Three days after posting this on MoPo - My Louise Brooks poster (see preceding email below) - sold for $50 yesterday. I knew about the USPS and UPS surcharges for poster tubes - but for some stupid reason - I thought eBay - for those of us who aren't part of its global shipping program - are availed to access discounted shipping rates for non-dealers under what's called "eBay International Delivery" - whereby eBay provides point-to-point service including dealing with customs, etc. - before handing items off to each country's contracted delivery service. eBay International Delivery provides full tracking options.
After a UK buyer won the poster for $50 - (plus a "displayed" eBay International Delivery rate of $38 to the UK + $17.60 VAT, etc. = a whopping $105.60) - for a poster shipped in a 32x3x3 tube - I was shocked to learn after I packed the thing - that eBay International Delivery - NOW prevents shipping items longer than 27 inches in length. It warned of severe penalties, e.g., higher tack-on costs - for shippers breaking its new dimension and weight rules. I was thus forced to purchase USPS Priority International Mail - at a cost of $67.17. Higher than the "retail" cost of the $50 poster itself. Of course I still honored the deal - because it's not the buyer's fault when a seller incurs higher than expected shipping costs. He paid $38 for shipping whie my actual shipping for Priority Mail International I was forced to use - was $67.17 - which meant I absorbed the $29.17 difference between my $67.17 and his $38 contribution. Thus - after paying seller fees of $10.14 on a $50 poster + the $29.17 difference for shipping = this poster just netted me only $10.69. I became obsessed with eBay's ultra-complicated / Byzantine fee structure I here's what I found after my mishap: TOTAL PAID BY BUYER: Louise Brooks Poster $ 50.00 Buyer Paid Shipping $ 38.00 VAT* $ 17.60 ----------------------------------- TOTAL PAID BY BUYER: $105.60 ======================================= TOTAL FEES I PAID - First, here's eBay's "cost basis" - Louise Brooks Poster $50.00 VAT +$17.60 -------------------------------------- eBay Fees are based on $67.60 ========================================== eBay Fees breakdown: Variable % • Entertainment Memorabilia Rate for items sold up to $7,500.00 is 12.9% $67.60 cost basis × 12.9% = -$ 8.72 International Fee because buyer is in the U.K. $67.60 cost basis × 1.65% = -$ 1.12 ---------------------------------------------------------- Insertion (FVF) Fee -$ 0.30 ---------------------------------------------------------- Total eBay fees -$10.14 ========================================================== eBay's calculations to me: Buyer paid $50 for poster + $38 for shipping = $88.00 Minus Fees based on $67.60 (see above) -$10.14 ---------------------------------------------------------- Subtotal Net....................................$77.86 Minus Priority Mail International Shipping - $67.17 (because eBay International Shipping rejects tubes > than 27" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MY TOTAL NET for a poster that sold for $50.....$10.69 =========================================================== Could eBay make this any MORE COMPLICATED? If I had consigned to Bruce based on a $50 sale - my take would have been $32.50 (35%) - WAY ABOVE the $10.69 I'm getting from eBay. I didn't consign because I didn't have more items to throw in to meet his enforced $200 retail min. per consignment package. And because the Louise Brooks poster is a low value niche item - I figured it was worth putting it on eBay, as I figured I could net, I don't know, at least $35 or $40 after fees were paid. With the previously mentioned $15 surcharges by UPS and USPS to ship tubes greater than 22 inches - combined with eBay capping its "eBay International Delivery" service to to tubes or packages NO GREATER than 27 inches long - it's obvious that the days of shipping posters in tubes overseas - is only going to be worth it for high value posters, not mid-to-low value ones. I have even greater appreciation for the aggravations independent dealers have to face staying afloat with nonsense like this. - d. [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9749/IrZcAA.jpg] ________________________________ From: MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> on behalf of David Kusumoto <davidmkusum...@hotmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2022 12:40 AM To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> Subject: FS: LOUISE BROOKS ORIGINAL GERMAN 2018 BERLIN SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY 23x33 A1 FS: LOUISE BROOKS ORIGINAL GERMAN 2018 BERLIN SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY 23x33 A1 Up for sale (though with the recently discussed UPS and USPS surcharges for poster tubes - this may sit up there for a while) - is a R2018 special presentation A1 poster of the restored 1927 film, "Berlin - Die Sinfonie Der Grosstadt" ("BERLIN - SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY"). A giant high-resolution image of this exact poster with some edge wear on the top right edge - is hosted at the following link (with the eMoviePoster watermark which is where I purchased it - and displayed for a few years before swapping it out of its frame last week with a French Raquel poster). Spotting is part of the printed image, not a defect: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/130/gvhsaH.jpg<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimagizer.imageshack.com%2Fimg924%2F130%2FgvhsaH.jpg&data=04%7C01%7C%7C31c5c04907b34d9d52c208da1c57ad52%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637853460152079477%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=CRhEhYl%2F4CAR6sG53X%2BIdY2SYuhSFexM7YdFBAqOcu4%3D&reserved=0> Meanwhile, sale listing details are here with smaller photos recently taken showing no change in condition: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255482125163<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2F255482125163&data=04%7C01%7C%7C31c5c04907b34d9d52c208da1c57ad52%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637853460152079477%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=2ByXJw%2Fx03ArVclED4Z%2BqAHEMZA09ecn5wYes%2BdoMz4%3D&reserved=0> [https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/9PMAAOSwxoliUzvh/s-l400.jpg]<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2F255482125163&data=04%7C01%7C%7C31c5c04907b34d9d52c208da1c57ad52%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637853460152079477%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=2ByXJw%2Fx03ArVclED4Z%2BqAHEMZA09ecn5wYes%2BdoMz4%3D&reserved=0> LOUISE BROOKS ORIGINAL GERMAN 2018 BERLIN SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY 23x33 A1 | eBay<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2F255482125163&data=04%7C01%7C%7C31c5c04907b34d9d52c208da1c57ad52%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637853460152079477%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=2ByXJw%2Fx03ArVclED4Z%2BqAHEMZA09ecn5wYes%2BdoMz4%3D&reserved=0> CITY (1927 / 2018)". in May 2018 of the. LOUISE BROOKS. OF A GREAT. ---SEE ALL LARGE PHOTOS BELOW---. (Not a Reproduction.). Special Presentation. www.ebay.com [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9749/IrZcAA.jpg] [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/8030/mIQ4h0.jpg] [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/6793/vfS60i.jpg] [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/7900/8gTkwb.jpg] Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
