Why are they charging a VAT on total cost? In the US you only pay tax on profit (and can even deduct a loss)? The profit margin on a lot of things people sell on ebay is less than 20% so how does this not kill the resale market in Europe?

As far as I can remember VAT is always charged on the total value (including shipping).
=> Discogs or eBay are applying this rule.

That's how Singapore or Japan or EU tax incoming shipments.
Among EU countries there is no VAT added, only when you cross the border.

So far I've never seen USA taxing an import but this might change as more and more countries are looking for ways to collect extra taxes.

Also, if you are a company, you can claim the VAT back in some situations.
This does not apply for individuals.

Julien

Add one more !!!

I am withdrawing USD to a US USD account... but I'm registered in Japan.

2% withdrawal fees on the net amount (that's 1.66% on gross amount).

So far, eBay+Payoneer is a 18.50% fees proposition to me.

I'll increase again the items I have listed on eBay.

WTF eBay...

Julien

This is partially true.

In some EU countries, like Sweden for instance, you have to pay the VAT rate of your home country when buying from a seller who exports goods for a value of over 10,000 Euros. So for instance, if I buy from Amazon in Germany I pay a 25% VAT instead of the 19%. So basically you'll get a 6% higher VAT which is still very reasonable. Just something a lot of people miss out on.

Stopped selling on ebay when they demanded bank details a few months ago. Nope. No thanks. Bye Ebay. Hello Gumtree.

And checking a recent $375 sale on eBay, they took higher fees on VAT + shipping, then Payoneer took another 2%.

Total in fees: almost 21%

We are getting near the 30% "abusive" Apple Store fee that most companies are now fighting in court.

Julien

Take the (volatile) orange pill.

Oh no. I mined in 2013~14 and made some profit but I'm completely out of it and pushing strongly against it.

For a good summary of why, I'm in line with https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/archives/2022/0715.html#cg8

Julien

Didn't catch this one until today:

eBay International fees
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees- ... rs?id=5224

Additional 1~2% on total before local VAT is added.

I guess there's only 3 things certain in life: death, taxes and that eBay fees will keep increasing forever.

Julien

Selling on ebay from Japan probably isn't worth it, I rarely had problems selling on Yahoo (need to write descriptions in Japanese though). You might get more bids on ebay but Yahoo takes less fees and at least half of my sales were from proxy bidding services anyway (back when I was living in Japan and selling on there).

Yahoo also has the benefit of people accepting that transactions on old gear can be as-is.

I have basically quit using eBay at all to sell. I sell laserdiscs here exclusively and recently opened a Mercari account to sell other things. Mercari can be a lot better for buying too, it reminds me of the old days on eBay. Mercari in general is targeting a different clientele with their advertising so you get people that actually want to get rid of things instead of trying to squeeze top dollar.

Wow, no more "message" box on eBay US.

Now it looks like chat with the seller (trying to copy Amazon?) with a very friendly and inviting message for the buyer:



Is it an hommage to North Korea or East Germany?

Julien

Discogs seemingly increasing Selling fees from 8% to 9% but the big caveat is that shipping costs will now be included -- like eBay.

https://www.discogs.com/selling/updates/selling-fee-pricing-guide-2023/

Shipping from Japan to the rest of the world is now significantly more expensive than before (roughly twice) and shipping often costs more than the item(s) purchased. So, on average, Discogs just doubled the selling fees for me (and they add 10% Japanese VAT as well), so I am looking at ~20% selling fees, similar to eBay).

Their hint to reduce selling fees?



... and your margin will also tank, but they will make more money.

Duh.

Julien

ebay.de just recently stopped charging any fees for private sales (within germany).
They probably felt the heat from their sister website ebay kleinanzeigen (classifieds)
which was never charging any fees to begin with. This however does not include
international sales, these still have the same fees as before, or sales by commercial sellers.

eBay did the same in Japan... before dropping of the market entirely.
(remember when the listing and selling fees were 2~3%?)

Also did the same in Singapore where typically you list at a high price and expect people to contact your for best offer requests.

Julien

Didn't see that one coming...

Payoneer Annual Fees = $29.95
https://payoneer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/44310/~/faq---annual-fees



We have to pay for the privilege of paying 2% withdrawing fee + eBay payment fees ?!?

Bloody Vampires

Julien

Bloody scandalous.
Nest of scheming thieves !

Cost of doing business ?
I don't think so.
Other alternatives exist and WILL be created.
The more people steal just emboldens reasonable alternatives down the road in my opinion.

Thanks for bringing this to light Julien.

Cheers mates

eBay more or less drove me away from selling there a long time ago. Lots of other options as firehorse mentioned. I did list a couple things there recently, but as far as I know I don't even have a payoneer account. I certainly never signed up for one.