The Final Word on eBay and Paypal Fees

If an eBay policy genie shot out my monitor and offered me one wish, I know exactly what it would be.

My wish would be for eBay to DOUBLE insertion fees. That's not a typo and you didn't misread it. eBay's insertion fees are too damn low.

Doubling insertion fees would do three things:

• ONE: It would weed out a bunch of the low value crap that clutters up searches and makes it harder for bidders to find what they are looking for. Too much low interest stuff in a category has the same effect as keyword spamming. The keywords technically apply to these common, low dollar items, but they still clutter up searches and lead to search fatigue among potential bidders.
  

• TWO: It would force sellers to be more selective about what they list. Sellers would have to ask themselves: What is the likelihood somebody would actually want this thing? A more selective seller population would go a long way toward making certain categories browsable once again. Serendipity would show her beautiful continence and buyers would stumble upon things they never knew existed. As it stands today, the idea of browsing the categories is akin to perusing the shelves of a dollar store for a Rolex. You know before you start that it isn't worth your time.

• THREE: It would set off the biggest whiners' chorus in the history of ecommerce. Whenever eBay sellers start bitching, there is a 99% chance that something good is happening. I've been told this makes me contrarian, but I take the opposite view.

People just don't appreciate how cheap it is to sell on eBay. Here is a great tool that will show you exactly how much goes to eBay when you sell an item (and it ain't much). ebcalc.com is an online calculator that lets you plug in all your variables (like starting bid, final value, Paypal fees, etc.) and then gives your exact profit in dollars and cents.

Go there and play around. Plug in different numbers and see what happens. If you are remotely numerate you will quickly discover the intelligent design behind the fee structure. The powers that 'bay' have made it impossible to pay more than 12.65% in combined standard fees for any item that sells for over $20. For items selling for more than $30 (with an opeing bid under $10) you will never pay over 10% in standard eBay & Paypal fees.

Do you see where this is leading? The higher your average ticket (and $30 is quite modest) the smaller the bite eBay takes in fees. This is not rocket surgery, people. And don't get me started with you frickin' morons who refuse to accept Paypal because it's soooooo expensive. I'll save that for a day when I am not felling so mellow.