Section 168. Calculate eBay Selling Fees with FeeFinder

168. Calculate eBay Selling Fees with FeeFinder

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

127 Determine Your Selling Price and Estimate Your Selling Fees


SEE ALSO

136 Set Payment and Shipping Options


If you're looking to make money on eBay, knowing your selling fees is keyhow much you'll have to pay eBay for each auction. These fees can add up quickly and can be hard to calculate ahead of time. For example, you can pay extra for features such as getting your auction highlighted, putting it into a gallery, getting it boldfaced, and so on. Then there are the normal fees for each auction, and the PayPal fees, and the shipping fees ‚ .

NOTE

Making it all more complicated is that those fees can change at a moment's notice. And because eBay and PayPal don't necessarily send emails when they change their fee structures, you won't necessarily know when those fees change.


168. Calculate eBay Selling Fees with FeeFinder


That's where FeeFinder comes in. This software makes calculating your selling fees easy. Just fill in a series of screens, and the software calculates the fees for you. FeeFinder is shareware, which means you can try it for free but you have to pay for it if you want to continue to use it for more than 30 days (it costs $12.99). To pay for it, after you install the software, select Purchase Registration Code from the Help menu.

1.
Download, Install, and Launch FeeFinder

Go to www.hammertap.com and look for the button labeled FeeFinder . Click the button and then click Download FeeFinder Today! . Note where on your computer's hard disk the file downloads. After it downloads, double-click the file and follow the installation instructions. After it is installed, double-click the program's desktop icon to launch it.

2.
Choose Your Auction Type

Your basic choice is to track fees for single-item auctions or multiple-item auctions. Dutch auctions are always multiple-item auctions, and traditional auctions are single-item auctions. However, fixed-price auctions can be either single-item or multiple-item. Click the appropriate Single Item or Multiple Items tab for the type of auction you want to track.

3.
Choose Your Listing Type

Will the auction you're tracking be a traditional auction, a fixed-priced auction, or a Dutch auction? Select the proper type from the first drop-down list in the Listing Type area. If you are selling real estate or running the auction through eBay Motors, be sure to enable the appropriate check box because pricing is different for these types of auctions compared to other auctions (for more information about eBay Motors, see 171 About Selling Cars and Vehicles ).

4.
Choose Extra Listing Features

Will you be paying for extra features for the listing, such as a highlight, Featured Plus, extra pictures, and so on? If so, enable the appropriate check boxes for all the options that apply to your auction. Note that FeeFinder recalculates your fees with each new option you add or take away. When you're done, click Calculate and then click Add to Notepad . The Notepad appears at the bottom of the FeeFinder screen and shows a running list of all your payments. The FeeFinder Notepad is not the Windows Notepad, but instead is part of the FeeFinder program.

TIP

To view the contents of the FeeFinder Notepad, click View Notepad in the bottom-left corner of the FeeFinder screen. The Notepad shows you information about all the auctions on which you're working, not just the current one.

5.
Calculate Your Payment Fee

When you accept payment from PayPal, you have to pay a fee based on the amount of payment you're accepting. To find this amount, click the Payment Services tab, enter the payment amount, and select the account type (Standard Ratea regular accountor Merchant Ratea merchant credit card account). When you're done, click Calculate and then click Add to Notepad . Information is added to the FeeFinder Notepad. The Notepad adds these extra fees to your normal eBay listing fees.

TIP

You should keep complete records of all your auctions and their associated costs. Use FeeFinder to print your fees for each auction. Make sure that you always add the auction fees to the Notepad, and when you're done, click Print.

6.
Calculate Shipping Fees

To calculate your shipping fees, click the Shipping tab. You won't actually calculate your shipping fees from within FeeFinder. Instead, the program includes links to shipping calculators on websites of the U.S. Postal Service, United Parcel Service, and similar services. Click the link to the service you plan to use; then use the calculator at that site. When you're done, write down the shipping costs on a slip of paper, and then enter them into FeeFinder.

Keep in mind that the shipping fees charged by shipping services are typically less than the shipping fees you charge to buyers . Your actual shipping charges should include the shipping fees you pay plus expenses such as boxes, padding, and so on. You might also want to charge a minimal fee for handling to cover the amount of time you'll spend shipping the item.

7.
Calculate Your Total Fees

Add together each of the fees you've calculated, and you'll come up with the total fee you'll pay for the auction. You'll also find the information in the Notepad section of the program.



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ISBN: 0672326906
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