Okay....

1. Sell privately if you can. It removes the eBay portion of the fees, and if everyone trusts eachother and their relevant mail systems, send the money by PayPal as a Gift. Us to US this also eliminates PayPal fees, but I don't know what the frequency, and upper/lower limits are on the gifting of money.

2. As a seller, don't ever offer free shipping (even if it is built in to your cost). By offering free postage you are in effect offering to pay eBay fees on your postage costs, which you would not be paying if you sold the item cheaper and charged for the postage at the standard rate. This may be something you might consider for domestic ventures if you've done the maths and can live with the lower margin, but you no-one in their right mind should do it internationally.

3. By using both eBay and PayPal in the conventional manner, the seller loses between 18-20% of the total amount paid in fees. He can recoup some of this by disclosing an 'administrative fee' upfront, but this will just ensure people avoid bidding or bid low anyways.

If I can think of anything else, I'll add it.  

Mars wrote:One of the new Ebay fees that started a couple months ago is that Ebay now charges fees on the shipping as well.

Aw, shucks. What a bunch of AHs.

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:
Which is why I've gone to all free shipping. It looks better to the buyer.

And, buyers can't give you a low score on your DSR's for shipping.

I think all of us could go on and on about positives and negatives, but I personally believe you are almost always going to get more profit through eBay sales.  While private sales do eliminate the eBay fees, they also reduce thousands of potential buyers which, in my opinion, means you usually have to sell for less to sell privately.  And since the original point of this thread appeared to be maximizing profit by eliminating eBay fees, then I think eBay is the way to go.  

I'm sure plenty of people can think of individual sales they had which were at or above the going rate on eBay, Amazon or whatever, but I am talking about overall sales.  I think a whole lot more people can give examples of stuff they had for sale which didn't sell privately because nobody on the site wanted what was for sale or wasn't willing to pay anywhere close to the eBay going rate.

I think a good compromise is to offer stuff up first on the site, name your price, and if it doesn't sell, go the eBay route, or just wait.  

They also offer one of the cheapest buying market places in the world, and the largest shop window a seller can ever display his wares in. No company has ever managed to offer anything even remotely close, and it's not for the want of them trying. It sucks, but that's how capitalism works.

Mars wrote:1.  Yep, in Paypal you use the "Personal Payment" tab and the sender of the cash pays the Paypal fee (if any apply).

Good to know.

mbassoc2003 wrote:I don't know what the frequency, and upper/lower limits are on the gifting of money.

I don't know the limits, but I gifted a buddy either $800 or $1300 (I forget which) in the last couple years, and paypal did not charge a fee on it.

benjoshua wrote:
And, buyers can't give you a low score on your DSR's for shipping.

eBay started to max out DSRs for every transaction at 5 stars if buyer leaves no feedback... so in essence if a buyer leaves no feedback it is a positive.... I removed any reference in my correspondence asking for feedback.... I was hugely against the DSR system but eBay finally realized their mistake... now it is a system I actually do not mind.... as a high percentage of people are lazy about leaving feedback.... This goes for me when I buy something, by me saying nothing I am in effect leaving a positive... and 5 stars.

eBay is brilliant in the sheer number of eyeballs looking for stuff in massive... sold something to the Ukraine and Venezuala recently.

However, since eBay/paypal fees are monopolistic, usurious and pushing maximum density... I as often as possible sell outside eBay (paypal is super convenient and used nearly 100% of the time so they get their pound of flesh anyway).... nuff said....

Food For Thought...

Tom aka DiscoDadda

mbassoc2003 wrote:Okay....

1. Sell privately if you can. It removes the eBay portion of the fees, and if everyone trusts eachother and their relevant mail systems, send the money by PayPal as a Gift. Us to US this also eliminates PayPal fees, but I don't know what the frequency, and upper/lower limits are on the gifting of money.

2. As a seller, don't ever offer free shipping (even if it is built in to your cost). By offering free postage you are in effect offering to pay eBay fees on your postage costs, which you would not be paying if you sold the item cheaper and charged for the postage at the standard rate. This may be something you might consider for domestic ventures if you've done the maths and can live with the lower margin, but you no-one in their right mind should do it internationally.

3. By using both eBay and PayPal in the conventional manner, the seller loses between 18-20% of the total amount paid in fees. He can recoup some of this by disclosing an 'administrative fee' upfront, but this will just ensure people avoid bidding or bid low anyways.

If I can think of anything else, I'll add it.  

These are all good, as is the Personal Payment advice. Also, strike up conversations and relationships with repeat buyers...if they trust you enough, start selling to them directly and cut out the Ebay fees.

I've found that free shipping is a bit of a scam. I sell just as many items charging a shipping fee, and even with ebay taking a bite of the shipping fee Im still making more money per item than if I had free shipping and raised the price (since a lot of buyers only check the cost of the item and forget to add the shipping amount in anyway).

Mike B.

Oh.. I didn't know that either.. is there some advise on ebay policy re this?

Brette:)