No Fees for selling Clothing?

[vintagewatchpart]

So Ebay has abolished all fees for selling clothing on a private account.

Now more than ever surely the clamping down of businesses operating from private accounts has to increase?

I feel so sorry for those in this niche who trade legitimately as businesses who are competing with "private" sellers who just got handed a massive chunk of money.

[mutherskamp]

You can see why listing private than on a business account would be appealing for small scale sellers. Lets face i5 the business holders with multiple staff can get the numbers/ listing up, to keep prices down, as we all know its a numbers game on ebay.

i used to mak3 decent money on my own but now its virtually impossible as a one man band to make decent money. From £6000 ish 90 day to 4-600ish thats the difference.

For example Basic t-shirt competitively priced 

£6.95+ £3.00;postage

*£4.96/selling costs to ebay- 

*Profit-£4.99 for time spent preparing item for sale washing, ironing. Time spent listing, photos packaging post office

imqginrb how much better you would be without fees, shop costs, unlimited listingb because you pay basic shop fees but have limited listings?!
i dont think as a soletrader ebay is viable any more as a platform for business in the preloved market

[btr.style]

Done and gone.  Now in my native tongue...

Nobody here can't say I've stuck to morals and whine about *bleep*. I've taken a stance with this eBay situation. Not many will. I've cancelled a viable business to do this. I bet nobody else will but alas.

The plan is BTR will be spread amongst 5 eBay private accounts in future. No fees win. Cheers *bleep*bay stuff and that. I did put another comment but would mean a ban likely. ..

Is anyone with me? 

[technthread]

Take your example, you have to sell around 7 of those t-shirts just to cover your eBay basic shop fee before you are making any money at all. And as you say, it is costing you to wash, iron and list properly because you rightly have to accept returns. 

In that time your private seller competitor has sold X number of their own, likely a lot more than you as they can undercut you, and has reinvested it into more stock. Maybe they have bought the stock you buy from the same wholesaler who are now sold out and on pre-order and you're then delayed for new stock. They have the momentum. 

They can turn returns off and decide not to wash and iron as they think that they will be able to risk it by only getting sporadic negative feedback as so many buyers aren't bothering to leave it anymore and many won't know how to do an INAD return. 

I am in a negative head space with this today and I realise it is not the mindset to be in but your final sentence I am in agreement with. I think many of us who have small accounts trying to do things legally and getting royally shafted need to sleep on it and see how we feel about carrying on tomorrow. 

[darynsprelovedluxury]

The 5 accounts might be a joke but i seen a seller recently selling jeans on 6 different accounts, conveniently around 100 listings on each lol.. and a suit seller turning over easily 100k on 3 accounts. 

[technthread]

Someone bought off me a few weeks ago to drop ship to someone else so they were asking me to make sure I didn't include any eBay paperwork or reference anywhere to the fact I had sent it.

Fine, they sold it for more and it doesn't affect me. I had a look and they were a private seller with nearly 1000 listings and they don't leave feedback for anyone they buy off, just eyes on the prize 😅 cracking on happily in the knowledge eBay aren't bothered. 

[btr.style]

Amen. *bleep* eBay and that useless *bleep* in comunity chat. 

The business is shut down. Defaulting on the mortgage now too but alas.

On the plus side I should be back on ESA really. Not well enogh for it. 

I will not *bleep*ing go down silently though. *bleep* that. 

[magpiecorner1]

There actually is a bigger picture, but to understand it you have to put very much to the forefront that eBay is an American company.

Mecari have done away with seller fees, might not seem much this side of the ocean but worth thinking about because they do well in the US and Japan.  Vinted are looking to expand its Vinted Pro, with no seller fees, beyond France.   And they are not the only players at the table.  Could be that eBay abolishes business seller fees, but don't bank on it.  Bank on that there will be changes though and bank on the small seller being at the back of the queue.  

Ebay are looking to bring buyers to the site, with some very stiff competition at the moment.  Americans are up to their eyes in debt.  Between credit card debt, student debt, car loans, medical debt and mortgages - credit card debt has reached $1 trillion, some folk are in a rare pickle.  There comes a time when sticking stuff on credit cards is tricky.    

So, and remember EVERYTHING eBay does has a US slant, and is for eBay's benefit, they now need to bring buyers to the site, give them a way of creating some money by selling all the STUFF that they have - and who of us buys just enough clothes for our needs - creating money to spend, hopefully some of it on eBay.  Far more interesting that the small business seller, who often doesn't buy on eBay. 

They have gone further, consignment partnership with one huge second hand clothing seller - that one seller has 900,000+ feedback and a stated $25m dollar company, which I means they have sold $25 million on ebay.  Takes away the bother - and after twenty years selling here is it more bother than it ever was - of selling.  Consign stuff, get paid, buy stuff!  Fair makes you wonder how the whole of the UK business seller market compares to that one US seller?  And I would be far more worried that eBay might just have set themselves up as your main competitor.  Be thankful it is in the US and not in the UK, yet - but keep an eye on everthing eBay does, because everything eBay does will impact eBay.uk!  

EBay isn't fair, but life isn't fair, and there is no safety net for small businesses.   EBay isn't in business to be fair, it is in business to make money.  So plough your own furrow and never ever rely on another business to support your business, they simply are not interested.

I'd be a tad more worried about the clothes are sent from the UK, Europe and the US to Africa and the far east - and that big business, very big business, is seeing merit in second hand clothes.

As Sherlock would say - the games afoot!

[btr.style]

I, well we all appreciate your efforts but,..

Something about dollars. On UK boards it's like some tire fest

You know at 2 dollar a gallon (what is a gallon?), my buddy said... 

I'm sure there's more but geez, I know I glookblio on but this 4x person makes idk. *bleep* look like mineral water. 

It's not the wild west.

[btr.style]

Honestly I fell asleep half way through some wild west fantasy.

[magpiecorner1]

Please tell no one to 'go away'!!  It is rude, disrespectful and it is not in your remit to decide who should post on these boards.   And less of the swearing, its impressing no-one!

Instead of taking pot shots at me, perhaps you might want to read and to digest me words - especially

''And I would be far more worried that eBay might just have set themselves up as your main competitor''

Next time, play the ball, not the man!

[edwardian-dreams]

I think the zeitgeist coming or arrived in places  is no seller fees

if people want to buy online they can pay what is asked I guess

depop recently removed seller fees

vinted have none and that includes all categories 

ebay may go same way

ebay is being pinched severely in a few categories imo

ebay also is a bit of a dinosaur with all its requirements in listing ..specifics for when did you last have a banana for breakfast for example, because some buyers need to know that

I think it's a good thing when people sell their old clothes for not much and eBay cut into that so much it's hardly worth it but people need every penny they can get these days

as for businesses it should apply to them too imo

i think

[btr.style]

It wasn't like that. We have had words before and therefore conflict was due to happen. 

obviouly within boundaries let's have a decent debate. No?

Anyway as much as I've learned and contributed here, I'm not destined to be here for much longer. .I'll still plug my work til the end. 

[shopping-ferret]

This is simply lamentable.

Ebay don't care, so long as they are making revenue.  They are  not interested in what is fair or right and take no responsiblity towards business sellers masquerading as private and even facilitate them.  They are also inconsistent in their decisions and judgments and violate their own policies!  Some of the customer service agents are simply THICK and I say this from my own experience.

I am interested to see how this new no fees announcement pans out now that these platforms have to report earnings and number of sales to HMRC.   Many will find ways of circumventing the system, no doubt.  

Sorry for rant!  Going back to the topic, I sell a lot of pre-loved clothing, so this could be a massive problem for me - forcing me to drop prices even further, fewer sales and on top of all of this - having to provide free postage which we get charged fees on - and postage prices more frequently rising.  It could be the death of a lot of business sellers in this category.  

However, I wonder if the new move to abolish the private seller fees in this category will draw in the less 'professional' used clothing sellers, making Ebay look more like a scruffy jumble sale, which could affect its image and drive many business sellers to perhaps find another platform or even have their own website?  A lot of us affected are going to have to reinvent ourselves, finding other goods to sell which will just flood Ebay further with more of the same kind of things, drive prices down and bring in the kind of competition that is stressful and  affects sales and profits substantially.  I guess one good outcome is the abolishment of all those fake listings private sellers are putting up, just to secure an allocation of fee-free listing when those offers were in force.

I watch, as many of us will do, with nervous anticipation.   Just when I think I am surviving - along comes yet another blow.  And for many, this is a BIG one.   As many have pointed out - where will Ebay get their lost revenue from?  Yep - the HONEST business sellers once again will pay the price. 

[magpiecorner1]

It was EXACTLY like that.

And don't make excuses - we have never 'had words' - you just resort to impudence whenever you reply to my posts.  And not just mine!  Badly done sir!

So - lets start again - I would  be very interested to hear your opposing views to my earlier post if you wish to debate - also happy to have a discussion, which might be easier. 

I hope you're around a while yet, you made some interesting comments earlier and I'd be interested to hear how things pan out. 

[pg_kicks]

Whilst you have wrote a lot that is true the main part that sticks out to me is eBay is in it to make money, one way to make money is to charge people so giving it away for free isnt going to suddenly make you money. It may work in supermarkets if they give you a piece of cheese and you then go to the deli counter and buy the cheese but this will not make somebody sat at home run a business. Who in their right mind sits and thinks I can sell clothes on eBay for free and starts, then sells everything they have and starts buying stuff in bulk, then it should move to a business account but if you do that you have to pay fee's, no thanks I'll just stick to what I was doing and trade illegally, 1% might move but the others will either stop or trade illegally.

America is a whole different ball game that has different laws and states, it cant be comparable to the UK, also the markets are very different, if you look on reddit the mercari boards are a nightmare due to them not charging sellers but now chargings buyers, it would be sucidal for eBay to copy that move, but they need to still make money and pi**ing off your big customers (small business as eBay always love to tell us) they are chasing the quick buck, thats fine though as the CEO will be out of here before the results really show.

It'll look great on paper 1m more listings, but 75% of it will be stuff charity shops dont even want, worn stuff from shein that doesnt sell on depop but eBay are paying for cloud space to run a broken site with another 750k dud listings. All this whilst business sellers who pay the fees to keep the site up will eb seeing reduced sales and leaving. 

I agree they have to move to stay where they are in the pack, middle diddle for sure, but this move looks short term at best and if they then move it to business accounts and throw the charge onto the buyer its a gun to the head, they could have done so much more which would have resulted in much better sales, sadly eBay is ran by people who have never sold on the site so they dont understand what happens down here. They need to run focus groups with sellers and have open and honest feedback, thats the only way to grow, keep your customers and the shareholders happy, customers are businesses, they make the most for eBay.

[gothicrosegallery]

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@technthread wrote:

Someone bought off me a few weeks ago to drop ship to someone else so they were asking me to make sure I didn't include any eBay paperwork or reference anywhere to the fact I had sent it.

Fine, they sold it for more and it doesn't affect me. I had a look and they were a private seller with nearly 1000 listings and they don't leave feedback for anyone they buy off, just eyes on the prize 😅 cracking on happily in the knowledge eBay aren't bothered. 

---

I hope you left the ebay paperwork in the parcel.

[ebeegeebees2006]

In my opinion, this is just the start of some major changes at ebay. Enticing sellers from other platforms by allowing them to sell for free (with no buyer fees) is not a way to make more money. I think it's a big gamble to do this and hope that those sellers also start buying from business sellers, who certainly in the clothing category are now the only people paying fees. I believe that other changes are in the pipeline as this, as a standalone idea, just doesn't make any sense. Where would you draw the line on which categories are free? Their rivals offer no selling fees across all categories, but they make their money by charging buyers. They have changed their business model in just one category, and I think they are just testing the water.

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Only a month or two ago fees for jewellery sellers were raised, give with one hand, take with the other.

[thebeautician]

I don't think eBay has any other choice. Probably they will have to extend the offer to items other than clothing for private sellers if they want to keep people on the platform. I don't even think this is good enough because private sellers will continue to prefer to sell on Vinted at a slightly lower price. After all, vinted's return policies are fairer and give you the peace of mind you don't have on eBay. Plus it's so much simpler to list, and time is money. 

[knit-in-styles]

I think if eBay want to take sellers away from Vinted, they have a very long way to go and need more major changes to the platform.  I have stopped selling my used excellent quality clothes on here on my private account and been using Vinted for a good few months with much more success than I have ever had on eBay.

The listing tool in Vinted is a million times better than eBay. Half the item specs you have to put in on eBay are absolutely ridiculous.  I have just checked a listing for a ladies top and there are 32 item specifics to be completed. Vinted listing tool is very quick and simple. Plus, you don't have to worry about buying postage on Vinted. The search facility on Vinted is also a million times better than eBay.