Ebay buyer protection fee is confusing me

robsithninja

I want to sell an item for £99 including buyer fee with free delivery.

I work it out that I have to sell the item for £94.52 to get a £99 total.

7% of the item price up to £20 (7% of £20) = £1.40
4% of any portion of the item price from £20 (4% of £74.52) = £2.98
Total buyer fee £1.40 + £2.98 + 10p = £4.48
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Total price £94.52 + £4.48 = £99
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But why is it that when I list it on ebay for £94.52 the buyer protection fee is £4.46.  I'm guessing I've done something wrong in the 7% and 4% section.  Any advice as to where I have gone wrong with my calculations would be greatly appreciated.

steviebabes

When you list there is a box above the price you want showing how much the buyer will pay. Just tweek the price until you get to £99.00.

robsithninja

steviebabes said:

When you list there is a box above the price you want showing how much the buyer will pay. Just tweek the price until you get to £99.00.

I do tweak the price to get my total but I just want to know why my calculation is different to ebays.  With the old fees I always knew in advance how much ebay would be taking from me.

soolin

Probably just rounding, as above I wouldn't stress about it just put a price in and see what ebay say the buyer will pay. Alternatively if you want £99 for something just put that as your start price and don't worry about the fact the buyer sees an 'odd' amount. Half the things I have on watch now turn up from private sellers and they are usually odd amounts - i can't say it worries me at all.

savergrant

robsithninja said:

I want to sell an item for £99 including buyer fee with free delivery.

I work it out that I have to sell the item for £94.52 to get a £99 total.

7% of the item price up to £20 (7% of £20) = £1.40
4% of any portion of the item price from £20 (4% of £74.52) = £2.98
Total buyer fee £1.40 + £2.98 + 10p = £4.48
-------------------------------------------
Total price £94.52 + £4.48 = £99
-------------------------------------------

But why is it that when I list it on ebay for £94.52 the buyer protection fee is £4.46.  I'm guessing I've done something wrong in the 7% and 4% section.  Any advice as to where I have gone wrong with my calculations would be greatly appreciated.

I don't think the 7% and 4% figures quoted by ebay are fully accurate, as I often find the actual fee to be less than estimated. I suspect there are thresholds, after all what is 4% of 52p? 2.04p

se2020

It's because of the 10p flat fee.
Was different before when it was 70p.

The 10p element of the price does not have the buyer protection fee on it so it's actually 7% of £19.90 and then the amount over £20 drops by 10p as well so 4% of £74.42.
Then round both down and it always comes out 2p cheaper. 
Or 1p if the item is under £20

savergrant

se2020 said:

It's because of the 10p flat fee.
Was different before when it was 70p.

The 10p element of the price does not have the buyer protection fee on it so it's actually 7% of £19.90 and then the amount over £20 drops by 10p as well so 4% of £74.42.
Then round both down and it always comes out 2p cheaper. 
Or 1p if the item is under £20

That's not what ebay says. The 10p is added after the calculation so the bpf should be 7% of £20 + 4% of £74.52 + 10p. This is how ebay say they calculate the fee, but I've just tried revising a listing and both prices quoted return buyer pays prices 2p under;

UK-based private seller listing a coffee mug with an item price of £5
Item price set by the seller	£5
Buyer Protection fee (7% of £5, + £0.10)	£0.45
Price that buyer sees for the listing	£5.45 + postage
Seller earnings*	£5

 

UK-based private seller listing wireless headphones with an item price of £20
Item price set by the seller	£20
Buyer Protection fee (7% of £20, + £0.10)	£1.50
Price that buyer sees for the listing	£21.50 + postage
Seller earnings*	£20

GadgetGuru

Its a buyer fee - eBay are taking from the buyer, not from the seller. But this is a perfect example - sellers are having to lower their prices to take account for the buyers fee - hence it's pretty much still a seller fee, just wrapped up differently!

martindow

Don't complain - it seems you are 2p better off than you thought!

steveE2

It's not a 10p flat fee,it's up to 10p and currently it seems eBay are charging 8p

savergrant

steveE2 said:

It's not a 10p flat fee,it's up to 10p and currently it seems eBay are charging 8p

However in both their examples the stated fee is 10p, but if you list an item at either price they are undercharging by 2p. So it's actually a flat fee of 8p per item.