eBay private seller fees - wonder if I may be in bother down the line?

B0bbyEwing

Reasonably recently I took advantage of eBay sending me an offer of £1 max final value fee. 

Today I received another offer - 80% off variable selling fees. I thought I better have a look to see what the fees are since I have minimum amounts I'm willing to accept on certain items whereas others can go for whatever they go for.

Reading here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fees-private-sellers?id=4822 I should be charged 12.8% +30p.

I sold an item for £18.00 all in, so that's £2.30 FVF +30p = £2.60 eBay take from me.

But when I look at the sale:



It says 10.67%.

Wondering if it was due to item category somehow or maybe value I looked at some other listings I had




10.67% across the board.

I only sell here & there so I'm hoping some more experienced sellers can explain this. Are eBay likely to come knocking for more cash through some kind of error?

And moving forward from this, I have set amounts some items need to make profit so don't know what to work off now. 12.8%? 10.67%?
for example my wife has a few pairs of shoes where she wont accept less than £30. That is by the way, her pocketing £30, not selling for £30 then eBay take their cut so she gets £20something.

Spoonie_Turtle

10.67% looks like before VAT to get to 12.8%

B0bbyEwing

Spoonie_Turtle said:

10.67% looks like before VAT to get to 12.8%

Thank you.

Easy when you know how

Spoonie_Turtle

B0bbyEwing said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

10.67% looks like before VAT to get to 12.8%

Thank you.

Easy when you know how

Oh goodness, I don't actually know the ins and outs of how fees work, it was just sheer fluke looking at figures and it dawned on me to check on the calculator if 10.67% x 1.2 really was 12.8% or not  
(So, 'looks like' but needs someone else to confirm whether it really is that or if there's something else!)

B0bbyEwing

Spoonie_Turtle said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

10.67% looks like before VAT to get to 12.8%

Thank you.

Easy when you know how

Oh goodness, I don't actually know the ins and outs of how fees work, it was just sheer fluke looking at figures and it dawned on me to check on the calculator if 10.67% x 1.2 really was 12.8% or not  
(So, 'looks like' but needs someone else to confirm whether it really is that or if there's something else!)

Hmm, why do you do x1.2?

Suppose there's more than 1 way to skin a cat but here was my approach:

0.2 (vat 20%) x 10.67 = 2.134. 
2.134 + 10.67 = 12.80(%) ... matches what it should be.


I don't talk in +VAT you see so it catches me out when people do.
Like where I work. I always hear them telling the customer, that'll be £500. Customer goes oh that's not a bad price. 
Then they go to pay & say hang on you told me it was £500, that says £600.

Yeah +VAT.

Likewise payslips. I don't bother with gross, I only ever look at net. I can't spend gross.

Spoonie_Turtle

So starting amount + VAT = 120% of it.
Starting amount is 100% of itself, or x1
VAT = 20%, or x0.2
Add together = x1.2

If you've got the price including VAT to start and wanted to work out what it is without the VAT, ÷ 1.2


[Or, 120% = 6x20% so you could
÷ 6 x 5 to find the amount without VAT, and
÷ 5 x 6 to add VAT on top of an amount.]

I always taught much better with visual demonstrations though so my apologies if none of that made sense!

Edit: I've just reread your post and your way of working it out is basically the same thing as x1.2, just in two steps

I don't usually think in VAT either, it was just a thought knowing that eBay is a business and it might be one possibility.

TOP_CAT

Forgetting all the figures,Vat and maths ...

It says total fees at the bottom were £1.00 on both sales ....that seems correct to me ?.

If your selling items under £20 the current 80% off promotion (which works out using your total selling cost minus the  2.56% FVF plus .30p) is ideal if you get it .

I find with the 80% offer just subtract 2.56% plus subtract the .30p and thats what ebay takes .

Otherwise you can use these to calculate sales if you prefer 
https://finalfeecalc.co.uk/
https://www.ebayfeescalculator.com/uk-ebay-calculator/

B0bbyEwing

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I always taught much better with visual demonstrations though so my apologies if none of that made sense!

Edit: I've just reread your post and your way of working it out is basically the same thing as x1.2, just in two steps

I don't usually think in VAT either, it was just a thought knowing that eBay is a business and it might be one possibility.

Hey no need to apologise. 

I'll be sticking to my way though after reading yours

I suppose it depends how you were taught. I was always told a percent of something, just switch out the word of & stick in a multiplication. Turn your percent in to a decimal & away you go so that's just the way that stuck with me from there onwards. 

End of the day, I don't suppose it matters how you get there, just so long as you get there

TripleH

The States catches me out with adding tax at the end. I like going round supermarkets adding up as I go along.

Re VAT, a hobnob has no VAT because it is an essential food but a chocolate hobnob is a luxury because of chocolate (if I remember the anecdote correctly).

martindow

TripleH said:

The States catches me out with adding tax at the end. I like going round supermarkets adding up as I go along.

Re VAT, a hobnob has no VAT because it is an essential food but a chocolate hobnob is a luxury because of chocolate (if I remember the anecdote correctly).

Deciding what rate of VAT to apply can be complex and make a lot of difference to companies if they can persuade HMRC tht they are zero rated.  Here is the famous Jaffa cake case

https://www.astonshaw.co.uk/news/jaffa-cake-tax/

B0bbyEwing

martindow said:

Deciding what rate of VAT to apply can be complex 

That's another one. 

I remember dealing with a member of the public in my job & I saw their purchase sheet. The VAT charged seemed weirdly low for the amount they'd paid.

I brought it up with one of the bosses. 

First time I ever got told about fuel being a different rate & this wasn't that many years ago either. I'd have been perhaps early 30s. Had never known about this before.