HOW MUCH DOES EBAY TAKE?

Insertion Fees

The insertion fee is charged when the seller makes a listing of an item. It is also known as listing fees. Simply put, the prices come into action whenever you list or relist stuff on eBay, apart from the fact that it is converted into a sale or not.

The insertion fee is different for different types of sellers like:-

• Sellers with no store subscription and use their own payment tools like Paypal
• Sellers with no store subscription but use eBay’s own payment system
• Sellers with a store subscription and use their own paymnet tools
• Sellers with a store subscription but use eBya’s payment managemnt system

Those who don’t have an eBay store subscription but their payments are managed by eBay. They get 250 free listings every month. Furthermore, those who neither have the eBay store subscription nor their payments are handled by eBay, get 200 listings. You can also manage auction sales or products with a set price within these number of listings.

After the limit is reached, usually $0.35 is charged for sellers with no store subscription. However, for those who have a store on eBay, the insertion fee charges are a little different based on their subscription.

You can look at this table for a better idea:-

For the starters store package with or without payments managed by eBay, the insertion fees are zero up to 250 listings. But after that limit has been reached, sellers have to pay $0.30 per additional listing.

Further, for the basic store package with payments managed by eBay, the price is zero up to 1000 fixed listings covering 250 auction-style listings. Whereas the price is zero up to 350 fixed price listings and 250 auction-style listings for those stores whose payments are not managed by eBay. After the limit, they need to pay $0.25 per listing.

Moreover, for stores with premium store packages and payments managed by eBay, the insertion price is zero up to 10,000 fixed prices and 500 auction-style listings. In some categories, an additional 50000 fixed price listings are given for free. For stores whose payments are not managed by eBay, the limit is 1000 fixed and 500 auction styles listings. After the limit, $0.15 per auction and $0.10 per fixed-price listing are charged.

For anchor store subscriptions and payments managed by eBay, the limit is 25000 fixed price listings and 1000 auction styles. Plus addition 77, 000 listings on selected categories. Store without payment managed by eBay, the cap is 10000 fixed price and 1000 auction-style listings. After that, $0.05 per fixed-price listing and $0.10 per auction are charged.

Lastly, for enterprise stores with payment managed by eBay, the limit is 100,000 fixed prices and 2500 auction-style listings. There are additional 100,000 fixed pricing listings on particular categories. After that limit, $0.05 per fixed-price listing. and $0.10 per auction is charged as an insertion fee

Note that if you list the same product in two listings, then you need to pay two times of insertion fees. Plus, the cost is non-refundable even if your goods don’t sell.

Optional listing upgrades

One fee which is less talked about when it comes to accounting for eBay fees is ‘optional listing upgrades’. Usually, this is a fee that eBay charges when you want to use advanced listing features which can give your product an edge over other listings. It is most unlikely that newbie eBay sellers with a limited budget might go for listing upgrades.

But either way, it is wise to know about such additional fees. The features that you can get with optional listing upgrades will be like making your title bold (or) adding additional 12 photos to your listings and even scheduling a start date and end date to your listings.

Remember, this fee is charged in addition to your insertion fee. Hence initially when you opt-out for listing upgrades for your couple of products you might not notice a large fee addition but once you tend to apply multiple optional listing upgrades to your multiple listings. You are sure gonna notice a good chunk of fees goes to this category of fees.

Therefore it is better for each individual sellers to take notice of optional listing upgrades beforehand.

a) Fees for auction-style listings:-

b) Fees for fixed price listings:-

Note that whenever your items are relisted automatically (or) manually, you’ll be charged both insertion fees and optional listing upgrade fees each time your item is relisted. Hence it’s recommended to look at each of your listings before making it live.

Final Value Fees

The final value fees are applied when the seller successfully sells an item on eBay. Sellers must pay a final value charge when an item has been sold. Instead of charging a flat fee, eBay takes a % of the item’s ultimate sale price, which comprises any production price and additional shipping and packing expenses.

The percentage a seller is charged will be determined by the product category of the item displayed.

• Stores using eBay Managed Payments – eBay only collects 2.35 percent on anything that costs upwards of $7,500. It’s also worth noting that merchants who accept eBay-handled payments will have to factor in sales tax when computing their final value fee. This particular fee, eBay deducts from your account after a sale is completed. However, you can reach out to eBay Resolution Center if the buyer failed to pay for the item.
• Stores without eBay Managed Payments – Stores whose payment is not managed by eBay must pay the final value fees applied to each category. Plus, they will be charged by a third party tool too. This will cost 2.9 percent of the total order plus 30 cents for each transaction.

Additional Final Value Fees

Now, you must be wondering what’s these additional final value fees?

It is usually a fee applied when you violate eBay’s policy and do not match their seller’s performance expectations. Below are some of the cases when a seller could be charged with additional final value fees on eBay.

• Buying or selling outside of eBay:-At any point, if eBay finds out that you are giving a reference number or asking for the contact information of the buyer, then you need to pay a additional final value fee depending on the total price of the transaction, even if your item doesn’t sell.
• Sellers not meeting their performance expectations:- There is a minimum seller performance standards on eBay which you need to meet to dodge this bullet. Or else you need to pay an additional 5% final value fee. You can keep an eye on your seller stats by visiting your seller dashboard. In some cases, if eBay finds out that the return rate is high and if buyers mark your sale as “Item not as described” in their refund request, then you need to pay 5% on the final value fees for sales based on its category.

To avoid any additional final fees, it is recommended to read and follow eBay’s selling policies. In fact, you also look up to top eBay bloggers online and note their advice to stay consistent.

eBay Seller Subscription Fees

If you have a successful eCommerce business on eBay, then it is never a bad idea to go for eBay store subscriptions. I know I have talked about store subscriptions at the beginning of this article but again this fee is accounted in your eBay expense that eBay takes from you, if you opt for a store.

Anyways it is your call but having a subscription can earn you benefits like more free listings, lower costing, and conversion-boosting features.

There are various plans; you need to pay a monthly subscription fee according to your plan. All the plans of eBay are listed below:-

• Starter – It is for those who occasionally sell in-store; they need to pay $4.95/ m for an annual subscription.
• Basic – Further, those just starting with lower selling fees need to pay $21.95/ m for an annual subscription.
• Premium – The amount of $59.95/m with an annual subscription will be charged to those who wanna use more business tools with lower selling fees.
• Anchor – The seller who is doing good on a platform with high volume sales and who needs dedicated support should opt to pay $299.95/ m for an annual subscription.
• Enterprise – Lastly, the $2,999.95/m for an annual subscription for those looking for high transaction volumes and operating an enterprise-level brand.

Fee Calculation Examples

Understanding counting down eBay charges fees can be a little overwhelming for anyone. That’s why I am breaking it down in example form for better understanding.

• Fixed Price Listing Example – Assuming you’re a seller with starter store subscription, and you haven’t crossed the insertion fee listing. If you have listed a item ABC for $50, assuming it is sold and buyers opt for the free shipping option. Then the total selling amount is $50. But how much will eBay take from it? Let’s see it.

The insertion fee is $0 as you have used the subtitle, then the amount for it is $1.50, plus the amount of final value depends on the category, assume it 10.2% of $50, which is $5.1. Finally, adding all these charges, the amount is $6.60. After cutting $6.60 from your sale, eBay will deposit $43.40.

• Auction-style listing example – Suppose you have taken a subscription to a basic store and sold an item XYZ using a limited day duration. If the product is listed under buy it now for $400, and the shipping is free. Once it sells, what would eBay take from you?

Here, the insertion fee is $0 as we have used the ‘buy it now’ feature, the amount of $0.25 would be deducted. The final value fee is 9.35% (assuming the product is a bag) of $400 which is $37.40. Adding all the costs, the total amount eBay would take is $37.65. After cutting it, the amount you will get is $362.35.

Wrap Up

I guess you’ve found your answer for ‘How much does eBay take?‘. As I said at the beginning of this article, it’s anywhere between 2%-12% depending on the product, listing, sale price, and seller type.

eBay is a great platform, but people believe it charges too much compared to any other platform. If you think so, you need to follow specific criteria, plus not to forget it is the platform that can generate some serious money from eBay. The key here is to learn about eBay seller fees and how to decrease them.

So what are you waiting for? Go to your eBay store, count down your fees and plan how you can save eBay fees by playing is right.