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How to Manage Your Inventory and Prices During the Selling Fee Change
Updated May 19, 2023
Discogs has made significant investments in recent years to ensure compliance with various regulatory programs, including tax support and privacy protection. These efforts have ensured a trusted international marketplace for buying and selling music, but they also come with real costs to provide these valuable services.
After careful consideration, we are updating our selling fees for the first time in over 10 years. The selling fee will change from 8% to 9% on May 22, 2023. The new 9% selling fee applies to both the item and shipping costs.
This increase will help us continue to devote resources to maintaining the Discogs Marketplace and develop better tools for collecting, selling, and enjoying music.
We understand that any adjustment to fees can be disruptive and we will help you navigate this change. Below is a guide to managing your inventory during this transition. We outlined the tools available for updating all items marked for sale at one time and calculated the impact that the new selling fee will have on your item prices.
How to Calculate a Price Increase
Data for Bulk Prices | Data for Individual Prices
How to Update Your Inventory
How to Apply Free Shipping
You can read more about our decision to adjust selling fees and how to navigate this change in our extensive FAQ. If you have additional questions, please contact Discogs Support.
How to Calculate an Item Price Increase
Discogs’ new selling fee is 9% of the item and shipping costs, so the amount that is deducted at the time of sale will increase but vary greatly by order. We removed some of the guesswork from predicting that impact by calculating the selling fees on typical item values in the 12 most common currencies in the Marketplace.
One of the easiest things you can do to avoid any negative impact on your business’s margins is to increase the price of the items in your inventory and account for how the new 9% selling fee applies to your current shipping costs.
Please keep in mind that the following calculations apply to item prices and that your shipping calculations must be done separately to account for your unique situation.
This is a generalized guide, so we encourage you to do your own analysis and adjust your prices as needed. After the new 9% selling fee on the item and shipping costs takes effect on May 22, 2023, the Statistics section on each release page in the Database will be the best place to source pricing data. Learn more about how to price items and access sales history.
Adjusting the price of all items by a percentage is EASIER than updating each item individually.
You can increase the price of every item currently in your inventory by a simple percentage using Discogs’ new bulk update feature.
The table below illustrates the impact of the selling fee change on items between $10 USD and $100 USD, which make up 83% of the orders in the Marketplace, as well as a suggested increase that will help maintain margins that are necessary to run your business.
A single percentage increase may slightly overprice some of your items in an effort to protect your margins. We recommend using this data for the selling fee transition, then following your own process to remain competitively priced in the Marketplace after the change on May 22, 2023. Don’t forget to calculate your shipping costs separately.
About the data: We calculated the new shipping fee on the most common item price’s combined cost and average shipping, then rounded up a percentage increase that would cover items between $10 USD and $100 USD.
Data for Bulk Prices
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All currencies
Updating the price of each item individually is MORE ACCURATE than adjusting the price of all items by a percentage.
You can use a combination of Discogs inventory management tools and your own processes to change prices by item.
The data set below shows the selling fee impact on a wider range of typical item costs. You can use the corresponding increase to inform your own calculations. Keep in mind that 83% of orders in the Marketplace are between $10 USD and $100 USD, so we only included one example above $100 USD.
About the data: We calculated the new shipping fee on the most common item price’s combined cost and average shipping. The percentage increase and flat amount increase illustrate the impact the new shipping fee will have on items, which equates to the price increase you may consider during the fee transition. However, you will still need to calculate how the new selling fee will affect your shipping costs.
Data for Individual Prices
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AUDAustralia
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BRLBrazil
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CADCanada
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DKKDenmark
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EUREurope
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JPYJapan
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MXNMexico
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NZDNew Zealand
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SEKSweden
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CHFSwitzerland
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GBPUnited Kingdom
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USDUnited States
How to Update Your Inventory
Depending on the size of your inventory, adjusting your prices can be as easy as calibrating a few items or as difficult as managing thousands of offerings. Discogs offers a range of tools to help you update your current inventory, including a new feature that will apply a simple percentage or flat amount adjustment to every item.
Below are instructions on using these tools and features for four different scenarios. You can choose the scenario that best fits your needs.
Please note that if you use the export tool to download a CSV file documenting your inventory, you may experience a delay in receiving the emailed results as Discogs accommodates an increase in demand.
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Update everything at once by a simple percentage or flat amount
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Update everything at once by a simple percentage based on the median price in your inventory
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Update your items within a certain price range by a simple percentage
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Update items individually
How to Apply Free Shipping
Free shipping encourages your potential customers to complete purchases and add more items to their orders. Almost 90% of collectors on Discogs consider buying additional items from a seller to decrease shipping costs, according to a 2023 survey.
We found that sellers on Discogs who offer free shipping typically see higher order values. Orders between $50-$250 USD include 50% more items in them when shipping is free.
Average Order Size
Domestic Orders | International Orders |
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2.1 times higher on domestic orders with free shipping | 3.5 times higher on international orders with free shipping |
You can offer free shipping on orders that meet a price threshold that you set to the regions that you choose. If free shipping is right for you, update your Shipping Policies.
Essential Resources
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Understanding Discogs Selling Fees
See how Discogs process the selling fee and where you can find it on your payment statements.
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What Are the Fees for Selling on Discogs?
It’s free to list items for sale. When you sell your items, Discogs charges a small fee.
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How to Price
Use open-source sales data and grading guidelines to competitively your items.