Wow, Ebay fees now over 15.4% !!

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I've been using Ebay since back when it was called Auctionweb, and it had competition from Yahoo Auctions. Early on, I could sell an item for about 5% to 7% of its value.

Now, it appears that Ebay is applying its fee to the shipping cost, and also applying the fee to the sales tax!!

The official posted fee is 13.25%, but when you apply it to shipping and to the sales tax, the
true fee percentage jumps up to 15.4%!!

I never really thought I would see the day when it would cost over 15% of the value of items to sell them on Ebay!
But are there really any alternatives?

 

[pete6032]

But are there really any alternatives?

No, not really, and that's part of the problem. If you're willing to sell local, you can do Craigslist or Facebook marketplace.

 

[BudAshes]

Even better you get zero protection for that 15% when they rip you off.

 

[WilliamM2]

I've been using Ebay since back when it was called Auctionweb, and it had competition from Yahoo Auctions. Early on, I could sell an item for about 5% to 7% of its value.

Now, it appears that Ebay is applying its fee to the shipping cost, and also applying the fee to the sales tax!!

The official posted fee is 13.25%, but when you apply it to shipping and to the sales tax, the
true fee percentage jumps up to 15.4%!!

I never really thought I would see the day when it would cost over 15% of the value of items to sell them on Ebay!
But are there really any alternatives?

I've sold a lot on Ebay over the years. They have charged the percentage on shipping for at least 20 years. It's because sellers would charge $1 for the item and $50 for shipping to avoid fess. They have charged fees on tax ever since they have been required to collect it. Surprised you just noticed.

It used to be 10% for Ebay, and 3% for PayPal. Now it's just ebay, and the rate is now13.25%. Not a huge increase.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Ebay is brutal for that. Not really all fees but just the end of sale sticker shock in general. Shipping is the worse one, because there tends to be more shipping added on top of the existing or sometimes the displayed price is in USD, you got to watch. Customs etc gets tacked on too. I have seen sales end up costing 2x what the actual displayed price was once all of this was factored in. The other thing to watch out for is the currency. Even if you go to ebay.ca lot of prices are in USD with CAD one in small and if you don't pay attention it's easy to get a surprise after you look at the final price. At that point it's too late as you already committed to the buy. That's more of a user error I guess, but I still don't like how they play those games. Just show me the real price.

Ebay shipping cost is also ridiculous in general, I sometimes look at server or network stuff and often the shipping is twice as much as the actual cost of the item. That is one thing Amazon has figured out, is shipping, not sure why Ebay can't do the same.

 

[Torn Mind]

I think "I Sold It" is contracting. They had a location in the shopping center next to my childhood neighborhood and it shut down. So no more in MD. There are only 8 locations total.

 

[Captante]

Ebay has been crappy for SELLERS for a long time now.

Still a pretty good place to buy things though. (provided you do your homework)

 

[WilliamM2]

Ebay shipping cost is also ridiculous in general, I sometimes look at server or network stuff and often the shipping is twice as much as the actual cost of the item. That is one thing Amazon has figured out, is shipping, not sure why Ebay can't do the same.

Ebay doesn't set the shipping charges, the seller does. And nothing you posted has anything to do with the OP's complaint.

Here's a tip for you, shipping to other countries is expensive. Neither seller or Ebay has anything to do with customs charges either, that's YOUR government.

 

[lxskllr]

Ebay shipping cost is also ridiculous in general, I sometimes look at server or network stuff and often the shipping is twice as much as the actual cost of the item. That is one thing Amazon has figured out, is shipping, not sure why Ebay can't do the same.

Ebay is just a marketplace of mostly small-midsize businesses, I don't really know how it works, but I think amazon and other big shippers get discounts on volume, and of course amazon has in house delivery now. Small companies and individuals pay sticker price, or something pretty close to it, and shipping is expensive. I've spent tens of dollars shipping small packages to Europe. Probably would have cost amazon $5.

 

[Torn Mind]

Ebay is just a marketplace of mostly small-midsize businesses, I don't really know how it works, but I think amazon and other big shippers get discounts on volume, and of course amazon has in house delivery now. Small companies and individuals pay sticker price, or something pretty close to it, and shipping is expensive. I've spent tens of dollars shipping small packages to Europe. Probably would have cost amazon $5.

Retail for the priority mail flat rate has gone from $5.45 up to $9.95. Cheap shipping is as good as dead.

 

[nakedfrog]

Ebay is brutal for that. Not really all fees but just the end of sale sticker shock in general. Shipping is the worse one, because there tends to be more shipping added on top of the existing or sometimes the displayed price is in USD, you got to watch. Customs etc gets tacked on too. I have seen sales end up costing 2x what the actual displayed price was once all of this was factored in. The other thing to watch out for is the currency. Even if you go to ebay.ca lot of prices are in USD with CAD one in small and if you don't pay attention it's easy to get a surprise after you look at the final price. At that point it's too late as you already committed to the buy. That's more of a user error I guess, but I still don't like how they play those games. Just show me the real price.

Ebay shipping cost is also ridiculous in general, I sometimes look at server or network stuff and often the shipping is twice as much as the actual cost of the item. That is one thing Amazon has figured out, is shipping, not sure why Ebay can't do the same.

Wow, you're dumb.

 

[tcsenter]

It used to be 10% for Ebay, and 3% for PayPal. Now it's just ebay, and the rate is now13.25%. Not a huge increase.

Go back even further, it was 4%~6% for Ebay (depending on category and final price) and ~3% for PayPal, which was then in-line with the traditional payment processor solutions. e.g. your own merchant account. Not sure what the costs and fees (e.g. discount rate) are for a merchant account these days

 

[WilliamM2]

Go back even further, it was 4%~6% for Ebay (depending on category and final price) and ~3% for PayPal, which was then in-line with the traditional payment processor solutions. e.g. your own merchant account. Not sure what the costs and fees (e.g. discount rate) are for a merchant account these days

Go back to the 70's and I could get a candy bar AND a coke for 15 cents. Not sure what your point was, that prices go up?

 

[tcsenter]

Go back to the 70's and I could get a candy bar AND a coke for 15 cents. Not sure what your point was, that prices go up?

About as relevant as your harkening back to something that doesn't exist anymore? Your post was premised in "Ebay used to charge...." but you selected a point in time that itself was not definitively representative of how much the cost of doing business on Ebay has increased. Following?

Re: the shipping charge abuse problem. Didn't Ebay solve that by offering sellers the option to utilize the shipping cost quoted directly by the carrier based on the level of service, weight, oversized, insurance, etc.? IOW, the shipping price charged was not manually entered by the seller, it was THE cost as input by the carrier's actual fee schedule.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Go back even further, it was 4%~6% for Ebay (depending on category and final price) and ~3% for PayPal, which was then in-line with the traditional payment processor solutions. e.g. your own merchant account. Not sure what the costs and fees (e.g. discount rate) are for a merchant account these days

That's what I meant - I definitely remembered fee percentages being down in the single percentages. In fact, when I was selling coins on Yahoo Auctions, I was often paying a total of 4% to 6%.

Regarding the shipping, I charged the buyer $9.95 for shipping, and paid $14 something to ship it, so they paid about 2/3, while I paid about 1/3.

I just don't see why people put up with them charging a percentage fee on the sales tax! How does that make sense?

 

[Mai72]

Ebay was really good back in the day.

But, like everything else the powers to be got greedy and ruined it.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Ebay was really good back in the day.

But, like everything else the powers to be got greedy and ruined it.

Why don't we all get together and start some sort of online auction co-op where it states quite clearly that fees can never, ever exceed 6% total?

 

[WilliamM2]

Why don't we all get together and start some sort of online auction co-op where it states quite clearly that fees can never, ever exceed 6% total?

Because it would go broke. Credit card procesing fees alone are over 3%.

 

[brianmanahan]

Ebay has been crappy for SELLERS for a long time now.

i quit selling on ebay years ago when i sold a perfectly good copy of used software to a guy

he vaguely claims it doesn't work and i offer to help him troubleshoot it

and he's like "nope, unless you give refund my money right now, i'm giving you a 1 star. also i'm not sending it back"

 

[tcsenter]

and he's like "nope, unless you give refund my money right now, i'm giving you a 1 star. also i'm not sending it back"

One transaction made me begin the ritual of taking photos of certain products in various stages of packaging. Photo 1: item next to box with attention to any visible serial #. 2: item in box with packing material (bird's eye) 3: box taped shut and label affixed

TBH though out of some ~430 items sold, I only had two grifters, one of whom I cannot be certain was lying but just had that suspicion or bad feeling about it. Haven't sold anything on Ebay in like 5 years.

 

[GoPackGo]

That's what I meant - I definitely remembered fee percentages being down in the single percentages. In fact, when I was selling coins on Yahoo Auctions, I was often paying a total of 4% to 6%.

Regarding the shipping, I charged the buyer $9.95 for shipping, and paid $14 something to ship it, so they paid about 2/3, while I paid about 1/3.

I just don't see why people put up with them charging a percentage fee on the sales tax! How does that make sense?

I wonder if charging a sellers fee on Sales Tax is legal?

 

[Red Squirrel]

How does sales tax work on Ebay, do they do all the leg work for you of collecting and remitting taxes to all jurisdictions or are you the one that has to do it as a seller? I suppose the fee covers the "service" of doing that.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

eBay is basically the only online marketplace I'll buy from. Buyer protections have saved my ass twice now and I'm committed.