[zelphics]

I am a pretty big user of paypal, and recently I sold a few things on ebay. Does anyone feel that paypal and ebay take too much money from you?

Here's an example that I dealt with.
I recently sold something on ebay for $125
ebay charged me $0.25 to insert the item (used to be more).
ebay then charged me a $5.71 final value fee after the auction was over.
Finally paypal charged me $4.35 to receive the payment.

That amounts to a total of $10.31 for pretty much nothing. Don't get me wrong I think ebay and paypal are wonderful but I think their fees could be a little lower.

Any thoughts? What experiences have you had selling on ebay?

[mcaronan]

Well, you can't do anything about that because like ebay they will give you space for your ads and paypal will help your online transaction. That's why you should price your products much higher so that you could cover up your expense...

[jabo]

well, if you're not happy about it, there are lots of auction sites out there that lets you post your items for free. You can try them out as well.

[zelphics]

Originally Posted by mcaronan

That's why you should price your products much higher so that you could cover up your expense...

you don't price your products in a auction. The main purpose of ebay is to be an auction site =p

[mcaronan]

Hmm.. Is it?? Heheh.. My bad.. But if Im not mistaken there's an option there wherein you could adjust the price. For example there's a minimum and maximum bid...

[Luke]

The fees are necessary but are too high. I do think eBay and Paypal being used together should constitute a discount of sorts.

[netridge]

I think the fees are excessive especially when you are using two companies that are owned by ebay. Then the problem is also that there is no alternative that competes with paypal unless you want to start taking money orders which is always an option.

[DIY]

At one point I was paying about $450 per month in ebay fees and god knows how much in paypal fees, one day I had a problem and neither ebay or paypal helped me and so I stopped selling on ebay. Their customer relations are very bad.

[Jerlene]

It's not for nothing. Without them, you wouldn't have sold that item as quickly and securely on the internet as you did.

[zelphics]

Originally Posted by Jerlene

It's not for nothing. Without them, you wouldn't have sold that item as quickly and securely on the internet as you did.

My point was that it's excessive.

[Jerlene]

They don't ask for much. As least the accounts are free.

[silent_thunder]

the problem is both paypal and ebay have a great market share unless their market share reduces they wont reduce their charges!! I hope alertpay and moneybookers can change these trends!! I am lossing a lot of money and I am feeling handicapped as i cannot use other services in my country

[zelphics]

Paypal fees don't make sense. I sent one of my friends $0.25 as a joke and paypal took $0.25 for fees. I'm not sure I understand how they justify that? Fees should be strictly based on percent.

I've paid many people $1.00 with paypal before and they've had 30-40 cents taken out. That's almost half. It honestly is excessive.