How to reverse calculate ebay fees

July 2, 2006 6:28 PM

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.

posted by SoulOnIce to Shopping (5 answers total)

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)
posted by Chuckles at 6:51 PM on July 2, 2006

Best answer: 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).
posted by Chuckles at 6:57 PM on July 2, 2006 [1 favorite]

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.
posted by special-k at 10:12 PM on July 2, 2006

Sorry, didn't see that you didnt want online calculators.
posted by special-k at 10:19 PM on July 2, 2006

Response by poster: Excellent! Thank you!
posted by SoulOnIce at 3:38 PM on July 3, 2006