Fees Fees and More Fees - The Cost Of Starting a Business

It All Starts With An Idea

So you have decided that you want to start your own online business! Say you have no idea where to get started so you start researching what you think you want to focus on. Ecommerce is the direction you are leaning, but there is so much out there, what do you start selling?

Well, you work hard to find a hot niche for your eCommerce business. You spend a few months to get your business set up and you are ready to get goin and start selling.

Queue The Fees

Just as you start to try and get going, you discover all the various fees you get hit with. No one told you about them when they sold you on starting up this type of business. Suddenly, that hot niche that you thought was going to bring profit margins of 25% has shriveled to a measly 10%. This can be an epic slap in the face if you are not taking these numbers into account. Believe me, I have failed to look into all associated fees for some business ideas and it cost me dearly!

Doing ALL The Research

The best way to know what you are getting into is to add that into your research. Are you using an online selling platform like eBay, Etsy, or even the Hivelist Store? Well if so then you are using someone else’s platform, which is their business, to make money so naturally they are going to want a cut of your sales.

You can easily contact suppliers or selling platforms and ask them what fees they will charge. This day in time, most have their fees somewhere on the website, most of the time in the frequently asked questions area or something like that.

For instance, many suppliers will drop ship for you but they charge you hefty fees for this service. In this case, they are warehousing and shipping the items for you, so there are costs associated with that, and you are going to pay for it. Not all companies give up that info right on the front page so you might have to dig into their documents on the site or contact them directly. If you don’t ask, they may not necessarily volunteer that information.

These fees can seriously eat into your profits if you don’t pay attention to them. Unfortunately, you will come across fees while doing business that may not be apparent when at the research stage. These fees are many times unavoidable like the government extortion fees, ah hum, I mean taxes... But we will talk more about that later on.

Seller Fees, Shipping, and More...

If you want to sell on places such as eBay and Amazon, they will charge you listing fees. Not only do they charge listing fees but also final sales fees. So, make sure you know what these are before embarking on your business.

Shipping fees are a big factor when running an eCommerce business. Some sellers overinflate their shipping costs to make up for low-profit margins on the products they sell. This can be seen by customers as de- ceptive. They are being enticed by a low price for the product and then get slammed with a huge shipping cost. If you partake in this practice, your customers will complain and you won’t get repeat sales.

Vendors don’t always make their shipping costs known. You need to make sure you ask questions of them to know exactly how much they are going to charge. Usually, when you buy in bulk, you should be able to save some money on the overall shipping costs. But, you will then be responsible for shipping to your customer and doing all the packaging and handling. You will need to negotiate rates with carriers to keep these costs down of you are shipping bulk or large items.

Dealing With International Shipping and Duty Fees

If you get your products from other countries, you will need to deal with international shipping nuances as well as fees associated with governments and customs. This can complicate the process and cause you to lose much of your profits. Many countries charge an additional VAT or value added tax for international shipping and can range anywhere from 10-25% of the cost of the items. Yes, it’s basically robbery, but that’s a while other thing…

Then the Only Certain Things in Life They Say are Death and Taxes...

After all of this, you need to make sure you consider taxes like I said before... We all know this is the biggest scam on the planet, but one we are forced to comply with when doing business or they come and try and kidnap you by force. More states are jumping on the bandwagon of charging sales tax even if the items are sold online, in the US, it has been a rule that you only paid sales tax for sales within your state, but that is changing.

It’s been a contentious issue but one you still need to factor in. Do not forget about paying any other taxes you may be responsible for, as well… Or you be smart and find everything you can to write off for your business so that you can avoid those government extortion fees… You can se me how we feel about taxes, lol. But this isn't financial or accounting advice, lol. You will need someone else to help with that.

Fees in the Crypto World

There are even fees in the crypto business world. Almost every network has gas fees in one way or the other. You even have to have Hive staked just to use the network. Then have you tried to sign up and mint NFTs? Or start a Hive Engine token or community? Fees fees and more fees. Lol.

Many of the services such as @threespeak and @exxp add themselves in as a beneficiary on your post to use their services. Currently @threespeak is an 11% beneficiary fee and @exxp charges 15%. Heck even @leofinance charges you as they say a 'tax' to use their tag when posting from other front ends.

So even in the blogging world, there are fees, haha. Get used to it...

Wrapping Up the Fee Talk...

Paying fees is just apart of business and life in general. If we use a service, there will be some kind of cost associated with it. So to have a better experience with your active business, it’s best to research everything you are going to be paying out for.

I mean we didn't even touch marketing... LOL... That's a whole other thing...

Maybe if you find up front deals like paying for a year of hosting vs monthly, then you may get a discount. Or paying for a drop ship membership instead of just doing an individual sale deal, bulk instead of one off products etc. You can find all kind of ways to lower your expenses, but remember there will always be expenses, lol.

Hope this little guide helps you in your entrepreneurial journey!

Keep calm and Hustle on!

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