posted on August 14, 2006 11:44:19 PM new
It seems that eBay is taking a large chunk of my income this month, BEFORE the rate hike. I did quick math of current month fees/current month sales and found I am paying 22.5% of my sales to eBay (not including PayPal fees). This seems unreasonable. Do higher ticket item sellers experience a lower cost of sale?
posted on August 15, 2006 12:08:45 AM new
pixia, ever since I started participating in feebay's get-charged-now-and-get-your-money-back-later sales, I noticed my bills have been climbing ever higher.
One habit of theirs that caught me up before is all their various rules for participation in the event/s. You have to read them EVER so carefully.
I'm a Canadian west-coaster and so am on Pacific time (PT). Feebay USA sales or feebay Canada sales are quoted as starting or ending in Eastern time, sometimes in Pacific time, and sometimes are not zone-specific at all (I'm not sure if this happens with both sites or if unique to one or another). Either way, I saw the hours, but missed the time zones for the ending time. Listed a bunch of items after 9 pm PT when the sale ended at 9 pm ET. Didn't pick up on it til much later in my billing when I noticed I didn't get credited. More bux for feebay.
This latest 2 day sale, I'm betting some people will get overly excited and get right to work creating new store listings, especially for the upcoming 2-day sale, missing the bit near the end of "What is Excluded":
Store Inventory Format listings that are created after 2:00 p.m. PST on August 14, 2006 that are moved to Auction-style or Fixed Price listing will not be eligible for the insertion fee credit.
Oops, I now see ice covered this last part very well!
[ edited by bcpostcards on Aug 15, 2006 12:30 AM ]
[ edited by bcpostcards on Aug 15, 2006 12:39 AM ]
posted on August 15, 2006 02:40:21 AM new
If you opted for the "free" market place research" you might note that they charged you for it. At least they did me. I am arguing with them over it now. As for fees they range from 19 to 27% per month. Ouch.
Beth
www.vintageads4u.com
posted on August 15, 2006 05:23:54 AM new
I have decided to cut my bill by not doing any stores and just a few auctions from now on. If I don't sell that way, oh well. I have come to the conclusion, it is stupid having to list hundreds of items all the time to sell just a few.
**********************************
Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on August 15, 2006 07:09:54 AM new
I, too, sell low-ticket items. Most under $50.00. I figure, on average, each store item will be costing me $3.00 to $4.00 (including PayPal fees) from listing to sale. That rounds out to over 20% per item. OUCH!
I will be leaving my item prices the same in the store, but raising my shipping fees a bit to cover the additional costs. Fortunately, I've kept (in the past) my shipping fees low, so I now have a little wiggle room.
Other sellers in my categories have had higher S&H fees all along. I got lucky on this eBay 'sabotage'.
posted on August 15, 2006 07:49:21 AM newI am paying 22.5% of my sales to eBay (not including PayPal fees). This seems unreasonable.
A thought experiment.
Let's say your eBay business is grossing $1 million per year.
Let's say that exclusive of eBay fees, your costs for labor, utilities, cost of goods, materials, credit card processing, etc etc (in other words, everything else you have to pay for) is $275,000 per year.
And your eBay fees are $225,000 per year.
So, you are netting $500,000 per year on sales of $1 million.
The question:
Does 22.5% still seem unreasonable? If not, why not?
posted on August 15, 2006 07:53:14 AM new
Wow, some of you really ARE paying a lot for the privilege, and then you have Vendio fees on top? And PayPal?
I don't sell high ticket items. Average selling price is around $30 and I probably list about 50-75 items per month. I don't think I've EVER paid more than 10% to eBay over the past ten years. Generally, it's about 8%. And of course the higher the average selling price, the lower the percentage, but I don't know that you could get away with much less than 8% as an average seller.
Is 22% unreasonable? Compared to selling a show, a brick and mortar store, or conventional auction -- no, it's still very cheap.
I don't have a store, since I have other outlets and turn inventory as quickly as I can rather than waiting for someone to come along. (I think the exception here is the post card category, and most of the time, the store prices I see seem high enough to warrant the extra time it may take).
posted on August 15, 2006 02:55:10 PM new
Pat1959: The only problem with covering rising fees with a shipping increase is that you only get the fees covered if the item sells.
Of course fees are going to depend on your mix of store to auction, level of store, and any extras, etc. so it is hard to compare.
Beth
www.vintageads4u.com
