Can Anyone Explain Paypal Fees?

[DavidL]

Looking at the paypal fees from their page and I can't make sense of it.

Anyone from ebay who has sold anything I need your help.

1.When selling I understand there is a fee for 2.9 % + 30c per sale.

2.Then there is a currency exchange if your item is sold in a different currency which is higher than bank rates.

3. Anymore hidden fees??

So for instance if I sell a 100 item.

100 X 97% -.30 = 96.8 X .96 conversion fee (pay pal takes away 4 percent) = 93 X 1 percent border crossing fee = $92 USD

Final cost 8 dollars to sell a 100 dollar item if they have a different currency and 3.2 dollars to sell to canadians.

Plus insertion fee if it is past the 50 free listings per month.

Is this correct?Are there any other fees?

Edited May 23, 2014 by DavidL

[chrstn53]

There are no more hidden fees that i'm aware of, besides the final value fees from ebay. It averages out to about 10% final value fees from ebay. So ebay charges a listing fee past your 50 free listings and around a 10% final value fee for the final cost of your item plus the shipping cost you charge, so if your item sold for $100 with shipping they get $10, then Paypal charges their fees off the same $100. They have a monopoly going but depending on your volume of sales and feedback they do give final value fee discounts. I have been selling on ebay for a long time and they usually stick me for $500 to $700 a month in fees, but I just chalk it off as a cost of advertising. I don't know where else I could get this kind of exposure for a relatively low cost. For me it works but if your doing low volume etsy is the best place in my opinion if you are just selling finished leather goods.

[DavidL]

thanks for the response.

So It would be a good estimate that a $115 item plus shipping sold on ebay would cost me 35 dollars if I sold it to some one in the USA from Canada.

So the sale price is 100 dollars shipping is 15, I have to pay for the shipping, there isn't any profit on that 15 dollars. 100 - 35 = 65 dollars USD Subtract cost of goods (supplies, material..) and the profit is slim.

A wallet for 30 dollars. plus 6 shipping

Paypal fee = $30 - (2.9% + 30cents) - (4% conversion rate to Canadian) - (1% border fee) = $2.35 fee

Ebay fee = $36 - 10 percent = $3.6 fee

6 dollars in fees. Is this right?

[chrstn53]

for the $30 wallet with $6 shipping

Paypal Fee = $36 - (2.9% + 30cents) - (4% conversion rate to Canadian) - (1% border fee)

Ebay Fee= $36 - 10 percent = $3.6 fee

And you still have your shipping cost.

Personally I have free shipping on all of my products and just build that into the price. I use to ship all over the world but started running into problems so I only ship to Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, but use the ebay shipping center for all other countries. I don't know if they offer this in Canada like here in the United States, but ebay owns or works with shipping centers all over the US. If someone wants to buy something from me that is not in Canada, USA, Australia or the UK then they make their payment to the shipping center including the shipping cost from the shipping center. The order goes through the shipping center and they purchase the item from me. I ship it to them and they repackage it and ship the package to the end user. In the US we can only get tracking when we use premium services that cost 500% to 1000% higher than airmail. My international problems disappeared after I started using the shipping center. This eliminates the conversion rates and border fees since the payment is made in country.

Hope this helps

[LTC]

David - i sent you a reply via email.

[DavidL]

That helps thanks.

[Colt W Knight]

I think there is credit card fee to, right?

[Troy I]

If selling on ebay...I figure 13.5% in fees--for PayPal and ebay. ..I only ship within the U.S. Not sure what fees would be outside the US.

[Lobo]

PayPal is a bank. Services provided are fund transfers and credit card factoring, which are services that all banks charge fees to provide. An additional service provided by PayPal is automatic currency conversion for payments made in currencies other than your own (Canadian customer can remit in US dollars to complete a transaction with a US seller, etc).

In my experience, the fees charged by PayPal are generally competitive with those of other banks providing similar services. Years ago, in another business, I had my commercial bank factoring credit card payments for me and was charged a monthly fee for the service in addition to a percentage of each payment, as well as rental charges for the credit card terminal equipment. Having a PayPal account eliminates the need for equipment (owned or leased) and there are no monthly subscription fees, so PayPal is somehting of an improvement over the commercial banking alternatives. The ready ability to transact business via on-line fund transfers or credit card payments with customers in over 200 countries makes PayPal a good resource for my business.

Your experience may be different.

[Ed in Tx]

I can sum it up real easily.. too high when it come to using eBay. Paypal as a stand alone is not that bad.

On the other side there are definitely benefits in using Paypal as a method of collecting from customers as well as paying for products. Whatever your means of paying Paypal are be they a credit card or bank direct transfer remain anonymous to the seller if you are buying. Your credit card is somewhat protected.

[barehandcustoms]

At the end of the day....I don't feel anybody else can offer you the product exposure and ease of collection that Ebay/Paypal is currently offering small start ups. When it comes to Ecommerce in general someone is always going to take a % of your sales. It all comes down to what they are offering you in return.

Edited June 26, 2014 by barehandcustoms