My experience with EBay: It is unethical. I use to list 2 products. Both were unique, handmade, and consistently the same measurements. One was small (3 oz.) and could be shipped via the post office. Shipping prices typically were accurate and consistent. The other product had to be shipped Fedex due to size 30lb. 27x21x17. The shipping price is estimated. More often than not, the true cost was higher because of ‘Additional Handling fee - $12.00’. The additional handling fee is generated if Fedex verifies the weight and measurements. The fee is charged even if the dimensions and weight are correct. The seller cannot contact Fedex to complain. Many companies use this practice to generate extra fees.
Marketing: Both items I sold were unique. Most sellers do not realize that their items can only be found by searching Ebay’s website. Only ebay store owners benefit from a google search which costs @$25/month. For example: if you put the hope diamond on ebay and you are not a store owner, Google will never show it despite it being one of a kind.
Scams: Always ship to the billing address. If a product is shipped elsewhere, the card holder can refute payment and win. This has happened to me several times, customer always wins despite requiring a signature and ID. FYI, the card holders name is NOT verified during processing, only the address and zip.
Fees: ebay charges 10% and paypal charges 3% of the selling price and shipping charged. Ex. $25 item and $5 shipping, $30 total. Fees - $3.90. If one sells $20,000 and 200 items per year, then you will recieve a 1099 so you can give the IRS 25% as well.
Complaints: ebay and paypal will side with the customer. Plan on it.
Workarounds: Buy a domain name containing your product in it. Ex. www.hopediamondforsale.com. If the consumer types in google “hope diamond for sale’, your domain will be high on the list. Make a video of the Hope Diamond titled ‘Hope Diamond for sale’. Put your website in the video. Create a one page site with a ‘buy’ button and use Stripe to process your payments (flat fee of 2.9%). Host the site on Siteground (reliable and cheap $40 per year). The purpose of the video is for search results. Search engines show the top results for websites, videos, and images. Videos are easier to rank in if unique.
I hope this was helpful, if not - I tried :)
WOW...good info.
I’ve also found that using Paypal as a payment option can vet out potential problems. If you can’t pay via Paypal, such as being located in Turkey, you probably can’t pay any other way, either.