[tigoCeree]

I recently put 4 items up to sell on eBay and have sold them except one which is still waiting for payment. I can view the invoice of my recent activity and can see that the insertion fee for each item is 10p but then there is also a final value fee which I have no idea what is for but can only guess that they're taking a cut of what I earned for themselves?

I never realised this before as I don't often sell stuff on eBay (due to being stung by scammers in the past) but if I had known eBay took such a large amount I wouldn't have bothered. I sold Buzz (PS3 game) for about £45 and eBay have taken over £4 for themselves
I'm also pretty pi$$ed off that I opened a 'no payment received' problem with one item as the buyer hasn't paid for it but eBay have happily taken their cut of the earnings that I haven't even received yet - WTF?!

[numinertyuesk]

Yup.
Ebay will charge you a flat fee (Listing fee) depending on what your listing price was. Sometimes they offer free listing deals, or if you list an auction starting under $1 there is no fee, on most if not all, categories.

Additionally every item that is sold, a "Final Value Fee" which is a percentage of the actual selling price, is also tacked on. As far as I can remember, Ebay has always functioned this way.

The thing that can be really frustrating is when Ebay starts to get involved with shipping. Telling you they have the right to dictate how much you're allowed to charge. Which i'v found has sometimes been actually less than what the actual cost was. How is that fair??

But then again it was designed to protect buyers from being over-charged for shipping. But how does it help the seller when it cost then $13 to ship, but Ebay said you were only allowed to collect up to $7. I dunno i'm sure it's worked out better now, but I just say "Free shipping" now

[kabelshik]

Yeah you're right - I have seen some things that are way overpriced for shipping but when I come to sell an item it always limits the price I can have for shipping despite not taking into account the cost of buying the packaging nor maybe fuel costs for getting to a post office.

I emailed eBay about my problem and they showed my how to 'take action' in the resolution centre of my account to be able to state that I did not receive money for my item and then can relist it. The website is a mess though - totally cluttered and impossible to find the more important parts. Complete dog sh** I think is the best way to describe it.

[rammossyAcron]

How else do you think they earn money? I spend more of less nothing on insertion fee's. They take about 10% for most items.

[serius_06]

i have an open complaint with the DTI about ebay and the new shipping policy , as they force you to charge less than the real shipping costs

[Sdinozes]

Not only do they dictate shipping costs but they've recently begun to take a cut of that as well. Every year they find a new way of screwing over the sellers for just a little bit more.

[Knqzjbmf]

How else do you think they earn money? I spend more of less nothing on insertion fee's. They take about 10% for most items.

Through adverts and the massive amount of (small) fees for listing ...

With all the money they make from sellers I thought they'd be a half-decent company

[largonioulurI]

How else do you think they earn money? I spend more of less nothing on insertion fee's. They take about 10% for most items.

They probably earn more from advertisements than Facebook.

[Zavdpacq]

I was shocked to see this thread wasn't from 1998.

[Oberjej]

I was shocked to see this thread wasn't from 1998.

I was.

I don't see that many adverts on eBay to be honest, but it's obviously hot space for advertising.

Recently I had a dispute with a buyer over a phone I sold, in the end the buyer got refunded and I got the phone returned, then I got refunded as well. So, eBay must have lost out (by £75 as it happens) if they refunded the both of us. I now have new-found respect for eBay.

[TEFSADDERFISA]

They take about 10% now which I think is too much....

I remember when it used to be about 6.5% which sounds about fair...

10% is a lot tbh... For a £1000 sale they will be taking £100....

Obviously they are going to take a fee... They are not a charity... But I think 10% is taking the p**s somewhat and if they put it above 10% I think I will have to find another place to sell things.

[ttiokjbnhjjillp]

I've stopped using EBay for exactly the sorts of reasons mentioned. The shipping workaround did need fixing - as people were listing items with a low price (to reduce EBay's cut) but then charging huge shipping charges. However pushing shipping fees below actual cost is not cool.

[leangarance]

What are the local auction busineeses charging for you guys?

[Garry Hovard]

Current Balance: £261.76

Oh and harlequin what items are they making you charge too little on for postage?

[JonnLeejsp]

went to sell some boxed CE`s of pc games - they said it was £3 postage for a 2 kilo box......