There are several sets of fees.
1) Listing fee - this is the cost of your online 'advert' on their website. You pay it whether your item sells or not. The cost depends on what type of listing you have - auction or set price (Buy It Now), and the complexity of your ad - for example if you have lots of pictures it costs more than just a couple of photos. Putting a reserve on an auction (as you would at an auction house) is VERY expensive. It sounds complicated but you'll get the hang of it quickly, and a basic ad with just one photo and no special features will often be less than a quid.
2) Final Value Fees. This is what you pay IF the item sells. It is a percentage of the closing price, and varies according to the catagory - I think there are different rates for say books, versus jewellery. The higher the item price, the lower the percentage (usually).
3) Paypal fees - if your buyer uses this service it costs you to receive your payment - again a percentage of the closing price. If you then withdraw your funds to a UK bank acount, and the amount is less than £50, it'll cost you a further 25-50p per transaction. If the buyer sends a cheque or postal order, or uses bank transfer you are not liable for PP fees, but not many people do that these days as Ebay make you offer Paypal on most listings.
There are loads of online calculators that will help you work out the fees on a hypothetical example to let you get a feel.
The best thing is to BUY first - partly to get the hang of Ebay, and partly because many people won't buy from someone with low or zero FB.
It is much easier than it sounds, and as long as you make sure you recoup full postage and packing costs is worthwhile for the extra cash on stuff you'd otherwise throw out or give away. It is AMAZING what people will bid on! I have been doing it for nearly 8 years and it is great in a crisis (eg massive gas bill, car repairs to fund).
1) Listing fee - this is the cost of your online 'advert' on their website. You pay it whether your item sells or not. The cost depends on what type of listing you have - auction or set price (Buy It Now), and the complexity of your ad - for example if you have lots of pictures it costs more than just a couple of photos. Putting a reserve on an auction (as you would at an auction house) is VERY expensive. It sounds complicated but you'll get the hang of it quickly, and a basic ad with just one photo and no special features will often be less than a quid.
2) Final Value Fees. This is what you pay IF the item sells. It is a percentage of the closing price, and varies according to the catagory - I think there are different rates for say books, versus jewellery. The higher the item price, the lower the percentage (usually).
3) Paypal fees - if your buyer uses this service it costs you to receive your payment - again a percentage of the closing price. If you then withdraw your funds to a UK bank acount, and the amount is less than £50, it'll cost you a further 25-50p per transaction. If the buyer sends a cheque or postal order, or uses bank transfer you are not liable for PP fees, but not many people do that these days as Ebay make you offer Paypal on most listings.
There are loads of online calculators that will help you work out the fees on a hypothetical example to let you get a feel.
The best thing is to BUY first - partly to get the hang of Ebay, and partly because many people won't buy from someone with low or zero FB.
It is much easier than it sounds, and as long as you make sure you recoup full postage and packing costs is worthwhile for the extra cash on stuff you'd otherwise throw out or give away. It is AMAZING what people will bid on! I have been doing it for nearly 8 years and it is great in a crisis (eg massive gas bill, car repairs to fund).
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