Selling Fees are so high - what is the point?

[freemanstrading87]

Wow 13.5% selling fees are ridiculous! @ebay just getting way too greedy!  

[sandypebbles]

You agreed to the fees when you listed

And they have not changed in years 

You still have stiff listed now, so

Hopefully you have signed up to Managed Payments and been verified to sell so you do actually get paid 

[springyzone]

Where is it substantially cheaper?

Yes, I know marketplace and Gumtree exist & I use them, but both of them also have a payment scheme if you want your ads to stay reasonably visible.

Plus.. on those, you are advertising to a limited market-usually to people who live close enough to pick up.

On ebay, you pay fees but you can advertise & sell all without having to be online at all, the system can do it all for you, with people paying when they purchase. All you have to do then is post off the items.

Sometimes customers may ask a question but if your ads are clear enough and there are lots of photos, even that should not happen too often.

That, believe me, is a huge plus. You're not having to answer texts 24/7 or arrange pick up times etc or getting stupid messages "Is this still available?" where you answer then never hear from them again.

Plus.. a lot of people, especially for small purchases, prefer to just have stuff delievred, they don't want personal contact with a seller, so are more inclined to buy online from ebay.

Up to you though. Ebay, Etsy, auction houses, newspaper ads etc.

Most of them probably not that much cheaper than ebay though.

[siddieswans]

Real-life auction house? Well unless you are consigning goods that will turn over millions of dollars, an auction house will charge you at least 18% plus GST selling fees, some up to 28%  or more. Also some auction houses will have a minimum item value they will accept; many also charge a set listing fee /photography fee per item, some charge this whether or not the item sells.

On the other hand, there are some real pluses to using auction houses, which is why I sell through them, as well as buy. Once you hand the item over, they do the lot. You do not have to describe, photograph and list. You do not have to pack or post; you do not have to field silly questions or deal with unhappy buyers. If you have a genuinely valuable item (or one that you hope is valuable) an auction house will do the research for you, and a reputable auction house is the best way to achieve your optimum result. They (just like eBay) will give you access to buyers from all over the world.

Like everything in this world, there are horses for courses. There are auction houses that specialise in Australiana, militaria, Asian items, coins & medals – and so on. Some smaller auction houses will be happy to take your grandma’s old furniture, others won’t touch it with a barge pole. Obviously they all have their own on-line presence, so if you think this may be the avenue for you, it is easy to do your research. But if you are just looking for cheaper selling fees, you can forget about real-life auction houses.

[springyzone]

Yes, I would imagine auction houses would charge higher fees. I have a friend who has sold a few items that way but as you pointed out, they were items that could be worth something.

My own (limited) experience is that paying for advertising in eg a newspaper ad is more expensive than ebay & you pay whether you sell or not. Plus these days, it isn't how most people search for items.

The only other avenue I can think of for selling, apart from ones already mentioned, is market stalls, which can work for some people.

But just about all selling sites come with some sort of fee. Marketplace might be the exception for a seller with just an occasional item that might sell locally.

[yeoldecoinco]

You summed this up so well. Horses for courses.

Really, I am surprised people so often complain about eBay selling fees.

Don't agree with the fees - then don't use the platform.

My eBay fees are 11.2% plus a $75 a month store fee, I never run auctions, just buy it now.

Any auction charges sellers minimum 15% and buyers minimum 15%, often much more.

There goes 30 per cent absolute minimum out of the price.

And they often sell for less at auctions than on eBay.

The other day at a local auction I bought a coin for $35 that is worth at least $150

The vendor lost at least 15% out of that price, so they got about $30 for a coin I would have paid them a minimum of $100 for.

eBay has been terrific for me over 25 years.

Sure, I have had some horrible, rude, scheming, fraudulent buyers over that long period, but most of them have been really good.

And for me, working from home has been such a blessing and a tax deduction as well..

[p9games]

Works for me

[love_of_cars]

Well, I also sell through my website also and there I only pay the much lower PayPal fees, but then I've got web hosting, domain name and website package costs to cover each year, and the time I put into my own advertising and SEO efforts to bring buyers.

To have an all-in-one platform which does all this for you AND gets people to come looking for your things seems worth the fees.