When selling something on Ebay, how do I pay the final selling fee?
July 17, 2013 8:20 PM Subscribe
I'm new to ebay, and despite reading more FAQ pages than I care to admit, I still don't quite understand the process of selling something.
I'm selling a piece of jewelry and asking for 500 dollars. I thought listing just one item would be free, but I see a dollar charged to my debit card.
I've had some interest on the piece, but I've just realized I have no idea how the final selling fee is taken out. I'm currently low on cash, which is why I'm selling the jewelry. I thought it worked where after I sold the item, part of it would go to Ebay. But now I'm thinking that they take the fee out, before allowing the sell to go through. But at this point, there might not be enough in my checking account to cover the fees.
So am I screwed? Is there anyway to sell an item and then use a portion of that money to pay the final selling fee? Or do I already need to have that money available in my checking account?
I also have a paypal account. But the initial fee was taken out of my checking account. So I'm guessing that's the account I have connected to ebay.
Any help would be appreciated. I'm a bit lost as you can tell.
I'm selling a piece of jewelry and asking for 500 dollars. I thought listing just one item would be free, but I see a dollar charged to my debit card.
I've had some interest on the piece, but I've just realized I have no idea how the final selling fee is taken out. I'm currently low on cash, which is why I'm selling the jewelry. I thought it worked where after I sold the item, part of it would go to Ebay. But now I'm thinking that they take the fee out, before allowing the sell to go through. But at this point, there might not be enough in my checking account to cover the fees.
So am I screwed? Is there anyway to sell an item and then use a portion of that money to pay the final selling fee? Or do I already need to have that money available in my checking account?
I also have a paypal account. But the initial fee was taken out of my checking account. So I'm guessing that's the account I have connected to ebay.
Any help would be appreciated. I'm a bit lost as you can tell.
Best answer: Some of this is geographically determined I think. I sell a lot of small ticket items on ebay. I get an invoice from ebay after my item sells for whatever the fee is. There are a bunch of other fees including listing fees, extra promotional fees (bold, photos, layouts, whatever - these change all the time and there are often sales) that they can also charge.
Looking at a recent invoice when I made a sale, they sent me an invoice for the time period January 16, 2013 through February 15, 2013 and they charged my linked credit card on the 23rd of February for the fees for the item I sold around February 11th.
posted by jessamyn at 8:32 PM on July 17, 2013
Looking at a recent invoice when I made a sale, they sent me an invoice for the time period January 16, 2013 through February 15, 2013 and they charged my linked credit card on the 23rd of February for the fees for the item I sold around February 11th.
posted by jessamyn at 8:32 PM on July 17, 2013
Best answer: I don't know anything about eBay specifically, but sometimes a small charge on your card is just for a company to test that the card actually works.
posted by radioamy at 9:14 PM on July 17, 2013
posted by radioamy at 9:14 PM on July 17, 2013
Best answer: My experience lines up with the first answer. eBay sends an invoice well ahead of time, telling me when and how much my linked bank account will be charged. Basically if you are able to sell your item for $500 and the buyer pays with Paypal, what you'll see happen is that Paypal will take their cut right off the top, so the balance in your Paypal account will be about $485. You can withdraw that money by asking Paypal to transfer it to your bank account. Doing so is free, but takes a few days. When it comes time for eBay to send you their monthly invoice, you'll just get an email saying that about $50 will be charged to your account around such and such a date. There will have been plenty of time to get the money transferred from Paypal to your bank account; just make sure you hang onto enough to cover that Final Value Fee you know is coming. After all is said and done, you'll clear about $435.
posted by jon1270 at 2:48 AM on July 18, 2013
posted by jon1270 at 2:48 AM on July 18, 2013
Best answer: You can let them take the payment, or you can go to My eBay > Seller Account and do a one-time payment. I usually do this, then print off a shipping label from my Paypal balance, and then the rest of my Paypal balance is mine to transfer to my bank account.
This isn't responsive to your question but because you are new to eBay and selling something over $250 I wanted to warn you that you MUST ship the item using Signature Confirmation or another method that allows eBay/Paypal to look up the signature information online. If you don't, your buyer can file a claim saying they didn't receive the item and they will win automatically.
If you simply insure the package through USPS, the post office may require the buyer to sign before they can accept the package, but this signature requirement does not satisfy eBay/Paypal because it is not "online viewable." You have to pay separately for the Signature Confirmation service.
posted by payoto at 9:18 AM on July 18, 2013
This isn't responsive to your question but because you are new to eBay and selling something over $250 I wanted to warn you that you MUST ship the item using Signature Confirmation or another method that allows eBay/Paypal to look up the signature information online. If you don't, your buyer can file a claim saying they didn't receive the item and they will win automatically.
If you simply insure the package through USPS, the post office may require the buyer to sign before they can accept the package, but this signature requirement does not satisfy eBay/Paypal because it is not "online viewable." You have to pay separately for the Signature Confirmation service.
posted by payoto at 9:18 AM on July 18, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I better understand the process now.
posted by ratherbethedevil at 5:42 AM on September 25, 2013
posted by ratherbethedevil at 5:42 AM on September 25, 2013
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posted by txtwinkletoes at 8:25 PM on July 17, 2013 [2 favorites]