eBay The eBay Official eBay Thread eBay 32 32

[the blob]

What I am not understanding is the relevance... why should I care? I don't mean this in a standoffish way either. I'm not understanding.

 

If I sell an item for $15

Buyer pays $5 to ship

I receive $20

eBay takes around $2

PayPal take 3% so say 60 cents...

Actual cost to ship is $3.75

I take home $13.65

 

 

After that I honestly don't see the importance of the other stats.

 

To someone selling a few items a month its probably not important. But I'm a nerd and sell a lot on ebay so to me the breakdown of who's taking my money is important. Maybe my fees are higher than the next guy or like in FN-2199's case he uses scheduled auctions not included in the store price so his ebay fees are a bit higher.

 

Well... if people are paying for shipping, ebay isn't really "taking your money" on that part, except for the dang fee they're taking out of it! (which really ticks me off, but i know why they're doing it...it's just so irritating that they're doing it for the first $4 of a shipment)

[GM8]

What I am not understanding is the relevance... why should I care? I don't mean this in a standoffish way either. I'm not understanding.

 

If I sell an item for $15

Buyer pays $5 to ship

I receive $20

eBay takes around $2

PayPal take 3% so say 60 cents...

Actual cost to ship is $3.75

I take home $13.65

 

 

After that I honestly don't see the importance of the other stats.

 

To someone selling a few items a month its probably not important. But I'm a nerd and sell a lot on ebay so to me the breakdown of who's taking my money is important. Maybe my fees are higher than the next guy or like in FN-2199's case he uses scheduled auctions not included in the store price so his ebay fees are a bit higher.

 

Well... if people are paying for shipping, ebay isn't really "taking your money" on that part, except for the dang fee they're taking out of it! (which really ticks me off, but i know why they're doing it...it's just so irritating that they're doing it for the first $4 of a shipment)

 

What do you mean the first $4 of a shipment? Ebay takes a percentage, 10% most of the time on final value and shipping charged to buyer. A store with top rated and that meets 1-day shipping and 30 day returns can get a discount and bring that to about 9% (for me it is worth it since that 1% pays for the store most every month.)

[grebal]

^He means the ebay fee is not fair up to around the first $4 for shipping.

 

A decade ago when sellers got clever and added, say, $20 shipping to avoid the ebay final value fees (which astoundingly back then were far less than half today's rate), it was a reasonable reaction by ebay to close that loophole by combining AUCTION HAMMER PRICE plus SHIPPING CHARGES.

 

Unfortunately, it also had effect to unfairly punish the honest sellers.

[GM8]

^He means the ebay fee is not fair up to around the first $4 for shipping.

 

A decade ago when sellers got clever and added, say, $20 shipping to avoid the ebay final value fees (which astoundingly back then were far less than half today's rate), it was a reasonable reaction by ebay to close that loophole by combining AUCTION HAMMER PRICE plus SHIPPING CHARGES.

 

Unfortunately, it also had effect to unfairly punish the honest sellers.

 

Oh ok, I see what he meant. Yes, there really is no free lunch and to play the bay you gotta pay! People still have high shipping rates but now the object is to fool unwitting bidders who may not notice. I always skip listings that have, say, $9 shipping on a 0.99 book. Those just me off.

[skypinkblu]

^He means the ebay fee is not fair up to around the first $4 for shipping.

 

A decade ago when sellers got clever and added, say, $20 shipping to avoid the ebay final value fees (which astoundingly back then were far less than half today's rate), it was a reasonable reaction by ebay to close that loophole by combining AUCTION HAMMER PRICE plus SHIPPING CHARGES.

 

Unfortunately, it also had effect to unfairly punish the honest sellers.

 

They also wanted to compete with Amazon and push people to have free shipping, which is fine on an expensive item (unless you wind up paying for a return that the buyer would normally pay for). I'm not sure if they still do it, but they used to push the free shipping listings ahead in their searches.

 

I don't sell that much anymore, but I just underprice shipping a little ($4.95 instead of $5.95 for priority) and it helps stay closer to the top of some searches.

 

I estimate 15% for fees between eBay and PP and it makes it easier for me to keep track.

 

Where I find being a Top Rated seller pays is in the discounted shipping fees. You get a bigger shipping discount if you are top rated, or at least you did last year, they keep changing the rules every 10 minutes;)

[jcjames]

Okay, this is the way I understand it, but I may be totally wrong so let me know.

 

TR sellers receive 20% FV fee discount, but that 20% discount does not apply to shipping costs paid by buyer. Seller still pays full ebay fee on that.

 

But, if you offer "free shipping" and factor the shipping cost into the price of the item, you will get the 20% discount off your shipping cost too since it's factored into the FV and not separated out as a shipping fee.

 

Does that make sense? And does it sound accurate? Or am I understanding it wrong?

 

 

[skypinkblu]

Okay, this is the way I understand it, but I may be totally wrong so let me know.

 

TR sellers receive 20% FV fee discount, but that 20% discount does not apply to shipping costs paid by buyer. Seller still pays full ebay fee on that.

 

But, if you offer "free shipping" and factor the shipping cost into the price of the item, you will get the 20% discount off your shipping cost too since it's factored into the FV and not separated out as a shipping fee.

 

Does that make sense? And does it sound accurate? Or am I understanding it wrong?

 

 

Yes, so it pays if you are selling something expensive, with a higher shipping cost,but if you add $5.00 to a $10 item and list it for $15, then what happens is you come up in a lower place in many searches.

 

The other problem is, IF you offer returns and state that the buyer pays shipping (unless there was an error) you wind up paying the original postage you paid out, when you do a return.

 

I'm very lucky, I don't get a ton of complaints and I can't remember the last time I had a return, it was years ago, but I do remember doing 1 and refunding and having it cost me the shipping.

It kind of stuck with me;)

 

I do free shipping on anything I list at over $50 or something like that...depending on my mood;)

[jcjames]

 

But if a buyer sorts their search by lowest price, ebay adds shipping to the price and sorts it by combined cost.

 

So a "$14.99 + free shipping" listing comes up ahead of the "$12 + $3.99 shipping" listing.

 

 

 

Now, what's that you were saying about return shipping? I didn't follow what you were saying.

 

 

 

 

[HighStakesComics]

Okay, this is the way I understand it, but I may be totally wrong so let me know.

 

TR sellers receive 20% FV fee discount, but that 20% discount does not apply to shipping costs paid by buyer. Seller still pays full ebay fee on that.

 

But, if you offer "free shipping" and factor the shipping cost into the price of the item, you will get the 20% discount off your shipping cost too since it's factored into the FV and not separated out as a shipping fee.

 

Does that make sense? And does it sound accurate? Or am I understanding it wrong?

 

 

Yes, so it pays if you are selling something expensive, with a higher shipping cost,but if you add $5.00 to a $10 item and list it for $15, then what happens is you come up in a lower place in many searches.

 

The other problem is, IF you offer returns and state that the buyer pays shipping (unless there was an error) you wind up paying the original postage you paid out, when you do a return.

 

I'm very lucky, I don't get a ton of complaints and I can't remember the last time I had a return, it was years ago, but I do remember doing 1 and refunding and having it cost me the shipping.

It kind of stuck with me;)

 

I do free shipping on anything I list at over $50 or something like that...depending on my mood;)

 

Sha, are you referring to best match or searches according to highest and lowest price? I'm pretty sure these searches sort according to"total" price (item cost + shipping).

Edited February 1, 2017 by HighStakesComics

[the blob]

I had been doing everything with free shipping...I tried not to have any auction less than $9.99, no store item less than $12. i don't think it helped sales any even though I had it in the system you'd get a $2 discount/credit for multiple items (to create an incentive to buy more). Now I just do it with some expensive items over $50.

 

So the FVF on my sale is lower than the % they grab on the $4.00 I charge for shipping?

[grebal]

I tried free shipping a while and concluded I was better off with the $4 charge (or $12 for med. flat rate priority, on things like slabs or bulk lots). I could be wrong but didn't notice materially higher winning bids (or even higher enough to cover shipping in many cases) when I had 'free ship' policy, and my (limited) research suggested a nominal/fair ship cost didn't drive prospective bidders away, so concluded that I was throwing money away with my 'free ship.'

 

For larger BIN lots I'll still use 'free ship' policy, which can complicate things for buyers shopping my other items with ship costs, and I try to keep my ads lean without listing every detail of how to combine shipping in every permutation.

 

With a growing tolerance for the "flash mailers" (I use the geminii II) and ebay getting special USPS rules permitting first class up to 16 oz. it's possible to keep actual shipping pretty low for first class up to 4 books, which may have helped shape my current policy .

[skypinkblu]

Okay, this is the way I understand it, but I may be totally wrong so let me know.

 

TR sellers receive 20% FV fee discount, but that 20% discount does not apply to shipping costs paid by buyer. Seller still pays full ebay fee on that.

 

But, if you offer "free shipping" and factor the shipping cost into the price of the item, you will get the 20% discount off your shipping cost too since it's factored into the FV and not separated out as a shipping fee.

 

Does that make sense? And does it sound accurate? Or am I understanding it wrong?

 

 

Yes, so it pays if you are selling something expensive, with a higher shipping cost,but if you add $5.00 to a $10 item and list it for $15, then what happens is you come up in a lower place in many searches.

 

The other problem is, IF you offer returns and state that the buyer pays shipping (unless there was an error) you wind up paying the original postage you paid out, when you do a return.

 

I'm very lucky, I don't get a ton of complaints and I can't remember the last time I had a return, it was years ago, but I do remember doing 1 and refunding and having it cost me the shipping.

It kind of stuck with me;)

 

I do free shipping on anything I list at over $50 or something like that...depending on my mood;)

 

Sha, are you referring to best match or searches according to highest and lowest price? I'm pretty sure these searches sort according to"total" price (item cost + shipping).

 

Sorry, best match, the ones that are numerical come up numerically. I should have been specific. Those are the items that are highlighted at the bottom of the page to show what else is available when you look at something.

 

 

 

Regarding the other shipping question:

 

If I auction something with free shipping and the item goes for $10 and the shipping is included, if someone returns the item, I need to return $10. If the item goes for $5 and $5 shipping, I only have to return $5.00. That is unless something I don't know about has changed.

 

As I said, I don't remember the last time I had to take a return, but the one time it happened, stuck in my mind;) Given the number of returns I have, it's probably not that practical to do shipping separately (esp since I combine shipping) but I'm the person who lists using the 50 free listings and then usually quits;) It's not a business for me.

 

I do find that if I list shipping and combine it, that it often encourages people to buy or bid on more than one thing. That's something I love since I hate packing;)

[jcjames]

Okay now I see, I didn't know about the return "double-dip" for free-shipping items (never had a buyer return a book before). But that makes sense.

 

 

CORRECTION:

 

Ebay Return Policy ....

 

If the buyer either A) doesn't receive the item or B) if the item is not-as-described, Ebay refunds the buyer the full cost of the item AND the original shipping fees and will charge the seller for it.

 

So either a return of a $10 item with $4 shipping or return of a $14 item with free-shipping will still cost the seller $14, just the same.

 

 

 

So weighing the pros and cons of "free shipping":

 

PRO:

* Top-Rated 20% discount on FV fee is also applied to the cost of shipping if it's "free shipping" (i.e. factored into the price).

* ? Higher placement in "Best-Match" search results ?

 

CON:

* A returned item results in having to refund the shipping cost if it's "free shipping" (and then if it's an item NAD, seller pays again to ship it back). This doesn't make a difference, so it's not a "Con" anymore.

* Less incentive for a buyer to buy more items to get the combined shipping discount.

 

 

Does that sound right? If so, I might rethink the blanket "free-shipping" on all my items. Hmm...

 

Edited February 1, 2017 by jcjames

[grebal]

^Two quick comment/refinements- as a buyer I notice and remember "free ship" sellers and I think I tend to buy a bit more from those guys (or at least notice them, e.g. sparkle city, and infinity if over $100). And as a seller I've had to catch myself from holding back freebies because they might push me to the next higher ship cost increment (although might be more related to fact I don't ship media nearly as often the past few rounds).

[skypinkblu]

Okay now I see, I didn't know about the return "double-dip" for free-shipping items (never had a buyer return a book before). But that makes sense.

 

 

CORRECTION:

 

Ebay Return Policy ....

 

If the buyer either A) doesn't receive the item or B) if the item is not-as-described, Ebay refunds the buyer the full cost of the item AND the original shipping fees and will charge the seller for it.

 

So either a return of a $10 item with $4 shipping or return of a $14 item with free-shipping will still cost the seller $14, just the same.

 

 

 

So weighing the pros and cons of "free shipping":

 

PRO:

* Top-Rated 20% discount on FV fee is also applied to the cost of shipping if it's "free shipping" (i.e. factored into the price).

* ? Higher placement in "Best-Match" search results ?

 

CON:

* A returned item results in having to refund the shipping cost if it's "free shipping" (and then if it's an item NAD, seller pays again to ship it back). This doesn't make a difference, so it's not a "Con" anymore.

* Less incentive for a buyer to buy more items to get the combined shipping discount.

 

 

Does that sound right? If so, I might rethink the blanket "free-shipping" on all my items. Hmm...

 

That's if it's not as described. My one return that I can remember, was someone who just changed their mind. It was some kind of silverplate thingy I sold for a friend and the person just didn't like it.

 

[manetteska]

Quick vent.

 

A great day on both sides with eBay users.

 

1. Buyer wants to return a Marvel Must Haves NYX 1-3 because he didn't know it was a reprint until it arrived in his hands. I guess my listing showing a different title, front cover, back cover, containing 3 issues instead of one, and a $20 price point didn't tip him off previously.

 

2. Purchased a $60 comic with free shipping. Comic arrived in a manila envelope, sandwiched between two flimsy Priority Mail cardboard pieces -- but the comics not even taped to the cardboard. Just free floating, basically having no effect as it traveled halfway across the country.

 

3. Purchased a $27 lot of comics with $8 shipping. Came double-boxed Priority but 2 of the 7 comics inside were completely loose -- not even a bag and board -- and suffered for it.

[Logan510]

I've had two people buy books at full ask even though I have best offer as an option. Weird, but I'm not complaining.

[Buzzetta]

I've had two people buy books at full ask even though I have best offer as an option. Weird, but I'm not complaining.

 

I had that over the summer...

 

I went out and found two notifications within an hour of one another from the same buyer.

 

It was a book for about $650... guy made an offer for $550... then an hour later outright bought the item.

 

Okay... done deal

[AJD]

I've had two people buy books at full ask even though I have best offer as an option. Weird, but I'm not complaining.

 

I've done that with hard to find books that I want to lock in, rather than have someone else BIN it while my offer for 15% less is pending.

[ADAMANTIUM]

I've had two people buy books at full ask even though I have best offer as an option. Weird, but I'm not complaining.

 

I've done that with hard to find books that I want to lock in, rather than have someone else BIN it while my offer for 15% less is pending.

 

I've done it as well, but I made an offer and when it wasn't accepted right away, (even though it was a decent offer) I got worried that somehow they had already recieved a better offer than mine, sigh, then bought it out right