Whats the chepest way to sell stuff on EBay

[KarlC]

Some items dont sell well here so Ive used EBay but the last few times the fee totals where like 25-30%

Thats crazy to me.

Any thoughts ?

Thx Karl

.

[saab2000]

Want to sell it? List it for a few bucks, or way below what you think it's worth and suck up the costs.

I've moved a huge amount of stuff over the past year and it's painful sometimes but I don't miss it and don't worry about the money I get. It costs what it costs and I've enjoyed owning it but it's time to let someone else enjoy it.

Less is way, way more. Forget about the fees and enjoy less clutter. I've got a ways to go but I've made some huge progress and I am enjoying the space and openness of my basement.

[cmbicycles]

Fees are 10% or final value and 10% of shipping, I thought. PayPal takes 3.5% as well so I always figured it to be 15% fee all in on ebay.

[jtakeda]

Either
Become a power seller or wait until they have a lower fee promotion

[Louis]

Before you give up on the forum and go the Ebay route, I'd suggest that you be sure that you've listed it in the Classifieds at the lowest price you can reasonably live with. You may not maximize the sale price, but you could well save yourself some hassles.

[vincenz]

I find that at least 10% lower than the lowest comparable item in similar condition sells relatively quickly. If you’re doing auction, have it end on Sunday night.

For the fees, you just have to eat it up. Without eBay, my house would be full of junk I would be unable to sell locally. I’ve made back tens of thousands over the years just getting rid of unwanted stuff on eBay.

eBay takes 10% usually and paypal 3%.

[paredown]

We had this conversation recently when I made some sort of crazy claim about how much eBay + Paypal take of your total selling price.

The 10% applies to items up to $250; there often are listing fees (not added in to the total) especially if you leave the item to automatically renew if it doesn't sell, so it is rarely as clean as a simple 10%. It is also worth saying that the Paypal/eBay fees apply to the full final price, so if your shipping is less than the amount that eBay discounts, you will pay a commission on your shipping charges. (This started when people would list things for ridiculously low prices to dodge sellers' fees and charge high shipping).

Best practice--save up your stuff until they are offering free listings--sometimes you need to respond to an offer to have it applied to your account.

If you want to calculate ahead of time, this little calculator works well AFAIL:
http://www.feesnap.com/ebay.html

[NHAero]

I just sold three items for a total of $925 and I'm seeing exactly what people above said - ebay fee is 10% of price plus shipping, and Paypal fees are 3%.

I usually look at Sold Listings on ebay first to help me with price (the practice of removing the asking price in PL ads makes this harder to do here) and I set a low price and put the item in the Classified. If it doesn't sell after a few days and maybe one bump, I put it on ebay for more money, BIN and accept offers. In these last three items, I accepted a slightly lower price for 2 of the 3 items, and would have done that here too. After ebay fees, with Paypal and shipping netted out of the transactions, I ended up with about $80-100 more in my pocket than if I sold the items here. So no complaints with ebay here.

[11.4]

I admit it's very annoying when they charge 10% on shipping costs. They don't need to. They already take a cut from the USPS whenever you use their programmed shipping costs. They're dipping twice for this part of the bill. And be aware they charge more in certain categories -- 20% or more. Always check.

[NHAero]

Do you recall what categories get >10% fees?

Originally Posted by 11.4

I admit it's very annoying when they charge 10% on shipping costs. They don't need to. They already take a cut from the USPS whenever you use their programmed shipping costs. They're dipping twice for this part of the bill. And be aware they charge more in certain categories -- 20% or more. Always check.

[NYCfixie]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Do you recall what categories get >10% fees?

For personal accounts, none as fa as I can tell. It is only when you have a paid storefront or become a powerseller that fees go below 10%.

[zap]

It's been age's since I sold on ebay.....selling fees appear to be much higher now.

For items that don't sell here, I've had success selling on craigslist both in metro DC and Raleigh/Durham, NC.

[MagicHour]

Pretty sure they did this in response to Sellers pricing an item for $1.00 and then up-charging the shipping to, say $50 to make up for cost of item to avoid item fees. It sucks and is a bit of double dipping but it is, what it is.

Also lately for most of the <$50 slower moving items I've sold, I seem to do better with BIN/Best Offer pricing than starting with a low auction price, which almost always gets bottom fed for the lowest bid. If it goes unsold you can drop price a little, but at least you have some control over how low you want to go.

Originally Posted by 11.4

I admit it's very annoying when they charge 10% on shipping costs. They don't need to. They already take a cut from the USPS whenever you use their programmed shipping costs. They're dipping twice for this part of the bill. And be aware they charge more in certain categories -- 20% or more. Always check.

[Pegoready]

Originally Posted by 11.4

I admit it's very annoying when they charge 10% on shipping costs. They don't need to. They already take a cut from the USPS whenever you use their programmed shipping costs. They're dipping twice for this part of the bill. And be aware they charge more in certain categories -- 20% or more. Always check.

Agreed, but remember the old days? When sellers would sell a bike for 0.99 PLUS $1000 shipping? Yes, that happened all the time to skirt eBay's fees because they used to not charge on shipping. I think sellers padded shipping more then than they do now.

I just do BIN now with free shipping. Take that 10-15%, shipping, and add it to what I feel good about netting at the end of the day. It's fine.

We forget that eBay provides an incredible service to sellers-- the most eyeballs on your product, the ability to shop from a cell phone in the middle of Antarctica, and the perception of Amazon style CS. I'm good with it in the long run.

[NHAero]

I totally agree. And I only do BIN, but always do Make Offer. You can set that up so offers below a certain threshold are automatically declined, takes care of the bottom feeders. When I get a reasonable offer I almost always send a counteroffer to split the difference and almost always that makes the sale. People like to feel they got a bargain!

I sold the CAAD10 f/f/hs and the wheelset I had here for more money net and in a few hours. Packed and shipped them the next day. What's not to like?

I feel that a lot of pricing here are "bro deals" and so I price accordingly, in the spirit of the community. On ebay I'm not greedy - I want a sale - but I'm OK waiting for a while. I have three more items listed now, all have several watchers (whatever that really means with a BIN/Make Offer scenario!) and I'm confident they will sell.

On the Free Shipping aspect - I offer that on higher value items ($250 or more) but it's a risk. The wheelset went to OR and cost me over $50 and the f/f/hs went to NC and cost me $27. But I figured them each at $40, and they averaged just that!

Originally Posted by Pegoready

I just do BIN now with free shipping. Take that 10-15%, shipping, and add it to what I feel good about netting at the end of the day. It's fine.

We forget that eBay provides an incredible service to sellers-- the most eyeballs on your product, the ability to shop from a cell phone in the middle of Antarctica, and the perception of Amazon style CS. I'm good with it in the long run.