eBay Seller Already Factors Shipping Discount in Item Price

by: my2cents

That was a small portion of the email, not the whole thing.  I did like many other sellers and used the link to opt out of this program.  So hopefully I will be unaffected by this awful new tool.

by: Chicago48

Third: How about NO FINAL VALUE FEE on that 'pass thru Discounted Shipping'?
^^
Is EB the ONLY Ecommerce that takes a FVF/cut on the shipping?  I think AMZ does it too; right?

by: iheartjacksparrow

@Chicago48: I know Etsy does.

"When you make a sale through Etsy.com, you will be charged a transaction fee of 6.5% of the price you display for each listing plus the amount you charge for shipping and gift wrapping."

by: my2cents

To my knowledge most if not all similar sites take a FVF on shipping.  But Ebay, as far as I know, is the only site that does a FVF on sales tax.

by: ScottLBrown

The FVF on shipping started on Ebay when their search algorithm could not properly display "lowest pricing" first....  when sellers would sell for low price but have high shipping vs. high price and low or even free shipping.

Best way to force everybody to be more competitive and "clear", is to charge FVF on Shipping as well... meaning charging on the ENTIRE dollar amount.

That worked, but it hurts smaller sellers who don't get massive shipper discounts.

Alternatively, we can't add shipping into the sale price because it deters customers from buying multiples.  ( because often we can get 3-4-5 items into the same box/same shipping price - thus overcharging the customer on more than one ).

Never ending story about clarity, transparency and fairness.  And Development utilizing sellers and business managers as guides, not developers alone.

by: railady

I hope everyone will check out the extensive comments about this very same "Calculated Shipping" message on the ECOMMERCEBYTES blog .... !!!

It's not about FVF directly -- it's about changing your shipping options to give buyers the SAME reduced commercial rate postage charges that YOU as an eBay seller get to use (eBay's discounted shipping) , instead of the Buyer paying the retail post office counter amount ("standard shipping" ) . Which means that we Sellers are giving up the few cents difference that we can use to offset the cost of shipping supplies.  

@ScottLBrown, you're absolutely RIGHT ON regarding "clever" sellers "adjusting" shipping charges, before eBay started charging FVF on both sale and shipping.  

by: Kevin H

The only issues I have with this is 1: I will NEVER do free shipping again (I saw a youtube video where someone was suggesting hiding the shipping cost in the price. I tried that it fell flat on its face! I ended up paying for the shipping.) 2. If you order something through any site like Amazon you pay shipping. 3. I depend on the little extra to pay for the shipping materials I use to send the items out. 4. I see no purpose in this except eBay looking to make more money at the sellers expense!