EBay Seller Fees 101 Crash Course
Are you one of the many people who find eBay seller fees hard to understand? If you have put off selling on eBay because the seller fees are confusing, then this article will clear away the confusion. As eBay has grown, its fee system has also become more involved. However, for a basic auction where you set an initial starting bid and then let visitors compete for your item, the fees are still relatively simple. In this article, I'll have you making sense out of the seller fees in no time at all.
The first thing to discuss is that eBay charges different fees for the basic Auction Style Format, Fixed Price Auction Format, eBay Motors, eBay Real Estate, eBay Classified Ads, and eBay Stores. When trying to make sense of the fees, it is essential to start with the fees for the basic Auction Style Format and Fixed Price Format. Once you understand those fees, figuring the other fees will fall into place.
Fees for EBay Basic Auction Style Format
The Insertion Fee (IF) is what eBay charges to list your auction. For the basic auction, eBay charges a flat amount based on your starting bid. Thus, the IF is zero when your starting bid is $0.01 to $0.99; IF = $0.25 when your starting bid is $1.00 to $9.99; IF = $0.50 when your starting bid is $10.00 to $24.99; IF = $0.75 when your starting bid is $25.00 to $49.99; IF = $1.00 when your starting bid is $50.00 to $199.99; IF = $2.00 when your starting bid is $200 or more. You can find the eBay list of Insertion Fees at pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html#if_auction. If you item does not sell the first time you list your auction, eBay will give you that amount back if you choose to relist your item within a specified timeframe.
Final Value (FV) fees may seem confusing at first, but for the basic Auction Format are not too difficult. The final value of your auction is simply the final sale price for your product. This is the amount of winning bid, so the person who bids last and highest wins the item and that amount is the final value. When your item does not sell, the FV is zero. For all other selling amount from $0.01 and up, the FV = 9% x sale price. 9 percent is the same as 0.09. To figure the FV, you multiply .09 times the sales price (.09 x sales price). For example, if the sales price is $50, your FV = .09 x 50, or $4.50. You can find a free eBay fee calculator at rolbe.com/ebay.htm, or type in a Google search for "online eBay fee calculator." You can find a discussion of the fees for the Fixed Price auction at proproductsourcing.com.
Buy It Now (BIN) is the next fee to be sure of. The Buy It Now fee is the set rate that you pay to offer an immediate purchase price. In other words, this gives visitors an opportunity to buy your product outright before any bids have been placed. Once the first bid is placed, the Buy It Now button disappears and your auction becomes a regular bidding style auction. The amount you pay is determined by the amount you charge to buy your item right now. EBay's BIN information is at pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html#BIN, but this is how it works: if your price is .99 to 9.99. The fee is .05; if your price is $10 to $24.99, the amount is $0.10; if the BIN price is $25 to $49.99, your BIN fee is $0.20; and if your price for buying right now is $50 or above, your fee is $0.25. The BIN is an optional fee; you do not have to use this feature, but it is important, and many people consider it essential.
EBay also offers Optional Feature Fees (OPF). The Buy It Now fee discussed above is an example of an OPF. Many of these features are really for advanced users who have had the opportunity to test each of the features on auctions for various products and determine which features are successful and which are not. Other examples of OPF include Listing Upgrades, which include Gallery Plus, Scheduled Listings, Bold, Subtitle, Listing Designer, and Listing in 2 Categories. The essential fees that you as a beginner must understand are Bold and Subtitle. Bold means that you choose to list your auction title as it appears in the auction results listing in bold face type. The "Bold" fee is $200. Subtitle means that you elect to add an additional subtitle to your auction listing. The "Subtitle" fee is $0.50. Both Bold and Subtitle features are generally considered essential costs to any eBay auction. They are optional, but in my opinion, every auction should add them as a general rule of thumb. One other optional feature worth mentioning here is the Gallery Plus feature. I think this could be important once you have established that you have a product that sells consistently well. Gallery Plus simply means that when a buyer hovers the mouse pointer over the thumbnail image in your results listing, the image pops out to show a larger image. This not only adds more visual information, it is an attention grabber as well. EBay provides information on the OPF at pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html#optional.
To wrap up, let's look at an example that uses all of the fees mentioned that we have examined. Let's say you are auctioning off a leather chair. Your initial starting bid is $75. The Insertion Fee for this amount is $1.00. Your end if auction sales price is $225; your FV for this amount is .09 x $225, or 20.25. At this point, if we have no other fees, your seller fee total is $1.00 + $20.25 = $21.25. But let's say we had a BIN of $125.00 and used Bold and Subtitle. The BIN is $0.25, Bold is $2.00, and Subtitle is .50. Thus, your total seller fees would be $1.00 + $20.25 + $0.25 + $2.00 + $0.50 = $24.00. To figure out the fees, you can use the online option mentioned above or do your own Google search. Otherwise, be sure to have your own hand held calculator handy.
The first thing to discuss is that eBay charges different fees for the basic Auction Style Format, Fixed Price Auction Format, eBay Motors, eBay Real Estate, eBay Classified Ads, and eBay Stores. When trying to make sense of the fees, it is essential to start with the fees for the basic Auction Style Format and Fixed Price Format. Once you understand those fees, figuring the other fees will fall into place.
Fees for EBay Basic Auction Style Format
The Insertion Fee (IF) is what eBay charges to list your auction. For the basic auction, eBay charges a flat amount based on your starting bid. Thus, the IF is zero when your starting bid is $0.01 to $0.99; IF = $0.25 when your starting bid is $1.00 to $9.99; IF = $0.50 when your starting bid is $10.00 to $24.99; IF = $0.75 when your starting bid is $25.00 to $49.99; IF = $1.00 when your starting bid is $50.00 to $199.99; IF = $2.00 when your starting bid is $200 or more. You can find the eBay list of Insertion Fees at pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html#if_auction. If you item does not sell the first time you list your auction, eBay will give you that amount back if you choose to relist your item within a specified timeframe.
Final Value (FV) fees may seem confusing at first, but for the basic Auction Format are not too difficult. The final value of your auction is simply the final sale price for your product. This is the amount of winning bid, so the person who bids last and highest wins the item and that amount is the final value. When your item does not sell, the FV is zero. For all other selling amount from $0.01 and up, the FV = 9% x sale price. 9 percent is the same as 0.09. To figure the FV, you multiply .09 times the sales price (.09 x sales price). For example, if the sales price is $50, your FV = .09 x 50, or $4.50. You can find a free eBay fee calculator at rolbe.com/ebay.htm, or type in a Google search for "online eBay fee calculator." You can find a discussion of the fees for the Fixed Price auction at proproductsourcing.com.
Buy It Now (BIN) is the next fee to be sure of. The Buy It Now fee is the set rate that you pay to offer an immediate purchase price. In other words, this gives visitors an opportunity to buy your product outright before any bids have been placed. Once the first bid is placed, the Buy It Now button disappears and your auction becomes a regular bidding style auction. The amount you pay is determined by the amount you charge to buy your item right now. EBay's BIN information is at pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html#BIN, but this is how it works: if your price is .99 to 9.99. The fee is .05; if your price is $10 to $24.99, the amount is $0.10; if the BIN price is $25 to $49.99, your BIN fee is $0.20; and if your price for buying right now is $50 or above, your fee is $0.25. The BIN is an optional fee; you do not have to use this feature, but it is important, and many people consider it essential.
EBay also offers Optional Feature Fees (OPF). The Buy It Now fee discussed above is an example of an OPF. Many of these features are really for advanced users who have had the opportunity to test each of the features on auctions for various products and determine which features are successful and which are not. Other examples of OPF include Listing Upgrades, which include Gallery Plus, Scheduled Listings, Bold, Subtitle, Listing Designer, and Listing in 2 Categories. The essential fees that you as a beginner must understand are Bold and Subtitle. Bold means that you choose to list your auction title as it appears in the auction results listing in bold face type. The "Bold" fee is $200. Subtitle means that you elect to add an additional subtitle to your auction listing. The "Subtitle" fee is $0.50. Both Bold and Subtitle features are generally considered essential costs to any eBay auction. They are optional, but in my opinion, every auction should add them as a general rule of thumb. One other optional feature worth mentioning here is the Gallery Plus feature. I think this could be important once you have established that you have a product that sells consistently well. Gallery Plus simply means that when a buyer hovers the mouse pointer over the thumbnail image in your results listing, the image pops out to show a larger image. This not only adds more visual information, it is an attention grabber as well. EBay provides information on the OPF at pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html#optional.
To wrap up, let's look at an example that uses all of the fees mentioned that we have examined. Let's say you are auctioning off a leather chair. Your initial starting bid is $75. The Insertion Fee for this amount is $1.00. Your end if auction sales price is $225; your FV for this amount is .09 x $225, or 20.25. At this point, if we have no other fees, your seller fee total is $1.00 + $20.25 = $21.25. But let's say we had a BIN of $125.00 and used Bold and Subtitle. The BIN is $0.25, Bold is $2.00, and Subtitle is .50. Thus, your total seller fees would be $1.00 + $20.25 + $0.25 + $2.00 + $0.50 = $24.00. To figure out the fees, you can use the online option mentioned above or do your own Google search. Otherwise, be sure to have your own hand held calculator handy.
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