Comments on: How to reverse calculate ebay fees

Question: How to reverse calculate ebay fees

SoulOnIce — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 18:28:44 -0800

What is the formula for calculating ebay fees so that when I sell a fixed price item and ebay takes their fees out, I get the amount that I want back?

Say I have a widget that I typically sell online for $50. Given this and knowing what ebay will charge me ($1.31 for the first $25, then 3% for the remaining amount - $25), how do I calculate the selling price so that after the item is sold and I pay eBay fees, I get $50 in my pocket.

For some reason, I can't wrap my head around what the formula might be. I know it's not $52.06 because if I do the reverse math, it comes out to $49.94.

I hate math. I've seen the online calculators, but I need the actual formula.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 18:51:57 -0800

Of course the rate changes depending on the price, and the list price, lets just do it for items $25-$1000 and skip the insertion fee.

net = gross - $1.31 - (gross - $25) * 5.25%

and solve for gross:

net =94.75% * gross - $1.179

gross = 105.54% * (net + $1.179)

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 18:57:04 -0800

Oh, that 5.25% should be 3% (duh, the rate goes down)..

So that should be:

net = gross - $1.31 - (gross - $25) * 3%

and solve for gross:

net =97% * gross - $0.56

gross = 103.09% * (net + $0.56)

and to net $50, you have to sell for $52.10 (they probably screw you on the round off though, so $52.11).

By: special-k

special-k — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:12:07 -0800

I would use the ebay fees calculator and the paypal fees calculator to figure out how to price an item based on how much I want in my pocket.

By: special-k

special-k — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 22:19:45 -0800

Sorry, didn't see that you didnt want online calculators.

By: SoulOnIce

SoulOnIce — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 15:38:50 -0800

Excellent! Thank you!