MSE News: eBay sellers beware - its fees now eat into postage costs

RFW

campdave wrote: »

It's like Groundhog Day in here.

Just as entertaining as the movie too.

sukraine

What most people don't realise is that these fees apply to overseas postage as well. I have just sold two heavy items to the USA. I did not know they would sell to the USA so I couldn't price for that and they were on auction. The cost of sending two 3.5 kilos packages to the USA came to £68.00 with just £1.80 of that being for packaging. The rest I would pay to the couriers. I invoiced for this and paid fees of £6.80 to Ebay plus the £2.10 plus 3.4% to Paypal. The vases sold for £21.00. When I checked, this had happened on all overseas transactions so I made a loss on most of them as they were low value items with high cost postage to Australia and America. I have since had to stop selling to overseas customers on my auction listings as I don't have the psychic powers to know who will buy the item and in what country so I can't price for this. I refuse to put an item on that I would normally sell for £4.99 at £5 or £6 higher just because it might sell to Australia as this is unfair to UK buyers. Amazingly It worked out that Ebay got about 47% of the sale price on that transaction. How is that fair. I have found Ebay and asked how this can by fair but they have no answers. It's destroyed my little business as much of what I sold was to America, Australia and Japan but I can't afford this level of commission just because someone buys it abroad so having excluded overseas buyers I've just lost 50% of my trade overnight.

sukraine

Oh, the other bonus was that I put some of my postage prices up to try and get round this and then got a low score for postage and packing. Frankly Ebay haven't thought this out at all. The address for complaints by the way is Ebay Administration, Ebay Europe, P.O. Box 9473, Dublin 15, Ireland. The more people that write to complain the better in my opinion ad they are crippling small business who send anything heavy out or rely on overseas business and making a packet into the bargain.

sukraine

We have the commission on all international postage, which means I have stopped selling overseas, which is soul destroying. Some of my best customers are in the USA and Australia but It's no longer worth my while selling low cost, heavy items as I up to 50% of my money now.

sukraine

This is based on the assumption that everyone is selling small items. I sell china and glass, which is heavy and needs a lot of packing and I am paying enormous amount of commission on postage, the worst being international. It's becoming unprofitable experience frankly for anyone that sells anything bigger than CDs or ink cartridges.

RFW

sukraine wrote: »

What most people don't realise is that these fees apply to overseas postage as well. I have just sold two heavy items to the USA. I did not know they would sell to the USA so I couldn't price for that and they were on auction. The cost of sending two 3.5 kilos packages to the USA came to £68.00 with just £1.80 of that being for packaging. The rest I would pay to the couriers. I invoiced for this and paid fees of £6.80 to Ebay plus the £2.10 plus 3.4% to Paypal. The vases sold for £21.00. When I checked, this had happened on all overseas transactions so I made a loss on most of them as they were low value items with high cost postage to Australia and America. I have since had to stop selling to overseas customers on my auction listings as I don't have the psychic powers to know who will buy the item and in what country so I can't price for this. I refuse to put an item on that I would normally sell for £4.99 at £5 or £6 higher just because it might sell to Australia as this is unfair to UK buyers. Amazingly It worked out that Ebay got about 47% of the sale price on that transaction. How is that fair. I have found Ebay and asked how this can by fair but they have no answers. It's destroyed my little business as much of what I sold was to America, Australia and Japan but I can't afford this level of commission just because someone buys it abroad so having excluded overseas buyers I've just lost 50% of my trade overnight.

I looked at this and initially agreed that it was steep and unfair. Then again not everyone sells like that, £21 item, £68 postage it's not the best business model. You could always use bricks and mortar auction houses, there'll be less work involved for you, the commission may end up being more.

I suspect we'll be seeing more posts like this for a while from those who haven't read updates and/or forums. If you are running a business that involves Ebay or Amazon or any third party, not keeping up with their pricing and policy changes is sheer folly.

It is also currently free to list on Ebay.com, so you could experiment with US sales direct.

sequence

Edit: actually they don't.... But they charge hefty fees on the sale price...

RFW

sukraine wrote: »

This is based on the assumption that everyone is selling small items. I sell china and glass, which is heavy and needs a lot of packing and I am paying enormous amount of commission on postage, the worst being international. It's becoming unprofitable experience frankly for anyone that sells anything bigger than CDs or ink cartridges.

Not quite, but it's always been harder to sell larger single items. I'm often offered many different types of things to sell often at low prices. I have a mental list of items that I won't even consider at any price, large glass items are top of that list. There are way too many potential problems for it to be viable.

sukraine

RFW wrote: »

I looked at this and initially agreed that it was steep and unfair. Then again not everyone sells like that, £21 item, £68 postage it's not the best business model. You could always use bricks and mortar auction houses, there'll be less work involved for you, the commission may end up being more.

I suspect we'll be seeing more posts like this for a while from those who haven't read updates and/or forums. If you are running a business that involves Ebay or Amazon or any third party, not keeping up with their pricing and policy changes is sheer folly.

It is also currently free to list on Ebay.com, so you could experiment with US sales direct.

I sell what I call "my leftovers" on auction and usually get good money for them but they are odd, often large items. I've never had a problem selling them, quite the opposite in fact. I have been selling retro antique and vintage glass and china on ebay for three years and until now have had no problems and made good money on the volume of items I sell but when I can't predict my costs because Ebay move the goalposts and I can't predict who my customers are going to be then I have a problem. I sell stuff that collectors want and often it's worth nothing in this country but someone abroad just wants it and will pay for it and whatever the postage is, for me it's been a good earner but it's at an end thanks to these changes as the starting prices will have to be too high and will put buyers off. I just wonder how many other people have been caught the same. It seems that all of you are doing great because you sell small multiples but that's not everyone on Ebay and I know a lot of people who have been hit by this because they sell large individual items. I have already found one better option anyway and my own website will go live in a couple of months, so no more Ebay misery for me. Oh and by the way, I do read the posts and emails, I was actually told by and ebay member of staff that they wouldn't be charging the fees on overseas postage, which they don't in the USA apparently. They just changed their minds or the guy didn't know what he was talking about. I do run a business on there too, you know, obviously I'm not the all time expert that RFW is but I was doing ok up until now. I think I've had enough of Ebay for a while and will pursue other options. It's never good to have all your eggs in one basket anyway.

RFW

sukraine wrote: »

Oh and by the way, I do read the posts and emails, I was actually told by and ebay member of staff that they wouldn't be charging the fees on overseas postage, which they don't in the USA apparently.

As far as I'm aware they do charge on international post in the US, at least their calculator on .com works out the fvf on post. Other comments noted, glad you've seen that Ebay is not your best option and that you acknowledge my wisdom:p