I see ebay raised their final value fee to 10%, then add the 10% fee to shipping plus the paypal fee? ouch
Actually the shipping cost was added in to prevent sellers from circumventing final value fees, and encorage free shipping (which makes sense, as buyers normally include shipping cost in their bidding). PayPal fee is not 10%, but 2.9% plus thirty cents. Regardless, eBay predicts lower earnings: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ebay-quarterly-revenue-climbs-14-202638421.html
I regularly sell on Ebay. Yes, the new 10% fee sucks. However, that 10% + 2.9% PayPal, and shipping is far less than the FMV minus the offer price at most local hobby shops. My only practical alternatives are Craigslist (too risky for my blood) or a local Coin Club auction which has minimal fees (although has a very small bidder pool). I keep stats on all my eBay sales. I regularly 'take-home' 79 to 85% of the sale price after all fees/shipping etc. The key is keeping shipping costs low and not adding tracking unnecessarily.
eBay is very convenient. Where else could you go and broadcast to millions of buyers for only a 10% commission? If you would like to save even more time selling coins feel free to visit a coin shop. They will offer ~50% for numismatic coins.
Interesting. For lower-value items ($50 or so), the new flat 10% rate is actually cheaper, although you'll still lose more on shipping. For larger items, up to $300 or so, the new rates are higher, but you can bring them back down to 7% with a store subscription -- and to make that pay off, you need to be doing $600-700/month of business. For items more expensive than that, the new policy is a rate hike, plain and simple. (Well, okay, if you bend over enough to maintain the "Top Seller" status, you get a 20% discount, bumping the numbers a bit more.) Sooner or later, I guess I have to start selling stuff (besides junk silver at coin shows). But eBay continues to work tirelessly to drive me toward other venues.
My experience shows that selling junk silver on eBay normally yields about 25% to 50% over melt (at least that's what happened in my case after unloading most of my silver back in December). So I find the 10% fee (actually less, as I get the 20% discount) a lot easier to swallow. Heck, I would have paid more in fees... where else can your auctions be seen by so people with more money than brains?
BTW, the 10% on shipping has been standard for a couple of years now. I find it irksome that eBay still has the policy in place that shipping can't be used to offset fees. So, essentially, you may as well make shipping "free" and add 115% of the shipping cost to your original price.
How can you add shipping fees if you dont know where the item will be shipped to? O WAIT MAYBE ITS OK IF YOU UP THE SHIPPING LIKE THE BUYER WILL BE IN CANADA BUT HE IS IN NORTH CAROLINA. Heck maybe hes a hometown guy and will do a pick up from you. AWWWWWWW no crying on those two points right.
They have a shipping calculator or you can give the potential buyer a quote if they ask and then make adjustments on the invoice. So if your buyer said he's from Canada but actually is in North Carolina you can just give the US rate on the invoice or issue a refund. You can also give a free local pickup option in the listing, just like you could offer overnight express service for a higher fee.
I live in Hawaii. Everything for me is Zone 8. If the person is local and willing to pick-up, I'll give them a discount for paying in cash, since I can skip the Paypal fee.
Ideally you can sell using buy-it-now and factor all the fees into your asking price, but I do mostly auction these days and am surprised at how high they can go sometimes.
You don't... but the buyer does, and if a seller offers free shipping, the smart bidder will consider this in his max bid. I no longer charge for shipping and start all my auctions at a dollar or two. Again, this for small lots of junk silver, selling in the $30 to $50 range, where USPS first class shipping in a bubble mailer with tracking costs $1.68 (3 oz). "Free shipping" is a win-win situation for buyer and seller when utilized in this scenario.
The last I knew, you could do calculated shipping in your listing. You enter the package dimensions and the service you want to use, and it'll calculate the shipping based on the buyer's address. I've never had much luck with that though. It was mostly on heavier items where I didn't want to get burned on shipping, but the high shipping price scares them off. I just offer free shipping now when I do list things, which isn't that often any more.
1st This not a For sale!! 2nd From the day I signed up on Cointalk I knew from to many Friends that this was 1 Site hands down the Best on the Web. there 100ths of top notch sellers here why waste $ Time @ eBay. just read signature lines @ Cointalk .
