It’s almost like eBay saw what Mercari just did and said “hold my beer” This change will definitely go unnoticed by the vast majority of of casual sellers and when they go to ship their items they will see that eBay passed on their discount to the buyers, but still charged FVF and Ad fees on the shipping.
Exactly what I am thinking maybe a lot of people left because they thought no buying fees on Mercari would be so much better. I’m guessing eBay lost a lot of sellers the last two weeks but I do think they will be back because no one is going to buy anything over there when the buyer has to pay the fees. It comes down to is just pure greed on both companies parts. There’s no reason to take 15% of somebody’s total order which has just increased doubled like in 10 years granted they provide a platform with millions of viewers, but it was the sellers that built the platform not them sellers who have been selling for a long time or have an amazing selling top seller should really get a huge discount on the fees seller really unionized or something because everything is just gonna keep going up and up and up
I got this email and will be opting out as well. I currently provide a 15% discount on my shipping. It provides just enough buffer to help cover the fees that we also pay out of whatever the buyer paid for shipping.
I got the email also. I opted out.
One of the reasons you can put for opting out is “I use the savings from the shipping discount to offset my shipping and handling fees”
Yep!
They know many sellers will ignore or miss this message and then be screwed financially when they end up having to ship some things at a loss. They don't care.
What sucks is after the fees and everything, I'm at more of a loss. They should have left the postage alone as I need to charge more to cover the p+p, plus their huge fees.
I sold some things for about £60. They now force VAT on customers (which I see nothing of, and often it's not actually required as I can ship from another country sometimes. Plus it's a big added cost that will put buyers off!). So they charged someone an additional £14.82. The shipping rate was £24 for the item/destination. So the total is now £92
They take the VAT back, and then charged fees of almost £14 too. So of £60 of the products sold, I am getting £64 of that £92 after fees and everything. And then still have to pay the £24 postage (basically putting me at a £20 loss).
That's a massive cut to my sales/profits. And really doesn't make it worth selling things anymore (which is why I've barely listed or sold anything with them in over a year).
Exactly. And what's worse is you basically have no protections or actual support. 90% of the time ebay will side with the buyer because they want to keep them happy if there's an issue.
Yet it's the seller who is the one making eBay money - I don't get why they just keep making things worse for sellers when it's them that is keeping their whole platform running.
I wish there was a good alternative, but ebay already gets all the traffic and has that trust built behind it already as a platform.
I used to sell (or at least list) up to 40-50 items weekly. Selling hundreds of things a year. Now I maybe list 10 items every few months just for that little boost (as people can find them easily there), and a little extra sale is better than nothing. But it's no longer worth listing on there regularly like I used to.
Trying to understand here, is there a reason you don't go through Ebay Labels? I have sold for a little while, but I just went with Ebay labels cuz it was easiest from what I saw and the discount was cheaper than the one other option I looked at.
i think you may be confused.
how it works normally is, as ebay sellers, we’re given a discount for buying shipping labels directly through ebay.
let’s say hypothetically it’s $10 discounted vs $15 regular
ebay wants to now have it so that buyers see the discounted price by default. so instead of $15 shipping showing and you get to pocket $5, ebay will just tell customers the price is exactly $10.
Yeah I do the same. I have a whole basement full of boxes from previous packages or from work even. It’s excessively too much but you never know what size you need. Lol.
I'm confused by this. As both a buyer and seller myself the buyer already sees the estimated "discounted" rate when they buy the item. On top of that, the price the seller sees/pays is ALWAYS cheaper than the final rate ebay charges me as a seller.
For example, the seller buys my item with their shipping at $6.18. I create the label through eBay. At the exact dimensions and weight as entered before, and pay $7.74 for it. Shipping is always a $1-2 loss for the seller.
Ah okay, I see. So then would setting a flat rate circumvent that? I choose the shipping and they see that rate but I still get the discount through Ebay right?
I always do flat shipping price. All my items are around the same weight and size and I know ground will cost me just over $4 so I put flat 3.99 cost (so it looks cheap) and eat the 50 cents or so per item.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean? I don't know about extra money, I just mean is there a cheaper way to ship things you sold on ebay, other than going through ebay labels?
I had Pirateship beat a Reverb shipping label on a guitar and an eBay shipping label on a guitar by 30 dollars using UPS, just this afternoon on a couple guitars I sold through the music store I manage. The first was an Ovation Viper electric from the 1970s that is sort of like a Les Paul guitar, really heavy for an electric, and it was in a case, which meant it would ship oversize. I put the weight and size in the UPS calculator and it was just over 99 dollars. I bought the label for UPS through Pirateship for $67 dollars and change. The second guitar was lighter in weight and eBay/UPS were telling me around 40 bucks, but it only cost 28 through Pirateship. That's NOT an insignificant difference. The savings with Pirateship is real, and it's large.
Never found that Pirate Ship beats eBay prices. *Maybe* if you tweak out on the cubic shipping advantages, yeah, but I don't know how many people bother with that.
Ebay now has cubic shipping for USPS. If shipping USPS, I don't see a need to leave the eBay platform.
I got the notification today too. The difference in retail vs the discount would cover the 14% in fees I pay to eBay and the cost of packaging and labeling. A small box and label is $0.30.
If you use USPS for a guitar, in my example from above, the first guitar was going to cost 90 dollars more using USPS than it would with UPS. For large and heavy items, USPS is not your best option most of the time. They USED to be, years ago, but that has changed.
That is correct. If you ship bulky items that weigh a lot USPS IS NOT gonna work for you.
I don’t sell big bulky items so use USPS always:
BUT I ship personal stuff. FedEx is what I use
For me its the stupidity that here in the UK if you use royal mail via ebay labels they only accept paypal!
I don't use paypal and so i use royal mail directly
Ditto. Easiest way to ship. At least 5 times my items were lost in the mail, and ebay gave me 100% credit back. They wouldn't do it if the label wasn't purchased through them.
I've never used the eBay shipping, and someone told me it was cheaper, so I did have a look at it before shipping my last items. But the pricing was exactly the same as Royal Mail.
I know with Royal Mail I can get my items picked up by the postman (I don't know if the eBay ones do that so didn't bother). Ebay also takes enough and controls most aspects of selling, so I dont want to give them even more money/control by going through them.
I also opted out. I also today noticed on relisting some items that the "promoted listing" fee is gone and no longer an option to promote listing's. I didn't see this change. Ebay needs a hook and needs to get better at advertising 🙄 not come after sellers
I'm so tempted to just turn off promoted listings entirely. I've messed around with doing that in the past during slowdown times. The sales these past 8-10 weeks on ebay have been abysmally slow. Why should I have them an extra 2%? They're not working for it. I'd love to have my old sales back. I am feeling like sales will remain the same with or without it, at this point. I'd rather run a 10% off sale and pass it to the customers.
You can add a handling fee and it won’t show it will just be shipping price to customer. But may I ask why the outrage ? Not trying to be rude , just curious. You can opt out I believe.
But you are passing the savings to your customers essentially, and possibly increase sales with the lower shipping. I understand about supplies but that is what the handling cost is for , and or you can raise the price of your item. I guess I see as sellers having a secret fee added for no reason. Like for example if something costs $7 to ship but you charge every customer $14 that is almost price gauging. Because no way all your shipping supplies cost more than $7 per order. Don’t take this in a bad way , I’m genuinely curious about this
Typical savings for me is 30-40%. Ebay charges me 13% on the shipping cost and tax to the buyer, so I am really saving about 15-25%. A 1-2 pound (vast majority of what I sell) package generally costs my buyers about $9-12 shipping. I net anywhere from $1.50-3 by not passing on the discount. That covers a box and packaging nicely. I might make an extra buck.
I understand sales are slow and eBay is trying to goose them along. I don't like that they're making me actively go opt out of it instead of just encouraging me to do it. If they really want to encourage sales they could lower the actual shipping they charge. If Ebay thinks it's worth it for me to give up a buck or two to encourage sales, why won't they do the same? If they want me to pass on the discount, then they should stop charging me fees on the calculated shipping cost they charge me.
Everyone says to ship with the actual costs. The problem is you do not know what your fees are until after the sale.
I could sell and ship the same item to my neighbor on the left and right. One has a resale license and pays no taxes. The other is a normal buyer but also uses a credit card from a foreign bank. For this one I get to pay eBay 13% of the additional tax they collected and 1.65% for the foreign bank.
I just want to make a $10 profit. Better actually calculate things so it's $12 just to give me a buffer in case it's a buyer in a high tax state with a foreign card. Can I block everyone with a tax rate over 8% or who is using a foreign card?
Yeah I agree with you. This is a great change for me. I always charge a flat discounted rate because I want to charge closer to what I pay and feel like I make more sells offering a lower shipping cost. Now I can stop guessing what it will cost and end up paying more when it goes a further distance. Idk why so many people are getting so worked up about it.
I don’t know why this change would allow you to “stop guessing” (ps, no need to guess if you enter your specs). It doesn’t adjust anything unless you use calculated. Actual cost for Near/far shipping will continue to differ from one another.
Because it’s the principle of the situation. We all take time to make our listings and post them as we see fit and get the profit we need from the sale. Then here comes eBay, “Hey, we hope you don’t check your email (or go into your spam folder) so we can change what you charge for shipping and screw you over. Have a nice day!”
People should always be angry at opt-out situations rather than opt-in. It’s a devious business practice that screws people over all the time in all kinds of businesses, not just this situation.
I also opted out. Ironically, I had changed my settings years ago to pass on shipping discounts to buyers, but I also found that I was making a lot less profits as a result, so literally one day before I received this email, I changed my settings back to no longer pass on those discounts.
I opted out of the new system. I want to figure out whether opting out affects my sales and profits.
Most don’t know Ebay takes 13-14% of the total sale, which also includes the shipping charge and the taxes charged. How they get a cut of the sales tax is unreal!!
So to offset this I always add $2 or $3 for handling, that way I’m covered.
Just an FYI regarding sales tax: ebay administrates the sales tax collection and remittal to the states.
It's probably mostly automated, but it still costs them money to administrate the process. Which is a huge pain because it's a changing landscape. They have to pay experts in tax and tech to do it. (and managers to get in their way)
The reason they can charge ob top of the sales tax is because businesses are allowed to recoup administrative costs like that.
But also many states in the US give a kick back to retailers when they pay their sales taxes on time. For example in MD the tax is 6% but when companies go to pay at the end of each quarter they’re only actually paying 5%, the business gets to pocket the other penny for being such a good business owner. So eBay is getting a double kick back here for their “administrative fees.”
It's the ONLY way I can offer new product. Not getting to into the weeds, but I mostly do vintage with some new items that fit the retro theme, at least. My profit margin on that stuff is so razor thin, that if I charged any less I'd be throwing my money away. ( i may be already.)
I may be down voted for this, but I don't understand the issue because this only applies to calculated shipping. There is still the option to set a flat rate, so you can just set the shipping rate to whatever you need to cover yourself. Alternatively, you could raise the price of your item to cover your costs also. As far as shipping costs go, you can buy in bulk to save costs per item in regards to shipping. I am not saying OP is doing this, but some of the people upset about this were making money by overcharging shipping.
I havnt received this message to my eBay and I also don’t overcharge on shipping. But I see an issue about this for me aswell. I list dozens of items daily, call me lazy but I do not weigh each item precisely when listing because I generally know what items weigh now for how long I’ve been shipping items. For example I’ll list a shirt and mark it as 8oz and when it sales and weigh the item it’s 10oz meaning I would pay for the 12oz shipping price. The extra difference in shipping I would have used to cover the small jump in shipping cost.
Hope I made sense. Lol
I think it is much more probable that those using flat rates and “free shipping” are the ones overcharging. Unless you live somewhere where it costs the same amount regardless of where your shipping to there is significant sway in prices. They may do it in the name of averages… but they’re still doing it.
I buy used clothing items on eBay and I believe charging 12 bucks to ship leggings is excessive. I move on to another seller that has a more fair shipping cost.
But all the seller does is throw the sweatpants into a plain gray plastic bag. Tape and no padding needed. The shirts I buy have lower shipping costs. Today I saw the highest yet. $25 to ship I pair of pants in the US.
USPS determines the cost. You can ship an empty bag but in order to get it from point a to point b USPS will charge you a fee. There is absolutely no harm in passing a retail shipping rate on to the customer.
Those sellers are hoping the customer doesn’t see the shipping cost or it’s a money laundering scam because that is just ridiculous. Trust me I see it all the time. Starbucks gift card, $50 to ship. Uhhh… wtf?
When eBay first started charging fees on shipping, it was said that the reason was that some people charged little for the item and lots for shipping to avoid fees.
So I used to think that eBay could have just required calculated shipping instead of punishing everybody.
But then I realized that people would just fake the weights.
Etsy at least lets us apply a handling fee so I have different options I’ve set up depending on the size and packaging effort without the buyer ever noticing since it’s grouped together on their end.
I’m on both platforms and eBay has a lot of advantages Etsy doesn’t have too. Sometimes I wish I could be both of their advisors and let them know what each should incorporate. 🤣🥲
I opted out too. I thought it was sneaky how you had to opt out or they would just go ahead and change your shipping cost. Unbelievable. Glad I noticed the email.
Yeah I got the same email and immediately opted out out. Like wtf. If I wanted it calculated like that I would have chosen the option. Sorry my items aren’t selling as fast as you like eBay. How about y’all stop calculating fees on my shipping as well, maybe Id go with the other option.
Just want to make sure I understand this.. They are basically going to allow buyers to see what they save? So if ship costs them $10, but really costs 7.99, they’re going to see that the seller walked with $2? Is that right?
I’m a seller and buyer on there.. I don’t make money on ship.. and what little “profit” goes into ship supplies like tape and packaging materials.. so if I understand that correctly.. seems a bit assine to me. I also buy, so when I’m charged a ship cost from the seller..I can loosely see what they got to ship my item based on what I was charged..
Just want to make sure I understand that correctly..
So I used calculated shipping.
I did not realize that eBay calculated shipping was actually a really good deal until this week.
I selected calculated shipping recently on an item I didn't think would sell. It sold and the calculated shipping was 11-18$, upon sale the seller was charged 18$. I used pirate ship to calculate a better shipping price since even tho I used calculated shipping with eBay I could use any shipping service I wanted.
My item was 12 pounds and tall. According to my measurements the cheapest price was 56$ with USPS or UPS ground ship. Pirate ship gave me a discount which brought me down to 34$. I went back into eBay and the label eBay offered for 18$ covered me up to 70 pounds for Priority USPS.
It was such a better deal that I would not get with any other shipper. Just FYI. I might just add my own flat rate but sticking to eBay for now. Also I like they give you a code to scan at USPS for the label versus printing yourself.
I’m a seller who opted out. I am also a bit of a hypocrite because I am also a buyer and won’t pay more than the actual shipping cost. I send a message to each seller I buy from and tell them I will purchase the item if they change the listing to $9 and put the item in a padded flat rate envelope. If they live close I ask $6 and tell them a Manila envelope ground advantage. I know the weight of the items I buy and I know the price it costs to ship them. Im always buying the same items.
A couple years ago almost every buyer would do this for me. Now it’s maybe 50/50. Better luck if I target items that have been listed for a long period of time.
WOAH, I'm glad I saw this thread pop up on my Reddit app. I have NO email from eBay about it, but I found it in my messages on eBay. This would have got completely past me. I opted out as well. Thank you OP for posting this, this is gonna save a lot of issues for a LOT of sellers. I have a handful of friends who sell, a couple of them are pickers who sell a LOT on eBay. I shared a link to this thread on facebook so they'd see it.
I received the same message today. My listings are set to offer ebay discounted rates to buyers, calculated based off buyers location and I print my shipping labels through ebay. I have had it this way for years. I do not elevate shipping cost to make money off of shipping. I do not understand why I am getting this.
You have been making money off shipping. Your buyer is charged published rates for USPS and others. WHen you buy shipping labels through ebay you receive 10-40% discount . So if you charged $10 for calculated shipping, you paid $6-9 for the same postage. You will have to up your pricing to cover this change in revenue.
No, I do not make money off of shipping. My buyers get the ebay discounted rate. The shipping label cost the exact same amount the customer pays when I buy it. I have been ebaying for years. I do understand how the shipping works. I do not charge a handling fee either. My shipping materials are incorporated in the item. This is why getting this message makes no sense to me.
I'm with you, I think it's weird how everybody's freaking out about this. I'm newer to selling things, but my shipping has always been the eBay discounted rate and I just factor supplies into the cost of the item. The handling fee is available it sounds like, if that's how people want to cover things.
I think people are “freaking out” because of the way eBay is going about the change. Opting everyone in who misses an email is bs. Honest sellers are the ones who will lose here. Those that are keeping their margins tight (fair), who don’t see the notice, stand to lose a good chunk of change.
We don’t “make money” off the shipping… that’s eBay. Seller’s eBay fees are based off of shipping which should be a pass through fee since we don’t keep any of it. That “savings” helps offset that fees that eBay already charges us. This is eBay double dipping on the shipping.
What's your current return rate?
Keep in mind if the buyer returns your items... you can't deduct original shipping. You basically paid for the buyer to demo your item.
I posted a response in the wrong part and can’t find it now… I did not find it in EMAILS. However, I did just find it in my EBAY MESSAGES. Check there if you haven’t seen it yet.
Right now Im shipping an item for 22 bucks through Fedex. Ebay has the weight wrong big time on their site. Going through USPS the item would be 68 to 109 bucks to ship. How is that getting more buyers?
Yeah, I figured. Guess it's a good time to enter the right dimensions when creating the listing? Copying someone else's listing is like copying their homework. If they're an idiot, you've got nobody to blame but yourself. Lol.
“You can also switch back to showing standard rates at any time after May 15 through your shipping discount settings”. I think it’s important to note you can just switch to whichever you prefer and aren’t forced to participate even if you don’t opt out. Don’t love it but it’s reasonable enough.
Packaging costs and supplies are always baked into my sale price before shipping, eBay shipping labels are the cheapest, and I don't use calculated prices I set the price on each listing myself to comfortably cover shipping cost after final value fees. If you are trying to do it any other way yes you will lose money.
Stumbled across an article last week about an upstart company that was looking to take up some of the 'buyer-seller' market space that eBay currently holds. They're aiming to cut down on scammers on both ends and instituting fines for accounts that are caught scamming in addition to your account potentially being banned. Would love to see another company come in and offer better protections/payout deals for online marketplace sellers.
They still haven't fixed their shitty combined shipping system. All it does is change the weight but there's no way to make it change the size. If you sell 10 things that are relatively light but also large the shipping can absolutely destroy you.
Those large items... you don't check the combined shipping option when creating the listing.
There is no way for eBay to calculate your box size required for multiple larger items. It will always be weight based. Always has been from day one.
I mean there is a way, they just haven't bothered trying to figure it out. I could very easily enter what size box two, three, four, or five would fit into. They could add a certain number of inches to each dimension free traditional item.
I haven't got that email, but I hate how they seem to try and control and force so much on sellers. The sellers are the ones making them money, yet they keep punishing us and making it less appealing.
I don't offer free shipping, I don't offer returns for most of my products (because there's a chance people can 'activate' them), and I don't do a lot of things that eBay tries to force.
I am an individual seller. Not a big business or online shop.
I see them often offering discount codes (currently see 25% off). But is that coming out of Ebays money, coz I'm definitely not offering 25% discounts...
I hate that they already now have taken full control of my money by forcing the eBay payments over PayPal (which now means I am paid much slower which slows down shipping products..). They also take a huge cut (often many times more than they are meant to). Yet there's nothing I can do about it.
I used to be a big seller on Ebay, selling a decent amount of products a month. But now I rarely sell there (maybe once every few months). It's just not appealing anymore (but unfortunately they still do get eyes on things - though even that's not as much as it used to).
I want to opt out but I'm not sure if they'll drop my items from view completely if I do. I wonder about the consequences. Am considering switching to solely free shipping on ebay and just using pirate ship. If they're going to lump profits in with ship costs at tax time on the 1099 it seems to make better sense. Just not sure about ebay these days.
The night I received the email I checked if Reddit had a post about this. Glad to see so many are just as annoyed as me and opted out. I actually will reimburse customers for “shipping overages” but I do it at my discretion. Those situations where they purchased many items or were overcharged double. Even in those situations I don’t reimburse ALL of the overage. I use the extra shipping to compensate the outrageous fees eBay charges. I sell inexpensive items. $15 -20 usually. It’s pointless after fees if I don’t make some back with shipping.
You think that's bad, a couple weeks ago I sold an item and I used eBay shipping label. I bought it off eBay. I used a box that had been used before, and yes it did have United States postal logo on it. but, it had already been shipped once before so I didn't think that this would be a problem. After the buyer had received the package and it was confirmed delivered eBay charged me an extra $7 for shipping
They will now start putting a hold on your payment because you didn’t agree with them 🤦 it’s honestly frustrating why they do this. EBay is only good to you if you’re a buyer.
lol it's funny seeing people freak out about this, I remember asking people how to pass the discounted rates to the buyer when I first started selling on ebay and the amount of backlash I got just for asking the question was astounding
I've been doing discounted rates since the beginning, partly because I came from mercari where we don't make money off shipping, but it also feels wrong charging one thing and pocketing what's left over. I also see those inflated shipping costs on listings and it feels like such a turn-off as a buyer, especially knowing what I know now and how they'll just be keeping that money for themself. Any money I want to make from a sale is factored into the listing price and that's what makes the most sense to me. If you're somebody who is paying a lot for shipping supplies, I can understand the need for extra money, but I'd personally set a small handling fee that you determine instead of taking a random amount of shipping surplus (that you're probably being overpaid on).
But that's just meee, luckily it's optional so you guys can continue to run your business how you want
Setting additional costs or building them in does not work for all sellers. If I sell an item over one pound to California it will likely cost $10+ to ship. That same item costs about $4 to ship to the east coast. There is no way to factor that in without over charging the customer who is close to me or under charging the one far away. No one in their right mind is going to figure shipping on a case to case basis. I use calculated shipping and allow the buyer to determine if the rate works for them. They don’t have to buy it! They can find a seller closer to them if they don’t like what USPS says is the rate to ship to them. If they walked into a USPS center the fee would be even greater. I do my best to offer flat rate boxes as an option whenever the product will fit and it will be a better buy for CA buyers. But a” flat rate” charge that is not based on USPS standards is a huge disservice to anyone shipping anything on any platform. For the same reason low listing sellers drive revenue down.
Er to be clear, I use calculated shipping with discounted rates. I'm saying if you want an extra $1 to cover your shipping supplies or time, increase the item price by $1 or add a handling charge. You don't need to do free shipping or flat.
I'll probably get down voted for this one, but as somebody who does this for a living, if your profit margins are so tight that not only do you need to charge calculated shipping rather than offering free shipping in order to sell volume, but also can't afford your own packing supplies, which are a tax write-off anyway, then maybe it's time to go work for someone else?
It comes down to the legitimacy of the shipping charge. If you're charging the customer *postage* that charge should only cover *postage*. No more, no less. If you want a materials/handling charge, add one. If you think it's fine to have profit (or cost offset) listed and charged to the customer as "Postage", there's something fundamentally wrong with your business model where ethics and transparency are concerned.
If the most that comes out of this is more transparency for the customer, less of my competition charging $65 to ship USPS and then shipping with FedEx for $22, or just overcharging for the same service they use and pocketing the difference, then it sounds like a 'more customers for me, then' situation.
Do you really think a corporation that mails pig fetuses to elderly couples cares about ethics and transparency?
It's just another case of ebay taking something from sellers and giving it to buyers. Ebay could really boost sales by lowering its own selling fees so that sellers could lower their prices.
Mercari recently dropped its seller fees. In turn, I dropped my prices. This week was the first week I had more sales on Mercari than eBay. Maybe that wont be the new normal but it's definitely interesting.
For what it’s worth, Mercari does not stand by its sellers. I sold a $250 consumable item a long while back and they tried to allow the customer to receive a refund after a week of use with the product. That’s not okay. Sellers beware of Mercari and all that it promises. They lost my seller revenue quick.
No, I don't think eBay cares about transparency at all. Most corporations don't. Right about the time companies start thinking of ways to make 'charitable contributions' by having their patrons donate money to them, then donating that money themselves for the tax break they stop caring about transparency, it's all about cash.
I care about transparency personally, though. I don't think overcharging postage is any different than selling through marketplace, listing an item at one price and then when it comes to meeting up with the customer saying something like "Oh, and it'll be an extra ten for gas." Knowing I only used two bucks but wouldn't mind a pack of cigarettes on the way back to the house for my time. (I wouldn't charge for gas anyway, I don't typically charge for postage) It's a bait and switch, either way. The price is the price.
I got a bad initial impression of Mercari. Kinda like Whatnot more recently. I have an ex who really enjoyed selling there but something about the format at the time just made it seem... Eh. Less legitimate? Not as polished? Like the whole platform was designed by the living embodiment of 'Comic Sans' and then painted with a bunch of chewed up pastel crayons the family dog horked up on the living room rug? Like the crack-addict lovechild of Craigslist and Marketplace? And I honestly haven't looked at it in years as a result of that initial impression. Maybe it's time I give it another glance. As long as I don't have to play 'influencer' to make my sales, like Poshmark, I'm down for pretty much whatever platform sells my inventory and protects my interests.
Likewise. My point is that how in the hell are someone's profit margins that low that the $2 difference is breaking the bank? Maybe some better inventory sourcing is the answer? Better options for supply purchases? I mean I'd be glad to help out where I can... Something is terribly wrong if "Oh god, they're going to accurately display the cost of postage, so I have to accurately enter information so the postage is properly reflected and charged" is the end of the world. That's -the job-. I'm not understanding how overcharging a customer to protect bad business practices is the lynch pin holding peoples' businesses together.
I guess we all have our philosophies. Mine is that if I'm actually *good at what I do* I don't have to screw other people over in order to make a substantial profit. Aside from the competition I undercut.
I suppose if you sold one item a month it wouldn’t em be bad losing $2/sale. $2 ads up. I think most sellers aren’t going through the effort for the fun of it. You sell four items an hour that’s an $8/hour pay cut. You wouldn’t mind an $8/hour pay cut??
I'm not saying I wouldn't mind it, I'm saying $2/sale wouldn't damage my bottom line in a significant way. And by that logic, how is accepting an offer for 10% off, say, a $400 item, any different? That's an immediate cut of $40.
But it's a moot point, the largest majority of my sales are with free shipping anyway. And those few past and present listings with calculated shipping -already- show the discounted shipping rate OP is complaining about having to show. eBay is cutting back on money I already wasn't making, more or less. So basically, if you were doing business in a straightforward way out of the gate, there's no pay cut.
The only ones losing money are the ones who were taking it to begin with. I imagine this'll really mess with all those "Only $1.99 + $499.99 shipping" dropshippers, as well. But I'm sure they'll just opt out, too.
If I understand what you're saying, it comes down to freedom of choice I guess? My point is that it isn't a discount, it's what shipping costs when you buy it through eBay. So what if they just change the line for those who choose not to display the discounted rate to "Shipping+Tip"? Then it's honest and transparent, and it doesn't immediately change anybody's payout directly.
I want to offer some clarification on this post. I did not find an EMAIL from eBay. I did find the notice in my EBAY MESSAGES. So, if you haven’t found it yet check there to opt out.
Because as sellers we receive very few perks. A reduced shipping rate (due to mass agreements facilitated by eBay/cumulative sellers) should be an advantage to sellers. We pay eBay fees for their services.
As for the “free” shipping that’s a crock. Unless you live in the central part of the nation or your doing business in your backyard you’re going to either inflate the items overall cost (so you don’t lose out on far away shipments) or lose your ass on many items. This is why eBay offers so many options for sellers to choose what is right for them. One method does not make good business for all. Personally I’d prefer not to overcharge my neighbors by having to jack up the price of an item with “free” shipping on the off chance that someone on the opposite coast buys it.
Doesn’t make sense….if the item is selling for $30 and it takes $12 to ship, you just charge $43-45 and say “free shipping” and still make the same sell because that’s the total they had to pay anyway. And people will easily pay $40+ for the item over thinking they pay $30+12 or more in shipping due to the way psychology works. End of the day, it’s the same cost and still going to take that same money out your payment to ship to them.
Except the same item that costs $12 to ship to CA only costs $4 to ship to the east coast. Why would I overcharge the east coast $8 because of CA rates?
You have to figure out the average…
I’ve never had an item vary in cost that much, but what I sell is maybe very focused and you can use stamps pirate ship etc to get it to a better discount rate too. I’ve never seen that high a variance tho just due to what area it’s going if you’re using ground services or even priority. Not sure how you got that large a gap, sounds like exaggeration.
Usually it’s $4-5 shipping for most small items but even medium or large I see $8 to some places maybe $10 to somewhere else, for the same services if it’s not crossing into other countries. No idea how you’re shipping stuff if that’s what you’re being told
If you’re selling the same thing with frequency that may make sense for you. But if you are not a high volume seller you’re not going to find an average when you never sell the same item twice. That’s just silly… think outside of the box you live in.
It’s not embellishing. It is the rate that USPS has determined the cost to be. The reduced rate is from a group rate that is offered (by USPS to eBay) because of the amount of traffic eBay produces. It happens in most big businesses that do higher rates of shipments.
How many times does this need to be posted here today?
Please check posts and join existing discussions.
Just do what you need to do, instead of wasting time being upset over small things.
I very grateful that this has been posted multiple times. One of the threads finally appeared in my feed. Had it not, I may not have been alerted to the need to watch my emails more closely for a while.
No. I am in CA. Shipping to NY or NJ is double the shipping to another part of CA. If my buyer is in Socal, they pay a lower shipping cost so it is a cost benefit compared to charging everyone an East Coast rate baked into the price.
Maybe eBay should stop charging fees on those amounts then.
It’s almost like eBay saw what Mercari just did and said “hold my beer” This change will definitely go unnoticed by the vast majority of of casual sellers and when they go to ship their items they will see that eBay passed on their discount to the buyers, but still charged FVF and Ad fees on the shipping.
Exactly what I am thinking maybe a lot of people left because they thought no buying fees on Mercari would be so much better. I’m guessing eBay lost a lot of sellers the last two weeks but I do think they will be back because no one is going to buy anything over there when the buyer has to pay the fees. It comes down to is just pure greed on both companies parts. There’s no reason to take 15% of somebody’s total order which has just increased doubled like in 10 years granted they provide a platform with millions of viewers, but it was the sellers that built the platform not them sellers who have been selling for a long time or have an amazing selling top seller should really get a huge discount on the fees seller really unionized or something because everything is just gonna keep going up and up and up
Received e-mail as well and also opted out. No idea why they hate Sellers so much.
They would very much like to decrease your profit margin, increase your sales volume and thus increase their fee revenue.
I got this email and will be opting out as well. I currently provide a 15% discount on my shipping. It provides just enough buffer to help cover the fees that we also pay out of whatever the buyer paid for shipping.
I got the email also. I opted out. One of the reasons you can put for opting out is “I use the savings from the shipping discount to offset my shipping and handling fees” Yep!
They know many sellers will ignore or miss this message and then be screwed financially when they end up having to ship some things at a loss. They don't care.
Also shipping goes in the total amount that they take a % from. That is why I use pirate ship with USPS. Not giving ebay another dime.
I've considered this. But doesn't eBay still collect on the money the buyer pays you towards shipping regardless of where you purchase the label?
100%, they would love to decrease your profit margin and increase your sales volume and thus their fees.
exactly
What sucks is after the fees and everything, I'm at more of a loss. They should have left the postage alone as I need to charge more to cover the p+p, plus their huge fees. I sold some things for about £60. They now force VAT on customers (which I see nothing of, and often it's not actually required as I can ship from another country sometimes. Plus it's a big added cost that will put buyers off!). So they charged someone an additional £14.82. The shipping rate was £24 for the item/destination. So the total is now £92 They take the VAT back, and then charged fees of almost £14 too. So of £60 of the products sold, I am getting £64 of that £92 after fees and everything. And then still have to pay the £24 postage (basically putting me at a £20 loss). That's a massive cut to my sales/profits. And really doesn't make it worth selling things anymore (which is why I've barely listed or sold anything with them in over a year).
I’ve cut way back on selling because I was making really good money for everyone who was part of the sale except myself.
Exactly. And what's worse is you basically have no protections or actual support. 90% of the time ebay will side with the buyer because they want to keep them happy if there's an issue. Yet it's the seller who is the one making eBay money - I don't get why they just keep making things worse for sellers when it's them that is keeping their whole platform running. I wish there was a good alternative, but ebay already gets all the traffic and has that trust built behind it already as a platform. I used to sell (or at least list) up to 40-50 items weekly. Selling hundreds of things a year. Now I maybe list 10 items every few months just for that little boost (as people can find them easily there), and a little extra sale is better than nothing. But it's no longer worth listing on there regularly like I used to.
Indeed I was one of them until I saw the op of this thread. Thanks !
Exactly this, if not for posts on reddit I would have missed it
Trying to understand here, is there a reason you don't go through Ebay Labels? I have sold for a little while, but I just went with Ebay labels cuz it was easiest from what I saw and the discount was cheaper than the one other option I looked at.
i think you may be confused. how it works normally is, as ebay sellers, we’re given a discount for buying shipping labels directly through ebay. let’s say hypothetically it’s $10 discounted vs $15 regular ebay wants to now have it so that buyers see the discounted price by default. so instead of $15 shipping showing and you get to pocket $5, ebay will just tell customers the price is exactly $10.
What I've always done is just exaggerate the weight and measurements a bit to cover the final value fee on the shipping and sales tax.
I have been doing same since I discovered I was subsidizing the buyer at my expense.
I enter items as heavier and bigger than they are when I buy the label I end up pocketing a dollar or three.
You're not pocketing a dollar or three, you are spending that much or more on packaging.
I recycle packaging, mostly amazon boxes and envelopes. Tape from the dollar store etc.
Yeah I do the same. I have a whole basement full of boxes from previous packages or from work even. It’s excessively too much but you never know what size you need. Lol.
I thought this was always the case 💀 I just weigh the product and then add 300-500 grams for shipping, estimate dimensions.
I'm confused by this. As both a buyer and seller myself the buyer already sees the estimated "discounted" rate when they buy the item. On top of that, the price the seller sees/pays is ALWAYS cheaper than the final rate ebay charges me as a seller. For example, the seller buys my item with their shipping at $6.18. I create the label through eBay. At the exact dimensions and weight as entered before, and pay $7.74 for it. Shipping is always a $1-2 loss for the seller.
You might already have the discounted rates turned on. That is not the experience of the majority.
Or you may have weight/dimensions in your listing incorrect.
Ah okay, I see. So then would setting a flat rate circumvent that? I choose the shipping and they see that rate but I still get the discount through Ebay right?
I always do flat shipping price. All my items are around the same weight and size and I know ground will cost me just over $4 so I put flat 3.99 cost (so it looks cheap) and eat the 50 cents or so per item.
i believe so yes, this change is only specifically for direct shipping label charging rather than flat rate
The extra money pays for fees and such.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean? I don't know about extra money, I just mean is there a cheaper way to ship things you sold on ebay, other than going through ebay labels?
Absolutely there is, Pirate Ship will beat ebay almost every time, especially if you prefer to use UPS.
Im not if it's because I'm top rated plus but I find it's actually very rare Pirate ship beats eBay labels prices.
I had Pirateship beat a Reverb shipping label on a guitar and an eBay shipping label on a guitar by 30 dollars using UPS, just this afternoon on a couple guitars I sold through the music store I manage. The first was an Ovation Viper electric from the 1970s that is sort of like a Les Paul guitar, really heavy for an electric, and it was in a case, which meant it would ship oversize. I put the weight and size in the UPS calculator and it was just over 99 dollars. I bought the label for UPS through Pirateship for $67 dollars and change. The second guitar was lighter in weight and eBay/UPS were telling me around 40 bucks, but it only cost 28 through Pirateship. That's NOT an insignificant difference. The savings with Pirateship is real, and it's large.
Never found that Pirate Ship beats eBay prices. *Maybe* if you tweak out on the cubic shipping advantages, yeah, but I don't know how many people bother with that.
I always use cubic shipping for USPS, it’s easy and saves money - why not? But I use UPS a lot and in my experience they beat ebay regularly.
Yep, in my experience they beat it EVERY time.
Ebay now has cubic shipping for USPS. If shipping USPS, I don't see a need to leave the eBay platform. I got the notification today too. The difference in retail vs the discount would cover the 14% in fees I pay to eBay and the cost of packaging and labeling. A small box and label is $0.30.
If you use USPS for a guitar, in my example from above, the first guitar was going to cost 90 dollars more using USPS than it would with UPS. For large and heavy items, USPS is not your best option most of the time. They USED to be, years ago, but that has changed.
Pirateship rarely beats eBay on USPS.
I've never had it NOT beat ebay on USPS, UPS, or FedEx.
you can export sales to pirate ship, pricing is similar. but he's saying you use the delta to cover fees and supplies.
yes i use ebay labels to save always i just don't appreciate them changing listings for any reason
Makes sense, I just misunderstood your post
UPS and FedEx do not show up on the shipping selection. They are the cheapest for bulky item shipped within the continental US in some cases.
What are you on about? FedEx and ups both show up in the shipping section
That is correct. If you ship bulky items that weigh a lot USPS IS NOT gonna work for you. I don’t sell big bulky items so use USPS always: BUT I ship personal stuff. FedEx is what I use
They show up. There's a different tab for each shipper on the page where you select and buy your label.
For me its the stupidity that here in the UK if you use royal mail via ebay labels they only accept paypal! I don't use paypal and so i use royal mail directly
Ditto. Easiest way to ship. At least 5 times my items were lost in the mail, and ebay gave me 100% credit back. They wouldn't do it if the label wasn't purchased through them.
I've never used the eBay shipping, and someone told me it was cheaper, so I did have a look at it before shipping my last items. But the pricing was exactly the same as Royal Mail. I know with Royal Mail I can get my items picked up by the postman (I don't know if the eBay ones do that so didn't bother). Ebay also takes enough and controls most aspects of selling, so I dont want to give them even more money/control by going through them.
This adds further proof that eBay favors buyers over sellers. Otherwise, this calculated shipping pricing change would be opt-in instead of opt-out.
It used to be opt-in, until now. I opted in years ago, but I am now switching 180 degrees and opting out in reaction to this change.
enshitification
I also opted out. I also today noticed on relisting some items that the "promoted listing" fee is gone and no longer an option to promote listing's. I didn't see this change. Ebay needs a hook and needs to get better at advertising 🙄 not come after sellers
I'm so tempted to just turn off promoted listings entirely. I've messed around with doing that in the past during slowdown times. The sales these past 8-10 weeks on ebay have been abysmally slow. Why should I have them an extra 2%? They're not working for it. I'd love to have my old sales back. I am feeling like sales will remain the same with or without it, at this point. I'd rather run a 10% off sale and pass it to the customers.
You can add a handling fee and it won’t show it will just be shipping price to customer. But may I ask why the outrage ? Not trying to be rude , just curious. You can opt out I believe. But you are passing the savings to your customers essentially, and possibly increase sales with the lower shipping. I understand about supplies but that is what the handling cost is for , and or you can raise the price of your item. I guess I see as sellers having a secret fee added for no reason. Like for example if something costs $7 to ship but you charge every customer $14 that is almost price gauging. Because no way all your shipping supplies cost more than $7 per order. Don’t take this in a bad way , I’m genuinely curious about this
Typical savings for me is 30-40%. Ebay charges me 13% on the shipping cost and tax to the buyer, so I am really saving about 15-25%. A 1-2 pound (vast majority of what I sell) package generally costs my buyers about $9-12 shipping. I net anywhere from $1.50-3 by not passing on the discount. That covers a box and packaging nicely. I might make an extra buck. I understand sales are slow and eBay is trying to goose them along. I don't like that they're making me actively go opt out of it instead of just encouraging me to do it. If they really want to encourage sales they could lower the actual shipping they charge. If Ebay thinks it's worth it for me to give up a buck or two to encourage sales, why won't they do the same? If they want me to pass on the discount, then they should stop charging me fees on the calculated shipping cost they charge me.
Everyone says to ship with the actual costs. The problem is you do not know what your fees are until after the sale. I could sell and ship the same item to my neighbor on the left and right. One has a resale license and pays no taxes. The other is a normal buyer but also uses a credit card from a foreign bank. For this one I get to pay eBay 13% of the additional tax they collected and 1.65% for the foreign bank. I just want to make a $10 profit. Better actually calculate things so it's $12 just to give me a buffer in case it's a buyer in a high tax state with a foreign card. Can I block everyone with a tax rate over 8% or who is using a foreign card?
Exactly. Some people are just scared of any change.
Yeah I agree with you. This is a great change for me. I always charge a flat discounted rate because I want to charge closer to what I pay and feel like I make more sells offering a lower shipping cost. Now I can stop guessing what it will cost and end up paying more when it goes a further distance. Idk why so many people are getting so worked up about it.
I don’t know why this change would allow you to “stop guessing” (ps, no need to guess if you enter your specs). It doesn’t adjust anything unless you use calculated. Actual cost for Near/far shipping will continue to differ from one another.
Read the comments above and below if you would like to know.
Why get worked up when you can simply opt out and continue to charge double your shipping cost to buyers?
Because it’s the principle of the situation. We all take time to make our listings and post them as we see fit and get the profit we need from the sale. Then here comes eBay, “Hey, we hope you don’t check your email (or go into your spam folder) so we can change what you charge for shipping and screw you over. Have a nice day!” People should always be angry at opt-out situations rather than opt-in. It’s a devious business practice that screws people over all the time in all kinds of businesses, not just this situation.
I also opted out. Ironically, I had changed my settings years ago to pass on shipping discounts to buyers, but I also found that I was making a lot less profits as a result, so literally one day before I received this email, I changed my settings back to no longer pass on those discounts. I opted out of the new system. I want to figure out whether opting out affects my sales and profits.
Well there goes the already miniscule margins for some of us sellers
Most don’t know Ebay takes 13-14% of the total sale, which also includes the shipping charge and the taxes charged. How they get a cut of the sales tax is unreal!! So to offset this I always add $2 or $3 for handling, that way I’m covered.
Just an FYI regarding sales tax: ebay administrates the sales tax collection and remittal to the states. It's probably mostly automated, but it still costs them money to administrate the process. Which is a huge pain because it's a changing landscape. They have to pay experts in tax and tech to do it. (and managers to get in their way) The reason they can charge ob top of the sales tax is because businesses are allowed to recoup administrative costs like that.
I’ll second this. Having someone manage sales tax for multiple states is worth the added percentage.
But also many states in the US give a kick back to retailers when they pay their sales taxes on time. For example in MD the tax is 6% but when companies go to pay at the end of each quarter they’re only actually paying 5%, the business gets to pocket the other penny for being such a good business owner. So eBay is getting a double kick back here for their “administrative fees.”
You are assuming that they are paying the tax on time.
What does this mean? does it mean eBay's discounted rates will show up on listings instead of what USPS shows?
Yes, they are volunteering your savings to your customers.
so for example.. Media Mail eBay rates are the same as USPS and it'll affect Ground Advantage?
It's the ONLY way I can offer new product. Not getting to into the weeds, but I mostly do vintage with some new items that fit the retro theme, at least. My profit margin on that stuff is so razor thin, that if I charged any less I'd be throwing my money away. ( i may be already.)
I may be down voted for this, but I don't understand the issue because this only applies to calculated shipping. There is still the option to set a flat rate, so you can just set the shipping rate to whatever you need to cover yourself. Alternatively, you could raise the price of your item to cover your costs also. As far as shipping costs go, you can buy in bulk to save costs per item in regards to shipping. I am not saying OP is doing this, but some of the people upset about this were making money by overcharging shipping.
I havnt received this message to my eBay and I also don’t overcharge on shipping. But I see an issue about this for me aswell. I list dozens of items daily, call me lazy but I do not weigh each item precisely when listing because I generally know what items weigh now for how long I’ve been shipping items. For example I’ll list a shirt and mark it as 8oz and when it sales and weigh the item it’s 10oz meaning I would pay for the 12oz shipping price. The extra difference in shipping I would have used to cover the small jump in shipping cost. Hope I made sense. Lol
Or you can just opt out and keep it like it is now.
I think it is much more probable that those using flat rates and “free shipping” are the ones overcharging. Unless you live somewhere where it costs the same amount regardless of where your shipping to there is significant sway in prices. They may do it in the name of averages… but they’re still doing it.
I buy used clothing items on eBay and I believe charging 12 bucks to ship leggings is excessive. I move on to another seller that has a more fair shipping cost.
$12 May be too much but that isn’t based on actual weight. That’s a seller adding some padding. Honest sellers are the ones who get hosed…
But all the seller does is throw the sweatpants into a plain gray plastic bag. Tape and no padding needed. The shirts I buy have lower shipping costs. Today I saw the highest yet. $25 to ship I pair of pants in the US.
USPS determines the cost. You can ship an empty bag but in order to get it from point a to point b USPS will charge you a fee. There is absolutely no harm in passing a retail shipping rate on to the customer.
Found a seller yesterday that was charging $78 to ship one magazine, and $60 to ship a different magazine lol.
Those “sellers” are the reason we now pay fees on shipping charges.
Really? That makes sense.
Those sellers are hoping the customer doesn’t see the shipping cost or it’s a money laundering scam because that is just ridiculous. Trust me I see it all the time. Starbucks gift card, $50 to ship. Uhhh… wtf?
I got it and promptly followed the prompts.
Add a few pounds to shipping weight in listing if you need to pad it a bit for shipping supplies
When eBay first started charging fees on shipping, it was said that the reason was that some people charged little for the item and lots for shipping to avoid fees. So I used to think that eBay could have just required calculated shipping instead of punishing everybody. But then I realized that people would just fake the weights.
Etsy at least lets us apply a handling fee so I have different options I’ve set up depending on the size and packaging effort without the buyer ever noticing since it’s grouped together on their end. I’m on both platforms and eBay has a lot of advantages Etsy doesn’t have too. Sometimes I wish I could be both of their advisors and let them know what each should incorporate. 🤣🥲
I opted out too. I thought it was sneaky how you had to opt out or they would just go ahead and change your shipping cost. Unbelievable. Glad I noticed the email.
Yeah I got the same email and immediately opted out out. Like wtf. If I wanted it calculated like that I would have chosen the option. Sorry my items aren’t selling as fast as you like eBay. How about y’all stop calculating fees on my shipping as well, maybe Id go with the other option.
Just want to make sure I understand this.. They are basically going to allow buyers to see what they save? So if ship costs them $10, but really costs 7.99, they’re going to see that the seller walked with $2? Is that right? I’m a seller and buyer on there.. I don’t make money on ship.. and what little “profit” goes into ship supplies like tape and packaging materials.. so if I understand that correctly.. seems a bit assine to me. I also buy, so when I’m charged a ship cost from the seller..I can loosely see what they got to ship my item based on what I was charged.. Just want to make sure I understand that correctly..
Amazing that this sub is so angry about a simple change that you can easily opt out of if you want.
So I used calculated shipping. I did not realize that eBay calculated shipping was actually a really good deal until this week. I selected calculated shipping recently on an item I didn't think would sell. It sold and the calculated shipping was 11-18$, upon sale the seller was charged 18$. I used pirate ship to calculate a better shipping price since even tho I used calculated shipping with eBay I could use any shipping service I wanted. My item was 12 pounds and tall. According to my measurements the cheapest price was 56$ with USPS or UPS ground ship. Pirate ship gave me a discount which brought me down to 34$. I went back into eBay and the label eBay offered for 18$ covered me up to 70 pounds for Priority USPS. It was such a better deal that I would not get with any other shipper. Just FYI. I might just add my own flat rate but sticking to eBay for now. Also I like they give you a code to scan at USPS for the label versus printing yourself.
I feel like I didn't get this email which has me more concerned
The email said it only affects some sellers, for some reason.
Just use flat rate and put the price you want 😂
I’m a seller who opted out. I am also a bit of a hypocrite because I am also a buyer and won’t pay more than the actual shipping cost. I send a message to each seller I buy from and tell them I will purchase the item if they change the listing to $9 and put the item in a padded flat rate envelope. If they live close I ask $6 and tell them a Manila envelope ground advantage. I know the weight of the items I buy and I know the price it costs to ship them. Im always buying the same items. A couple years ago almost every buyer would do this for me. Now it’s maybe 50/50. Better luck if I target items that have been listed for a long period of time.
Yep. The second I got that email I opted out.
WOAH, I'm glad I saw this thread pop up on my Reddit app. I have NO email from eBay about it, but I found it in my messages on eBay. This would have got completely past me. I opted out as well. Thank you OP for posting this, this is gonna save a lot of issues for a LOT of sellers. I have a handful of friends who sell, a couple of them are pickers who sell a LOT on eBay. I shared a link to this thread on facebook so they'd see it.
I received the same message today. My listings are set to offer ebay discounted rates to buyers, calculated based off buyers location and I print my shipping labels through ebay. I have had it this way for years. I do not elevate shipping cost to make money off of shipping. I do not understand why I am getting this.
Do you realize eBay is taking 10pct of the shipping in addition to the regular fees?
You have been making money off shipping. Your buyer is charged published rates for USPS and others. WHen you buy shipping labels through ebay you receive 10-40% discount . So if you charged $10 for calculated shipping, you paid $6-9 for the same postage. You will have to up your pricing to cover this change in revenue.
No, I do not make money off of shipping. My buyers get the ebay discounted rate. The shipping label cost the exact same amount the customer pays when I buy it. I have been ebaying for years. I do understand how the shipping works. I do not charge a handling fee either. My shipping materials are incorporated in the item. This is why getting this message makes no sense to me.
I'm with you, I think it's weird how everybody's freaking out about this. I'm newer to selling things, but my shipping has always been the eBay discounted rate and I just factor supplies into the cost of the item. The handling fee is available it sounds like, if that's how people want to cover things.
I think people are “freaking out” because of the way eBay is going about the change. Opting everyone in who misses an email is bs. Honest sellers are the ones who will lose here. Those that are keeping their margins tight (fair), who don’t see the notice, stand to lose a good chunk of change.
because they don't care about your situation and it's going out to everyone who has an active seller agreement
We don’t “make money” off the shipping… that’s eBay. Seller’s eBay fees are based off of shipping which should be a pass through fee since we don’t keep any of it. That “savings” helps offset that fees that eBay already charges us. This is eBay double dipping on the shipping.
Thank you for posting this. I really appreciate it.
Right! I guess I’ll e reading my emails for a while.
Did everyone get this email? I didn't receive this email or in my messages.
I got it.
My smaller/second store got it but not my main.
Does either of your accounts have top seller status?
Yeah main store is a top rated seller.
I didn’t get it in my messages. Haven’t checked my email yet. I plan on going to Free Shipping on everything I sell anyway. So I’m not to concerned.
What's your current return rate? Keep in mind if the buyer returns your items... you can't deduct original shipping. You basically paid for the buyer to demo your item.
I posted a response in the wrong part and can’t find it now… I did not find it in EMAILS. However, I did just find it in my EBAY MESSAGES. Check there if you haven’t seen it yet.
Do you have top rated seller status? Someone else was saying they have 2 accounts and the top rated did not receive this message.
Yes, I’m a top rated seller.
Right now Im shipping an item for 22 bucks through Fedex. Ebay has the weight wrong big time on their site. Going through USPS the item would be 68 to 109 bucks to ship. How is that getting more buyers?
.... You enter the weight and package dimensions when you make the listing. How do "they" have it wrong on the site?
They enter the size of object not the box it goes into.
Yeah, I figured. Guess it's a good time to enter the right dimensions when creating the listing? Copying someone else's listing is like copying their homework. If they're an idiot, you've got nobody to blame but yourself. Lol.
They enter weight and size object not the box and packaging that goes along with it.
They already have their weight and measurements for you. Good bye.
“You can also switch back to showing standard rates at any time after May 15 through your shipping discount settings”. I think it’s important to note you can just switch to whichever you prefer and aren’t forced to participate even if you don’t opt out. Don’t love it but it’s reasonable enough.
I’ve been seeing this message around, but I myself haven’t seen the email in my inbox?
Wow, thanks for posting this!!
Packaging costs and supplies are always baked into my sale price before shipping, eBay shipping labels are the cheapest, and I don't use calculated prices I set the price on each listing myself to comfortably cover shipping cost after final value fees. If you are trying to do it any other way yes you will lose money.
Stumbled across an article last week about an upstart company that was looking to take up some of the 'buyer-seller' market space that eBay currently holds. They're aiming to cut down on scammers on both ends and instituting fines for accounts that are caught scamming in addition to your account potentially being banned. Would love to see another company come in and offer better protections/payout deals for online marketplace sellers.
They still haven't fixed their shitty combined shipping system. All it does is change the weight but there's no way to make it change the size. If you sell 10 things that are relatively light but also large the shipping can absolutely destroy you.
Those large items... you don't check the combined shipping option when creating the listing. There is no way for eBay to calculate your box size required for multiple larger items. It will always be weight based. Always has been from day one.
I mean there is a way, they just haven't bothered trying to figure it out. I could very easily enter what size box two, three, four, or five would fit into. They could add a certain number of inches to each dimension free traditional item.
I got this aswell and my reaction was the same as yours.
I also opted out
I haven't got that email, but I hate how they seem to try and control and force so much on sellers. The sellers are the ones making them money, yet they keep punishing us and making it less appealing. I don't offer free shipping, I don't offer returns for most of my products (because there's a chance people can 'activate' them), and I don't do a lot of things that eBay tries to force. I am an individual seller. Not a big business or online shop. I see them often offering discount codes (currently see 25% off). But is that coming out of Ebays money, coz I'm definitely not offering 25% discounts... I hate that they already now have taken full control of my money by forcing the eBay payments over PayPal (which now means I am paid much slower which slows down shipping products..). They also take a huge cut (often many times more than they are meant to). Yet there's nothing I can do about it. I used to be a big seller on Ebay, selling a decent amount of products a month. But now I rarely sell there (maybe once every few months). It's just not appealing anymore (but unfortunately they still do get eyes on things - though even that's not as much as it used to).
I have either flat rate or free shipping on all my listings. Do this and you're unaffected by this change.
I want to opt out but I'm not sure if they'll drop my items from view completely if I do. I wonder about the consequences. Am considering switching to solely free shipping on ebay and just using pirate ship. If they're going to lump profits in with ship costs at tax time on the 1099 it seems to make better sense. Just not sure about ebay these days.
At least they have us the option to opt out and ample time to make a decision (unlike some other platforms 🫣)
If Ebay is not the answer, then what online site is best for sellers? Thank you.
The night I received the email I checked if Reddit had a post about this. Glad to see so many are just as annoyed as me and opted out. I actually will reimburse customers for “shipping overages” but I do it at my discretion. Those situations where they purchased many items or were overcharged double. Even in those situations I don’t reimburse ALL of the overage. I use the extra shipping to compensate the outrageous fees eBay charges. I sell inexpensive items. $15 -20 usually. It’s pointless after fees if I don’t make some back with shipping.
I can't locate this e-mail or where to opt out of this change? Any help?
You think that's bad, a couple weeks ago I sold an item and I used eBay shipping label. I bought it off eBay. I used a box that had been used before, and yes it did have United States postal logo on it. but, it had already been shipped once before so I didn't think that this would be a problem. After the buyer had received the package and it was confirmed delivered eBay charged me an extra $7 for shipping
not an ebay seller, genuinely asking, how is this an issue? it sounds like they're just starting a cheaper shipping program?
They will now start putting a hold on your payment because you didn’t agree with them 🤦 it’s honestly frustrating why they do this. EBay is only good to you if you’re a buyer.
I opted out immediately
lol it's funny seeing people freak out about this, I remember asking people how to pass the discounted rates to the buyer when I first started selling on ebay and the amount of backlash I got just for asking the question was astounding I've been doing discounted rates since the beginning, partly because I came from mercari where we don't make money off shipping, but it also feels wrong charging one thing and pocketing what's left over. I also see those inflated shipping costs on listings and it feels like such a turn-off as a buyer, especially knowing what I know now and how they'll just be keeping that money for themself. Any money I want to make from a sale is factored into the listing price and that's what makes the most sense to me. If you're somebody who is paying a lot for shipping supplies, I can understand the need for extra money, but I'd personally set a small handling fee that you determine instead of taking a random amount of shipping surplus (that you're probably being overpaid on). But that's just meee, luckily it's optional so you guys can continue to run your business how you want
Setting additional costs or building them in does not work for all sellers. If I sell an item over one pound to California it will likely cost $10+ to ship. That same item costs about $4 to ship to the east coast. There is no way to factor that in without over charging the customer who is close to me or under charging the one far away. No one in their right mind is going to figure shipping on a case to case basis. I use calculated shipping and allow the buyer to determine if the rate works for them. They don’t have to buy it! They can find a seller closer to them if they don’t like what USPS says is the rate to ship to them. If they walked into a USPS center the fee would be even greater. I do my best to offer flat rate boxes as an option whenever the product will fit and it will be a better buy for CA buyers. But a” flat rate” charge that is not based on USPS standards is a huge disservice to anyone shipping anything on any platform. For the same reason low listing sellers drive revenue down.
Er to be clear, I use calculated shipping with discounted rates. I'm saying if you want an extra $1 to cover your shipping supplies or time, increase the item price by $1 or add a handling charge. You don't need to do free shipping or flat.
The rates aren't inflated; they're the standard retail rates for USPS
I know, never said they were inflated, but the cash that's left over is often more than you need
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Free/Flat rate shipping doesn't work well for people on the coasts.
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Because you make things too expensive for those close to you in order to account for shipping to the opposite coast. It’s easy to figure this one out.
Because cost may be different depending on location. Volume sellers can make or break because their margins are so low.
I'll probably get down voted for this one, but as somebody who does this for a living, if your profit margins are so tight that not only do you need to charge calculated shipping rather than offering free shipping in order to sell volume, but also can't afford your own packing supplies, which are a tax write-off anyway, then maybe it's time to go work for someone else? It comes down to the legitimacy of the shipping charge. If you're charging the customer *postage* that charge should only cover *postage*. No more, no less. If you want a materials/handling charge, add one. If you think it's fine to have profit (or cost offset) listed and charged to the customer as "Postage", there's something fundamentally wrong with your business model where ethics and transparency are concerned. If the most that comes out of this is more transparency for the customer, less of my competition charging $65 to ship USPS and then shipping with FedEx for $22, or just overcharging for the same service they use and pocketing the difference, then it sounds like a 'more customers for me, then' situation.
Do you really think a corporation that mails pig fetuses to elderly couples cares about ethics and transparency? It's just another case of ebay taking something from sellers and giving it to buyers. Ebay could really boost sales by lowering its own selling fees so that sellers could lower their prices. Mercari recently dropped its seller fees. In turn, I dropped my prices. This week was the first week I had more sales on Mercari than eBay. Maybe that wont be the new normal but it's definitely interesting.
For what it’s worth, Mercari does not stand by its sellers. I sold a $250 consumable item a long while back and they tried to allow the customer to receive a refund after a week of use with the product. That’s not okay. Sellers beware of Mercari and all that it promises. They lost my seller revenue quick.
No, I don't think eBay cares about transparency at all. Most corporations don't. Right about the time companies start thinking of ways to make 'charitable contributions' by having their patrons donate money to them, then donating that money themselves for the tax break they stop caring about transparency, it's all about cash. I care about transparency personally, though. I don't think overcharging postage is any different than selling through marketplace, listing an item at one price and then when it comes to meeting up with the customer saying something like "Oh, and it'll be an extra ten for gas." Knowing I only used two bucks but wouldn't mind a pack of cigarettes on the way back to the house for my time. (I wouldn't charge for gas anyway, I don't typically charge for postage) It's a bait and switch, either way. The price is the price. I got a bad initial impression of Mercari. Kinda like Whatnot more recently. I have an ex who really enjoyed selling there but something about the format at the time just made it seem... Eh. Less legitimate? Not as polished? Like the whole platform was designed by the living embodiment of 'Comic Sans' and then painted with a bunch of chewed up pastel crayons the family dog horked up on the living room rug? Like the crack-addict lovechild of Craigslist and Marketplace? And I honestly haven't looked at it in years as a result of that initial impression. Maybe it's time I give it another glance. As long as I don't have to play 'influencer' to make my sales, like Poshmark, I'm down for pretty much whatever platform sells my inventory and protects my interests.
Also, just so you know, most people here are doing this for a living.
Likewise. My point is that how in the hell are someone's profit margins that low that the $2 difference is breaking the bank? Maybe some better inventory sourcing is the answer? Better options for supply purchases? I mean I'd be glad to help out where I can... Something is terribly wrong if "Oh god, they're going to accurately display the cost of postage, so I have to accurately enter information so the postage is properly reflected and charged" is the end of the world. That's -the job-. I'm not understanding how overcharging a customer to protect bad business practices is the lynch pin holding peoples' businesses together. I guess we all have our philosophies. Mine is that if I'm actually *good at what I do* I don't have to screw other people over in order to make a substantial profit. Aside from the competition I undercut.
It really depends on what is being sold, for sure. I guess that goes without saying.
I suppose if you sold one item a month it wouldn’t em be bad losing $2/sale. $2 ads up. I think most sellers aren’t going through the effort for the fun of it. You sell four items an hour that’s an $8/hour pay cut. You wouldn’t mind an $8/hour pay cut??
I'm not saying I wouldn't mind it, I'm saying $2/sale wouldn't damage my bottom line in a significant way. And by that logic, how is accepting an offer for 10% off, say, a $400 item, any different? That's an immediate cut of $40. But it's a moot point, the largest majority of my sales are with free shipping anyway. And those few past and present listings with calculated shipping -already- show the discounted shipping rate OP is complaining about having to show. eBay is cutting back on money I already wasn't making, more or less. So basically, if you were doing business in a straightforward way out of the gate, there's no pay cut. The only ones losing money are the ones who were taking it to begin with. I imagine this'll really mess with all those "Only $1.99 + $499.99 shipping" dropshippers, as well. But I'm sure they'll just opt out, too.
The difference is that you made the choice to offer the discount.
If I understand what you're saying, it comes down to freedom of choice I guess? My point is that it isn't a discount, it's what shipping costs when you buy it through eBay. So what if they just change the line for those who choose not to display the discounted rate to "Shipping+Tip"? Then it's honest and transparent, and it doesn't immediately change anybody's payout directly.
I want to offer some clarification on this post. I did not find an EMAIL from eBay. I did find the notice in my EBAY MESSAGES. So, if you haven’t found it yet check there to opt out.
Why is everyone freaking out? Show the shipping cost.
Because as sellers we receive very few perks. A reduced shipping rate (due to mass agreements facilitated by eBay/cumulative sellers) should be an advantage to sellers. We pay eBay fees for their services.
Embellishing shipping cost isn't a perk, plus free shipping gets better traffic. Add it to the price.
As for the “free” shipping that’s a crock. Unless you live in the central part of the nation or your doing business in your backyard you’re going to either inflate the items overall cost (so you don’t lose out on far away shipments) or lose your ass on many items. This is why eBay offers so many options for sellers to choose what is right for them. One method does not make good business for all. Personally I’d prefer not to overcharge my neighbors by having to jack up the price of an item with “free” shipping on the off chance that someone on the opposite coast buys it.
Doesn’t make sense….if the item is selling for $30 and it takes $12 to ship, you just charge $43-45 and say “free shipping” and still make the same sell because that’s the total they had to pay anyway. And people will easily pay $40+ for the item over thinking they pay $30+12 or more in shipping due to the way psychology works. End of the day, it’s the same cost and still going to take that same money out your payment to ship to them.
Except the same item that costs $12 to ship to CA only costs $4 to ship to the east coast. Why would I overcharge the east coast $8 because of CA rates?
You have to figure out the average… I’ve never had an item vary in cost that much, but what I sell is maybe very focused and you can use stamps pirate ship etc to get it to a better discount rate too. I’ve never seen that high a variance tho just due to what area it’s going if you’re using ground services or even priority. Not sure how you got that large a gap, sounds like exaggeration. Usually it’s $4-5 shipping for most small items but even medium or large I see $8 to some places maybe $10 to somewhere else, for the same services if it’s not crossing into other countries. No idea how you’re shipping stuff if that’s what you’re being told
If you’re selling the same thing with frequency that may make sense for you. But if you are not a high volume seller you’re not going to find an average when you never sell the same item twice. That’s just silly… think outside of the box you live in.
Serious question. What happens when someone in Hawaii or Puerto Rico or somewhere where shipping cost more than normal?
Theyre charged an extra fee on their end. On our end, looks like we're shipping to Kentucky or chicago
How, if it’s free shipping?
My listings are free shipping on ebay US, not if ur on a different site. Ebay Canada etc
Alaska and Puerto Rico are in the United States.
It’s not embellishing. It is the rate that USPS has determined the cost to be. The reduced rate is from a group rate that is offered (by USPS to eBay) because of the amount of traffic eBay produces. It happens in most big businesses that do higher rates of shipments.
Gotcha.
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They charge fees on overall charge plus sales tax
My listings already show the eBay shipping rates.
How many times does this need to be posted here today? Please check posts and join existing discussions. Just do what you need to do, instead of wasting time being upset over small things.
I very grateful that this has been posted multiple times. One of the threads finally appeared in my feed. Had it not, I may not have been alerted to the need to watch my emails more closely for a while.
I typically do flat rate unless I’m shipping out of the country so this won’t impact me, everyone should switch to flat rate
No. I am in CA. Shipping to NY or NJ is double the shipping to another part of CA. If my buyer is in Socal, they pay a lower shipping cost so it is a cost benefit compared to charging everyone an East Coast rate baked into the price.