Has it seriously just cost me £1.70 to sell a £17 item?!

[SaltNSweetPopcorn]

It just seems like a huge percentage amount for an ad with two pictures! Or do
I have unrealistic expectations?

A traditional auction house would charge you more,15% plus lottage,plus insurance,plus photo charge if it goes in a catalogue.I know what you mean though,add on the paypal fees and it mounts up.

Wait for Free Listing weekends, SaltNSP. It's the only way to make a decent profit margin.

And host most of your pictures offsite; just link to them using html.

the fees for ebay are much cheaper than auction house which is typically 15-18% plus VAT plus 1% of hammer price for insurance and most have a minimum of £5-7 pounds per lot to cover photos catalogues internet exposure etc alltogether at least 20%

ebay 10% paypal 3.4% listing fees vary

item selling for £17 £1.70 to ebay assuming £3 postage 88p to paypal,

assuming start price of 9.99 with 1 extra photo listing fees 37p

so sale £17 profit £14,05

auction house sale of £17 commission including vat £3.06 rounded up to £6 ( £5 plus VAT) as that is minimum, insurance at 1% 17p altogether
profit £10.83

and I would say generally unless high art/antiques you get more on ebay than at auction

Host photos using photo bucket or similar, then you don't pay charges for photos.