# How Do I Keep Ebay Fees Down?



## Maurice Lacroix (Mar 10, 2013)

Anyone got any ideas his to keep eBay fees down (particularly final value fee) when selling watches?


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## Maurice Lacroix (Mar 10, 2013)

*how


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## Damian (Jan 22, 2010)

I dont think there is a way to keep final value fees down, but ebay very often have free listing days. I believe this last weekend was a free insertion weekend.


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## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

There is no way sadly, eBay and PP have it all covered.


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## Guest (Mar 18, 2013)

As already said there is no way to limit your final valuation fee as that is set to 10% however you can reduce your insertion fees by reducing the starting price, istr that 0.01 to 0.99 is free.... and Â£1.00 to Â£4.99 is 15p, so all you can do is keep your starting prices low.


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## pkryder (Dec 25, 2012)

Yep its a bit of a crippler, but Ebay take 10% and Pay Pal 3.4% I think it is. For Private sellers ebay cap the amount they take at Â£75. I know you mentioned elsewhere you are a dealer so all you can really do is factor in the eBay machine taking nearly a 15% cut of anything you make and account for it when purchasing things you hope to sell on.

You can keep listing prices down by keeping starting prices low, not using reserves, looking out for free listing days and avoid using eBay to host multiple images post them to photo bucket or Flickr or similar and embed them in your listing.


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## SEIKO7A38 (Feb 12, 2009)

A favourite workaround used by a number of Ebay watch dealers, is to solicit offers during the course of the listing, then end it early (thereby avoiding final selling fees) and negotiate with the potential buyer outside eBay. All strictly against Ebay rules naturally.


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

DeeDubya said:


> A favourite workaround used by a number of Ebay watch dealers, is to solicit offers during the course of the listing, then end it early (thereby avoiding final selling fees) and negotiate with the potential buyer outside eBay. All strictly against Ebay rules naturally.


Yes an potentially you could end up, as the buyer, in losing the protection that comes from doing the deal properly through Ebay and Paypal... all part of assessing the risks involved I suppose....


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## SEIKO7A38 (Feb 12, 2009)

Here's an example of a regular exponent of this dodgy practice at work.

This Titanium Seiko 7A28 was first listed in mid-November last year, on a rolling 30-day listing with a Buy-it-Now price of *Â£*799.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221153244645

If you check the revisions:

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...em=221153244645

on January 11, he reduced the Buy-it-Now price to *Â£*599

but during the four months the watch was listed, he received an offer of *Â£*500.

http://offer.ebay.co...em=221153244645

Although hidden from general view, the seller has visibility of all the user ID's who made offers.

The listing was ended on 14th March because 'the item was no longer available' - thereby avoiding final selling fees.

Who bought it ? How much did they pay for it ? Well Ebay certainly don't know.

So apart from his initial listing fee, this seller succeeded in achieving 2400 listing views over 4 months - for free !


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

I start at .99p no reserve.

I sell most things to an offer, out of auction and close the Ebay "advert".

Since the Ebay changes that so much favour the buyer, I have found that many "winners" view winning the item as starting point to opening negotiations that might perhaps lead to them actually BUYING it. I just don't have the time nor the inclination to deal with this nor non-payers and time wasters.


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## luckywatch (Feb 2, 2013)

I have been with the bay a few years now. I price things to take into account the fees. I sold 3 motorbikes in the last couple years and not had any problems. If I end up dealing with a waster the bay has always backed me up buying or selling. There are lots of wasters on the internet not just on the bay.

I bought a cheap Chinese diver of a guy in Scotland. A month later he emails me out of the blue to see if I like the watch. I told him I gave it to my son (12 year old) but he broke it and thatâ€™s life. He sent me another FOC, I never asked him to.

I like to sell for charity as well; itâ€™s a great way to shift something you donâ€™t want and makes you feel good.

My advice is stay under the umbrella of the bay unless you know what youâ€™re doing.


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## SlimJim16v (Mar 29, 2011)

I would never do a deal outside of eBay, as buyer or seller as it wasn't fair to eBay. Due to their greed this has now gone out the window.

You can still use PayPal so have some safeguard as a buyer.


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## JPaling (Mar 16, 2013)

i hate ebay because of this, i sold a camera on there, it went for Â£14.99 an slr, it cost me Â£5 to post and then Â£6 in insertion fee's its rediculous.


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## Maurice Lacroix (Mar 10, 2013)

Thanks you all for writing on this topic...I guess it's just one of those things we have to pay


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## Rampant (Nov 27, 2012)

One way to minimise fees is to inflate your postage fee.

Normal people buy on the basis of *total cost*. Of course that means you may get "less" for the item, but your total transaction amounts to a relevant total on item plus postage. You therefore pay less of a fee on the item. Every little helps.

Cheerz

Mark H


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## JPaling (Mar 16, 2013)

Rampant said:


> One way to minimise fees is to inflate your postage fee.
> 
> Normal people buy on the basis of *total cost*. Of course that means you may get "less" for the item, but your total transaction amounts to a relevant total on item plus postage. You therefore pay less of a fee on the item. Every little helps.
> 
> ...


this is why you see chinese auctions on quite expensive items start on 99p with Â£7.99 postage,


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## jeffvader (Jun 10, 2008)

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/03/19/ebay-fees-amazon-idINDEE92I0CB20130319 things are changing.


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## LJD (Sep 18, 2011)

DeeDubya said:


> Here's an example of a regular exponent of this dodgy practice at work.
> 
> This Titanium Seiko 7A28 was first listed in mid-November last year, on a rolling 30-day listing with a Buy-it-Now price of *Â£*799.
> 
> ...


bloody hell , how did you get to see the offers ?

I tend to sell things face to face so, i dont have to pay the paypal fee ,


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

More eBay winging, the costs and the deal are reasonably transparent so use it or not. If you choose to use it why moan about how much their fees are or what a bad deal you get.


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

BondandBigM said:


> More eBay winging, the costs and the deal are reasonably transparent so use it or not. If you choose to use it why moan about how much their fees are or what a bad deal you get.


Same thing with PayPal mate, people are always moaning about their fees but last time I checked PayPal was a business and not a charity, plus they do offer a degree of security. I bought a watch on ebay a few months ago which didn't turn up, the seller wouldn't reply to my emails, I reported it to PayPal and a few weeks later got a full refund.

Personally, I think eBay and PayPal are great :thumbup:


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## pkryder (Dec 25, 2012)

BondandBigM said:


> More eBay winging, the costs and the deal are reasonably transparent so use it or not. If you choose to use it why moan about how much their fees are or what a bad deal you get.


the costs may be transparent however they have no real competition if you want to sell over the internet you have little choice. If there were decent alternatives people would express their dissatisfaction by taking their business elsewhere. Yes they're a business and entitled to make their profit but if there was some real competition out there they would't be taking nearly a 15% cut.


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

pkryder said:


> BondandBigM said:
> 
> 
> > More eBay winging, the costs and the deal are reasonably transparent so use it or not. If you choose to use it why moan about how much their fees are or what a bad deal you get.
> ...


Go ahead knock yourself and start you're own business 

I don't agree with you that there is pretty much only eBay. There are still numerous ways to buy and sell without resorting to that.


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

pkryder said:


> BondandBigM said:
> 
> 
> > More eBay winging, the costs and the deal are reasonably transparent so use it or not. If you choose to use it why moan about how much their fees are or what a bad deal you get.
> ...


 :lol:

Seriously? There is plenty of choice for sellers out there matey, but the truth is ebay just does it better.


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

The other thing worth remembering is that if you were to sell, or buy, a watch though an auction house, you'd pay considerably more in fees and have twice as much work to do..... Let's be honest, without Ebay many of us wouldn't have the watches we do now......


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## pkryder (Dec 25, 2012)

I know there are plenty of alternatives hence my use of the prefix decent, peoples opinions of what that entails may vary, however there's no denying that if you want to your item to reach the widest possible audience eBay is the clear winner. Other than perhaps Amazon they've got very little competition. A new start up has virtually no chance of enchroaching on eBays dominance unless an established big brand comes along anyone doing a lot of buying and selling is pretty much stuck with eBay.


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## hdm (Mar 28, 2012)

i love the bay ... almost to the point of complete addiction ... it is like cocaine to the collector ...


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## Darren Bullock (Mar 23, 2013)

I have often tried to negotiate the deal outside of eBay but this is often not the safest bet


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## Darren Bullock (Mar 23, 2013)

hdm said:


> i love the bay ... almost to the point of complete addiction ... it is like cocaine to the collector ...


I agree it is very addictive


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## LJD (Sep 18, 2011)

Darren Bullock said:


> I have often tried to negotiate the deal outside of eBay but this is often not the safest bet


I find it the best for high end items

buyers play by my rules. we meet in a very safe location (friends camera shop with coffee etc ) the buys inspects the item. pays and everyone is happy .they all love the idea .


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