EBay & Paypal fees analysis.

I have used EBay for many years and Yahoo auctions before that (for those who remember it), but I have rarely used it to sell.

Sunday 1st March I had a small clearout of garage tools n bits and listed 11 items on EBay.

Yesterday 8 of them sold and I have posted them all this morning, so here is the breakdown...

£65.71 --> Total items sold for
£51.92 --> Total postage charged out (heavy items)
£51.73 --> Actual postage cost (not a bad guess, but doesn't include packaging)

£10.98 --> EBay listing fees and final value fees (i think it includes final value fee too :? )
£5.60 --> Paypal fees

So out of a total of £65.71 for the goods I sold I have paid £16.58 in fees thats just over 25% :shock: :shock:

oh and i gained £0.19 to cover packaging, it was all second hand anyway

When you see it like this it is a bit steep.

Yep, its a P*** take really! Has been for some time. They have just got to greedy for their own good. It used to be just about acceptable but with the last couple of rises it puts you right off using it. You HAVE to offer Paypal (same company) as a payment method but get your listing scrapped from site if you state in your listing that you pass the fee onto the buyer! I know a few people that just stopped using to sell stuff now and only buy through it. About time a new alternative site started with realistic costs to take their business away!

You know how I like a good moan !!

I was gobsmacked with the listing prices and fee`s the last time I put some stuff on as it had been a while :shock: my fault really it was the reserve that cost £3.90p !! :shock:

They seemed to of mucked around with postage aswell ... That actually made it impossible to send an invoice :roll:

The only problem is if you really want world wide coverage ebay is the only option (not just talking about bikes) :roll:

they offer a service, you pay the price.

i buy and sell car alloy wheels on ebay. the fees really do get to me but how else can i shift 3 sets of alloys is a week? the local paper - not a chance.

if a cheaper alternative was availiable i'd use it but i would imagine it would take ages for enough people to change over and the new site to be worth selling on. best idea is to not be greedy as a seller and sell outside ebay.

If my marketing budget accounted for 25% of my turnover (as in the example from Easy_Rider) I'd be looking for better ways to reach my audience!

Aren't auction house commissions around 10%

I knew EBay fees had gone up recently, but not this much, 25% is very steep. All my items were listed at 99p start and no reserve, so the cheapest listing fees applied, if i'd put reserve amounts then the percentage would be even higher!

There are other alternatives already http://uk.ebid.net being a good example that i've used to buy a few things but not sell as yet.

Ebay and Paypal fees are ridiculous....always a last resort for me and I generally add 20/25% to my reserve just to pay for the fees....sometimes works :?

Ebay is excellent for getting rid of stuff in a week.

I have this month sold a car engine and a Vauxhall Omega Elite.
I have paid £120 in listing and final value fees.

I am happy with this because I used ebay for my own convinience, I could have got more money with more effort. The car and engine at a motor auction would have made a lot less than it got on 'Da Bay'.

Ebay is convinient and quick. Convinient and quick costs money.

Excellent for attracting knobs too .... Cancelled a knobs bid in the week for another to win the auction ....After winning he is now asking me all about the bloody bike!! ggggrrrrr :twisted:

daj":3em4ehxp said:

Excellent for attracting knobs too .... Cancelled a knobs bid in the week for another to win the auction ....After winning he is now asking me all about the bloody bike!! ggggrrrrr :twisted:

Click to expand...

Second that, more n more nobs every day, and double the rate since they stopped -ve for buyers. Happened to my brother only today, buyer backed out of buying his car, even though he stated he needed to sell asap as moving abroad and no time wasters.