04-02-2025 10:25 AM
Having read a few different posts this month about eBay's Store Fee and listing limits I decided to see how the UK compared to other stores. It's quite a difference and shows how UK Business Sellers receive the fewest listings in each tier.
UK
Basic - £27 Per Month - 250 Fixed Price Listings - 100 Auction Listings
Featured - £77 Per Month - 1,500 Fixed Price Listings - 600 Auction Listings
Anchor - £437 Per Month - Unlimited Fixed Price Listings - 1000 Auction Listings
USA
Basic - $27.95 Per Month - 1,000 Fixed Price Listings - 250 Auction Listings
Premium - $74.95 Per Month - 10,000 Fixed Price Listings - 500 Auction Listings
Anchor - $349.95 Per Month - 25,000 Fixed Price Listings - 1,000 Auction Listings
DE
Basic - €39.95 - 400 Fixed Price Listings - 40 Auction Listings
Top-Shop - €79.95 - 2,500 Fixed Price Listings - 100 Auction Listings
Premium-Shop - €299.95 - Unlimited Fixed Price Listings - 250 Auction Listings
FR
Basic - €19.50 - 300 Fixed Price Listings - 20 Auction Listings
Top-Shop - €39.50 - 10,000 Fixed Price Listings - 50 Auction Listings
Premium-Shop - €149.50 - Unlimited Fixed Price Listings - 250 Auction Listings (+2,500 in collectables & antiques)
IT
Basic - €24.95 - 400 Fixed Price Listings - 40 Auction Listings
Top-Shop - €49.95 - 10,000 Fixed Price Listings - 100 Auction Listings
Premium-Plus - €179.95 - Unlimited Fixed Price Listings - 250 Auction Listings
ES
Basic - €24.95 - 400 Fixed Price Listings - 40 Auction Listings
Top-Shop - €39.50 - 2,500 Fixed Price Listings - 100 Auction Listings
Premium-Plus - €149.50 - Unlimited Fixed Price Listings - 250 Auction Listings
Australia
No Subscription - 250,000 Free Listings!
Basic - AU$24.95 Per Month - 250,000 Fixed Price Listings - 11.9% Seller Fees
Featured - AU$74.95 Per Month - 250,000 Fixed Price Listings - 10.7% Seller Fees
Anchor - AU$549.95 Per Month - 250,000 Fixed Price Listings - 10.1% Seller Fee
02-03-2025 5:37 PM
It is very unfair. I would like to know why Ebay charge us more for less. What is their reasoning for this?
02-03-2025 6:10 PM
I think this goes hand in hand with the huge disparity in ebay's pricing model in general which massively disadvantages any business seller of one-off items.
You basically have three types of seller on ebay - private sellers, business sellers of new goods, business sellers of used goods.
So private sellers get 300 new listings free each month with an unlimited number of free renewals each month infinitely.
Business sellers have to pay for every listing, either as part of a paid shop subscription or on a per listing basis. They get zero free renewals each month.
This alone seems crazy. Private sellers are free to increase their inventory by 300 listings month on month, allowing for steady and constant growth. Surely, this should be the sort of pricing model applied to business accounts to encourage business growth and to list as much of their inventory as possible on ebay. More listings should, realistically, lead to more sales and so more fees for ebay. I'm not saying don't give this pricing model to private sellers, just that it would be sensible (and fair) to give at least the same encouragement to list to business sellers.
Tbh, the up-front listing fee model is a good decade out of date and one of ebay's biggest disadvantages over virtually all other selling sites. That alone has driven sellers away as they move to the numerous alternative sites that have an "unlimited listings for free" pricing model. It would make more sense to offer shops based on "pick and mix" paid for features and bolt-ons but with an unlimited number of basic free listings. That alone may possibly draw business sellers back to ebay which would reduce the need for ebay to fleece ever higher and more complex fees from the business sellers that are still here.
Unless ebay do change to that sort of pricing model, you then also have the disparity of fees between the business sellers of new and used goods. If a business seller lists a new widget that they have multiples of, they pay one listing fee per month and have the potential to make tens or hundreds of sale each month from an outlay of a single listing fee. The seller of ooak items pays one listing fee for each item they list and only has the potential to make one sale from that listing fee. If it doesn't sell within the first month, they pay another listing fee to keep it available for sale the next month...ad infinitum.
Considering that one of ebay's "things" of late is the whole "circular economy", "reuse and recycle", "buy pre-loved" bandwagon and they've done their whole Circular Fashion Fund The eBay Circular Fashion Fund is back! - UK eBay Community drive, it makes no sense that business sellers of second-hand, one-off items are the one sector of ebay sellers that are at the greatest cost disadvantage and growth stifling. Ebay may talk the talk on environment issues but their actions don't support it, quite the reverse.
Then, as the OP has shown, all business sellers in the UK are also at a huge cost disadvantage when compared to all other countries. Ebay's whole fee structure needs a massive overhaul if they want to keep the sellers they do have, entice ex-sellers to return and encourage new ones to join.
03-03-2025 6:14 AM
I can’t afford a shop. Although not happy I’m paying on basic level shop. Looks like I owe £42 to eBay. As was on second tier not enough sales to sustain me here on eBay.
yet people are saying it’s all over- nope it’s not selling something entirely different over on v and de pop. Earned more this week than on eBay in a month.
03-03-2025 8:00 AM
That is the most sensible reply I have read in a thread for a long time. It’s just a shame that those in the Tower will not listen and continue to bury their head in the sand on how all this is panning out.
i have already seen a decline in listings and good sellers in the category I mostly sell in, although had noticed one had become a business seller in the last few weeks…
03-03-2025 1:35 PM
Yes we have always been ripped off in the UK.
Why, though, do you pay for an office suite? Open Office and Libre Office are both free - and very good. Give them a try and hopefully you'll decide you don't need to keep paying a mega corporation just to log a few numbers 😉
Good luck! 😊
03-03-2025 1:46 PM
Thanks I will check those out.
I think it is laziness and familiarity with excel tbh. I have it on my phone as well so I can just add a few lines to my records without getting the laptop out.
I’d have paid the £5.99 ongoing but £8.49 has given me a decision to make now. It has coincided with my business bank account now charging 35p per transaction (I signed up with free fees for 2yrs, now expired), all of these small costs are mounting up.
03-03-2025 2:36 PM
So about 10 ish years ago i was watching a travel programme on India and an article on mobile
phone data was a huge wakeup call. The article was explaining the poverty in a lot of areas but
went on to say mobile providers was charging something like £3 -£5 for say 2GB of data where as
the same providers was charging around £15 here in the UK, it stated the prices was geared to what the
people in India could afford. It made a lot of sense and as in the UK a lot of prices are geared to what people will pay.......Ebay are testing the water, if people are happy to pay then it's great for them, if things are going really great and listings are good then they will squeeze a little more out of us. With Water, Gas, Electric, Council Tax, Car Tax, Car Insurance all increasing this year which are essentials do i think people are going to be happy buying none essentials with an extra fee ?