Are these eBay fees correct?

ripplyuk

I've recently sold a couple of items on eBay for the first time. The first item was in October, for £51 and the second in November for £46. I haven't put anything else up for sale. My eBay account shows an offer for '20 free listings per month' though I don't really understand what this means, in terms of all the different types of fees.

I was charged fees on 31st Oct, 1st Dec and now another for 31st Dec. Each time for around £5. Does this sound right? I find it a bit strange that they are taking another payment today when I haven't used eBay since November. It is listed as an 'automatic monthly payment'. I'm starting to worry that this is going to continue every month.

soolin

ripplyuk wrote: »

I've recently sold a couple of items on eBay for the first time. The first item was in October, for £51 and the second in November for £46. I haven't put anything else up for sale. My eBay account shows an offer for '20 free listings per month' though I don't really understand what this means, in terms of all the different types of fees.

I was charged fees on 31st Oct, 1st Dec and now another for 31st Dec. Each time for around £5. Does this sound right? I find it a bit strange that they are taking another payment today when I haven't used eBay since November. It is listed as an 'automatic monthly payment'. I'm starting to worry that this is going to continue every month.

as a private seller you pay 10% FVFs on both the item cost and the postage, so overall (assuming your figures above were inclusive of postage) your fees would have been £9.70 and ebay seem to charge quite a few weeks afterwards. Add to that any uplift charges like extra gallery pics or a reserve/ BIN option and you can easily run up a real bill.

You can check what you have been charged for by looking at your invoice which will be fully itemised.

Techno

Don't forget PayPal will also take their cut but this will be on your PayPal account. I don't know how you guys who sell as a business make any money nowadays with the fees that are charged.

RFW

Techno wrote: »

Don't forget PayPal will also take their cut but this will be on your PayPal account. I don't know how you guys who sell as a business make any money nowadays with the fees that are charged.

All businesses pay expenses. Ebay and Amazon are the biggest shop windows in the world, with ready access to millions of instant paying customers, well worth paying for at a fraction of the cost of a high street shop rental. Apart from Ebay's cut on postage, overall fees haven't changed that much since they began.
It's surprisingly easy to make money if you know what you're doing.

soolin

Techno wrote: »

Don't forget PayPal will also take their cut but this will be on your PayPal account. I don't know how you guys who sell as a business make any money nowadays with the fees that are charged.

Unfortunately all forms of selling cost money, I'm looking at a retail outlet at the moment , just a small cabinet type affair managed on my behalf and am looking at about £15 per small shelf with a minimum of 3 to be booked. On top of that I would pay 10-15% commission on all my sales made at that venue.

The last time I sold at a bricks and mortar auction I lost around 40% of my selling price to various fees, so ebay looks rather good compared to that.

I would love my private sales to take off, I do sell a few things every month via other means but it is tough going without paying a lot to get advertising or links to a website.