eBay Fee Calculator

Hi,

You're welcome :) I always appreciate hearing comments from visitors. You know, with your permission I'd like to add you to my eBay Friends page. My eBay Friends page is a place where I keep a online list of people I interact with on eBay. If you run an eBay Store I can also place a link to your store there too (or eBay About Me Page) so your auctions can get greater exposure. All I ask in return is if you could place a small link to one of my sites (either my paypal calculator or my ebay calculator) on your eBay About Me Page. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes and it would really help me out a lot in helping to spread the word about the calculator(s). Thanks for your help!

-Doug
ebay ID: duhomax

Hi Mik,

Thanks for contacting me! I've just now updated the fee rates the calculator is using to be current as of July 22, 2006 (today). I also hear eBay will soon be increasing it's fees for eBay Stores as of August 22, 2006. I've already set up the calculator to automatically switch over as of that date. So basically if you use the calculator between now and August 22 it will calculate your fees using the current eBay fee rates, but if you use it on August 22 or after, it will calculate your fees using the new (updated) eBay Stores fee rates. Thanks for your question!

-Doug
eBay ID: duhomax

Hi Eli,

You know you're not the first person to ask me this :) I'm currently working on a solution it but it requires a lot of complex math and I'm trying to wrap my head around it all. Plus the fact that I've never seen it done before makes it especially difficult. You see, it's like this. To do what you're describing (figuring out the closing price based on a certain desired net profit) requires a formula and it's that formula that I'm trying to figure out. Once I know the formula I can easily convert it into code and add it into the calculator. I'm open to suggestions if you think you can figure it out. To see an example of what a formula looks like, here is the formula I am using to calculate Net Profit:

(Net Profit) = (Buy It Now Price) + (S&H Charged) - (Total eBay Fees) - (Total PayPal Fees) - (Actual S&H) - (Cost To Acquire)

I need to come up with a similar formula but with (Buy It Now Price) on the left hand side of the equation. I suppose I could do something like this...

(Buy It Now Price) = (S&H Charged) - (Total eBay Fees) - (Total PayPal Fees) - (Actual S&H) - (Cost To Acquire) - (Desired Net Profit)

But there's a problem in that (Total PayPal Fees) and (Total eBay Fees) are both entirely dependent on the (Buy It Now Price). (Total PayPal Fees) can be rewritten as (((PayPal Fee Percentage) x ((Buy It Now Price) + (S&H Charged))) + (PayPal Fixed Fee)). And if we plug that into the above equation we get...

(Buy It Now Price) = (S&H Charged) - (Total eBay Fees) - (((PayPal Fee Percentage) x ((Buy It Now Price) + (S&H Charged))) + (PayPal Fixed Fee)) - (Actual S&H) - (Cost To Acquire) - (Desired Net Profit)

Now try getting (Buy It Now Price) alone on one side. That's the problem I'm facing. As if that wasn't difficult enough, you also have to factor eBay fees into the equation. (Total eBay Fees) can be rewritten as ((Insertion Fees) + (Upgrade Fees) + (Final Value Fees)). (Upgrade Fees) will always remain the same but (Insertion Fees) and (Final Value Fees) are both determined by the (Buy It Now Price). So that just adds another level of complexity to the equation. If you or someone you know is a whiz with math maybe you can ask them for help :) Basically all I need is a formula which puts (Buy It Now Price) alone on the left side of the equation where it can be calculated using other available (known) variables. Thanks for your e-mail!

-Doug
eBay ID: duhomax

Hi Leanna,

Wow, thank you very much for that :) I always appreciate hearing comments from visitors. You know, with your permission I'd like to add you to my eBay Friends page. My eBay Friends page is a place where I keep a online list of people I interact with on eBay. If you run an eBay Store I can also place a link to your store there too (or eBay About Me Page) so your auctions can get greater exposure. All I ask in return is if you could place a small link to one of my sites (either my paypal calculator or my ebay calculator or both) on your eBay About Me Page. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes and it would really help me out a lot in helping to spread the word about the calculator(s). Thanks for your help Leanna!

-Doug
ebay ID: duhomax

Hi jadtunrau,

Thanks for your comment! I always appreciate hearing comments from visitors. In answer to your question, I'm afraid it's not quite that simple. You see, I could send you the source code to the website (actually it's available for free right here)...

http://www.ebcalc.com/js/ebcalc.js

But unfortunately it's written in a language called JavaScript which Excel can't understand. You would basically have to re-create the entire calculator from scratch if you wanted an Excel verison of it. If you're basically just looking for the "logic" or "pseudocode" for the calculator here is basically all you should need...

http://www.ppcalc.com/basic_ebay_fee_calculator.txt

This is not written in any one programming language but rather in "pseudocode" which you would have to convert to the language of your choice. It goes through all the basic steps that are involved when calculating ebay fees. But speaking of Excel spreadsheets, instead of making your own you can always check these out...

http://www.auctionorbit.com/auction_tracker.htm
http://bis.midco.net/rcrothers/
http://www.neopolss.com/TPC/TPC.html
http://www.geocities.com/johnny_post1ng/?200513

These are all Excel spreadsheets that I've come across in various Google searching. None of them quite fit my needs but maybe they will for you. Also I wanted to ask you, would you like to have a link to your auction listings added to my eBay Friends page? My eBay Friends page is a place where I keep a online list of people I interact with on eBay. If you run an eBay Store I can also place a link to your store there too (or eBay About Me Page) so your auctions can get greater exposure. All I ask in return is if you could place a small link to one of my sites (either my paypal calculator or my ebay calculator or both) on your eBay About Me Page. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes and it would really help me out a lot in helping to spread the word about the calculator(s). Thanks for your help!

-Doug
ebay ID: duhomax

Hi Donna,

Wow, thank you very much for that! A donation would be greatly appreciated. I just added a paypal donation button if you're still interested...

http://www.ebcalc.com

It's in the bottom right hand corner. A donation in any amount would, of course, be much appreciated. In fact, because of your generosity I've went ahead and placed a link to your auction listings on my eBay Friends page. My eBay Friends page is a place where I keep a online list of people I interact with on eBay. If you run an eBay Store I can also place a link to your store there too (or eBay About Me Page) so your auctions can get greater exposure. All I ask in return is if you could place a small link to one of my sites (either my paypal calculator or my ebay calculator) on your eBay About Me Page. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes and it would really help me out a lot in helping to spread the word about the calculator. Thanks for your support!

-Doug
ebay ID: duhomax

Hi trumpsboutique,

Thanks for the comment! Hmmm, let's see, anything you need to know regarding the calculator. Well, for starters of course, I have to say that the calculator is currently made for eBay US (www.ebay.com), I've recieved a couple of e-mails recently from people in the UK requesting an eBay UK fee calculator so that's what I'll probably be working on next. I was also thinking of making a fee calculator for eBay Canada and eBay Australia as well. Also, you should know that the calculator has built-in "tooltips" for each one of the listing upgrades so in case you don't know what a certain upgrade does (or what it costs), just move your mouse over it and you should see a small window/note pop up explaining what that upgrade does and what it costs. Also, some people get confused by the "Cost To Acquire" textbox, in that textbox you put in the price you paid to initially acquire the item. This helps the calculator to accurately determine your "true" net profit. I will eventually add a help page to the calculator to explain to people all the different features and how to calculate their fees in different scenarios and how "reverse calculating" your shipping & handling works. You should see that in the upcoming days/weeks. Also, if you're just interested in calculating your PayPal fees you should check out my paypal fee calculator. Thanks again for contacting me!

-Doug
eBay ID: duhomax

lol, you know that's about the 10th e-mail I've gotten this week asking for an eBay UK calculator :) I didn't realize there was such a demand for it. I'll definitely try to have one up soon. I'm working on it right now as we speak :) I'll send you a link when it's done. Thanks for contacting me!

-Doug
eBay ID: duhomax