Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by eddy skellern on July 15, 2020 at 2:40pm

Dont bother you will be ripped by e bay ,paypal and conmen buyers pretending they didnt arrive stick them in a decent auction and save yourself a lot of hassle 

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Permalink Reply by chris bedrum on July 15, 2020 at 3:07pm

Any platform you use charges fees - the fee total using Ebay/Paypal/USPS shipping is generally 20-25% of your sold price. Shipping/insuring to an auction house [time=money] (in addition to any other hoops you have to jump through going that route) and waiting months to get paid makes auction houses a no-go for me. That said, I also dont often sell pieces over 2K. Probably depends what youre selling and who the market is.

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Juice on July 15, 2020 at 3:35pm

Ebay charges 10% commision. Paypal is 2.9%  And most sellers make the buyers pay for shipping so...  Where do you get the 20-25% from? 

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Permalink Reply by marc e on July 15, 2020 at 5:30pm

its 13 percent on ebay all in.the buyer pays shipping and insurance and packing sdo u only deal with the 13 percent.

it really depends on the itiems an the value low end stuff auction houses wont touch.

i do all ebay and auction and here and facebook. 

ive done more bussinees with the virus than ever its been amazing. the numbers are great

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Permalink Reply by chris bedrum on July 15, 2020 at 3:38pm

1. Just an estimate BJ - youre at 13% without shipping/insurance and cost of materials. So say 15-20%? Anything under $100 makes that percentage diff. less and less meaningful too.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel S. on July 15, 2020 at 5:18pm

I am with Bruce.  Figure 13%.  My average sale price is probably $1200 or so.  I always get signature confirmation and typically use my FedEx account unless I am going across three zones. I generally expect the buyer to pay for entire cost of shipment less signature cost. When consigning with Heritage or RR Auction, I have a negotiated rate but generally tye buyer incurs substantial buyers premiums, taxes and shipping costs.  These all contribute to the net amount a buyer is willing to pay.  I consider ebay a viable alternative and have never lost or had to refund payment.  Just my experience.

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Permalink Reply by chris bedrum on July 15, 2020 at 5:29pm

The point of my post was to encourage Ebay over Auction Houses, not start a debate over the fees involved!

Which is why I mentioned it matters what is being sold and who the market is. Nobody sells in a vacuum - shipping, tax and materials to ship figure in to the final cost.

At $100, your 13% is $13. A rather negligible $7.00 difference from my 20% estimate (including shipping and materials).

All things being equal, 2 items priced at $10 will be sold by the guy offering free shipping 99% of the time. 

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Juice on July 15, 2020 at 7:10pm

Chris you first said that eBay charges 20-25% which is a big difference over 13% especially for big ticket items. Also you keep saying plus "shipping, tax, insurance" -- but THE BUYER pays those fees.  You are certainly allowed to give your opinion on eBay vs. auction houses -- but if you keep giving out wrong or misleading information people are going to call you out on it. 

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Permalink Reply by chris bedrum on July 15, 2020 at 7:27pm

Doesnt the buyer paying those fees raise the buyers FINAL COST? Hence, if Im selling the same item with free shipping, Im probably going to make that sale before you. Do you understand that? That happens all the time on Ebay with low dollar items. Did OP say they were only selling high dollar items?

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Permalink Reply by chris bedrum on July 15, 2020 at 7:30pm

My intent was never to be EXACT on the fees Ebay charges. The intent was to give the OP an ESTIMATED cost of doing business on the easiest, most streamlined platform available as opposed to auction houses.

Excuse me all to Hell for trying to help. Good thing we have internet police like you to expose the horrible crimes I have committed here.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on July 15, 2020 at 7:37pm

Don’t forget, eBay also takes 10% of the shipping cost in a fee and PayPal takes at least 4%.

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Permalink Reply by Gratefulphish on July 15, 2020 at 10:12pm

Personally, I mark up shipping, and use that to offset some of the combined fees.  Ebay is roughly 10%, and paypal is around 2.9%.  I usually charge $15.00 for shipping most standard posters, but that covers the tube ($4.00 alone) plus postage, insurance, kraft paper, tape, paper, etc, plus ebay grabbing 10% of the shipping fee as well.  So, I might net between $3-5, depending on value of the item and the insurance amount, which is the biggest variable.  But if it was a $100 item, I reduce my total net fees to under 10%.  I can live with that.  Waiting to see what this new managed payments garbage is going to be like.

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