Ebay Final Value Fee - WTF!!! 1 1

[Lightning55]

1 hour ago, LDarkseid1 said:

I thought it was 10% eBay and 2.9% PayPal. For domestic that is, more for international or course.

The eBay fee depends on a few variables - category, if you have a store, if you are a Top Rated Seller, etc.  You have to refer to the schedule of fees.  PayPal is still 2.9%, if you are still being processed through PayPal. 

EBay's managed payments (or mangled payments as some prefer) combines the FVF and the processing.

[LDarkseid1]

8 minutes ago, Lightning55 said:

The eBay fee depends on a few variables - category, if you have a store, if you are a Top Rated Seller, etc.  You have to refer to the schedule of fees.  PayPal is still 2.9%, if you are still being processed through PayPal. 

EBay's managed payments (or mangled payments as some prefer) combines the FVF and the processing.

"Mangled Payments" 

[manetteska]

1 hour ago, Lightning55 said:

The eBay fee depends on a few variables - category, if you have a store, if you are a Top Rated Seller, etc.  You have to refer to the schedule of fees.  PayPal is still 2.9%, if you are still being processed through PayPal. 

EBay's managed payments (or mangled payments as some prefer) combines the FVF and the processing.

Per the eBay link you posted earlier, the fees for a non-store are 12.35% for collectibles (they have sports cards as the heading). And in the paragraph above that, it seems like that percent does include the sales tax. So you cannot “take out” the 2.9% processing bc it’s all together now. 
 

Meaning, it’s all at 12.35. Not 2.9 of tax and item and 9.45 just item. 

Edited April 7, 2021 by manetteska

[manetteska]

Final value fees

We charge one final value fee when your item sells, and you don't have to worry about third-party payment processing fees. This fee is calculated as a percentage of the total amount of the sale, plus $0.30 per order.

The total amount of the sale includes the item price, any handling charges, the shipping service the buyer selects, sales tax, and any other applicable fees.

[manetteska]

I guess it depends on the "old" way (before the 0.5% discount) if those fees broke out Item cost vs Tax and applied different rates.

Anyway, I spent way too much time on this.

In conclusion (  ) I understand why eBay charges the processing fee (~3%) on the Sales Tax as it's pretty much standard.

What I don't understand is why additional fees are being applied on top of the 3%. It appears eBay somewhat feels the same way -- by reducing FVF by 0.5% to offset -- while a much simpler method would be to exclude them entirely. However, that was not done, and I'm pretty sure we all know the reason why.

[InfantTerrible]

FEEBAY 

 

[Lightning55]

A lot of the changes got misconstrued because there were so many layers and factors - MP coming in, sales tax being charged and collected, different rates for different categories, less if you have a store, less again if you are TRS.  It has become an accounting nightmare, even with "Simplified" fees.

Agreed - way too much spent on it.

To me, the biggest thing is that people think they are getting raked over on the fees, especially the sales tax aspect. I can track and verify that the fees on the sales tax have had no effect on me.  That is the best I can state, your mileage may vary. 

But I don't think that I am much different than anyone else, so when people complain so vehemently about the practice, it raises strong doubts in my mind that they have even checked it out, investigated it a bit, done any math, found it guilty by evidence.

A big thing to consider, whether you agree that the offset is appropriate or not on the FVF:  eBay didn't have to do ANYTHING.  They could have just let the sales tax hit, charge full fees on it, and take it as a windfall.  What were you going to do about it anyway, except complain, and that's happening anyway.

But they took the high road, tried to calculate what would even out the process, and changed the fee downward.  They do a LOT of things wrong, but this is barely a blip on the screen.  In contrast to the uproar, that is.  No one likes fees, or paying more fees, but there's more of that ahead for sure.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Lightning55

[manetteska]

25 minutes ago, Lightning55 said:

A lot of the changes got misconstrued because there were so many layers and factors - MP coming in, sales tax being charged and collected, different rates for different categories, less if you have a store, less again if you are TRS.  It has become an accounting nightmare, even with "Simplified" fees.

Agreed - way too much spent on it.

To me, the biggest thing is that people think they are getting raked over on the fees, especially the sales tax aspect. I can track and verify that the fees on the sales tax have had no effect on me.  That is the best I can state, your mileage may vary. 

But I don't think that I am much different than anyone else, so when people complain so vehemently about the practice, it raises strong doubts in my mind that they have even checked it out, investigated it a bit, done any math, found it guilty by evidence.

A big thing to consider, whether you agree that the offset is appropriate or not on the FVF:  eBay didn't have to do ANYTHING.  They could have just let the sales tax hit, charge full fees on it, and take it as a windfall.  What were you going to do about it anyway, except complain, and that's happening anyway.

But they took the high road, tried to calculate what would even out the process, and changed the fee downward.  They do a LOT of things wrong, but this is barely a blip on the screen.  In contrast to the uproar, that is.  No one likes fees, or paying more fees, but there's more of that ahead for sure.

I stated above what they could have done to avoid these conversations (or others you are saying are happening elsewhere) and it's pretty simple: exclude Sales Tax from eBay's specific fees.

The highlighted portion, I believe, shows why you and I don't agree on this or any eBay shenanigans. I don't think they ever take the high road, they take the more money road -- as do most/all companies.

[Lightning55]

3 minutes ago, manetteska said:

I stated above what they could have done to avoid these conversations (or others you are saying are happening elsewhere) and it's pretty simple: exclude Sales Tax from eBay's specific fees.

The highlighted portion, I believe, shows why you and I don't agree on this or any eBay shenanigans. I don't think they ever take the high road, they take the more money road -- as do most/all companies.

I guess you just read right over this part: " eBay didn't have to do ANYTHING."  Could have just slapped it right on top, but didn't.

[manetteska]

16 minutes ago, Lightning55 said:

21 minutes ago, manetteska said:

I stated above what they could have done to avoid these conversations (or others you are saying are happening elsewhere) and it's pretty simple: exclude Sales Tax from eBay's specific fees.

The highlighted portion, I believe, shows why you and I don't agree on this or any eBay shenanigans. I don't think they ever take the high road, they take the more money road -- as do most/all companies.

I guess you just read right over this part: " eBay didn't have to do ANYTHING."  Could have just slapped it right on top, but didn't.

No, I saw that part. I guess my definition of the "high road" is not a half measure.

[Lightning55]

1 hour ago, manetteska said:

No, I saw that part. I guess my definition of the "high road" is not a half measure.

It can't be considered a half measure.  They swept up a few crumbs (if any at all, none from me) when they could have taken the whole loaf. 

They could have increased their gross by whatever % the sales tax is, but instead negated it.  And if there's no tax, they are eating 5%.  You are totally ignoring that end of the spectrum.  But we'll continue to disagree, I guess.  No harm in that.

I really hate defending eBay, not really trying to.  Defending more the math behind it.  I should just let people erroneously slam eBay for this, since they deserve slamming in general.

[Ryan.]

15 hours ago, Lightning55 said:

I really hate defending eBay,