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How eBay pricing works when items dynamically price against the Amazon catalog

How an item prices for eBay depends on a number of factors: if the item qualifies for free eBay shipping, if you select the option to exclude default Amazon shipping when an item qualifies for free eBay shipping, if you add a free shipping surcharge, and the amount you use as your eBay base price percentage.

Description

Before we look at how an item prices, let's review the terms we use when we talk about eBay pricing.

Glossary—eBay pricing

Amazon target price

Before making any pricing calculations, Monsoon Marketplace first identifies an Amazon competitive offer listing (or average of competitive offer listings) according to the settings in your default, custom, or Buy Box pricing strategy. Your system then uses this competitive offer as your target price.

If your pricing strategy is set up to price at the average of competitive offers, the average of competitive offers is used as your target price.

Amazon default shipping rate

Amazon collects a shipping fee from a buyer that passes to you as a credit to help cover your shipping costs. Monsoon Marketplace uses this default rate (a per item shipping rate + any per pound rate) when calculating an item's price.

When an inventory item matches an eBay shipping rule that offers free shipping, whether or not Amazon's default shipping rate is subtracted from the target price depends on your Do not include default Amazon shipping setting.

BMVD

BMVD is the acronym Amazon uses to refer to the Books, Music, Video, and DVDs product categories. Amazon often distinguishes between BMVD and non-BMVD features and fees.

Do not include default Amazon shipping when an item qualifies for free eBay shipping

You can control whether or not Amazon's default shipping rate is subtracted from the target price of an item that qualifies for free eBay shipping using the Do not include default Amazon shipping check box.

Competitive offer listing

Monsoon Marketplace uses Amazon's Subscriptions API notifications to provide fast, competitive repricing anytime one of the 20 lowest offers for an item you sell changes price.

A competitive offer listing is one that matches the criteria you've set up in your pricing strategy and is not sold by one of your ignored competitors. The competitive offer that's used to price your item is selected from the 20 lowest offers in an Amazon notification.

Read more about offer listings in the Amazon Help article The Offer Listing Page.

eBay base price percentage

Your Amazon target price is multiplied by your eBay base price percentage after any price ceiling is applied and after any Amazon shipping is subtracted.

As a best practice, we recommend that you set your eBay base price percentage at 100 although you can increase or decrease the percentage to adjust how your inventory item prices on eBay.

eBay free shipping surcharge

When you offer free eBay Economy or Standard shipping to take advantage of listing priority and seller rating benefits, you can add a free shipping surcharge to offset the cost.

When an inventory item matches a shipping rule with a free shipping option, your free shipping surcharge is added to the item's price at the time it lists and does not appear as a shipping cost.

In addition to a free shipping surcharge, an additional item level shipping surcharge can be added to non-BMVD inventory. Unlike the free shipping surcharge, an item does not need to be listed with free shipping for an item-level shipping surcharge to be applied.

Once an item lists, its price is not changed by the shipping method a buyer selects at the time an order is placed (the buyer doesn't have to select free shipping).

Note  For UK-based and Canada (CA)-based merchants selling on eBay US, your free shipping surcharge is added to an item's price in your home currency before converting to US dollars for listing. This process is also true for US-based and CA-based merchants selling on eBay UK—your free shipping surcharge is added to an item's price in your home currency before converting to British pounds for listing.

eBay maximum allowed shipping cost

For certain categories, eBay requires that sellers specify at least one shipping cost that is less than or equal to the maximum shipping cost allowed for that category. Please see the eBay article Maximum shipping costs.

eBay shipping rule rate

Please see eBay shipping rules overview.

Item level shipping surcharge

For inventory items in non-BMVD categories, you can add an item level shipping surcharge on your Inventory Receiving or My Inventory tab.

Price ceiling

Please see Price Ceiling.

Price floor

Please see Price Floor.

Qualifies for free eBay shipping

When an inventory item matches an eBay shipping rule that has a free shipping option, the item qualifies for free eBay shipping.

Selecting a target price

By default, the inventory items that you list on eBay price against the Amazon catalog. You can price your items against the eBay catalog, although most users don't select this option, preferring instead to price against the much larger Amazon catalog. When you price against the Amazon catalog you can customize a variety of settings to manage the price of your eBay listing so that it matches the price of the competitive Amazon offer.

Start-to-finish pricing steps

Each time a locally fulfilled or FBA inventory item prices or reprices for eBay against the Amazon catalog, its price is calculated using the following steps:

  1. An Amazon competitive offer (or average of competitive offers depending on the settings in your default, custom, or Buy Box pricing strategy) is identified. The competitive offer (item price + shipping) is used as the target price.
  2. Next, if you've set up a price ceiling and the target price is greater than the price ceiling, the target price is adjusted to match your price ceiling.
  3. Next, the Amazon default shipping rate is subtracted from the target price if:
  1. Next, the target price is multiplied by your eBay base price percentage.
  2. Next, the target price is checked against your price floor. If the target price is below your floor, it's increased to match the floor.
  3. Finally, at the time the item of listing, the target price is checked against the eBay minimum required price, then any item level shipping surcharge, free shipping surcharge, or shipping cost is added to the listing:
Note  To see how an item priced, you can view pricing steps 1 through 5 under Recent Pricing History. The actions under step 6 don't appear because they happen at the time the item is listing. Please see To see how an item priced (view pricing history).

Example: When an item does NOT MATCH an eBay shipping rule that offers free shipping

The item does not qualify for free eBay shipping BMVD
Local and FBA
Not BMVD
Local and FBA
Amazon target price (competitive offer) $22.88 $22.88
Amazon default shipping rate $3.99 $4.99 ($4.49 + $0.50/lb)
Do not include default Amazon shipping check box Not applicable Not applicable
eBay base price percentage 100 100
eBay category Books Games and Toys
eBay free shipping surcharge Not applicable Not applicable
eBay maximum allowed shipping cost $4.00 No maximum for this category
eBay shipping rule rate in Monsoon $4.00 $4.00
Item level shipping surcharge Not applicable $1.00
Item weight 1 pound 1 pound
Price ceiling None None
Price floor $10.00 $10.00
Qualifies for free eBay shipping No No
Your listing on eBay $22.89

($18.89 item price + $4.00 shipping)
$22.89

($17.89 item price + $5.00 shipping)

For the BMVD example, your eBay listing price is calculated using the steps in Start-to-finish pricing as follows:

For the non-BMVD example, your eBay listing price is calculated using the steps in Start-to-finish pricing as follows:

Example: When an item MATCHES an eBay shipping rule that offers free shipping and the Do not include default Amazon shipping check box is SELECTED

The item qualifies for free eBay shipping BMVD
Local and FBA
Not BMVD
Local and FBA
Amazon target price (competitive offer) $22.88 $22.88
Amazon default shipping rate $3.99 $4.99 ($4.49 + $0.50/lb)
Do not include default Amazon shipping check box Selected Selected
eBay base price percentage 100 100
eBay category Books Games and Toys
eBay free shipping surcharge $4.00 $4.00
eBay maximum allowed shipping cost $4.00 No maximum for this category
eBay shipping rule rate in Monsoon $4.00 $4.00
Item level shipping surcharge Not applicable $1.00
Item weight 1 pound 1 pound
Price ceiling None None
Price floor $10.00 $10.00
Qualifies for free eBay shipping No No
Your listing on eBay $22.89

($22.89 item price + free shipping)
$22.89

($22.89 item price + free shipping)

For the BMVD example, your eBay listing price is calculated using the steps in Start-to-finish pricing as follows:

For the non-BMVD example, your eBay listing price is calculated using the steps in Start-to-finish pricing as follows:

Example: When an item MATCHES an eBay shipping rule that offers free shipping and the Do not include default Amazon shipping check box is NOT SELECTED

The item qualifies for free eBay shipping BMVD
Local and FBA
Not BMVD
Local and FBA
Amazon target price (competitive offer) $22.88 $22.88
Amazon default shipping rate $3.99 $4.99 ($4.49 + $0.50/lb)
Do not include default Amazon shipping check box Not selected Not selected
eBay base price percentage 100 100
eBay category Books Games and Toys
eBay free shipping surcharge $4.00 $4.00
eBay maximum allowed shipping cost $4.00 No maximum for this category
eBay shipping rule rate in Monsoon $4.00 $4.00
Item level shipping surcharge Not applicable $1.00
Item weight 1 pound 1 pound
Price ceiling None None
Price floor $10.00 $10.00
Qualifies for free eBay shipping No No
Your listing on eBay $26.88

($26.88 item price + free shipping)
$27.88

($27.88 item price + free shipping)

For the BMVD example, your eBay listing price is calculated using the steps in Start-to-finish pricing as follows:

For the non-BMVD example, your eBay listing price is calculated using the steps in Start-to-finish pricing as follows::

See also

eBay Free Shipping Surcharge

Pricing overview

To see how an item priced (view pricing history)

 

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