Fees, taxes and other costs

[darryl.trains]

I have to rethink about selling on eBay.   eBay charges 10% even of shipping costs. Then Paypal charges roughly 3% but that is on everything going to the seller. Seems like taxes, handing charges and shipping costs are the way of life now.   There is a new way to go, buy high, sell low but make it up in volume....Yuck

The old fardt on Arid-Zona

[Alan]

Add it to the price of the item as any business would do.

[G8B4Life]

I think Darryls observation of the costs of his selling on eBay and accepting PayPal as payment might just be the most civil post ever on the subject. Every other opening post I have read online on the subject of eBay and PayPal fees in the model train world is "How dare they want me to pay for using their service!". No, I'm not joking, every opening post on eBay/PayPal fees is exactly that.

I wonder if these same people would yell at the train shop owner for taking their 10% (or more) commission on second hand goods if they sold it there?

Darryl, as Alan said, if you think your not getting enough after paying the fees just add 10 - 15% to the starting price and see if you still have any customers.

- Tim

[mcbunton]

I realize that ebay seems the place to go for model trains, but in my real life business Facebook Marketplace has left ebay and craigslist as ancient relics.

[William Brillinger]

I'm inclined to agree - Facebook is a fantastic place to sell excess model railroad items. No fees and direct communication with no middleman.

Paypal fees are what they are. They are not out of line compared to the fees merchants pay for low volume credit card transactions. Build these fees into the asking price and you're all set. Don't spring additional fees on buyers after the transaction, that just makes people angry.

[Alan]

Doesn't Facebook charge 5%?

[William Brillinger]

Doesn't Facebook charge 5%?

No, but they take 5% from the rest of your life

[trainman605]

I personally just started using eBay for selling some of my LGB trains. I do feel I did sell them for a better price then I could have gotten selling them on my own and with today's covid restrictions on train shows, etc. your selling options are not that many. I do feel that doing trains shows to sell train items is pretty much a pain and not that profitable, plus moving the items in and out, the cost of a table, and setup just isn't worth it to me. All being said, I will continue to use eBay for my more desirable train items I have to sell, if you have just train items that are not valued very high then, then eBay may not work for you. I do shop eBay everyday and do purchase items if I can get them at a price that works for me, shop smart and know what the going price is.

trainman 

[Alan]

As a buyer I like eBay best. For trains as well as many non-train items.

As a personal privacy choice, I don't do Facebook so Marketplace is not an option.

• eBay is almost always the lowest cost.
• eBay allows me easy direct access to China suppliers. A real money saver when buying hobbyist electronic parts and pieces. What costs $1 at Mouser costs $0.10 from China. Same stuff, different distribution channel.
• eBay search functionality is excellent, far better than all others. See for yourself. Try the search term "MP15 locomotive" on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Amazon. Wow, what a difference.
• eBay sellers more often than not get the package into the mail the following day. Something hobby shops, for the most part, seem incapable of doing from my experience.
• PayPal integration is seamless.
• eBay has a very functional website layout. I absolutely abhor Amazon's website.

11 years running I would say my experience with eBay is 99.9% positive. Even in the rare instances where there was an issue, the resolution was painless and with a positive outcome. Coincidentally, the only eBay issue that required protracted eBay involvement was with an individual selling trains. He withheld shipment citing triple the stated shipping charge on an invoice after the auction had ended and after I had paid. His email communications were long profanity laden rants. I got refunded and he got delisted from eBay. Apparently mine was not an isolated case for this moron. One bad apple in 11 years isn't a bad buying experience record in my eyes.

[trainman605]

As a buyer I like eBay best. For trains as well as many non-train items.

As a personal privacy choice, I don't do Facebook so Marketplace is not an option.

• eBay is almost always the lowest cost.
• eBay allows me easy direct access to China suppliers. A real money saver when buying hobbyist electronic parts and pieces. What costs $1 at Mouser costs $0.10 from China. Same stuff, different distribution channel.
• eBay search functionality is excellent, far better than all others. See for yourself. Try the search term "MP15 locomotive" on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Amazon. Wow, what a difference.
• eBay sellers more often than not get the package into the mail the following day. Something hobby shops, for the most part, seem incapable of doing from my experience.
• PayPal integration is seamless.
• eBay has a very functional website layout. I absolutely abhor Amazon's website.

11 years running I would say my experience with eBay is 99.9% positive. Even in the rare instances where there was an issue, the resolution was painless and with a positive outcome. Coincidentally, the only eBay issue that required protracted eBay involvement was with an individual selling trains. He withheld shipment citing triple the stated shipping charge on an invoice after the auction had ended and after I had paid. His email communications were long profanity laden rants. I got refunded and he got delisted from eBay. Apparently mine was not an isolated case for this moron. One bad apple in 11 years isn't a bad buying experience record in my eyes.

I agree Alan, my dealings with eBay have all been pretty much the same,  trainman