The EBAY fees were killing me
By princessta
@princessta (88)
United States
July 22, 2007 5:54pm CST
I had a lot of good and bad experiences with auctioning. I had to recently cancel my store managing account with EBAY because the fees were depleting my funds. It seemed like I paid more fees than actually making profit. They were charging $15.99 per month for Selling Manager Pro, $6.95 per month for Sales Report, at least $0.95 to list my sells, 5.25% on face value fees, $0.05-$0.10 for Buy It Now prices, $0.15 for additional pictures and more. When I finally backed out of EBAY, I ended up owing $108.95 for the month of July 07. I recently switched to another Auction store which doesn't charge as many fees. They don't charge for listing your sells, you can add up to 4 free pictures, they only charge $1 per month for being a store manager, and they put $120 credit into your auction account at signup. If anyone is interested in getting information about this auction, you are welcome to invite me as a MyLot friend and I can show you all the ins and outs of auctioning. God bless.
3 people like this
9 responses
@princessta (88)
• United States
23 Jul 07
Yep, that's why I had to switch to a better auction site. They don't charge all those fees.
Thanks.
@princessta (88)
• United States
23 Jul 07
Thank you Shaun72 for explaining that so well. What happens is when you list your item you get charge insertion fees according to the price you insert in your listing, $0.15 for each additional photo, Buy It Now fees, and more. When you sell the item, you get charged 5.25% of the amount that you sell you item at. In other words, if you sell an item for $100, EBAY will get $5.25 and you get the rest. Basically you are being charged for almost every single thing you do. However, I am with a different auction site that charges 0 fees for listing your items, you get up to four additional pictures for free, and only 2% face value fees. They will also put $120 credit into your account for joining.
God bless.
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
23 Jul 07
I have noticed that the ebay fees are a little out of control. However, do you get as much business with this other site? I am thinking of opening an ebay store as I have done well with just selling stuff up until now. I don't want to lose a lot of money but I want to sell stuff fairly fast.
@princessta (88)
• United States
23 Jul 07
Many people have sold and made major profits from this auction site. The auction administration is really into helping the sellers make the profits that rightfully belong to them.
I have requested that you be my MyLot friend. Please send me a personal message and I will show you all the ins and outs of the different auction sites.
God bless.
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
25 Jul 07
The fees are not so bad if you don't use the extras. I have enough reports without paying for them and did not need the Manager Pro. I list things for 2 cents each for 30 days and that works really well for me. Of course I would not mind that auction site you speak of as long as it is in the USA.
@venshida (4836)
• United States
8 Aug 07
I don't have a Ebay store, but I am thinking about it. Is it possible some of those items are optional? I know when I use the buy it now feature it cost more so I stop doing it when I list stuff. I think Ebay is good because it has a lot of traffic compared to the other sites.
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
26 Jul 07
I'm sticking with eBay for now but the fees are killing me too. I've pretty much stopped using the gallery picture on all of my auctions. It doesn't seem to make a bit of difference and it's amazing how much you can save by not using gallery photos. Also, I do my own html and insert my own photos so I never have to pay a photo fee even though I use 4-7 pictures per listing on average. However, I still run high on the insert fees because I use a lot of Buy It Now auctions.
@Gemmygirl1 (2867)
• Australia
24 Jul 07
They must do things differently there to here in Oz, my basic store is only $9.95 AUD a month, most of my listings are inventory only which only costs 11 cents a month :) Also, i have ALWAYS been refunded my listing fee if my auction item hasn't sold.
I think Buy It Now options are a waste of time, if you want a set amount for an item do a fixed price listing not an auction with a BIN.
Unless you're selling a LOT of things in 1 auction then more than 1 photo really isn't necessary & the first photo is free anyway.
I have signed up with another auction site as well, it's called Oztion & you can buy everything dirt cheap there coz there just aren't many people using the site so sellers usually only end up selling their items for their starting bid.
I was going to open a store there but didn't see a point, not enough people were going to go there & see my auctions.
My monthly eBay bill is usually only about $40 AUD so really, it's not all that bad, especially since i will make more than that amount a month in sales!
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
23 Jul 07
I sell on eBay as well. I will give you some hints. Use photobucket to list pictures on eBay that way you don't get charged for pictures.
Don't do buy it now. They charge money.
Don't have Sales report nor Selling Pro. I am not even sure what these are as I don't sell that much on eBay.
If you do the above you will only have to pay their list fees and then the commission they take out.
Pablo
@fullmetal1 (129)
• United States
24 Jul 07
Yes,ebay eats alot of oney up! i have s basic sore,but i still end up payig more in fees! i was selling an item for 50 cents but it const me a dollar to list then final value then paypal took theirs out so i ended up owing! its outrag. i know of one plce to sell where its super cheap and your things stay listed for abot 4 months. the only thing is all good haveot be handcrafted. i,d love to find someplace to sell that didnt cost so much
