing money, not making it. 

I've also noticed that members in my saved seller list are consistently giving up with eBay, and I'm not talking small-time sellers either, they mostly have had feedback in the 10's of thousands or more.

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wow, padi, that sounds exactly like me. I started coming to this board a few years back, hoping to get up to speed with changes on ebay before going back to selling, but have more or less decided it is risky business, especially after my sister had some not so great experiences trying to shift some items from my parents estate.

And my watched list used to be about 18 pages long but it's down to a couple of pages now.

On the other hand, I do buy some items (teas & spices) where I hope the sellers don't close down, it's not what is available in the supermarkets & very reasonably priced, quality products. Australian too.

I think it depends on what a seller sells, there's definitely a market for some products, I am sure.

[padi*0409]

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@springyzonewrote:

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@padi*0409

On the other hand, I do buy some items (teas & spices) where I hope the sellers don't close down, it's not what is available in the supermarkets & very reasonably priced, quality products. Australian too.

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 Have a look at outback blends range of spices springy, there's some great ones there and a few unusual ones as well.

[countessalmirena]

Google "saffron dust" - the best saffron I have ever used.

Also google "bulk spices" (second result - you'll recognise it from the search terms) - thoroughly good value.

[detlyn72]

I agree. Just sold my drone and got charged 14% $180 outrageous. Sold $700,000 property and got charged 2000 and sold my car on car sales for 30,000 paid $45. 14% isn’t a fee it’s gouging. All my years of advertising even back to the Traiding Post days I’ve never been charged $180 for an ad.

[springyzone]

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@detlyn72 wrote:
I agree. Just sold my drone and got charged 14% $180 outrageous. Sold $700,000 property and got charged 2000 and sold my car on car sales for 30,000 paid $45. 14% isn’t a fee it’s gouging. All my years of advertising even back to the Traiding Post days I’ve never been charged $180 for an ad.

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You're kidding me! You sold a property worth $700,000 and the fees were only $2000?

That's brilliant. We paid much much more than that a few years ago when we sold a (much cheaper) property through an estate agent.

Your car sales fees were excellent, must admit. I've used that site before and it is good, gets a lot of views.

I can guarantee if you tried to advertise in any newspaper, you'd be paying about $180 for your ad as each line of print costs a small fortune.

Sometimes it comes down to picking the best advertising site for your particular item, one where you know you'll get very good coverage and a likely sale. For some things, ebay may come out on top, for others maybe not.

[arivalchick]

I too am over Ebay sellers fees, l was charged $107 for selling a second hand pram for $800 that's outrageous!!  I have a few items l am selling at the moment but once they expire l will no longer be using Ebay to sell items.

[sandypebbles]

It is a shame there was no information shown about the fees and what they would be when you listed the items for sale 🤔

None of your listings have any bids, so you can cancel them any time you please, no need to pay the outrageous fees that way

The  eBay fees are the same for most people, and are no a hidden secret 

You have been on eBay more than long enough to know what the fees are