Is It Worth Paying All the FEES on eBay and Amazon?

Is it worth selling on eBay and Amazon with all the fees?

I get this question all the time. So eBay’s got about 12 or 13 percent in fees. That includes insertion fees, final value fees, and PayPal fees. And don’t forget to figure shipping in there too. Then with Amazon, if you’re selling via FBA, you’re going to be looking somewhere between 30 and 40 percent in fees depending on what you are selling.

But is it worth it selling on these platforms with all these fees? Let me put it this way: Where else are you going to sell these items? You could sell your items locally. Etsy’s got some traffic, but it’s mostly vintage items. There are other websites out there, but where are you really going to sell these items?

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What You Get for Your Fees
The number one reason why we pay the fees to sell on eBay and Amazon is traffic. It’s a lot harder than people realize to get eyes on your offerings, to be able to have access to millions and millions of potential buyers on eBay and Amazon.

That’s the main reason we’re willing to pay these fees—to get eyeballs on our listings. Without the traffic, without the customer base, you are not going to sell your items.

With Amazon FBA—where the fees are definitely higher—you’re typically going to get more money versus eBay, so it kind of makes up a difference right there. But in this case, you are also leveraging the Amazon FBA warehouses by being able to ship directly to the warehouses. Then their employees at Amazon fulfill your items, deal with customer service, and ship your items for you, and you pretty much just receive a check.

Fees Are Just Part of the Game
If you want to be an eCommerce seller, you’re either going to use other people’s platforms to get their traffic, or you create your own website. In that case, then you drive traffic to your offerings by either using Facebook ads, social media, or content marketing. Getting into the game of trying to get customers to find your listing and utilize traffic is a whole completely different endeavor right there.

Is it worth selling on these platforms because of the fees? Yes, it is. You’re getting access to millions and millions of customers. You’re getting access to all their traffic. And also, for places like Amazon FBA, you’re able to utilize and leverage their employees to fulfill your orders and ship your items. Without these websites, we’d have to rely on driving our own traffic, customizing our own websites, building our own websites, and dealing with so many issues. There are so many things that we just take for granted.

Just in terms of how a website works, there are a lot of resources that Amazon has to put up to be able to get customers to your listings. I’m talking about marketing fees. I’m talking about website fees, hosting fees, and having all these people working on the website customizing the code. I am sure I don’t even know the half of it. But at the end of the day guys, fees are part of business.

Think About Fees, But Don’t Let Them Stop You
You do want to take it into account. When you’re analyzing deals to sell on eBay or Amazon, you need to think about your cost of goods. What will it cost you to acquire this item? You always need to consider the fees for eBay or Amazon. And don’t forget taxes. Yes, you’re going to have to pay taxes. You need to keep in mind how long it will take you to sell this item.

There are a lot of different factors, but fees…well, you can’t get around them. It’s just part of the game, and you’re going to have to deal with it. Otherwise, you will have to drive traffic to your own websites, build your own websites, and manage your own websites. I’ve got a little bit of experience in that, and it’s a lot harder than it looks.