What's new
What's new

OT ebay fees and shipping charges

Mike1974

Diamond
Joined
Nov 5, 2014
Location
Tampa area
OK, I am asking here because I am curious to what people here think, BTW, this is over and above just metalworking items, think about anything you might buy from Ebay.

I have not sold on Ebay in a very long time so I don't know what the charges and how they break them down, but it appears that they now charge a percentage of the final sale, including shipping. That said (and correct me if I am wrong), why the heck do people still try and price gouge on shipping? I know in the beginning there were scams running for $1-2-3 purchases with an outrageous (hundreds of dollars) shipping charge, which the seller did not pay a percentage of. But now it doesn't appear to work that way. Do sellers think and/or hope we won't look at the shipping costs, or is there more to it than that..?

What say ye?

* I should add, I am talking in general terms, (not especially heavy items) that would fit in a flat rate box from USPS

Postage Price Calculator Mail Services
 
If you return the item you can get your purchase price refunded, but you still eat the shipping. They put most of the price in the "shipping" category so you can't get it back when you return the defective item.
 
If you return the item you can get your purchase price refunded, but you still eat the shipping. They put most of the price in the "shipping" category so you can't get it back when you return the defective item.

That is interesting. I never even thought of from that angle but it makes sense. Fu*king scam artists everywhere. :angry:
 
If you return the item you can get your purchase price refunded, but you still eat the shipping. They put most of the price in the "shipping" category so you can't get it back when you return the defective item.

That's not true. I recently bought an item that was incorrectly described. I complained. The seller objected. eBay stepped in and decided in my favor and the original cost plus shipping both to me and the return shipping back to the seller was returned to me. This did not happen overnight, but it did happen. This occurred about 6 months ago.
 
My experience is that when a item is returned, for a good reason, The seller emails a prepaid return label. A good reason is item is not as described or it is not working.
You bought the wrong size or color is not their problem.
Bill D.
 
I have sold a lot on ebay in the past. However, the cost of their fees (10% final value of item and shipping) has made me look for other places to trade.
Paypal charges around 3% and shipping has gotten very expensive as well. Small items cost $8 for priority shipping. I would rather trade on craigslist or facebook market place and accept cash in hand. It's a hassle at times but ebay has gotten out of control with their fees.

One more thing to add. Ebay always sides with the buyer no matter how accurate the description is in your auction. You will take the loss on shipping and your time going to the post office. Additionally, you will be required to send a returned label to the buyer. Everything is set up to benefit the buyer.

my .02
 
I have sold a lot on ebay in the past. However, the cost of their fees (10% final value of item and shipping) has made me look for other places to trade.
Paypal charges around 3% and shipping has gotten very expensive as well. Small items cost $8 for priority shipping. I would rather trade on craigslist or facebook market place and accept cash in hand. It's a hassle at times but ebay has gotten out of control with their fees.

One more thing to add. Ebay always sides with the buyer no matter how accurate the description is in your auction. You will take the loss on shipping and your time going to the post office. Additionally, you will be required to send a returned label to the buyer. Everything is set up to benefit the buyer.

my .02
Ebay is my last resort for selling. The 10% fee is bad enough, and taking 10% of what a seller pays to ship the item is a bummer, but it's a perfect example of a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch. As pointed out in a reply above, some sellers used inflated shipping to circumvent final value fees, so ebay decided to start taking 10% of shipping too.

But take an example of an honest seller who states in the listing the item will ship usps priority mail small flat rate box. The buyer pays the seller $8 shipping, and the seller uses the $8 to ship the item, but not before ebay, and PayPal take their cuts. Now the seller is left making up the shortfall out of what was left of his profit on the sale.

I also wonder what, if anything ebay gets as a kickback on the other end. Ebay sold off PayPal, yet they've kept PayPal as the number one accepted form of payment. I wonder what PayPal gives ebay for this honor?

Ebay also allows a seller to handle paying for shipping completely through ebay's site. Write down to printing a shipping label with Ebay's name added to it as a little extra free advertising. Last time I checked, the choices were either the US postal service, or Fedex.
I wonder what ebay's getting for compensation to keep UPS off the list.

Too cynical a post maybe, and I'll admit, I shop ebay a lot, guess that either makes me a hypocrite.

Steve.

Sent from my SM-J737P using Tapatalk
 
Ebay is my last resort for selling. The 10% fee is bad enough, and taking 10% of what a seller pays to ship the item is a bummer, but it's a perfect example of a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch. As pointed out in a reply above, some sellers used inflated shipping to circumvent final value fees, so ebay decided to start taking 10% of shipping too.

But take an example of an honest seller who states in the listing the item will ship usps priority mail small flat rate box. The buyer pays the seller $8 shipping, and the seller uses the $8 to ship the item, but not before ebay, and PayPal take their cuts. Now the seller is left making up the shortfall out of what was left of his profit on the sale.

I also wonder what, if anything ebay gets as a kickback on the other end. Ebay sold off PayPal, yet they've kept PayPal as the number one accepted form of payment. I wonder what PayPal gives ebay for this honor?

Ebay also allows a seller to handle paying for shipping completely through ebay's site. Write down to printing a shipping label with Ebay's name added to it as a little extra free advertising. Last time I checked, the choices were either the US postal service, or Fedex.
I wonder what ebay's getting for compensation to keep UPS off the list.

Too cynical a post maybe, and I'll admit, I shop ebay a lot, guess that either makes me a hypocrite.

Steve.

Sent from my SM-J737P using Tapatalk

Not to beat you up, but the seller should be charging shipping AND handling (ie packing supplies, time to get to post office, the extra 10% ebay is taking,e tc), which to me in no way takes away the honest portion of it. If the buyer bitches and says "but flat rate is only $8, why are you charging me $10-11-12?!" you can happily explain how it works.

My OP was the shipping gouging, not honest shipping fees that cover the shipping and handling...
 
Some sellers are set up to use only a shipper like UPS. They get tracking, don't have to take trips and wait in line at the Post Office, etc. It particularly makes sense for anything like a one man band who has to stay at his/her location or a larger company located far from a Post Office. In that case, by the time you add high UPS charges, a box, maybe some bubble wrap or foam inside -- the price is pretty high.

Things like a $200 shipping charge to send a $200 microscope half-way across the country have kept me from bidding -- but I can see how a seller who chooses UPS and does a first rate packing job might actually spend close to that.

The other interesting thing is the disparity in shipping rates. China subsidizes shipping, so you can get small stuff for practically no shipping cost. US seems to charge a reasonable postal rate from my perspective. From Canada to Singapore, tracked postal costs seem high.
 
The thing that has killed several ebay purchases BY me recently is that they started charging Washington State sales tax (about 10%) in addition to everything else. I just can't get my mind around it, am thinking of finding a guy in Portland, OR who would accept USPS packages and simply forward them to me.

metalmagpie
a legendarily cheap bastard
 
The thing that has killed several ebay purchases BY me recently is that they started charging Washington State sales tax (about 10%) in addition to everything else. I just can't get my mind around it, am thinking of finding a guy in Portland, OR who would accept USPS packages and simply forward them to me.

metalmagpie
a legendarily cheap bastard

There was a somewhat recent legal ruling saying online retailers need to collect and pay sales tax.
 
The simple fact of the matter is that eBay is just too expensive anymore for the average seller. By the time you get through paying PayPal their 3% and then 10% on the total including the shipping that isn't yours anyway, there isn't much left.

Buying on eBay is OK when there is free shipping but Amazon is killing eBay nowadays. You can get free shipping on items over $25 even without paying for Prime.

Amazon also ships faster and has a no-hassle return policy with free return shipping.

If this sounds like an ad for Amazon, I have no financial connection to Amazon but I sure wish that I did.
 
I have sold on ebay for years, but not much lately. By the time you take pics, write up your ad, box it for shipping, go to the post office. Pay the fees, there is not much profit left.
 
Shipping charges have been a problem since I've been using eBay. When I find an item I want but the shipping charge is out of line, I send the seller a message in hopes of getting it adjusted. I have been mostly successful getting a reduction. And if I really want it...I will pay the 'high' price. eBay is still a huge market, although I haven't found much lately.
 
I've recently returned an Item on eBay. It wasn't as described. Got my $ credited including shipping, but there was still the hassle of having to package it back up and take it to the PO. I did a Google search of the return address, it was a trailer house in a trailer park. The paper work inside the box was from a company in another state.
 








 
Back
Top