Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: EndProhibitionFailure on December 21, 2011, 04:11 pm

Title: Soon to be new seller on silk road - fees for doing so?
Post by: EndProhibitionFailure on December 21, 2011, 04:11 pm
Hello

I will soon be setting up a seller account on Silk Road to sell some stuff. However, I noticed upon trying to sign up that there is roughly a £100~ sign up fee and it mentioned in the sellers guide there is commission on each item sold - it didn't say how much, only that there was.

Personally I think the start up fee is a significant barrier to entry that will worsen the service available to consumers, and I will be operating on relatively small margins so a significant commission on revenues could really eat into my profits.

However, I really do appreciate what Silk Road is doing and they have every right to expect to make some money out of this.

So, can any of you clear this up, what are ALL the fees I'll need to pay for selling on Silk Road? What is the commission I pay on the products I will AND are there any hidden fees I've missed? Depending on what the costs are I may have to reconsider whether I want to do this given the risk if I'm not making much money.
Title: Re: Soon to be new seller on silk road - fees for doing so?
Post by: madamebradley on December 21, 2011, 04:35 pm
The commission is 6.25% on each item. If you use hedged escrow you usually lose 4% of your listed price.

for example. If you list an item for $100 it will show to buyers as costing $106.25. Once the buyer finalizes you will have ~$96 transferred to your account.

I hope this helps answer your questions as this information is to the best of my ability. (If anybody reading this finds an error please let me know.)
Title: Re: Soon to be new seller on silk road - fees for doing so?
Post by: EndProhibitionFailure on December 21, 2011, 04:49 pm
The commission is 6.25% on each item. If you use hedged escrow you usually lose 4% of your listed price.

for example. If you list an item for $100 it will show to buyers as costing $106.25. Once the buyer finalizes you will have ~$96 transferred to your account.

I hope this helps answer your questions as this information is to the best of my ability. (If anybody reading this finds an error please let me know.)

Thank you. I would say 6.25% was relatively cheap if it weren't for the start up fee. Can someone just explain to me what escrow is and whether I really need to use it?

Thanks
Title: Re: Soon to be new seller on silk road - fees for doing so?
Post by: EndProhibitionFailure on December 21, 2011, 05:11 pm
Also, is commission charged on the postage fees you list?
Title: Re: Soon to be new seller on silk road - fees for doing so?
Post by: madamebradley on December 21, 2011, 06:35 pm
You can learn about escrow by reading the seller's guide (which you should do if you haven't already) and by re-reading the seller's guide. You can also read about it on the wiki: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/wiki/index.php/Escrow

You must use escrow to be able to sell on the Silk Road.

Commission does apply to postage.

Title: Re: Soon to be new seller on silk road - fees for doing so?
Post by: onestopshop on December 22, 2011, 12:59 am
Sorry to highjack your thread mate but I could have sworn the commission was 9%? or were they thinking about boosting it up to 9%?
Title: Re: Soon to be new seller on silk road - fees for doing so?
Post by: madamebradley on December 22, 2011, 02:46 am
It was briefly increased to 9%. I contacted SR Support and they said that they changed it back and wouldn't raise it without warning in the future.