eBay and Etsy Charge Sellers Higher Fees during the Holidays

by: terry55

Don't forget about the 12% fee ebay charges on sale tax paid by the buyer. Little by little, ebay and the USPS are nailing up the coffin on small sellers.
Ebay doesn't even have to increase fee's, USPS gives them a raise with every postage increase.
Hate to say it but if it hadn't been for the virus, ebay would be dead by now and with all the increased rates from them all, I figure I have 2 maybe 3 years and there won't be enough profit to sell online anymore.

by: The End

Nobody needs Etsy and Ebay and they know it.

by: toolguy

@The End

"Nobody needs Etsy and Ebay and they know it"

eBay has been 90% of my income for the last 21 years!

I needed eBay! They may of not needed me but I needed them. . . . . .

The ride is finally coming to an end, I no longer "need" eBay since I started collecting SS. . . .

by: toolguy

The Post Office is dropping the ball.

I got a Leatherman from Mercari in a 1st class package that weighted 15 oz., the seller only paid 4 oz. postage.

I got a Leatherman from eBay in a Medium Flat Rate box with 15 oz of 1st class postage.

I'm so tempted to short change the postage just to see what happens.

I

by: pace306

"Nobody needs Etsy and Ebay and they know it"

eBay has been 90% of my income for the last 21 years!

You are SQUARELY in the minority - but your post was off topic and none of us here will get baited into it.

The issue HERE is eBay and now Etsys "original sin" of charging FVFs (of any type) on shipping.

Boo hoo if people figured out how to go around eBays original idea of FVFs being only on the item - ie selling an item for 99 cents plus $100 shipping.

MAYBE ask the "brain trust" Pierre why he came up with that idea - but its not the point.

Once (like in any horror film) you let eBay "in", it never leaves and only haunts you.

They dont deserve ANY FVFs on shipping - McDonalds charges you for the burger/soda/fries, NOT how many ketchup packets you use nor how many napkins you use.

But some people here (some here who will remain nameless), will say "I dont like it but theres nothing I can do so too bad", or the ever popular "its their ball game so its their rules" and since they roll over on eBays bad behaviors - the rest of us are stuck with it.

Yet people still complain when people try to "cheat" eBay by making off site sales - do unto thee but not to me. Cheating sellers is ok but cheating eBay is not.

eBay sells your listing data - every get a commission check? Every time they make you change the listing specifics - is it for themselves of for their customers? And why should sellers "work for free" - I dont ever get a 1040 from eBay - they seem to think sellers work FOR THEM (when they are just a venue).

So we are here again - another associated cost goes up and the seller gets screwed - thank you eBay, thank you Pierre, thank you DW, thank you Ionne, thank you Tool (for single handedly keeping eBay relevant in the ecommerce scene!)

by: Snapped

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  But even he know there’s no such thing as “free shipping”.  

by: toolguy

@pace306

"They dont deserve ANY FVFs on shipping - McDonalds charges you for the burger/soda/fries, NOT how many ketchup packets you use nor how many napkins you use."

Are you really in business for yourself??????

McDonald's has factored in the price of a ketchup packet & napkin into the price of each food item. . . . .

by: fusgeyer

Nothing is free, that includes shipping. FVFs on shipping are a thing online sellers must live with. Instead of changing your pricing with every USPS increase, look into other options. FedEx wants my business really bad, they call me at least once a week begging for my business. UPS is a much better choice for almost anything over an 8oz envelope.

Here's a thought. Keep enough profit built into your items so that you can absorb a temporary holiday or weather increase in shipping costs. If you do not change your prices and use a flat shipping rate, then Etsy and eBay do not get more of your $$ with every postage price increase. Flat rate shipping is better for you and better for your customers.

by: Stone Cutter

Eventually, everything inflates. This is why WHAT WE SELL MATTERS. When having $140 in profits per product, a gradual increase in postal prices are nothing for my shop to absorb....I can easily absorb those costs into my product prices, and my customers wouldn't flinch.

by: pace306

Tool - yes they do but that’s not the point is it?

If prices in McDonalds rise (I wouldn’t know as I don’t eat there) it’s based on the cost of goods.


eBay doesn’t have a cost of goods on sellers items.

by: toolguy

@pace306

"eBay doesn’t have a cost of goods on sellers items."

Sure they do!

Every employee at eBay is a "cost" of doing business, when wages go up so do fees. . . .Costs are not only a physical item, it's the labor to sell that item also.

Just like you expect to get paid for your time so does eBay!

by: pace306

"eBay doesn’t have a cost of goods on sellers items."

Sure they do!

eBays "cost" per employee has NOTHING to do with how many sellers OR buyers are on the platform at any given time.

eBay employees check in at ___ o'clock, do nothing, then leave at 4 or 5 PM (gotta hit the gym before going to Walkers)

If an eBay employee makes $100K a year being a thief, if I leave they dont make LESS and if my friend down the street joins eBay they DONT make more ...

So your point makes ZERO sense to me.

COST OF GOODS - is the cost to acquire and purchase the item being sold - along with its associated costs - and thats NOT cost employees for eBay since NONE OF THEM have anything to do with getting those items.

Ask any accountant - as Ive got 4 in the family (CPA's who work for top 100 or higher firms) - I tend to believe them.

by: Snapped

“ This is why WHAT WE SELL MATTERS…”

Sure does.  Only, not everybody can sell the same thing.  And not everybody is seeking the same thing.  That would be a very…interesting ….marketplace.  The ‘competition’ alone would be brutal.

No, folks buy all sorts of different things.  In all sorts of different ways, with all sorts of different ‘buyer experience’ expectations, even if there are baseline ‘standards’ expected for a given transaction.  

Point is, what ‘works’ for one, doesn’t ‘work’ for all.  And it shouldn’t have to.  One big reason shoe stores sell different sizes, instead of just one, and the mall has different stores if you don’t want shoes.

What we sell matters.  So does how we sell it.  But one size doesn’t fit all….

“When having $140 in profits per product, a gradual increase in postal prices are nothing for my shop to absorb....”

…for example, there are at least a half dozen (maybe more?) businesses out there who are perfectly successful and profitable as a business, selling product folks want/need, yet by nature of ‘their’ particular niche, would never even expect to reach the exampled profit.  Their ‘product’ doesn’t even sell for that much.

And they are not likely to be accepting of the ‘business plan’ that advocates ‘absorbing’ any regularly occurring decrease in profit, no matter how much their margin might ‘allow’.

Which, full circle, is WHY “everything inflates”.

by: Sierra

Ina, the title of this article is very misleading! Etsy & eBay make more money due to postal rate increases (temporary or not), but neither site has actually increased the fees which they charge sellers during the holiday season, thus they are not technically charging sellers higher fees. A better title for this article would have been something like "eBay and Etsy Make More Money From Sellers during the Holidays."