Every single person who owns an eBay shop faces various types of fees. Therefore, it is important to know how to reduce them. Throughout the internet you can find hundreds of tips and very easily lose track of your basic steps. To help you out, we have gathered a 5 step guide on how to reduce eBay fees.
Listing upgrades
Listing upgrade is a feature offered on eBay to help you sell more. You can recognise the upgraded listing by its bold and highlighted subtitle. Most of the time, a seller would think that this is what they need to finally bring the sales in. However, it does not always turn out the way they want. The main reason being the effectiveness of upgrades. To be honest, they have very little effect. So, before you dive into upgrading all your listings, try a few out and see if it is worth it. If it is unsuccessful, you will save $4 for every listing, which might not seem that much, but can significantly reduce eBay fees in the long run.
Another very important detail to pay attention to is the “enlarge gallery photo” option. This can be found at the bottom of a listing and if not careful, can cost you $1 additionally per listing. It’s very easy to check when looking at the total amount of fees. If it says zero or any other amount that you are expected to pay according to your subscription plan, your are good to go. But if not, check the listing again before submitting.
Profit margins
Profit margins are the main reason for business success. You need to be sure that the product is profitable. Calculate how much you pay for the product, how much you need for shipping, advertising and any other costs you may have. In the end, you must have money left. So how to determine the right profit margin? Nowadays it is common to use a three times rule, which means that you need to triple the price you have paid for the original product.
Remember that for you to list an item that is worth $5 and one that is worth $99 takes the same amount of time! So you should aim for maximum amount of money per hour/item that you can get. The three times rule is only valid for products that start from 5-10$. Otherwise it makes no sense.
Choose the appropriate subscription level
It seems like nothing special, but if you do not have a big store, you should own a starter store and not a basic one. You can save $20 per month on that. So before you go crazy and dream about having the whole eBay enterprise of your own, calculate and re-evaluate every cost and the amount of listings you are planning to have. Below you can see the costs for eBay subscription plans.
Starter Store: $7.95 per month, 100 free listings, 30 cents for each listing thereafter
Basic Store: $27.95 per month, 250 free listings, 25 cents for each fixed-price listing thereafter
Premium Store: $74.95 per month, 1,000 free listings, 10 cents for each fixed-price listing thereafter
Anchor Store: $349.95 per month, 10,000 free listings, 5 cents for each fixed-price listing thereafter
Starting price
Starting price is a significant answer to our question “How to reduce eBay fees”. The main reason being the listing fee. If you have a product which is worth $50 and you keep the same amount as your starting price, you will be charged $2.40. However, if you have read our tips, you can change it to $49.99 and this fee will drastically drop to $1.20.
Paypal merchant discount
When you sell a high volume of products on eBay you should apply for a PayPal merchant discount as it normally would offer up to 2 percent savings on every transaction. You can find out if you are eligible for it on PayPal’s fees page from your account. Remember that PayPal merchant rates can vary depending on the country, but it’s still a very reliable way to reduce eBay fees.
