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Holy fees and taxes, Batman!
Copyboy1
Posts: 468 ✭✭✭✭
I hadn't bought through a non-Ebay auction in quite a while. Boy, had I forgotten all the extra charges and fees.
My awesome Goldin Auction deal for a $550 card turned out to be a $772 card when all was said and done. 40% over the winning bid! I'll make sure to do more precise math before bidding next time for sure.
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I wouldn't mind it if eBay started shifting some of the selling expenses to the buyer though, it's getting dumb
My goldin item was 35% over bid price after all fees.
Yep. Pricey to win nowadays.
All of the eBay selling expenses are paid by the buyer. They are the only ones putting in money. Just charge more.
I've never bought through Goldin. I have bought through HA though. There they show you what the total after fees is going to be as they're shilling you.
My Goldin Invoice and thoughts
2 lots totaling $800 in bids
20% BP = $160 paid by check, industry standard and disclosed in terms of sale
6.625% Tax (NJ) = $65.31 can't blame them for following the law
Shipping = $10.60 maybe a little high but not really that unreasonable compared to other AH's
Insurance = $7.20 I'd bet they have a blanket policy which makes this unnecessary, but at least it is disclosed with the rate used in their terms of sale.
Handling = $8.00 This is the one that always bothers me and feel like this should be part of the BP. Completely unnecessary in my opinion.
They should have two prices showing during bid process - the bid price and the all-in price. It’s an easy thing to do, but not surprised AHs don’t want to be that transparent: Obviously we can all do that calc ourselves, but in the heat of bidding it would be helpful.
Kiss me twice.....let's party.
I bought something from HA for $4 late last year. I knew the BP was $14, but shipping, handling, and insurance (none of which was disclosed in any level of detail - I was figuring $10 or so) added $21 and brought the all-in price to $39 and change. Eye opening for sure.
Jim
Sounds like the hosting sites are making more $$$ than the person selling and the buyer isn't getting a "good deal".
Greed has destroyed america.
Just not right.........
When I bid on Classic Auctions I have to multiply the bid by x1.70 to x1.75 (depending on the USD exchange rate) to see how much it will cost in CDN dollars after all the juice and taxes, and this is a Canadian auction house, super annoying.
I hate the fee to pay by credit card. Guys, online shopping has been around for decades. Every major retailer accepts cards without charging extra. They're making 20% for the BP and won't eat the 1.15% interchange fee for cards - despite the numerous benefits to them for accepting cards?
It's patently obvious from this breakdown that Goldin is gouging their buyers. The insurance and handling fees are ridiculous, especially when they're charging $10.60 for shipping.
I know 20% for BP is industry standard but I think it's ridiculous anyway, especially with Goldin charging another 3% on top of the 20% if you're paying by credit card.
They've got to be making money hand over fist.
I haven’t used an AH to sell before. From the other side of the deal, do consignors yield more than in other venues?
I’m wondering if the fees are because they have to give more margin to consignors to get them to list.
Goldin charges the seller between 5%-15% too! (It's negotiable based on how much you're consigning with them.) Heritage Auctions say "10% of less."
Really all depends on the AH and what you have. I've heard everything from 15% sellers fee to -10% (seller gets a portion of the buyers premium). Keep in mind, the AH is providing a service. You'll get a better rate consigning a T206 Wagner than a case of 88 Donruss. AH's do all the write up, photography, listing, packing, chasing buyers, fielding questions, etc. Selling is a balance act between time, money, and effort you have to make. In general, AH gets you your money slower, you get less due to fees with some risk/reward based on bids, but you do little of the work to sell. If you sell it yourself, you put out all the energy, might get more money, and you'll get your money faster once it sells. Sell it to a dealer, you'll get your money fast, expend little energy, but get the least amount of money.
The only 3rd party services I used were PWCC, Probstein, and 4Sharp. The fees don’t bother me if the service can bring a much better price. PWCC yielded me the most net of everything and Probstein the least. I used 4Sharp when they first started out and the results were OK.
With PWCC off eBay, I haven’t used them since. 4Sharp’a email spam brags that they are bringing in top dollar, I may try them out again if they run another few special
I just sold a Bobblehead for 350 through eBay, and after fees and calculated shipping I came away with 300. Sellers are definitely getting taken.
I can't figure how the hell sellers make any money.
I don't feel like eBay is unreasonable with the fees. I believe eBay took 12.9% (10% plus 2.9% processing fee) and you paid around $7 for shipping. A 10% fee doesn't seems reasonable and 2.9% is pretty standard for a payment processing fee that a typical business would be charged. The audience that ebay provides is well worth the 10% fee IMO. You have the option of trying to sell locally using craigslist or OfferUp if you want to avoid fees.
Now I do think it's excessive when an auction house charges a 15% fee to the seller, a 15% buyer premium, plus additional processing fees to the buyer.
It's true, the fees are high. But, you can turn up the price too. These guys are talking about auction houses charging a buyers premium. It isn't calculated in to the price during bidding. But, you can turn your price up 15% to charge the buyer on eBay too.
For what eBay does, which is nearly nothing, they're charging too much. They also have nearly zero competition. There are other auction houses. Nobody has close to the market share eBay has for what they do though. Amazon sort of does something similar. Not really though. eBay is a monopoly.
Ads on Amazon and most other sites are much more predatory too. People freely admit that they go to these smaller auction houses because they tend to get higher prices than eBay. How can that be though? A fraction of the traffic, yet higher prices. The answer seems obvious.
The younger generation isn't going to know any different. When I was a kid you could only shop local or mail order from little tiny ads. I watch comics too. I don't know that kids are really getting in to these hobbies anyway.
If you feel eBay fees are too high sell somewhere else. If the answer is, but thats the best place to sell, then I’d argue the fees aren’t too high.
Market forces are at work here, if someone could build a better global marketplace with less fees it would have been done already.
My eBay strategy is pretty straightforward, assume a 20% commission to eBay and price my cards at what I need net fees.
And it sure beats dragging my collection and showcases to a hotel conference centre for three days. Time is money and I have no interest in local shows, or dealing with weirdo’s on Craigslist.
No one likes extra fees bit let's be honest, the cooler stuff these days is often found via auction house offerings, not on ebay.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
What eBay does, and does very well, is aggregates eyeballs. It enables John Q. Public to sell at ~90% of retail in just a few days. It enables John Q. Public to get a fair price for a rare item again quickly. You can argue whether it's worth it, but those three things are huge even before mentioning the (dubious) merits of the infrastructure.
I only use AH's that dont charge sellers fees.
Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!
Ignore list -Basebal21
When eBay first started they did have a little competition. Yahoo also had their own auctions. I remember buy a few cards there too but it was pretty short lived.
I went to all BIN and dropped auctions all together. I price my cards with all fees in mind and it works out for me.
Regarding competition, I think we are almost there with viable alternatives. I already sell high dollar cards on MySlabs and it has worked out very well for me and the buyer (lower prices).
@CardGeek and @80sOPC
You're not wrong, I was just surprised. Some niche stuff is easier to sell on eBay. I'm certainly not losing money in the long term, I was just a bit surprised the other day. It's definitely something to consider when you take offers, though.
I've never gone through an auction house, but definitely can see some frustration in that from both sides paying fees.
Thanks for the perspective, easy to just want to see things through my own.
Goldin Auctions seem really weak these days. eBay has great buys. I do enjoy eBay when I can find my desired item!
Yep. I came back for more fees.
Goldin winning bid was $454
All said and done....$600 to my door.
Are these increases in fees a temporary thing due to inflation, or
has the trend been upward and onward for a while.
It’s almost like gas, hotel, and food money in the old days to get to a premium show.
Addicts don't care about fees. I say...bring on higher fees.
Buyers ultimately pay fee increases. These costs then get into comps and filter down to shows.
Every fee increase leads to more purchases on the message boards.
And yet very few people are actively engaged on the "buy, sell, trade" forum. I don't get it.
Late 60's and early to mid 70's non-sports
Only thing that I find offensive here is that $8 handling fee. Not sure why customers let them get away with that after paying a 20% buyers premium.