Ebay Fees

[one2escape]

Hi all! Currently looking into starting a very small business and look to start on ebay then move onto a website after get my confidence up. I am a little confused in there fees. I will be looking into selling multiple items using it pay now. I have got a spreadsheet done out here working costs and what not. The insert fee is that per auction or per item?

Also is there anything else I should have on this spreadsheet? I have Unit Price, P an P Cost, Sell Price, P and P Rate , Profit Before fees, Insert Fee, Final Value Fee, Profit pre pay pay pal, pay pal fee and profit after pay pal.

Any help welcomed!

 

[Johnny77]

Thats alot of variables!
If you have an eBay shop eBay will take 9.9% on anything you sell, (final valuation fee).
Paypal typically take about 2.3%, (most people will pay by paypal).

The only figures are really going to need are;

Total Buying price, (including your P+P costs).
Total selling price
Profit

Otherwise your going to get confused, (belive me eBay's fee structure is VERY complicated, and its going to become more complex in the next few months).

Most of it is trial and error, sell a few items, work out what ebay have charged you, then what paypal have charged, then what your P+P has cost, then you have your profit.
Your spreadsheet will be better off being done after you have made a couple of sales, then you can gauge the actual figures rather than trying to work out eBays infinately complicated payment structures, and paypals.

 

[Kailew4kids]

Have to echo the previous comments, i started a similar spreadsheet & i just ended up with scrambled egg head.

It's just not cheap to sell on eBay anymore.

You really need to look at the existing selling prices on eBay, to gauge how much profit you can actually make.

Prices are pretty keen at the moment & the fee's are going through the roof.

 

[one2escape]

So basically order my stuff then chuck it onto ebay and start over analysing!

 

[silvermusic]

Why not start out with your own web site if you're starting from scratch, in my opinion nowadays it's a far better option. eBay will bleed you dry in death by a thousand cuts if you don't know what you're doing. Having sold on ebay for many years and keeping up with the constant changes even I find it tough going sometimes. A web site is much easier to plan, one fixed fee per month and a small percentage on each sale charged by whoever processes your payments.

Had you asked the same question even two years ago I'd have said eBay was a good place to start, times change and your own web site that you are in 100% control of is a far better and cheaper option. There's so many easy to set up packages out there, even a novice can do it.

 

[David P]

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/fees.html#BIN
Here is the fees page on ebay.
If you do BIN lisitngs then you can have as much quantity as you want and it costs you a flat insertion fee for that listing. The flat fee depends on if you have a shop,powerseller status etc.
If you start off with no shop then this fee will be 40p per listing.
Ebay have now introduced multi variation listings in some categories which allow you to list the same item in different sizes and colours within the same listing.

Also if you have a look on the net you can generally find an ebay fees calculator which will save you having to work out all the formulas for yourself.
Or if you subscribe to seller manager pro you can create a listing for an item and then put in things like unit cost so you can view it all on ebay. Pros and cons to this.

 

[one2escape]

Thanks for all the useful comments. The reason I'm thinking of going the eBay route initially is that I'm trying to start up smallish and I don't want a lot of stock around my house. If I get a eshop I would want it to contain a fair amount of things or does it look ok with a limited amount of stock?

 

[Online Trader]

May I ask what type of product you are considering selling OP

 

[one2escape]

Im going into a competitive market of Toys. I have being doing my research and I have found a number of toys which I (and more importantly) my kids thought were quite cool and haven't been placed on ebay or I haven't found in many stores.

 

[Online Trader]

Im going into a competitive market of Toys. I have being doing my research and I have found a number of toys which I (and more importantly) my kids thought were quite cool and haven't been placed on ebay or I haven't found in many stores.

Niche is good on eBay but it does not stay niche for long once you are on there (provided that it sells), the followers will get hold of the product and start a price war which helps nobody apart from the end users.

It happens all the time, however as a place to start I would say go for it, we started our life out on eBay many moons ago and have moved on since then but I have to say we did make a lot of money with some nice niche products until the masses came in and ruined it

Do a search for pink laptop cases and you will see 1000's of them, when we started selling these there were ZILCH and we sold over 5,000 cases in a 12 month period at £30.00 each + £5.99 shipping, now you can get them for next to nothing, good whilst it lasted but nothing is for ever AMEN

Good luck

 

[Kailew4kids]

Im going into a competitive market of Toys. I have being doing my research and I have found a number of toys which I (and more importantly) my kids thought were quite cool and haven't been placed on ebay or I haven't found in many stores.

Good luck

Don't discount the fact that the toys might not be on eBay for a reason, ie. they don't sell.

 

[one2escape]

Good luck

Don't discount the fact that the toys might not be on eBay for a reason, ie. they don't sell.

Thats my fear. Thats why I am making my first order the minimum you can order and scattering it with some products I know are selling. Im going price match them. So I am sort of sticking my toe in. My original list of things to sell was around 15 now it is down to 6 - 7. Due to factors of either to many sellers and / or not enough profit margin. Im trying to minimize the risk as much as I can

 

[Idontbuy]

Id look at Amazon as an option as well, we sell niche products in the toys and games and we do very well in America, we have just launched on Amazon.co.uk the fees are much similar to ebay TBH.

But you best jump in quick with Amazon (if u do decide too) as they stop taking Toys and Games sellers in appx 2 weeks until after xmas.

IDB

 

[Idontbuy]

If the links allowed? I found this on Google search term ebay fees xls
http://www.aswas.com/media/esg-ebaycalc.xls

 

[JamesCartwright]

Id look at Amazon as an option as well, we sell niche products in the toys and games and we do very well in America, we have just launched on Amazon.co.uk the fees are much similar to ebay TBH.

But you best jump in quick with Amazon (if u do decide too) as they stop taking Toys and Games sellers in appx 2 weeks until after xmas.

IDB

You don't have to have a load of stock in your house if you set up a website. You could use a dropshipper (the unit cost will be higher though, but there's less risk if you cant sell it). Web hositing is pretty cheap, you can bid on some very specific toy-related low-cost long-tail keywords in Adwords (or the others: Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com) and use free e-commerce software (like OScommerce). It could be cheaper than eBay...

Amazon are good for online resellers too though, and speaking of them and eBay, my favourite book on making money with is eBay is...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...p=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0471712167

I found it very interesting, may be some help to you. Had some good strategies on there.

Good luck with your business - I hope it goes really well!

James.

 

[cycloneuk]

http://www.ebaycalculator.co.uk/index.php

Very handy tool that i use all the time.

 

[tenpin07]

hi one to escape
it is a good start ebay but it might be an idea to have a web site linked to ebay listings this will then hopefuly send the buyer direct
if you have pay pal then a user can send money to you pay pel account through the email u use also if u have a small items data base linked as well on your web people can see how much u have and what u are selling

if you dont know any one who can do you a web for nothing the e-mail me sensi0007
at
yahoo.co.uk

and i may be able to help you for free as im learning web design at uni and need the practice and other peoples prospective on my disiging

ocne you cantacted me through e-mail i will give you other ways of contacting me in future
many thanks andy,s web