eBay Spreadsheet Version 1.2 User Guide

Written by: Ryan Olbe    Last Updated: November 29, 2009

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Introduction

I've written this guide to help get people started with my new eBay fee calculator spreadsheet. I'll explain what each of the options does, how you can use it to calculate your eBay and PayPal fees, how you can edit the fee rates used by the calculator, how you can customize and print your own fee charts, how you can compare the fees for different selling formats, and how you can keep a record of your eBay transactions using the bonus sales log spreadsheet.

This guide assumes that you've already purchased the spreadsheet. If you haven't purchased it yet, you can visit:

http://www.rolbe.com/2009/10/04/ebay-fee-calculator-spreadsheet/

and click on the "Order" link at the bottom of the page to place your order.

Table of Contents

1. Downloading the spreadsheet
2. Extracting the spreadsheet
3. Opening the spreadsheet
3.1 What's an .ODS file? What's a .PDF file?
3.2 Opening the spreadsheet in OpenOffice.org
3.3 Opening the spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel
4. Viewing and printing eBay Fee Charts
5. Viewing and printing PayPal Fee Charts
5.1 Domestic
5.2 Cross-Border
5.3 Mass Payment
5.4 Micropayment
5.5 Virtual Terminal
6. Using the Quick Pricing Spreadsheet
6.1 Item Information
6.1.1 Qty. Listed
6.1.2 Qty. Sold
6.1.3 S&H Charged
6.1.4 Tax Charged
6.1.5 Insurance Charged
6.1.6 Include PayPal Fees
6.1.7 Single Listing
6.1.8 Apply Tax to S&H
6.2 Seller Expenses
6.2.1 Cost to Acquire
6.2.2 Cost of Materials
6.2.3 Shipping Cost
6.2.4 Handling/Packing Cost
6.2.5 Insurance Cost
6.2.6 Miles Driven
6.2.7 Cost per gallon of gas
6.2.8 Vehicle's MPG
6.3 PayPal Options
6.3.1 Type of Payment
6.3.2 Monthly Sales Volume
6.4 PayPal Calculator
6.4.1 Calculating PayPal Fees
6.4.2 Reverse calculating PayPal Fees
6.5 Consignment Fees
6.5.1 Percentage of selling price
6.5.2 Flat Amount
6.6 Potential Markups
6.7 Calculating eBay Fees
6.7.1 Auction Style / List 5 Free Format
6.7.2 Fixed Price Format
6.7.3 Store Inventory Format
6.7.4 Selecting a Category
6.7.5 Viewing your total fees and profit
6.8 Editing the Fee Rates
6.9 Enabling a Powerseller Discount
7. Using the eBay Fee Calculator Spreadsheet
7.1 Adding listing upgrades
7.2 Reverse calculating profit
7.3 Comparing the fees for different selling formats
7.4 Printing customized eBay Fee Charts
7.5 Printing customized PayPal Fee Charts
8. Using the eBay Sales Log Spreadsheet
8.1 Specifying the date range
8.2 Entering item information
8.2.1 Date
8.2.2 Item Title
8.2.3 Item Number
8.2.4 Category
8.2.5 Selling Format
8.2.6 Payment Type
8.2.7 Item Cost
8.2.8 Start Price
8.2.9 Buy It Now Price
8.2.10 Reserve Price
8.2.11 End Price
8.2.12 Quantity
8.2.13 Shipping & Handling
8.2.14 Postage Cost
8.2.15 Commission (%)
8.2.16 Commission ($)
8.3 Entering buyer details
8.3.1 Buyer E-Mail
8.3.2 Buyer ID
8.3.3 Buyer Name
8.3.4 Buyer Address
8.3.5 Buyer City
8.3.6 Buyer State
8.3.7 Buyer ZIP
8.4 Viewing eBay and PayPal Fee Details
8.4.1 Insertion Fees
8.4.2 Buy It Now Fees
8.4.3 Reserve Fees
8.4.4 Final Value Fees
8.4.5 Final Value Fee Discount
8.4.6 Total eBay Fees
8.4.7 Total PayPal Fees
8.4.8 Total Combined Fees
8.4.9 Total Commission
8.4.10 Total Profit
8.4.11 Total Profit %
8.5 Editing fee rates
8.6 Adding a powerseller discount
8.7 Adding more items
8.8 Priting the sales log
9. Additional Resources

1. Downloading the spreadsheetprev  next  back to top

The first step is downloading the spreadsheet to your computer. If you've already downloaded it, then you can move on to step 2. This section is only for people who haven't downloaded it yet or who are having trouble downloading.

After you've finished making payment via PayPal you should be presented with a "Thank You" page on my site. This "Thank You" page should contain a download link for the spreadsheet as well as the details of your order and your download code.

If the "Thank You" page never comes up or you can't find your download code then you should go and check your e-mail. An e-mail containing details of your order including your download link and download code will be sent to you immediately after making payment. The e-mail will be sent to the primary e-mail address you have registered with your PayPal account. If you don't see the e-mail immediately, try looking in your "Spam" or "Junk Mail" folder. If you haven't received the e-mail after 12 hours, please contact me with your e-mail adddress and I'll resend it.

The e-mail will look something like this:

For security reasons the download link sent to you via e-mail will expire 30 days after your purchase. If you need to re-download after that you can use the Download Area section of my website.

http://www.rolbe.com/download/

To log into the Download Area you will need:

1. The primary e-mail address of your PayPal account
2. Your Last Name (leave blank if you have a PayPal Business Account)
3. Your Download Code (e-mailed to you on first purchase)

Your Download Code is like a PIN number you can use to access all of your past purchases.

If you ever lose or forget your Download Code you can recover it using the Forgot Download Code page.

http://www.rolbe.com/download/forgot.php

You will just need to enter your e-mail address. Your order will be looked up and your download code will be e-mailed to you.

2. Extracting the spreadsheetprev  next  back to top

After you've downloaded the spreadsheet the next step is to unzip or "extract" it. If you've already extracted it, then you can move on to step 3. This section is only for people who are new to ZIP files.

All of the spreadsheets included in this package are contained within a single file called a ZIP file. A ZIP file is basically just a container for other files. To access the files within a ZIP file you'll need to unzip or "extract" them first. If you're using a modern operating system (such as Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.3) then you can probably already open them without a problem, but if not you should check out these third-party ZIP programs. Some of them are free and some of them have a cost, but most of them will offer more features than the standard "unzip" feature of your operating system.

ZIP programs for the PC
 WinZip - http://www.winzip.com/
 WinRAR - http://www.win-rar.com/
 7-Zip - http://www.7-zip.org/

ZIP programs for the Mac
 StuffIt Expander - http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit.html
 The Unarchiver - http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html
 BetterZIP - http://macitbetter.com/

Once you've downloaded the ZIP file, double click on it to open it and then look for an "Extract" or "Extract All" button in your ZIP program. Click on it and extract all of the files in the ZIP file to a different location on your computer.

3. Opening the spreadsheetprev  next  back to top

After you've extracted the .ZIP file you should see something which looks like this:

If instead, you see something like this:

This means you haven't unzipped the file yet. You have to click on where it says "Extract all files" first in order to use the spreadsheet.

Once you've got the .ZIP file extracted, you should see the following files and folders:

  • rolbe_ebay_calculator.ods (.ODS files are OpenOffice.org spreadsheets)
  • ebay_quick_calculator.ods
  • ebay_sales_log.ods
  • stores_markup_spreadsheet.ods
  • ebay_markup_spreadsheet.ods

  • rolbe_ebay_calculator.xlsx (.XLSX files are Excel 2007 spreadsheets)
  • ebay_quick_calculator.xlsx
  • ebay_sales_log.xlsx
  • stores_markup_spreadsheet.xlsx
  • ebay_markup_spreadsheet.xlsx

  • eBay Fee Charts
      eBay Fees Chart - All Other Categories (5% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - All Other Categories (15% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - All Other Categories (20% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - All Other Categories.pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Books, Music, DVDs & Movies, Video Games (5% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Books, Music, DVDs & Movies, Video Games (15% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Books, Music, DVDs & Movies, Video Games (20% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Books, Music, DVDs & Movies, Video Games.pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Car Electronics (eBay Motors) (5% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Car Electronics (eBay Motors) (15% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Car Electronics (eBay Motors) (20% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Car Electronics (eBay Motors).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (5% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (15% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (20% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Clothing, Shoes & Accessories.pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Computers & Networking (5% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Computers & Networking (15% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Computers & Networking (20% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Computers & Networking.pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Consumer Electronics, Video Game Systems, Cameras & Photo (5% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Consumer Electronics, Video Game Systems, Cameras & Photo (15% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Consumer Electronics, Video Game Systems, Cameras & Photo (20% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Consumer Electronics, Video Game Systems, Cameras & Photo.pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Parts & Accessories (eBay Motors) (5% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Parts & Accessories (eBay Motors) (15% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Parts & Accessories (eBay Motors) (20% off FVF).pdf
      eBay Fees Chart - Parts & Accessories (eBay Motors).pdf

  • PayPal Fee Charts
      PayPal Fees Chart - Cross-Border.pdf
      PayPal Fees Chart - Domestic.pdf
      PayPal Fees Chart - Mass Payment.pdf
      PayPal Fees Chart - Micropayment.pdf
      PayPal Fees Chart - Virtual Terminal.pdf

3.1 What's an .ODS file? What's a .PDF file?prev  next  back to top

An .ODS file is a spreadsheet that was created in OpenOffice.org. It's just like an Excel spreadsheet, only instead of being created in Excel, it was created using OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice.org is an office suite that's just like Microsoft Office and contains a spreadsheet program that's just like Microsoft Excel called Calc. OpenOffice.org is completely free to download, has versions for all major platforms (including PC, Mac, and Linux) and is available in most languages. It's also completely open source. If you're interested in learning more about it, you can watch a short video tour or read about it on Wikipedia.

If you're familar with Firefox (the web browser), it's very similar. Firefox is a free, open-source web browser that's collaborated on by people from all over the world. OpenOffice.org is a free, open-source office suite that's collaborated on by people from all over the world.

The letters ODS stand for OpenDocument Spreadsheet. Because they're created in OpenOffice.org, ODS files are usually called "OpenOffice spreadsheets". Spreadsheets that are created in Microsoft Excel are usually called "Excel spreadsheets". OpenOffice spreadsheets are just like Excel spreadsheets only instead of using Excel to open them you would use OpenOffice.org.

You can learn more about OpenOffice.org (the program) at www.openoffice.org.
You can learn more about ODS (the file format) on Wikipedia.

OpenOffice spreadsheets (.ODS files) can be opened using any of the following programs:

Butler Office Pro (PC / Mac)
Celframe Office 2008 (PC)
EditGrid (web-based)
Google Docs (web-based)
IBM Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets 1.0+ (PC / Mac / Linux)
IBM Lotus Notes 8.0+ (PC /Mac / Linux)
Peepel (web-based)
JUST Suite 2009 Sanshiro (Japanese) (PC)
KSpread (Linux)
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 with Service Pack 2 (PC)
Mobile Office (for Symbian mobile phones) (mobile)
NextOffice 9.3 (Asian OpenOffice.org 3 variant) (PC)
OpenOffice.org (PC / Mac / Linux)
NeoOffice (Mac)
StarOffice (PC / Mac / Linux)
RedOffice (Chinese OpenOffice.org variant) (PC / Linux)
Tables (Mac)
Zoho Sheet (web-based)

The program I recommend you use is OpenOffice.org or Excel with a free add-on.

What's a .PDF file?
A .PDF file is a document that's designed to be easily viewable and printable by anyone. It's specifically designed to look the same across any type of computer (PC, Mac, Linux, etc.) and to look the same on the screen as it does when printed out. The letters PDF stand for Portable Document Format. The only important thing you need to know about PDF files is that in order to open them you'll need a program called Adobe Reader, which you can download for free from:

http://get.adobe.com/reader/

If you want to create your own PDF files you can do so using OpenOffice.org.

If you're using a modern operating system, you can probably already open PDF files without a problem.

3.2 Opening the spreadsheet in OpenOffice.orgprev  next  back to top

The program I recommend you use to open the spreadsheet is OpenOffice.org. Because it's available for virtually all platforms and languages, you shouldn't have a problem finding a version that's right for you. After you've downloaded and installed OpenOffice.org, all you have to do is double-click on the .ODS file to open it.

3.3 Opening the spreadsheet in Microsoft Excelprev  next  back to top

If you want to open the spreadsheet in Excel, it is possible, but you'll just need to take a few extra steps to get it working. First, you'll need to download one of the following free add-ons which allow Excel to open OpenOffice spreadsheets (.ODS files).

1. Sun ODF Plugin 3.1 for Microsoft Office

2. Open XML/ODF Translator Add-In for Microsoft Office

One of them, the Sun ODF Plugin, is made by Sun Microsystems (the makers of OpenOffice.org) and the other one is partly developed by Microsoft (the makers of Microsoft Office), but both of them do basically the same thing, they allow OpenOffice files to be opened within Microsoft Office. The big difference between the two is that the Sun ODF Plugin will allow you to edit the file in Excel once you've opened it. The Open XML/ODF Translator will only allow you to view the file (not edit it), until you save a copy of the file in Excel format.

If neither of the above add-ons work for you, you can always download OpenOffice.org from:

http://www.openoffice.org

and keep it installed alongside Microsoft Office. It doesn't do any harm and won't interfere with Microsoft Office in any way. In fact, many people have both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org installed side-by-side.

In my experience, Excel will occasionally have problems when opening OpenOffice spreadsheets, but OpenOffice will never have problems opening Excel spreadsheets, which is why I recommend people use OpenOffice "in place of" or "in addition to" Excel. I created the spreadsheet in ODS (OpenDocument Spreadsheet) format simply so that it can be used by anyone on any computer in any language, even if the person doesn't have Excel, or is using an operating system like Linux which doesn't support Excel.

If you're using Excel 2007 but don't have Service Pack 2 (released April 28, 2009) you can download it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b444bf18-79ea-46c6-8a81-9db49b4ab6e5

With Service Pack 2 you can open the spreadsheet directly in Excel without the need of an add-on.

4. Viewing and printing eBay Fee Chartsprev  next  back to top

Once you've extracted the .ZIP file the should see a folder called eBay Fee Charts. In that folder is a series of PDF files which show what your eBay fees would be for common amounts (ranging from $1 to $2000) in the different eBay fee-specific categories. It shows a side-by-side view of what your fees and profit would be when selling an item in Auction Style Format, Fixed Price Format, List 5 Free Format, and Store Inventory Format. There's also separate charts provided for the different Powerseller discount levels (5%, 15%, and 20% off FVF). You don't need to print out all of the charts, just the ones that apply to you. For example, if you only sell clothing on eBay then you would only need to print out the chart named:

eBay Fees Chart - Clothing, Shoes & Accessories.pdf

Each PDF file contains 2 pages. The first page is a profit chart (which shows what you have left after fees) and the second page is a fees chart (which shows what your combined eBay and PayPal fees are). The charts are also color-coded with green being the least expensive format and red being the most expensive format.

To open the PDF files you'll need a program called Adobe Reader. To print out the charts you would simply click on the "Print" icon at the top of your screen.

5. Viewing and printing PayPal Fee Chartsprev  next  back to top

In the .ZIP file you should also see a folder called PayPal Fee Charts. In this folder is a series of PDF files showing what your PayPal fees would be for common amounts ranging from $1 to $2000 and what you would need to charge to receive that amount after fees. For example, to receive $10 after fees you would need to charge $10.61. The PayPal Fee Charts come in 5 varieties:

PayPal Fees Chart - Domestic.pdf
PayPal Fees Chart - Cross-Border.pdf
PayPal Fees Chart - Mass Payment.pdf
PayPal Fees Chart - Micropayment.pdf
PayPal Fees Chart - Virtual Terminal.pdf

Each PDF file contains separate charts for each payment tier (if applicable). You don't have to print out all the charts, just the ones that apply to you.

In each chart you will see 5 columns.

1. Amount
This is an amount a person could potentially send you via PayPal.

2. PayPal Fees
If a person were to send you Amount, these are the PayPal fees you would expect to pay.

3. Net Amount
This is the amount you would have left after fees.

4. Reverse Price
This is the amount a person would have to send you for you to receive Amount after fees.

5. Reverse Fees
These are the PayPal fees you would expect to pay if a person sent you Reverse Price.

5.1 Domesticprev  next  back to top

The file PayPal Fees Chart - Domestic.pdf shows the fees you would be charged if you received a Domestic payment (a payment sent from within your own country). To learn more about Domestic PayPal fees you can visit:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-receiving-fees-outside&countries=

5.2 Cross-Borderprev  next  back to top

The file PayPal Fees Chart - Cross-Border.pdf shows the fees you would be charged if you received a Cross-Border payment (a payment sent from outside your country). To learn more about Cross-Border PayPal fees you can visit:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-xborder-fees-outside&countries=

5.3 Mass Paymentprev  next  back to top

The file PayPal Fees Chart - Mass Payment.pdf shows the fees you would be charged if you sent a PayPal Mass Payment. Mass Payments is a program offered by PayPal which allows an individual to send or "pay" multiple individuals at once at a reduced fee rate of 2.0% with a maximum fee amount of $1.00. It is mainly designed for employers to pay employees or merchants to pay affiliates. With Mass Payments, the sender pays the fee, not the receipient, and the funds must come from your existing PayPal balance. To learn more about PayPal Mass Payments you can visit:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_batch-payment-overview-outside

5.4 Micropaymentprev  next  back to top

The file PayPal Fees Chart - Micropayment.pdf shows the fees you would be charged if you received a PayPal Micropayment. Micropayments is a program offered by PayPal which changes your fee rate from 2.9% + $0.30 to 5.0% + $0.05 and is designed for people who mainly sell items for $10 and under, because it lowers your overall fees. If you sell items for more than $10 it would increase your overall fees. To learn more about Micropayments you can visit:

https://micropayments.paypal-labs.com/

5.5 Virtual Terminalprev  next  back to top

The file PayPal Fees Chart - Virtual Terminal.pdf shows the fees you would be charged if you received a PayPal Virtual Terminal payment. Virtual Terminal is a program offered by PayPal that allows you to accept phone, fax, mail, and in-person payments. To learn more about Virtual Terminal you can visit:

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_vt_hub-outside

6. Using the Quick Pricing Spreadsheetprev  next  back to top

In the extracted ZIP file, you should also find a file called ebay_quick_calculator.ods. This is the "quick" or condensed version of the calculator.

This spreadsheet gives you the most important options consolidated onto one screen. The yellow boxes are what you fill in and the red and green boxes are what the calculator fills in. Green boxes mean "income" and red boxes mean "expense".

6.1 Item Informationprev  next  back to top

To calculate your fees you would first fill in all the yellow boxes under the Item Information section.

6.1.1 Qty. Listedprev  next  back to top

Qty. Listed is the number of items you are offering for sale. If you're calculating the fees for a single listing, enter the number of items you are offering for sale within that one listing here. If you're calculating the fees for multiple, separate listings, enter the total number of listings you are creating here.

6.1.2 Qty. Soldprev  next  back to top

Qty. Sold is the number of items you successfully sold. For multiple, separate listings, this is the number of listings that ended successfully. If your item didn't sell you would enter 0 in this box.

6.1.3 S&H Chargedprev  next  back to top

This is where you would enter the amount you charge your buyer for Shipping & Handling (per item).

6.1.4 Tax Chargedprev  next  back to top

If you charge sales tax, this is where you would enter the tax rate you charge (for example 6%). If you're not charging tax, you would leave this at 0%.

6.1.5 Insurance Chargedprev  next  back to top

If you're offering insurance to your customers for an additional fee, here is where you would enter the amount you charged them. If you're not using insurance you can just leave this at $0.00.

6.1.6 Include PayPal Feesprev  next  back to top

This is a dropdown list where you can choose whether or not to include PayPal fees in your calculated fee amounts. You can either choose "Yes" if you want to include PayPal fees or "No" if you don't want to include them.

6.1.7 Single Listingprev  next  back to top

If you're creating a single listing on eBay and offering a single item for sale or if you're creating a single listing and offering multiple items for sale within that one listing you would select "Yes" to this question. If instead you want to calculate your fees for multiple, separate listings, you would choose "No" to this question and enter the number of listings you created under Qty. Listed and the number of listings that ended successfully under Qty. Sold.

6.1.8 Apply Tax to S&Hprev  next  back to top

Different states have different rules regarding sales tax and shipping & handling. If your state requires you to tax the shipping & handling amount you charge select "Yes" to this question, otherwise select "No".

6.2 Seller Expensesprev  next  back to top

Next you would fill in all the yellow boxes under the Seller Expenses column.

6.2.1 Cost to Acquireprev  next  back to top

Cost to Acquire is the amount you paid to initially acquire (or make) the item that you are selling. This is a single item cost. For example, if you bought a single DVD at a flea market for $10 and sold it on eBay for $20 you would enter $10 in this box because that's the price you paid for the item.

6.2.2 Cost of Materialsprev  next  back to top

This is also the amount you paid to acquire (or make) the item that you are selling, but this is a multiple item cost. This is similar to Cost to Acquire but for multiple items. For example, if you paid $100 for a box of 10 DVDs at a flea market, rather than figuring out what each DVD cost you can let the calculator figure it out for you. You just need to enter the total amount you spent on all items, for example $100, and then under Qty. Sold enter the total number of items you sold, for example 10.

6.2.3 Shipping Costprev  next  back to top

This is where you would enter the amount you actually spent on postage to ship the item to your customer.

6.2.4 Handling/Packing Costprev  next  back to top

This is where you would enter the amount you spent on any handling or packaging costs, such as the cost of the box used the ship your item, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and so on. The amount you enter here is a per-item cost.

6.2.5 Insurance Costprev  next  back to top

This is where you would enter the amount you actually spent on insurance. If you're not using insurance you would just leave this at $0.00.

6.2.6 Miles Drivenprev  next  back to top

This is an optional field and allows you to calculate the cost of driving to and from the post office to ship your item. Under Miles Driven you would enter the total number of roundtrip miles you drove to drop off your package. If you don't want to include this in your profit amounts, just leave it at 0.

6.2.7 Cost per gallon of gasprev  next  back to top

To calculate travel costs the calculator needs to know how much you pay for a gallon of gas in your local area, and here is where you would enter that amount. The default amount is $1.99 per gallon.

6.2.8 Vehicle's MPGprev  next  back to top

After knowing how much it costs for a gallon of gas, the calculator also needs to know the MPG rating of your vehicle (if you want to calculate travel costs). The default is 30, but you can easily clear that out and type in the actual MPG rating of your vehicle here.

6.3 PayPal Optionsprev  next  back to top

The PayPal Options section allows you to adjust the PayPal fee rate used by the calculator.

6.3.1 Type of Paymentprev  next  back to top

The Type of Payment option allows you to choose which type of PayPal payment you are receiving. The reason you have to select this is because different payment types carry different fees (for example, a Domestic payment costs less in fees than a Cross-Border payment). Most of the time you can just leave this at Domestic if you're receiving a payment sent from within your own country.

You can choose from any of the following PayPal payment types:

Domestic
Cross-Border
Micropayment
Mass Payment
Virtual Terminal

6.3.2 Monthly Sales Volumeprev  next  back to top

Under Monthly Sales Volume you can enter how much total income you receive via PayPal every month. Receiving more than $3,000 per month allows you to apply for the PayPal Merchant Rate which is a reduced fee rate for businesses that do a substantial amount of sales.

The options are:

<= $3000
Select this option if you receive less than or equal to $3,000 per month

<= $10000
Select this option if you receive between $3,000 and $10,000 per month

<= $100000
Select this option if you receive between $10,000 and $100,000 per month

> $100000
Select this option if you receive over $100,000 per month via PayPal

6.4 PayPal Calculatorprev  next  back to top

Below the PayPal Options section is a mini PayPal calculator added for your convenience. Using this calculator you can quickly figure out what your PayPal fees would be for any amount or what to charge to receive the amount you want after fees. Remember, the yellow boxes are what you fill in, the red and green boxes are what the calculator fills in. This "mini" calculator uses the same PayPal options you've specified above.

6.4.1 Calculating PayPal Feesprev  next  back to top

To calculate your PayPal fees using the mini PayPal calculator you would simply type in the amount you want to know the fees for in the box labeled Amount Sent. The PayPal fees for that amount will then be calculated and displayed in the PayPal Fees box and your Net Amount (what you have left after fees) will be calculated and displayed in the Amount Received box.

In this example, I've typed in $100 because I want to know what the fees on a $100 payment would be. It tells me my PayPal fees would be $3.20 and that I would receive exactly $96.80 after fees.

6.4.2 Reverse calculating PayPal Feesprev  next  back to top

One of the more useful features of this calculator is it's ability to calculate PayPal fees in reverse. Reverse calculating PayPal fees means the calculator can tell you what to charge to receive the amount you want after fees.

In this example, I've typed in $100 because I want to know what I would need to charge to receive $100 after fees. The calculator tells me I would need to charge $103.30. Just to verify that, if a person sends me exactly $103.30 my PayPal fees would be $3.30 and I would receive exactly $100 after fees.

For the reverse calculator to be accurate you need to set your Type of Payment and Monthly Sales Volume correctly in the PayPal Options section. If you're in the U.S. and you're receiving a payment from Canada, for instance, you would have to select "Cross-Border" instead of "Domestic".

It's also important to keep in mind that PayPal's User Agreement states you may not impose a fee or "surcharge" to your buyer for accepting PayPal as a form of payment. Rather than imposing a fee or "surcharge" to your buyer, you can instead incorporate the fee amount into the selling price of your item.

PayPal's User Agreement states...

No Surcharges.
Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge"). You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods). Nor does this restriction apply to Pound-denominated transactions by sellers residing in the United Kingdom listing items for sale on a UK-based website.

6.5 Consignment Feesprev  next  back to top

Next to PayPal Options there's an optional Consignment Fees section. This is meant to be used by eBay Trading Assistants and Consignment Shops. If you don't want to use this section, you can just leave both options at 0.

6.5.1 Percentage of selling priceprev  next  back to top

Under % of selling price you can type in the percentage fee you charge your client to sell their item as a percentage of the final selling price of the item.

6.5.2 Flat Amountprev  next  back to top

Under Flat Amount you can enter an optional flat fee you charge your client in addition to the percentage fee.

6.6 Potential Markupsprev  next  back to top

If you enter a "Cost to Acquire" or "Cost of Materials", the Potential Markups section will show you potential prices you can sell your item for. For example, if you bought an item for $10, and wanted to mark it up by 100% you would sell it for $20. The spreadsheet calculates markup percentages for 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%.

6.7 Calculating eBay Feesprev  next  back to top

After you've entered your options you can calculate your fees by entering your item's dollar amounts into the respective calculator for the format you're listing in.

6.7.1 Auction Style / List 5 Free Formatprev  next  back to top

If you're selling an item in Auction Style Format or List 5 Free Format you can tell the calculator which category you're listing your item in, what the Opening Price of your item is, what the Closing Price of your item is, optionally what your Reserve Price is, and optionally what your Buy It Now price is. If you're not using a Reserve or Buy It Now, you would simply leave those amounts at $0.00.

6.7.2 Fixed Price Formatprev  next  back to top

If you're selling an item in Fixed Price Format, you can tell the calculator which category you're listing your item in, what your "Buy It Now" price is, and the number of days you listed your item for (if it's a Good 'Til Cancelled listing).

6.7.3 Store Inventory Formatprev  next  back to top

If you're selling an item in Store Inventory Format (a format only available to eBay Store owners), you can tell the calculator what your Buy It Now price is and the number of days you listed your item for (if it's a Good 'Til Cancelled listing).

6.7.4 Selecting a Categoryprev  next  back to top

Whenever you select a category in the calculator you can choose from one of the following options:

Media, Electronics, Computers, Clothing, Industrial, Motors, Car Electronics, Other

Each of these options is a shortened form of the full category list below. If you move your mouse over the category dropdown and leave it there a little note will pop up showing you an explanation of the categories.

Select Media for:
Books, Music, DVDs & Movies, Video Games

Select Electronics for:
Consumer Electronics, Video Game Systems, Cameras & Photo

Select Computers for:
Computers & Networking

Select Clothing for:
Clothing, Shoes & Accessories

Select Industrial for:
Agriculture & Forestry > Tractors & Farm Machinery
Construction > Heavy Equipment, Trailers
Restaurant & Catering > Concession Trailers & Carts
Healthcare, Lab & Life Science > Imaging & Aesthetics Equipment
Industrial Supply, MRO > Fork Lifts & Other Lifts
Manufacturing & Metalworking > Manufacturing Equipment
Manufacturing & Metalworking > Metalworking Equipment
Office, Printing & Shipping > Commercial Printing Presses

Select Motors for:
eBay Motors > Parts & Accessories

Select Car Electronics for:
eBay Motors > Parts & Accessories > Car Electronics

Select Other for:
All other categories

6.7.5 Viewing your total fees and profitprev  next  back to top

After you've entered your amounts, your eBay fees will be calculated and displayed in the "Total eBay Fees" box, and your PayPal fees will be calculated and displayed in the "Total PayPal Fees" box, and then they will be added together and displayed in the "Total Combined Fees" box.

The calculator will then figure out your total income from all items and subtract your total expense from all items to figure out your "Total Profit/Loss". It then converts this dollar amount into a percentage and displays it as your "Total Profit/Loss %".

How is percentage profit calculated?
Percentage profit is defined as Total Profit / Total Expense. For example, if you bought an item for $10 and sold it for $20 and there were no fees or shipping costs, your percentage profit would be 100%. Your Total Profit would be $10 ($20 selling price - $10 cost to acquire) and your Total Expense would be $10 (what you paid for the item). A $10 Total Profit divided by a $10 Total Expense is 1 or 100%.

6.8 Editing the Fee Ratesprev  next  back to top

All of the fee rates used by the calculator can be easily edited using the included Edit Fee Rates worksheet. All you have to do is click on the "Edit Fee Rates" tab at the bottom of your screen to select the worksheet, then select which section of eBay you want to edit the fees for. You can choose from: eBay.com, eBay Motors, eBay Stores, eBay Classified Ads, eBay Real Estate, PayPal, Half.com, or Fee Discounts.

The fees you see in the spreadsheet can be compared to the official eBay fee pages located here...

eBay.com Fees Page
eBay Motors Fees Page
eBay Stores Fees Page
eBay Classified Ads Fees Page
eBay Real Estate Fees Page
PayPal Fees Page
Half.com Fees Page
Powerseller Discounts Page

6.9 Enabling a Powerseller Discountprev  next  back to top

To tell the calculator to include a Powerseller Discount (5%, 15%, or 20% off your FVF), first go into the Edit Fee Rates worksheet, then select the Fee Discounts section. You'll see a dropdown that says "Powerseller DSR". In this dropdown you can choose the DSR rating of your eBay account. The choices are:

Not a powerseller or less than 4.6
4.6 or higher
4.8 or higher
4.9 or higher

Depending on your selection the appropriate FVF discount will be applied to all of your calculated fee amounts. While you're there you can also enable or disable the eBay Stores Store Referral Credit and whether or not you want to enable $0.05 Insertion Fees for Fixed Price Media listings. If you want more details on any of these fee discounts or promotions you can click on the link that says "read more" next to each of the fee discount boxes and it will open the appropriate details page for that discount on eBay.com.

7. Using the eBay Fee Calculator Spreadsheetprev  next  back to top

In the extracted ZIP file, you should also find a file called rolbe_ebay_calculator.ods. This is the main or "full" version of the calculator. This spreadsheet has many of the same options as the condensed or "quick" version but with these added benefits:

• Listing Upgrades
• Reverse Profit Calculators
• Fee Comparison Tables
• Customizable eBay and PayPal Fee Charts

7.1 Adding listing upgradesprev  next  back to top

With the full version you can optionally add listing upgrade fees for any of eBay's services by clicking on the "add listing upgrades" link next to each calculator and selecting which Listing Upgrades you are using by checking the appropriate checkboxes. When you're done you can click on the "back to calculator" link to jump back to the main calculator screen.

How to add Listing Upgrade fees

Step 1. Click on the "add listing upgrades" link

Step 2. Select the listing upgrades you would like to add

Step 3. Click on "back to calculator" when you're done

7.2 Reverse calculating profitprev  next  back to top

The full version of the calculator also has the added benefit of being able to reverse calculate profit. This can also be used to find your break even point by typing in $0 as the amount you want to receive in profit.

To use the reverse calculator you either type the amount you want to receive after fees as a dollar amount where it says "To receive this amount in profit" or you type in the percentage profit you want to receive after fees where it says "To receive this percent in profit". The calculator will only calculate one or the other. If you give the calculator both a dollar amount and a percentage it will use the percentage. To use one and not the other you would enter 0 in the box you're not using. For example, to figure out what to charge to receive $10 after fees you would type $10 into the box labeled "To receive this amount in profit" and type in 0 in the box labeled "To receive this percent in profit". Typing in 0 tells the calculator to ignore that box unless both boxes are 0 in which case it calculates your break even point.

7.3 Comparing the fees for different selling formatsprev  next  back to top

To use the Selling Format Fee Comparison tool you first select, using a series of checkboxes, which fees you want to include in the comparison. You can choose whether or not to include Insertion Fees, Final Value Fees, PayPal Fees, Buy It Now Fees, and Seller Expenses depending on which fees you want to compare. Seller Expenses collectively means your Cost to Acquire, Cost of Materials, Shipping Cost, and Handling/Packaging Cost all rolled into one. If you enabled a Powerseller Discount in the main calculator screen it will be accounted for in the comparisons as well.

Since the Insertion Fees for Auction Style listings vary depending on the starting price of your item, when performing fee comparisons you can choose your auction's starting price from a list. The starting price you select will only be valid if you uncheck "Equal Starting/Ending Price". Selecting "Equal Starting/Ending Price" will tell the calculator to assume that the Starting Price of your Auction Style Listing is the same as it's Closing Price. If this is checked, it overrides any custom Starting Price you may have selected.

Then all you have to do is enter the price of your item in the "Item Price" box. When you do, your fees and profit for all 4 listing formats (Auction Style, List 5 Free, Fixed Price, and eBay Stores) will be calculated and displayed side-by-side. The cheapest listing format will be highlighted in green and the most expensive listing format will be highlighted in red. Listing formats that are neither the most expensive nor least expensive will be highlighted in yellow. This allows you to easily compare your bottom line and choose which listing format will yield the highest profit for whatever you're selling.

7.4 Printing customized eBay Fee Chartsprev  next  back to top

The main calculator, rolbe_ebay_calculator.ods, also lets you customize and print fee and profit charts for eBay and PayPal. You can find these by clicking on the worksheet tabs labeled "Fee Charts", "Profit Charts", and "PayPal Charts" at the bottom of your screen. With these charts you can include or exclude certain fees by using the checkboxes at the top of the screen and you can also modify the dollar amounts shown in the charts by clicking into the purple boxes and typing in your own amounts.

When you're ready to print out your customized fee charts you need to know which pages to print. You don't want to print out the entire spreadsheet, just those specific charts that you're interested in. You can figure out which pages to print by clicking the "File" menu and then selecting the "Print Preview" option. When you're in the "Print Preview" screen you can click on the "Previous Page" and "Next Page" buttons to go forward and backward and find the page number(s) of the pages you wish to print.

You would then click on "File -> Print" to bring up "Print" dialog. In the "Print" dialog, you can specify that you only want to print a specific "Print Range" and type in the page numbers that you want to print. For example, if I wanted to print out a customized PayPal Fee Chart I would specify that I only wanted to print out page number 77, because the PayPal Fee Chart just happens to occur on page 77.

7.5 Printing customized PayPal Fee Chartsprev  next  back to top

To print your own customized PayPal Fee Charts you would follow the same basic steps as the eBay Fee Charts.

1. First, click on the "PayPal Charts" tab to select the PayPal Fee Charts worksheet.

2. Then, scroll down to find the chart you want to print. The PayPal Fee Charts come in 14 different varieties as shown below.

Domestic Payment ($0 to $3,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Domestic Payment ($3,000 to $10,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Domestic Payment ($10,000 to $100,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Domestic Payment (> $100,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Cross-Border Payment ($0 to $3,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Cross-Border Payment ($3,000 to $10,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Cross-Border Payment ($10,000 to $100,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Cross-Border Payment (> $100,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Micropayment (Domestic)
Micropayment (Cross-Border)
Mass Payment
Virtual Terminal ($0 to $3,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Virtual Terminal ($3,000 to $10,000 Monthly Sales Volume)
Virtual Terminal (> $10,000 Monthly Sales Volume)

3. Once you've found the chart you want to print, you can modify the amounts in purple to any amounts of your choosing.

4. Then you would click on the "File" Menu, and choose "Print Preview". This will bring up the "Print Preview" screen.

5. In the "Print Preview" screen, click on the "Previous Page" and "Next Page" buttons to find the page number of the chart you wish to print.

6. Once you know it's page number, click on "File-->Print" and only choose to print those specific page numbers. If you have a choice between "All Sheets" and "Selected Sheets", choose the "All Sheets" option.

To print multiple, consecutive pages you can separate the page numbers with a dash. For example, to print pages 71 to 72 you would type:

71-72

To print multiple, non-consecutive pages you can separate the page numbers with a comma. For example, to print pages 71 and 73 (but not 72) you would type:

71,73

8. Using the eBay Sales Log Spreadsheetprev  next  back to top

The bonus eBay Sales Log spreadsheet, ebay_sales_log.ods, allows you to keep a record of your eBay transactions which you can save or print for later. You can enter the name of the item you sold, who you sold it to, how much you sold it for, how much it cost you to ship and so on. The spreadsheet will then automatically calculate your fees "in-line" so you don't have to type them in manually. It's really great for comparing the fees for different selling formats or simply keeping track of your eBay sales.

8.1 Specifying the date rangeprev  next  back to top

To use the Sales Log, first you want to make sure that the date range for your transactions is correct. To do this you simply double-click on where it says "November 01, 2009 to November 30, 2009" and change it to whatever date range you want. For example, you could type in "December 01, 2009 to December 31, 2009".

8.2 Entering item informationprev  next  back to top

After you've changed the date range, you can begin to enter your eBay sales information. As you do your eBay and PayPal fees will be automatically calculated, but you can always override them with your own fee amounts if you wish.

8.2.1 Dateprev  next  back to top

In the date column you can type in the date the transaction took place.

8.2.2 Item Titleprev  next  back to top

In the Item Title column you type the title of your item. eBay item titles can be up to 55 characters long.

8.2.3 Item Numberprev  next  back to top

In the Item # column you can type in the item number of the item you sold. eBay item numbers are always 12-digits long.

If you want to make the item numbers clickable so that you can click on them and the auction will load in your web browser here's a little trick you can use.

Instead of just typing 12 numbers into the cell for example:

000000000001

You can type in this instead:

=HYPERLINK("http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=000000000001";"000000000001")

and replace the 000000000001's with your actual item number.

Here's an explanation of what this does...

Whenever you type anything that begins with an equals sign (=) into a cell, it is interpreted and evaluated as a forumla. Do you see how above it starts with =HYPERLINK? The equals sign (=) basically says, "Don't interpret this literally, evaluate it" and HYPERLINK is the name of a function. Functions perform common tasks like finding the average or sum of a group of numbers. HYPERLINK is a function that creates clickable links to websites. You can tell it's a function because it has opening and closing parenthesis (). Functions also have these things called parameters or "options" which control how they operate. In this case, HYPERLINK, our function, needs two parameters. The first is the URL of which website to go to, and the second is the underlined text or words you want to appear on the screen. Also, when you give parameters to HYPERLINK you have to enclose them in quotes. So let's look at a breakdown here:

=
The equals sign says "evalulate this line"

HYPERLINK
Hyperlink says I'm ready to make a clickable link to a website, you just need to tell me the address (URL) of the website you want to link to and the underlined text you want to appear in the link. After you specify the name of a function you put it's parameters or "options" inside parenthesis ().

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=000000000001
The first parameter to HYPERLINK is the URL of the website we want to go to. In this case, this is the format of a link to an eBay item. You can just replace 000000000001 with your actual item number.

;
Then we include a semi-colon (;). In OpenOffice semi-colons (;) are used to delimit parameters, in Excel a comma (,) is used.

000000000001
Our second parameter is the word we want to see underlined. In this case I'm making it the 12-digit item number of our item.

When you throw it all together you get this...

=HYPERLINK("http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=000000000001";"000000000001")

8.2.4 Categoryprev  next  back to top

In the Category dropdown you can choose which category you sold your item in. You can choose from: Media, Electronics, Computers, Clothing, Industrial, Motors, Car Electronics, or Other. These are all shortened forms of the full category list below.

Select Media for:
Books, Music, DVDs & Movies, Video Games

Select Electronics for:
Consumer Electronics, Video Game Systems, Cameras & Photo

Select Computers for:
Computers & Networking

Select Clothing for:
Clothing, Shoes & Accessories

Select Industrial for:
Agriculture & Forestry > Tractors & Farm Machinery
Construction > Heavy Equipment, Trailers
Restaurant & Catering > Concession Trailers & Carts
Healthcare, Lab & Life Science > Imaging & Aesthetics Equipment
Industrial Supply, MRO > Fork Lifts & Other Lifts
Manufacturing & Metalworking > Manufacturing Equipment
Manufacturing & Metalworking > Metalworking Equipment
Office, Printing & Shipping > Commercial Printing Presses

Select Motors for:
eBay Motors > Parts & Accessories

Select Car Electronics for:
eBay Motors > Parts & Accessories > Car Electronics

Select Other for:
All other categories

8.2.5 Selling Formatprev  next  back to top

In the Format dropdown, you choose which selling format you listed your item in.

Select Fixed for Fixed Price Format
  • Duration: 3, 5, 7, 10, or 30 days, or Good 'Til Cancelled
  • Sell multiple items in one listing
  • No additional fee for Buy It Now
  • $1.00 minimum price

Select Auction for Auction Style Format
  • Duration: 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days
  • Limited to one item per listing
  • Add "Buy It Now" for an additional fee (BIN price must be 10% higher than your Starting Price)

Select 5 Free for 5 Free Insertion Fees Every 30 Days
  • Same as Auction Style but with no Insertion Fees and a FVF of 8.75% or $20, whichever is lower

Select Stores for Store Inventory Format
  • Duration: 30 days or Good 'Til Cancelled
  • Available to eBay Store owners only
  • Sell multiple items in one listing
  • Limited visibility on eBay.com
  • $1.00 minimum price

8.2.6 Payment Typeprev  next  back to top

In the Payment Type dropdown you choose which type of payment you accepted for that auction.

Select Domestic if:
You're receiving a PayPal payment from a person within your own country (i.e. USA -> USA).

Select Cross-Border if:
You're receiving a PayPal payment from a person outside of your country (i.e. Canada -> USA).

Select Non-PayPal if:
You don't want to calculate your PayPal fees or you're receiving payment through a service other than PayPal.

8.2.7 Item Costprev  next  back to top

Under the Cost column you enter the price you originally paid to acquire the item. If you didn't pay to acquire or make the item, enter $0.

8.2.8 Start Priceprev  next  back to top

If you're creating an Auction Style listing, enter the starting price of your item in the Start column, otherwise set this to $0.

8.2.9 Buy It Now Priceprev  next  back to top

If you're adding Buy It Now to an Auction-Style listing, enter your "Buy It Now" price here, otherwise set this to $0.

8.2.10 Reserve Priceprev  next  back to top

If you're adding a Reserve to an Auction-Style listing, enter your "Reserve Price" here, otherwise set this to $0.

8.2.11 End Priceprev  next  back to top

In the End column you can enter the ending/closing price of your auction.

For Auction Style listings, this is the price your auction ended at.
For Fixed Price and Store Inventory listings, this is your Buy It Now price.
For Best Offer, this is the "Best Offer" price you accepted.

Enter $0 if your item didn't sell.

8.2.12 Quantityprev  next  back to top

In the Quantity field enter the number of items you sold in that auction. If a buyer only bought 1 item from you (the default) you can either type in 1 or leave this blank. If your item didn't sell you can set this to 0. If a buyer bought multiple, identical items from you can enter the number of items they bought. This calculates your PayPal fees on the total amount received (for instance, $5 per item x 3 items = one $15 payment) and calculates your Final Value Fees for each item sold ($0.60 FVF per item x 3 items = $1.80 Total FVF).

8.2.13 Shipping & Handlingprev  next  back to top

In the S&H (Shipping & Handling) column you enter the amount you charged your buyer for Shipping & Handling. If you also charged Insurance, add the Insurance amount to your S&H amount and enter the total amout here.

8.2.14 Postage Costprev  next  back to top

In the Postage column enter the amount you actually spent in postage shipping your item. If you had any Packaging, Handling, or Insurance costs, add them to your Postage Cost and enter the total amount here.

8.2.15 Commission (%)prev  next  back to top

If you're selling on behalf of someone else, enter the percentage commission you are charging them here. This is a % of the final selling price of the item. If you're not selling on commission, enter 0% here.

8.2.16 Commission ($)prev  next  back to top

If you're selling on behalf of someone else, enter the per-item fee you're charging them here. This is in addition to the Commission (%). If you're not selling on commission, enter $0 here.

8.3 Entering buyer detailsprev  next  back to top

The Sales Log also allows you to optionally record buyer details, including their name, e-mail address, eBay User ID, and shipping address. If you don't want to record your buyer's details simply right-click on their column headers and choose "Hide".

8.3.1 Buyer E-Mailprev  next  back to top

In the Buyer E-Mail column you can type the e-mail address of your buyer.

If you want to create a clickable e-mail address, here's a trick you can use. Instead of typing in the person's e-mail address such as...

john123@test.com

You can type in this instead...

=HYPERLINK("mailto:john123@test.com";"john123@test.com")

And replace both occurrences of john123@test.com with your buyer's e-mail address.

8.3.2 Buyer IDprev  next  back to top

In the Buyer ID column you can type the eBay User ID of your buyer.

8.3.3 Buyer Nameprev  next  back to top

In the Buyer Name column you can type the first and last name of your buyer.

8.3.4 Buyer Addressprev  next  back to top

In the Buyer Adress column you can type the street address of your buyer. To type a 2-line street address, you can un-hide the next column (Street Address Line 2) by highlighting the "Address Line 1" and "City" columns, then right-clicking and choosing "Show".

8.3.5 Buyer Cityprev  next  back to top

In the Buyer City column you can type the city of your buyer.

8.3.6 Buyer Stateprev  next  back to top

In the Buyer State column you can type the state of your buyer.

8.3.7 Buyer ZIPprev  next  back to top

In the Buyer ZIP column you can type the Zip Code of your buyer. You can look up ZIP Codes on USPS.com.

8.4 Viewing eBay and PayPal Fee Detailsprev  next  back to top

After you've finished entering your item and buyer details you can scroll more to the right to find your eBay fee breakdown. Everything in red and green is automatically calculated for you, but if you like you can manually override the fee amounts by clicking into the cells and typing your own fee amounts in place of the formulas.

8.4.1 Insertion Feesprev  next  back to top

Your total eBay Insertion Fees for the options you've selected are calculated and displayed here.

8.4.2 Buy It Now Feesprev  next  back to top

If you added Buy It Now to an Auction Style listing, your Buy It Now fees are displayed here.

8.4.3 Reserve Feesprev  next  back to top

If you added a Reserve Price to an Auction Style listing, your Reserve fees are displayed here.

8.4.4 Final Value Feesprev  next  back to top

Your total Final Value Fees for the options you've selected are calculated and displayed in the FVF column. If you have a powerseller discount, it is calculated in the next step. The amount shown here is your "before discount" amount.

8.4.5 Final Value Fee Discountprev  next  back to top

Any Final Value Fee discounts that you've elected to include are displayed here. This is a combination of your Powerseller Discount (5%, 15%, 20% off FVF) and your eBay Stores Store Referral Credit (75% off FVF).

8.4.6 Total eBay Feesprev  next  back to top

Your total eBay Fees are calculated and displayed in the eBay Fees column.

These include:

Insertion Fees
Buy It Now Fees (if applicable)
Reserve Fees (if applicable)
Final Value Fees
Final Value Fee Discounts (if applicable)

8.4.7 Total PayPal Feesprev  next  back to top

Your total PayPal fees are calculated and displayed in the PP Fees column.

8.4.8 Total Combined Feesprev  next  back to top

Your total combined eBay and PayPal fees are shown in the Fees column. Even though they're automatically calculated you always have the option of manually deleting them and typing in your own fee amounts.

8.4.9 Total Commissionprev  next  back to top

If you filled in the Commission (%) or Commission ($) fields your calculated commission amount is displayed here.

8.4.10 Total Profitprev  next  back to top

What you have left after fees and expenses is displayed in the Profit column.

Profit is defined as:

Closing Price
 + S&H Charged
 - Cost of Postage
 - Cost to Acquire
 - eBay Fees
 - PayPal Fees

As you continue to add items to the list your total combined fees and profit will be displayed at the top of the worksheet.

8.4.11 Total Profit %prev  next  back to top

Your profit amount is converted into a percentage and displayed in the Profit % column.

Profit % is defined as:

Profit / Item Cost

If you don't enter an Item Cost, your Profit % will always be 100%.

8.5 Editing fee ratesprev  next  back to top

If you want to edit the fee rates used by the Sales Log click on the "Edit Fee Rates" tab at the bottom of your screen. If you don't see an "Edit Fee Rates" tab, it may be hidden. You may have to click on

Format --> Sheet --> Show...

to show it.

8.6 Adding a powerseller discountprev  next  back to top

To apply a Powerseller Discount to your transactions in the Sales Log click on the tab at the bottom of the screen that says "Edit Fee Rates" to move into the "Edit Fee Rates" worksheet. Here you can choose your Powerseller DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) from a dropdown list and the approriate FVF discount will be applied. After you're done making you're selection make sure to save the spreadsheet by clicking "File -> Save" so you don't have to re-select it each time.

8.7 Adding more itemsprev  next  back to top

After you've entered 100 items into the Sales Log, you may be wondering, "How do I enter more?". It is possible to add more than 100 items you just have to copy and paste the last row into a new row.

To get comfortable with the process, do you see on the left side of the screen there are a series of numbers (1,2,3)? They're on the very left edge of the screen. At the top of the spreadsheet you'll see a series of letters (A,B,C).

These are called Column Headers and Row Headers. Row Headers are always numbers (1 2 3) and Column Headers are always letters (A B C). By clicking on a Column Header or Row Header it will select the entire column or row respectively. For example, if you click on the letter "B" at the top of the screen it will select the entire "B" column. If you click on the number "12" at the left side of the screen it will select the entire 12th row.

Now that you know how to select entire rows and columns, you can copy and paste entire rows and columns at a time just like you would copy and paste a highlighted word or phrase on a webpage. You can do this by first selecting the row you wish to copy (by left clicking on it's number on the left side of the screen) and then choosing "Edit-->Copy" or by right-clicking on the row number and choosing "Copy" from the list.

Now that the row is copied, it's waiting for you to tell it where to paste it. Select the next blank row, right-click on it's row number and choose "Paste" or choose "Edit-->Paste" to paste in the formulas of the row you copied earlier. Then you just repeat that process for as many new rows as you want.

Remember, the process is:

1. Right-click the row number of a row that's already filled in and choose "Copy".
2. Then, right-click the next blank row and choose "Paste".

You can repeat this process for as many new rows as you need.

8.8 Priting the sales logprev  next  back to top

When you're ready to print the Sales Log it's always a good idea to look at the "Print Preview" screen first. To do this, click on the "File-->Page Preview" option to bring up the "Print Preview" screen. From here, you can click on the "Previous Page" and "Next Page" buttons to see what the pages will look like when printed. To avoid over-printing, note down the page numbers of the pages you wish to print and then click on "File-->Print" and only choose to print those specific pages.

9. Additional Resourcesprev  next  back to top

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