Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

[Patrologia]

Um, is the eBay PayPal war escalating, or is there just a glitch? I can’t print shipping this morning, and can’t print it through PayPal either (just one sale to ship, so no test cases). eBay “support” tells me it’s a known issue, and as near as I can understand she wants me to cancel my payment agreement with PayPal and then try again and be presented with a new payment agreement. What?

 

[capnwes]

Um, is the eBay PayPal war escalating, or is there just a glitch? I can’t print shipping this morning, and can’t print it through PayPal either (just one sale to ship, so no test cases). eBay “support” tells me it’s a known issue, and as near as I can understand she wants me to cancel my payment agreement with PayPal and then try again and be presented with a new payment agreement. What?

I think it has to do with paypal changing around their webpage layouts recently. The auto payments used to be on the profile page. Now it seems they have split that page into two pages, perhaps breaking the link. If you try to access it through the paypal payments link on eBay it takes you to an older, malfunctioning page, so you will need to make the the change directly on paypal first.

To reset it...
1. Log into your paypal account,
2. Hover over your name in the top right hand corner of the screen
3. Select "account settings" from the drop down menu.
4. On the account settings page, select "Money, Banks and Cards" from the left hand menu.
5. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click "Set Automatic Payments"
6. Find "eBay Inc Shipping" on the list and click it. (Mine was on the second page of the list, though it was not clear there was more than one page at first.)
7. Click "Cancel"
8. Proceed to the ebay shipping label you are trying to print, you should be prompted to set up a new payment method.

 

[Patrologia]

I think it has to do with paypal changing around their webpage layouts recently. The auto payments used to be on the profile page. Now it seems they have split that page into two pages, perhaps breaking the link. If you try to access it through the paypal payments link on eBay it takes you to an older, malfunctioning page, so you will need to make the the change directly on paypal first.

To reset it...
1. Log into your paypal account,
2. Hover over your name in the top right hand corner of the screen
3. Select "account settings" from the drop down menu.
4. On the account settings page, select "Money, Banks and Cards" from the left hand menu.
5. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click "Set Automatic Payments"
6. Find "eBay Inc Shipping" on the list and click it. (Mine was on the second page of the list, though it was not clear there was more than one page at first.)
7. Click "Cancel"
8. Proceed to the ebay shipping label you are trying to print, you should be prompted to set up a new payment method.

Thanks for the details. If I run into trouble again, I’ll do this. This time I was able to shortcut it by removing PayPal as a payment method on eBay, and then just going back in and trying again. Either that or the timing was just lucky and they got it fixed while I wasn’t looking. It was weird (to me at least) that even staring from my PayPal account I couldn’t print postage for the transaction. I guess even there it was looking in the wrong place for info from eBay. We’ll see.

 

[goatamous II]

i know it's come up in the past
but has anybody opted into managed payments?

Ebay keeps bugging me about it every day
the piece that's i'm not certain about: with managed payments and Paypal, does the money sit in ebay or in my Paypal wallet?
Also, am i reading this correctly where the fees mention that there are no 3rd party fees (which would mean no Paypal fees)? That alone would be worth the switch

 

[capnwes]

i know it's come up in the past
but has anybody opted into managed payments?

Ebay keeps bugging me about it every day
the piece that's i'm not certain about: with managed payments and Paypal, does the money sit in ebay or in my Paypal wallet?
Also, am i reading this correctly where the fees mention that there are no 3rd party fees (which would mean no Paypal fees)? That alone would be worth the switch

Not opted in yet, but I do know the answer. The money will be collected by ebay and direct deposited to your bank account daily or weekly (your choice) with a typical 2-3 day lag time. They will still be charging a 2.9% fee, same as paypal, but you will no longer have to pay that silly 30 cents per transaction that paypal charges. Though, I'm sure eBay will find a way to get that 30 cents and then some.

 

[goatamous II]

Thanks Wes
I'll wait until they force me

 

[dadjeans]

The notice I got told me I was being transitioned into managed payments in July. I went ahead and filled out the forms. I figure it'll be worth it to not have to deal with the Paypal dispute system.

We'll see what happens. I mean, hell, we're still waiting for Canada Post labels which were supposed to be available through ebay from April 1st.

My only real worry is that the USD/CAD exchange rates end up being significantly worse than the existing Paypal rates.

 

[1ofTheCoolKids]

Hmmm...

Early Adopters of eBay Payments May Be Out of Luck

Despite playing guinea pig to eBay's Managed Payments when it launched in 2018, it appears early adopters of the ...

www.ecommercebytes.com

Five Key Things to Know about eBay Managed Payments

eBay's latest podcast covered the topic of Managed Payments today. There are five key takeaways for sellers, but one ...

www.ecommercebytes.com

 

[capnwes]

Hmmm...

Early Adopters of eBay Payments May Be Out of Luck

Despite playing guinea pig to eBay's Managed Payments when it launched in 2018, it appears early adopters of the ...

www.ecommercebytes.com

Five Key Things to Know about eBay Managed Payments

eBay's latest podcast covered the topic of Managed Payments today. There are five key takeaways for sellers, but one ...

www.ecommercebytes.com

That was quick, I figured they would go for that 30 cents eventually.

Looks like the new flat fee (for stores) will be 11.5% +$0.30 per transaction, down from the combined ebay/paypal total of 12.05% +$0.30 so that will be a savings of 0.55%, which will in the end save me about the same amount per year at my current selling rate, and has the potential to save me much more than the 30 cents per transaction if my ASP continues to go up.

For non stores the savings would be the same, 12.9% down to 12.35% +$0.30.....a reduction of 0.55%

 

[capnwes]

That was quick, I figured they would go for that 30 cents eventually.

Looks like the new flat fee (for stores) will be 11.5% +$0.30 per transaction, down from the combined ebay/paypal total of 12.05% +$0.30 so that will be a savings of 0.55%, which will in the end save me about the same amount per year at my current selling rate, and has the potential to save me much more than the 30 cents per transaction if my ASP continues to go up.

For non stores the savings would be the same, 12.9% down to 12.35% +$0.30.....a reduction of 0.55%

I did some more digging and number crunching last night after learning that eBay will be charging the full FVF on the Sales Tax portion of our sales once Managed Payments begins. I learned a few things that make me happy, and figured I'd share my findings.

There are 11 states that either have no sales tax at all, do not charge sales tax on clothing, or clothing purchases are tax free under certain thresholds. These 11 states historically account for about 18% of our sales, after excluding the items that were over the threshold and were taxed. NY, NJ, PA and MA are the big hitters here, making up 83% of the tax-free group's sales.

There are currently 11 states that are not yet collecting sales tax on ebay. Five do not have state sales tax. The other six states historically account for 9% of our sales. FL is the doozie here, making up 47% of this group's sales on its own, but fortunately at the lowest tax rate of the bunch. The combined total of the calculated sales tax on the individual sales of those six states would increase our collected sales tax total by roughly 25%-28%.

Granted, with all the above things calculated and considered the 8.6% extra fee will nearly quadruple the fees charged on my sales tax, which I do agree seems kinda slimy on eBays part at first. However when I consider the new total cost for collecting/remitting the sales tax only amounts to about 0.38% of our total sales (up from 0.096%), I'm still totally fine with that. At $115-$150/hour, our accountant would certainly charge much more than that every year, and doing it myself would cost me even more in time and frustration, while I could be focusing that time and energy on selling more merchandise instead. And what if I make mistakes? I wonder how quick late fees and penalties can pile up when dealing with dozens of tax authorities. I'm starting to get stressed just thinking about it. Of course I could use a service like TaxJar, but at our sales level, that still costs a little more than just letting eBay handle it. Let's face it, with the new online tax law there was always going to be an expense somewhere in order to stay in compliance, whether it be time or money.

Now considering the 0.55% savings on the original FVF and subtracting the new extra sales tax FVF. I'm left with an overall fee reduction of approximately 0.27% of my annual sales.

Let's not forget, when you get a return/cancellation after payment, paypal no longer refunds their 2.9% +$0.30 fee. Ebay WILL be refunding the FVF on returns/refunds and only keep the 30 cents. We offer free returns and as a clothing seller get quite a few. We average about $15-$16K in returns per year....that's an additional fee savings of about $450 annually just on the refunded fees.

Finally, for Top Rated Plus sellers, there is an additional savings. Since the FVF is increasing and being charged on a larger total, the amount we will save with the 10% discount (assuming the program continues without change), will increase by roughly 30%....or approximately 0.28% of my annual sales.

This brings the total fee savings to roughly 0.7% of my total sales (sold price+shipping+sales tax). Hey, that's about $2000 more in my pocket at the end of the year!

 

[Brianpore]

@capnwes "paypal no longer refunds their 2.9% +$0.30 fee "

Are you sure? Looking at a few recent refunds I did there is always a "PayPal fee reversal" for the 2.9%. They do keep the $0.30 but it looks like they give back the actual 2.9% fee. They had said about a year ago or so that they would not give back the 2.9% but quickly changed that at it was crazy for them to keep that when you send a refund to someone 2 minutes after they pay for an item and request to cancel. Just my 2 cents from what I see on my account.

Here is an article from Sept 2019 when this became an issue https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/20/20876570/paypal-refund-fee-policy-change-sellers-controversy

 

[capnwes]

@capnwes "paypal no longer refunds their 2.9% +$0.30 fee "

Are you sure? Looking at a few recent refunds I did there is always a "PayPal fee reversal" for the 2.9%. They do keep the $0.30 but it looks like they give back the actual 2.9% fee. They had said about a year ago or so that they would not give back the 2.9% but quickly changed that at it was crazy for them to keep that when you send a refund to someone 2 minutes after they pay for an item and request to cancel. Just my 2 cents from what I see on my account.

Here is an article from Sept 2019 when this became an issue https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/20/20876570/paypal-refund-fee-policy-change-sellers-controversy

Yeah I'm sure, I double-checked the paypal policy and most of my recent returns and cancellation refunds all the way back to early March, and they all look like this.



However, I do recall seeing a few instances in the recent past where I got the fees back for some unknown reason....those were a few months ago, and I couldn't find any last night where the fees had been refunded. Perhaps with the recent Paypal site changes, the fees have been glitching between refunding and not refunding...or maybe it's being rolled-out in sections. I know it definitely didn't start keeping my fees until a couple months after the official start date, but I was hearing some other sellers say the fees were already being kept on their accounts.

 

[Brianpore]

Interesting, believe you, I cant find one where eBay did not refund their portion of the gross amount like the 2 below. The top one was a return though ebay and the 2nd one is just a payment I got, went into paypal to click on "refund" to see what happened

Got to look into this more but assuming you do $1,000,000 of sales, have a 3% return rate. Returns of $30,000 x 2.9% = $870 taken for no reason which was the big back last year when they announced that.

 

[capnwes]

Interesting, believe you, I cant find one where eBay did not refund their portion of the gross amount like the 2 below. The top one was a return though ebay and the 2nd one is just a payment I got, went into paypal to click on "refund" to see what happened

Got to look into this more but assuming you do $1,000,000 of sales, have a 3% return rate. Returns of $30,000 x 2.9% = $870 taken for no reason which was the big back last year when they announced that.


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Yeah, I was still seeing that for a while too. They must be rolling it out in stages.

Either way....it'll be refunded with the new program. I always figured the fee change was Paypal's last-ditch effort to make some money before they have to start sharing the business from eBay with multiple, more-preferred payment methods. It has to be a enormous loss for them when its all switched over.

 

[txwoodworker]

International deliveries, we're just stuck refunding now? I only have a few, but nothing has made it in the past couple months. Only have had one person open a case, and it was probably the least overall $, just refunded $39

This one will be a couple hundred bucks when the guy opens a case.

This one was shipped April 6th. Surprised to see an update, maybe there's a chance.

Departed London...