Posts Tagged ‘final value fees’

Dear eBay Queen:

Thank you so much for responding to my question about PayPal and eBay at the beginning of March. I am seeing how the fees on eBay and PayPal work much clearer. 

I do have a couple more questions.  I was thinking about trying to sell things at Fixed Price or a Buy it Now option. You mentioned something about shipping fees.  How does that factor in to the sale?  What if the shipping isn’t free?   How can shipping be free anyway?   Can the shipping affect the PayPal fee, insertion fee, and final value fee?  Forgive me for being slow, but could you give me a breakdown that would include shipping that cost? You gave me a breakdown of an item that sold for $50, but I wasn’t for sure if that included free shipping or shipping cost.  Again, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

Amy

Dear Amy:

Thanks for letting me know my response helped you. Your question about PayPal and eBay fees is one that even long time sellers don’t easily understand.

Fixed price and Buy it Now are great ways to sell your items fast. eBay use to have pretty strict requirements for a seller to use the Fixed Price or Buy it Now option, but they have dropped those requirements.  You can find the requirements and charges for Fixed Price and Buy it Now here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fixed-price.html  . 

It is up to each individual seller to decide what to charge for shipping.  Some sellers offer free shipping, some charge exact shipping and others charge a handling fee with their shipping charges.  eBay has made it easy for shipping charges to be figured.  When you are writing up your listing in the “Sell Your Item Form” you’ll see you can check the box for free shipping, calculated shipping or flat rate shipping.

·         Free shipping is free to the buyer, but the seller is still responsible for the charges.  This means you will need to build the price of the shipping costs in your starting price.  I would suggest before you offer free shipping that you become a little more familiar with shipping and shipping charges. 

·         Flat rate shipping is offering the same rate no matter where it is being shipped. This can be a little tricky also since shipping charges vary all over the US and internationally.  The post office makes it easier to ship in the US with flat rate boxes.  The USPS Flat Rate Boxes range in price from $4.95 to $12.95. You can check out all the USPS Flat Rate Charges here: http://www.usps.com/prices/priority-mail-prices.htm

·         Calculated shipping is the way to go when it comes to new sellers.  All you will need to do is put your zip code in along with the weight of the package and eBay’s calculator does the rest.

When it comes to the fees, eBay has just released their spring update March 15.  Check it out here http://announcements.ebay.com/2011/03/2011-spring-seller-update/ In this update they have announced they are going to apply final value fees to the total amount of the sale.  That means FVF fees will also be applied to shipping costs.  Starting July 6^th, all eBay sellers will be charged 9% final value fee on the total amount of the sale including shipping. 

Here is my original break down:

Let’s say you sold a vintage cookie jar for $50.00 + shipping.  Here’s a breakdown of the fees:

You started the listing at $9.99:  Insertion fee would be:                                     .25 cents
Your item sold for $50.00:  final value fee would be 12% of the sale price:   $6.00
PayPal Fees:  2.9% + .30 cents                                                                          $1.75
                                                                                   TOTAL FEES:                $8.00

After July 6^th your fees on the same cookie jar (that sold for $50.00 + shipping) will be:

You start the listing at $9.99: Insertion fee would be:                                     .00 (free insertion)

Your item sold for $50.00 + 12.85 shipping final value fee would be 9%        $5.65

of the total price (including shipping)

PayPal Fees: 2.9% + .30 cents                                                                    $1.75

                                                                             TOTAL FEES                $7.40

Auctionbytes is an independent online trade magazine for online auctions.  They have a complete breakdown of fees and the new changes.  http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y11/m03/i15/s00 Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 320662470743 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Do you know someone that looks forward to St Patrick’s Day? They need one of these!  Brand New Guinness Countdown clock St Patrick’s Day. SOLD $395.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/brand-NEW-GUINNESS-Countdown-clock-St-Patricks-Day-/320662470743

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen;

I accessed my eBay account today and the “alert” told me I did not meet their new April 2010 DSR standards and I better improve them.

I ship my orders well within my “three business day” selection, usually the next mail run after receiving payment.  The only way I can improve that is to ship them before they are actually bid on.

The only rating I passed on was “Communication,” so that means I fell short on all the other ratings.  I can’t seem to get access to the rating specifics and even if I can, it doesn’t matter because I can’t address any of them.  It says contact with the buyers that are rating you is forbidden, I thought that rater identity was anonymous from the get go.

My head is not so deep in the eBay sand that I can’t see offering free shipping is what eBay would like me to do.  That way they get a cut of my shipping COSTS in their FVF and in their sister site, PayPal fees as well.

eBay has steadily turned on sellers for sometime.  They have forgotten who brought them to the dance.  Sellers have been their bread and butter, because buyers do not pay invoices.

The number of eBay buyers has dropped because of the economy and some other reasons, but the matter of seller treatment is a double whammy.

Marv

Dear Marv;

I am really sorry you are experiencing this frustration with eBay policy.  There are many sellers that are in the same boat with you.  Except, it’s not a boat, it’s a 100,000 + passenger ship.  I would urge you to keep trying if you enjoy selling on eBay.  If not, have you tried Amazon, Bonanzle, Etsy, or your own webstore?

I hope that you resolve your problems with eBay, and you are back selling your wares.

Dear eBay Queen;

I listed a bunch of new auctions tonight, but two just wouldn’t list — kept getting errors for prohibited words in the titles and/or descriptions. I had NO idea what the problem was, and it took me FOREVER to figure it out!

The first problem I should have seen right away — IVORY. The name of the manufacturer of this celluloid item was IVORY PY-RA-LIN.  Had to remove the I-word and tell the shoppers to see if they can just read it on the back of the item in the photo.

But the second one was a real stumper. The only error I received was a pop up telling me a word was not allowed, but they didn’t tell me what the word was!

The description included all sorts of possibly offensive words copied straight from the documents themselves. I had to read the VERY long description over and over until I caught the problem. Its am selling a collection of very old documents, and two of the items were Western Union Telegrams. Bingo! For some reason, eBay is afraid of, or hates Western Union. So I had to change it to W. U. Telegrams (they do show in the photos).  I feel sorry for anyone who collects Western Union memorabilia.

There are currently 32 auctions with the words Western Union in the titles, and there are 83 if you search descriptions, too. I just don’t understand how the other sellers are able to list these auctions. I use a third-party program, and I suppose most of the other sellers are using eBay’s software, so you’d think I could get away with more than they can. Any ideas on how they get away with it?

PinkPosy; Lawrence, KS

Dear PinkPosy;

This is one of my pet peeves also.  It could make a person CRAZY trying to figure out what word is offensive!  I did a little research on eBay and I came up with some discussion about it here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/offensive.html . I have emailed eBay and asked them to provide a list of offensive words to help all of us comply with their policies.  I urge you to do the same also.  I don’t think they realize the time it takes trying to figure out what is wrong with a listing that will not list.

I use Blackthorne Pro (eBay Software), and I’ve received ALL kinds of error messages when listing this week, similar to the one you are describing.  I think this is an area they have just updated.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 140381385645 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): How much would you pay for your favorite discontinued shampoo? Check out Clairol Herbal Essence Shampoo SOLD $50.99 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140381385645

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com.

Dear eBay Queen;

<

I’ve been selling on eBay for a couple of years.  I sell mostly children’s toys that sell between $15 and $25.00 each. I see that eBay has started free auction style listings.  I listed five things with my favorite listing tool, TurboLister. I did not receive any of my listings for free.  What could I be doing wrong? 

I talked to my husband about this, and he said that it wasn’t much of a deal anyway because of the final value fees.  Can you explain this to me?  Why do you think eBay is doing this?

eBay’s 5 Free listing promotion started  June 16^th.  eBay is giving sellers their first five auction style listings free, without insertion fees, IF you list with the “Sell Your Item” form on eBay. Since you use TurboLister, (or if you used another listing program), you’ll pay regular listing fees.  The Sell Your Item form is the old school way of listing your item.  Here’s a link to the Sell Your Item Form. http://cgi5.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SellHub3&pass=&MfcISAPICommand=SellHub3&aid=153&aidZ=&cpg=2&userid=&Sid=&js=1&np_id=0&guest=1

The Final Value Fees on the free listings will be 8.75% or $20.00 whichever is lower. On a regular auction the final value fee percentage is 8.75% up to $25.00.  If your item sells for less than $25 you’ll always save money. This is because the 8.75% Final Value Fee for the free listings is the same as the 8.75% fee for regular auctions. You’ll save .10, .25, or .35 cents depending on the starting price.

I call all of this, “eBay Math”.  I’m not so good at regular math, let alone eBay’s Math.  I don’t know how many items you list a month.  I list quite a few, and to stop and list five in a unique way that I am not used to, would take me longer and mess up my work structure.  Since your items are selling between $15 and $25.00 I would say you should weigh the value of the free listing against the value of your listing program.  My listing program is worth more to me than saving .35 cents. 

Dear eBay Queen;

I’m seriously considering trying my hand at being an eBay princess (since the queen’s spot is filled!!)  I have too much stuff and tired of paying storage! Where do I begin?

Christina

Dear Christina;

I’m not sure what kind of stuff you have to sell. The first step to take would be registering for an eBay and PayPal account.  Once you have that done, you should find something in your storage that would be easy to ship.  I think it’s better to put up four or five at a time instead of just one auction, so look for a couple of things to list. 

Once you have found the items you want to sell, do a little research by looking at completed listings.  You can get and idea for what your item will sell for and you can see the verbiage other sellers use in their auctions.  If you are comfortable with what your item will sell for, then it’s time to take your photos and list your item.

Go to the large SELL button at the top of any eBay page.  Follow the instructions on the Sell Your Item Form, upload your photos within that form, and hit the list button!  You’ve listed your first item.

I’ve given you the abbreviated version on how to sell things on eBay.  eBay has some great tutorials on how to list your items.  For more info on that go here: http://pages.ebay.com/education/selling.html  

Good Luck in de-cluttering your house!

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 330338236891 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page).  I was browsing through the lamp category on eBay and saw this oil lamp burner.  I watched it go from 15.00 to well $1541.00. You’ll never look at oil lamp parts the same again. Unusual Oil Lamp Burner Flip Top no Threads. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330338236891  

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com.