So I just started selling on eBay as of like 2 weeks ago. Got some listings up, but Ebay takes 9% of your item's profit if it sells. But how big of a cut would that be exactly? Has anyone had any experience with Ebay's 9% cut when selling on Ebay? Is it a huge take from what you make selling an item?
The problem with EBay is the percentage they take on top of the fees and then you are generally hit with more fees from PayPal. I no longer sell on eBay because of this and have been able to do quite well on Craigslist. 9% is nothing compared to how much EBay really makes off of you. Take your selling price and subtract all fess and then make that into a percentage.
If I remember correctly, they charge you to host your photo on eBay. unless you use Photobucket or something like that. They charge you to list the item. They charge you if the item sells. They charge you for a gallery photo next to the item listing so that it stands out in searches. There are probably other charges but those are the ones I remember. And then Paypal takes their cut. You used to be able to treat eBay as a big yard sale and sell an unwanted book or CD for $5 but with all the charges, now you have to sell more expensive items just to make a profit.
I never shop on Ebay. I looked at the site years ago for a computer, and found out all the places were selling for the price that I could buy a new one. So, I tried a few more times for deals, but gave up. I like Amazon however. I think 9% is a high price to pay as a seller.
I have a similar problem with a site that I use for selling as well. One solution I came up with was reducing the price of the item and adding it to the postage/shipping cost. That way the websites commission is reduced, I pay a lower and the customer gets the item at the same price. Sometimes it draws more views as the advertised price is generally lower than other similar items.
Well, they now have an option where you can host your photo on there for free. And I skipped on all of the additional "make your ad more attractive" options. So that saved me some coin. As for fees, so far I just owe $2.70 in fees for not getting a free insertion fee for keywords or something. But I didn't know paypal takes a cut as well. Hmm...if this experience turns out badly I won't sell on ebay anymore. Hoping for the best though. Thanks for the input thus far. More input is welcome also.
Nick2011 does bring up something though. Ebay does give you 50 free listings a month. There's nothing fancy about it (you can't spice up the page to make it look more attractive) but it gets the job done. But I do think that the 9% is a bit high. I do sell things on ebay and I don't really mind paying the fee if I'm going to make a substantial amount but it's a bit harsh for those auctions where you hardly get any money in the first place (no profit at all). I'm just going to wait and see how things go though.
This is becoming more of a problem for my ebay business. As time continues I have noticed all the fees and the loss in profit is substantial when working with smaller numbers. At first I thought buying and fixing ipods on ebay would be a good idea to try out. I'm not saying it was a bad idea, but it didn't exactly work out like I had hoped. I have been losing too much profit to the fees and I am looking for a solution. By the time I have the ipod fixed up and sold, I just about break even.
It been a long time since I have sold anything on eBay. I thought the flat fee was implemented to make life easier for the seller. I didn't realize how many hidden or special fees eBay has. Yes, PayPal does take a percentage. It's the cost of doing business. I think eBay can still be profitable if you find the right niche.
For an example, last October I sold something for $175 with $11.95 shipping. I got hit with over $17 in fees between eBay and Paypal, including a % of my shipping fees. Between that and sellers only being allowed to leave positive feedback for buyers, plus eBay owns Paypal which makes both fees feel like a real shaft, I'm not that thrilled with ebay anymore.
eBay is known to not be as friendly to sellers as it is to buyers. I know someone who started a business on eBay back in 1999 selling crafts and other small items, and he was doing pretty well at the start. But then, last year, he closed the business as it was no longer profitable for him to trade on eBay. The items he sold were of low value, so after paying the eBay charges and the PayPal charges for something he sold, he was barely able to even cover his costs. Pretty sad.
I agree about craiglist, although I haven't used it much to sell. I prefer listing my items (esp books) on amazon instead. Your listing is online for as long as it takes, which greatly helps. Some of the not-so-popular items just don't go in the 10-day cut-off time that ebay gives you, unless you relist or put it up for a BIN price for a longer period. I've not really compared the seller fees between ebay and amazon, but going by how ACSAPA puts it, I believe amazon probably charges less.
Have you tried Craiglist or looked into Amazon? I would guess that your profit margin is not all that as you buy the product, fix it and then have the fees. I really recommend Craigslist!
I do not sell on e-Bay, but from the various comments, a seller has to pay quite a lot to use the site. I was not aware that e-Bay owned paypal. Big double down factor.
Hi- do you use this strategy on ebay? if so, won't they still take their 9% cut? I'm not sure I understand what you are saying.
I have only purchased items from ebay. It does seem that all of the fees are excessive making it very difficult to make a profit for the small home based owner.
The fees on ebay for selling are quite literally insane. They might tell you they only charge 9 percent (which is actually quite a lot no matter how you look at it), but you also have to take in account the various fees you have to pay to put up a decent auction and the fees of paypal. All in all this makes for about 20 percent of the item's cost (unless it's really expensive). So I sell at amazon now, the fees are a lot smaller and the customer support is superior too.
I started selling on Ebay in 1998 when there were just a few categories. Those were the glory days! I made enough money is one year to pay for two years of my daughters college tuition! I once bought a book at Goodwill for a dime and sold it for $450! Now things have changed in Ebay land! The insertion fees are added on first, even if an item doesn't sell, but they are minimal. However, the final fees are killers! The fee is 9% PLUS paypal fees which are another 4% (I think that's right). It's much more difficult to turn a profit selling used or collectible items these days!
I didn't know eBay owned PayPal either! I have not sold anything on eBay but after reading about the fees and costs that they have now, it doesn't seem like a good place to try to sell something anymore. I am not sure what exactly that you are trying to sell but there are other options. For arts and crafts-there is Etsy, Artfire and Deviant Art. The type of product you are trying to sell may have websites that will help you sell it for a lot less cost involved than eBay.
This is what a lot of sellers do, especially during auctions. Something else I've noticed is that many, many sellers are allowed to link to their stores, which usually have lower prices than their eBay stores, because of the fees.
