Paypal isn't "THAT" bad!!!

[bsshog40]

I have seen a post here and there complaining about paypal, thier premier accts, and thier charges. I hardly ever sell anything on ebay, so lately, what I have been selling gives me more of an insight as to what dealers and people selling high dollar coins go thru. (not that I'm selling high dollar coins mind you). I never paid much attention to the fees before but, "EBAY FEES ARE OUTRAGEOUS". They make up about 3/4's of the fees I'm paying for my items. I really don't see how you dealers can even make a profit on any of your coins after paying these fees. I sympathize with you. Just wanted to vent after watching my sales slowly diminish with Ebay fees.

[Stanley]

I agree… unfortunately there are many who never figure this out.

[carson city]

eBay and PayPal isn't for everyone------Meg Whitman

[cpm9ball]

Sorry, Bobby! Can I rescind that payment I just sent to you via Pay Pal and send you a cashier's check instead?

 

Chris

[bsshog40]

Don't worry about that Chris! Thanks for the offer. I'm just learning what others that sell alot of stuff on ebay actually have to deal with and try to make a living. (thumbs u

[DC Dawg]

With eBay, you pay coming and going. Ebay charges for posting based on the price of the item and posting option. Ebay charges a Final Value Fee for selling the item. Paypal takes their percentage plus fixed fee and there's the charges for shipping... not just postage, but packaging, too. With the market slowing for anything that is not gold or a rarity, the margins are low and almost not worth the costs.

 

How do I know the economy is tanking? When I cannot sell nice collectibles to ordinary people because these ordinary people are too busy worrying about paying their petroleum bills!

 

Scott

[bsshog40]

I agree Scott. If I have to sell anymore items in the near future, I may just use the forum. I really didn't know what to price my items at or I would've in the first place. Like I stated, my learning lesson and a lesson well learned!!

 

BTW, can anyone get on ebay?? I'm getting page errors!!!

 

 

Working now!!

[gmarguli]

I sell a lot on eBay and honestly, the fees aren't that bad. I say that having paid around $10,000 in fees this year. If you sell a low value item (under $25) you get hit with a pretty substantial 5.25% fee. However, if you sell a $100 item you're at about 3.75%. A $200 item is about 3.5%. Considering the exposure you get, this is pretty cheap. I know of nowhere else I can get 100-750 interested people to look at my item for sale for such a low cost.

 

Paying PayPal fees sucks, but so does waiting for a check or not getting bids because of not accepting PayPal. I know I won't bid on many items if the seller doesn't accept PayPal. Current fees are 1.9%-2.9% + 30c transaction fee. A decent seller will hit $3K/month in sales lowering their cost to 2.5%. If you use their debit card you get 1% back for its use and I think another .5% back if you only accept PayPal for online payments. Therefore, your cost for PayPal is 1%. Is that too much to pay? A $10K/month seller gets another .2% off the rates.

 

I figure my eBay/PayPal fees eat about 8% of the final selling price before any debit card rebates. If anyone knows of a way I can list an item, have hundreds of people look at it, get a solid market selling price, have payment in my hands usually no later than 10 days after I first list the item for sale, for less than this 8%, please let me know!

[bsshog40]

You may also want to consider s&h fees as items always have to be mailed out. I calulated a $213 sale and with the following:

List fees- 1.15

Final value fee- 7.27

Paypal fee- 6.48

s&h fee- 6.65

Total = 21.55 which is just a tad over 10%. That's a pretty big percentage if you ask me.

[Dwaine]

s&h fee- 6.65

 

I try to include a S&H fee in my listing that gets added to cover this

[MunkyMan95]

Yeah Bobby, you can't count shipping in your fees because the buyer pays that in advance.

 

So it's $15

[bsshog40]

I was taking the whole amount and using all fees. If I take the s&h out then it would also lower the total amount. See what I mean?

[gmarguli]

You may also want to consider s&h fees as items always have to be mailed out. I calulated a $213 sale and with the following:

List fees- 1.15

Final value fee- 7.27

Paypal fee- 6.48

s&h fee- 6.65

Total = 21.55 which is just a tad over 10%. That's a pretty big percentage if you ask me.

 

I'm not sure where you're getting some of your numbers from. The list fee is $3.60 if you list the item at $213 or 20c if it is a true auction.

 

I show FVF at $7.42 (5.25% for the first $25 [$1.31] + 3.25% for 25.01-$213 [$6.11]).

 

The PayPal fee of $6.48 is correct assuming you are a small time seller. It would go down if you did any real volume.

 

What does the S&H fee have to do with your costs? Do you offer free shipping? If so, that is a cost you choose to absorb and is unrelated to eBay/PayPal.

 

Using the numbers of 20c + $7.42 + $6.48 = $14.10 or 6.62%. You can also get $3.20 back using your debit card, so the total cost to you is $10.90 or 5.12%.

 

Also, I tried free shipping and found it to have no change on my sale numbers. Other sellers I have discussed it with stated the same. Most common decision is to charge a reasonable shipping fee to cover postage, costs, and insurance, and maybe a few extra cents for your time and gas.

[MunkyMan95]

Greg, how do you get $3.20 back? Using your Paypal debit card, or...?

[bsshog40]

I wanted to add also, that I just think ebays fees are a little high and didn't know how dealers dealt with it. By reading Gregs post, I see that with much more volume, the fees are somewhat less. This was more my point, than actually getting into the fees at a personal level.

[MunkyMan95]

I was talking about this yesterday with another member here. eBay has the monopoly. They have become so large that they can charge whatever they want for their services, and people will still pay it. If another company (take Yaoo auctions, for instance) were to come about and offer NO listing fees, eBay would still prevail. They're just too large and known the world over as an online auction company.

 

If you don't want to pay the fees, don't use eBay. Plain and simple. When I use eBay, I choose to pay the fees in lieu of either a) selling the coin at a discount to a dealer, or b) posting it in the Money Marketplace and waiting weeks and hoping for a buyer to respond.

[gmarguli]

Greg, how do you get $3.20 back? Using your Paypal debit card, or...?

 

Yes. If you use your debit card and jump thru all the extra hoops, I think you get 1.5% back.

[carson city]

In defense of eBay, aren't Auction house fees approx. 10% plus at least a 45 day wait for payment ?

[bsshog40]

You are correct Chad. Ebay is the monopoly in the market. They are just too well known.

[gmarguli]

No monopoly has ever lasted forever. In fact, most don't last that long. Considering eBay is a technology company, they likely won't be the king 10 years from now.

[CHABSENTIA]

As a buyer I try to use Pay Pal whenever possible . There have been a few instances when Seller didn't accept pay pay and I sent a check.

 

When I have sent a check then I have had problems 50% of those times.I understand that the Sellers have to make sure the check is good.Most of them have you wait 10 days. I really don't care if I have to wait 10 days in this case.The problem is that 50% of the time I have been told by the Seller that they havent received payment and two have filed an unpaid item against me the same time they sent an E Mail asking for payment.Each time they have sent me an E Mail telling me they had received the payment. I always send a copy of the invoice and write the item number on the check.When I send them a copy of the Email they apologize and say they logged it improperly.I think the problem must be the 10 days.They have keep poor records and forget about it.I have written E bay about having an unpaid item on my record for a certain period of time as some sellers will not let you bid on an item if you have one on your record no matter the problem. I feel that if the Buyer has to have a blemish for a certain period of time when they have promptly paid then the Seller should also have some thing.Maybe he could be suspended for the same period of time the Buyer has the unwarranted blemish. E bay has never responded even though they claim they will answer in 48 hours.I have written twice and they have failed to respond. I guess those fees are more important to them then fraudalent unpaid items on a buyers record.

[MunkyMan95]

As a buyer I try to use Pay Pal whenever possible . There have been a few instances when Seller didn't accept pay pay and I sent a check.

 

When I have sent a check then I have had problems 50% of those times.I understand that the Sellers have to make sure the check is good.Most of them have you wait 10 days. I really don't care if I have to wait 10 days in this case.The problem is that 50% of the time I have been told by the Seller that they havent received payment and two have filed an unpaid item against me the same time they sent an E Mail asking for payment.Each time they have sent me an E Mail telling me they had received the payment. I always send a copy of the invoice and write the item number on the check.When I send them a copy of the Email they apologize and say they logged it improperly.I think the problem must be the 10 days.They have keep poor records and forget about it.I have written E bay about having an unpaid item on my record for a certain period of time as some sellers will not let you bid on an item if you have one on your record no matter the problem. I feel that if the Buyer has to have a blemish for a certain period of time when they have promptly paid then the Seller should also have some thing.Maybe he could be suspended for the same period of time the Buyer has the unwarranted blemish. E bay has never responded even though they claim they will answer in 48 hours.I have written twice and they have failed to respond. I guess those fees are more important to them then fraudalent unpaid items on a buyers record.

I don't see a big problem here. If they claim they didn't receive it and have not cashed it, send them another check. If they claim they did not receive it, and DID cash it, send eBay a copy of your bank transactions. If they end up cashing 2 checks (you sent them a replacement for the first one) stop payment on one of them. Problem solved.

[bsshog40]

I have had people send me checks before and I have sent checks before. I'm lucky to have never had a problem. Most people know that it takes time for a check to clear. I know when I have sent a check, I just keep the item in my ebay and not worry about it for at least 3 weeks. I usually don't bid on something that I have to pay a check for unless it's something that is really not very valuable. Anything of value, which is over $100 to me, gets paid by paypal. If the seller doesn't offer it, I don't bid on it.

[ibyandsellsmith]

Paypal is cheap considering the alternative. When I had my web site I checked into a merchant account, and nobody out there could beat Paypal. As far as Ebay, as it was stated before, the overhead is minimal, granted you buy right. Believe me I know, I didn't do so good my first time around, Because I payed at or above dealer bid.

[dooly]

Paypal is Great (internationally) as hear in the UK if you send me a Check from the USA it costs me £14 - $28 to cash at my bank and if you look at my Sales map on eBay you will see how many Overseas sales i would have lost

 

on my calculations i gain over 25% with paypal in my sales.

 

 

so that means i can spent a lot more for my £ for USA coins. (thumbs u

 

Ps. Great post Chad

 

[CHABSENTIA]

I am only taking about people that Cash the check and send you an E mail that they have received the check and then 10 days later ask you if you have sent a payment while at the same time filing an "unpaid item"

 

If I send a check then I understand that the Money is spent.I have Online Banking so I know when the check has cleared.

 

Why do I have to file a dispute and send the URL of the "received it " Email and provide a copy of the check when the Seller isn't sharp enough to keep good records?

 

Lastly I do not get copies of my checks unless I pay a fee as I have Online Banking.WHo pays the fee? I can copy it and print it out but again why when it was not my fault.Why does the Buyer who pays in good faith and is willing to wait 10 days then have to jump through hoops because the Seller can't keep good records.Some people do not like to be accused of not amking payments when the Seller does not keep good records.

 

Finally there are Sellers who post that they will not honor any bid from a Buyer that has a recent "unpaid item" filed against them. If E Bay keeps the unpaid item in your feedback even for just a month then the Buyer is restricted from bidding on certain auctions for a month.

 

I believe that Heritage auctions asks if you trade on E Bay and your feedback rating etc when you register etc.

 

Again I would ask that if a Buyer has acted above board and the seller files an unwarranted blemish on them then why do they walk away free.?

 

The most recent one Apologized when I filed as you suggested but also stated "that he believed that the Buyer did not suffer any permanent harm because of the erroneous filing of the unpaid item" So why should he care?

[bsshog40]

I don't remember having to give out any of my ebay info when I registered with Heritage. Unless this is recent.

[CHABSENTIA]

They ask the question.I was merely sating the possibilties. I notice that only that one sentence was referred to out of the whole paragraph.

 

Lets try it another way.Lets say that there is really a nice sale on a big ticket item in ones town outside of EBAY.It really is a good deal and there are no rain checks.Since it is a big ticket item the Buyer does not have the Cash so they go to the place and purchase the item and and decide to take out a loan.

 

The purchaser is refused because they don't meet certain standards via the Credit Agency.He/she goes home and contacts the Credit agency because they have good Credit.It turns out that somebody has erroneously filed against you.You know this is not true and you raise hell.The matter is straightened out but it takes three weeks before the Credit Agency removes it.Meanwhile you can't take out a Loan for a car or buy a house etc. for that period.You lose out on the Purchase and any other because the person who filed against you made a mistake and either mixed you up with somebody of the same name or looged it incorrectly.Maybe somebody stole your idenity and the person filed against you without any investigation.

 

All of the above happens and then some.You have a recourse in that you can file a Lawsuit etc.You have no recourse with EBay and when you do file against the seller/dealer and the seller in this case replies " I believe that the Buyer suffered no "PERMANENT: damage as a result of me not logging in the payment and then filing an unpaid item" Like you he does not comment on the temporary damage.The matter is "Closed" and he walks away from it.Does anybody really beleive that when somebody receives a check along with a copy of the invoice and the item number on the check and replies to the Buyer that thay received the check and will ship in 10 days and then on the 10th day files an unpaid item is keeping good records and that it won't happen again?

 

Let me guess. You are a Seller.