What Should You Charge for Consignment Sales on eBay?

By Marsha Collier from eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Selling items on eBay under consignment can be a great way to earn some extra money and gain some great experience. By becoming an official eBay Trading Assistant, you can compete against retail chains that accept merchandise from the general public for consignment sales.

Retail locations have a much higher cost of business than you do. They need to be open for set hours a day and have several employees on duty at all times. Many of these stores won’t accept an item worth less than $75. There’s still a lot of profit left for you in the realm of under-$75 items.

The following table shows the fees presently charged by various consignment chain stores.

Consignment Chain Fees
Chain	Sold Price	Fee
Auction Drop	up to $200	38%
	$201 to $500	30%
	over $500	20%
iSold It	up to $500	35%
	over $500	20%

In addition to the fees shown in this table, these chain stores (of course) also charge for all eBay and PayPal fees. There’s also a $5.00 minimum commission per item. Check out these sites regularly so you can keep up with the competition in your own area.

What do you charge for all your work? There’s no stock answer for that one. Many sellers charge a flat fee for photographing, listing, and shipping that ranges from $5 to $10 plus as much as a 30% commission on the final auction total (to absorb eBay fees). Other sellers base their fees solely on the final sale amount and charge on a sliding scale, beginning at 50 percent of the total sale, less eBay and payment-service fees. You must decide how much you think you can make on an item.

The following table gives you some ideas for a progressive fee schedule based on input from some successful eBay consignment sellers. (These percentages may be in addition to the listing fee and gallery charges.)

Sample Progressive Commission Schedule
Final Value	Your Commission
Under $50	40%
$50.01–$150.00	35% of the amount over $50
$150.01–$250.00	30% of the amount over $150
$251.00–$500.00	25% of the amount over $250
$501.00–$1000.00	20% of the amount over $500
Over $1000	15%

Remember that you can always choose to charge a flat commission, if that works best in your area. Check out the eBay Trading Assistants in your area to see what they charge.