hiwhy does ebay take commission on shipping cost as I sell items for auction

[creamandgreen]

why does ebay take a commission on shipping fees?. I have been told by ebay staff by phone to add postage onto price of item & tick postage free. All my items are auctions so if I started item off at .99 cents with postage at $14.80 The buyer would recieve item for nothing & it would cost me more than the item is worth. I don't mind paying commission for final valuation fee 10%. But ebay forced people selling into opening  pay-pal accounts. Pay-Pal   take their commission on total amount deposited by buyer which includes shipping costs. then ebay take their commission out of the total deposit (item final value sold & shipping costs). Do they expect the smaller ebayer members to compete with all the bigger companies that mark their products up when bought & add their propfit percentage plus shipping costs into the price of their items before selling at a fixed price. Example Myers, david jones, target all have postal account where they can send any item anywhere in australia for about $5.00 how can I being a smaller ebay seller compete with that. We the smaller ebay seller are getting charged commission twice on the same final value fee & shipping by ebay & pay-pal. Could you please look into this matter as it is unfair to be charged twice for the one total price by both companies.

thankyou

[kopenhagen5]

Fees on postage component was introduced to stop sellers using 99 cent auctions with $500 as postage to circumvent fees.

So we have those turkeys to thank for that.

List your items at a realistic price you are happy with and have the fees added in to start price.

99 cent auctions are a load of rubbish, they rarely sell at that and even if they did, I would feel too guilty to take a good item for nothing. Price it right and all you need is one bid.

[davidc4430]

with every dodge sellers come up with to diddle ebay out of money it is counteracted by new fees that takes more money from everyone

ebay allways wins

[clarry100]

Firstly these boards are not monitored by ebay. The people here to whom you speak are simply members just like yourself.

Ebay Final Value Fees (FVF) are calculated on the total sale price which will include postage even if it is listed separately.

As mentioned above the fee on postage was introduced to stop those who chose to list outrageously high postage to avoid these fees.

What PayPal (now a separate company) charge is quite a separate thing as they provide a different service to ebay.

Their fee is for the payment gateway service and is also charged on the total sale price including any postage component.

This fee is usually 2.6% plus a flat transaction fee of 30-cents.

These are the rules of doing business on this platform that are made very clear when you sign up.

[lyndal1838]

You pay ebay a commission for providing the platform for you to sell your items and you pay paypal for transferring the money from the buyer to you, the seller.

Two different companies are providing services so you pay 2 different commissions.

[digital*ghost]

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@creamandgreen wrote:

why does ebay take a commission on shipping fees?.

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It's pretty much impossible to provide an explanation that will make enough sense in order to make FVF on postage acceptable or justifiable, particularly if - like me - you view the charge as unethical. (i.e. personal ethics are almost completely inarguable, since they form the core of opinions and practices. The latter two can be swayed, ethics generally can't).

But, the top two reasons eBay charge fees on postage are: 1) because they want to, and 2) because they can.

Fairness never really came into it. 

[audio-spot]

Am I the only one who doesn't have a problem with FVF on postage?

I remember the days when some sellers would list an item for $1 and charge $50 for postage. Would the FVF still be 10% today if this was still allowed to occur, or much higher?

How else would you suggest eBay could have made it fairer to those of us who were doing the right thing back then by charging postage at (or close to) cost and paying the correct FVF on our sale?

Why not use eBay satchels and boxes where possible to get the cheaper rates?

[davewil1964]

i work on the fact that 100% of my parcels go for 10% or more less than the equivalent AP service, and reckon I'm not behind.

[pennyforum14]

No you are not the only person who has a problem with it, most sellers disagree with it.  But it has been in place for close to 2 years now, eBay are not going to change it, so stressing about something that is now old news is really a waste of time and energy.  There are enough things on eBay you can control, like keeping your store stocked and managing your sales and customer satisfaction, without stressing over the things you can't do anything about.  Most of us just build the costs in to our prices, and ignore eBay's prompts for things like 99c auctions, free post and 1 day handling, all of which will just add to the stress levels without generating any real benefits.  If there was a viable alternative, we wouldn't have to put up with it, but there really isn't.

[digital*ghost]

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@audio-spot wrote:

Am I the only one who doesn't have a problem with FVF on postage?

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I highly doubt it - it's extremely rare for there to be only one person with any particular opinion. 😉

People listing items with low prices and high postage is still allowed to occur (in fact, it does still occur), it's just that now it doesn't make a difference to eBay. 

eBay got along just fine for how many years without charging FVF on postage? And for how many of those years was there more than acceptable site growth / increase in profits (when the highest FVF payable was less than 6%, too)? If postage pirates caused such a significant loss to eBay that charging FVF on postage was the only option.... well, I'm a monkey's uncle. 

Enforcing site policies would have been a good start, but that takes effort, and reasoned judgement. Two things eBay are consistently reluctant to expend. And it doesn't make them any money.

The price of postage has got nothing to do with how fair or ethical it is to charge FVF on postage (i.e. being able to get a lower price from Australia Post and consequently reduce the "damage" from eBay, doesn't make the fee any more ethical and/or acceptable to those who view it as unethical). Besides which, not everyone can use eBay postage labels for their items (large letters, couriers, etc),  not all services are available, and they're also not cheaper on all services that are available (eg I get cheaper express prices via C&S, and you can't purchase any international postage services, either).