Are the changes in Feb 2025 just affecting me?

[shaaus-57]

Changes introduced by EBay FEB 2025: Issues for sellers of bulk, low value stock - under £20 per item…..

So, I typically sell £2,000 (gross) per month, with the sale of items less than £20 per item.  Margins are small and rely on the quick turnaround of sales/funds to replenish stock. This is now IMPOSSIBLE!

1. Turnaround of funds takes far too long!
2. Untracked service no longer a viable option due to delay in payments - thus, postage costs increase significantly. Unable to pass this onto buyer with low value items! Hence, profit margin reduced…. Tracked service costs for items under £20 not sustainable.
3. Tracked 48hr Delivery with Royal Mail frequently takes 3-4 days for delivery….  Funds on hold 2 days after delivery - means a 1 week delay in payments from Tracked Delivery.
4. Selling (Promotion) costs and postage costs taken out of seller account funds IMMEDIATELY, making even less funds available to purchase new stock, when hundreds of pounds in funds are still ‘processing’.
5. Buyer Protection costs - buyers of these low value items are not willing to pay the premium - as such, the seller of such items is having to absorb this additional cost. Hence, profit margin reduced again….
6. The result of these changes have reduced profit margin by 47%….!!!

*** Take a £20 item: £1.52 buyer protection means that the item will now only sell for £18.48. Now, this (in reality) needs to be sent tracked delivery - £2.70. Let’s say, EBay promotion fee is 10% - £2.00. Thus, seller now receives a net £13.78. Item cost is £10 to buyer; this leaves £3.78 - then HMRC will take 20% of this net profit -  76p. OVERALL £3.02 profit - still not accounting for printing and packaging costs, etc.

So in reality, selling a £20 item leaves a net profit around £2.70 AT BEST.

Previously, this profit was pretty much double!

COMPLETELY UNSUSTAINABLE AND EBAY WILL LOSE THESE SELLERS AS A CONSEQUENCE…. Buyer protection is fine - but without sellers, such as myself, Ebay does not have buyers to protect!

[tobiasd4]

Correctly upgrade to business seller, then no buyer fee or payment hold.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/business-seller-policy?id=4710

[*vyolla*]

If you're purchasing stock to sell on eBay, you should be trading on a business account.

Buyer protection isn't added to items listed by business sellers.

A private seller is one who is just selling off their own personal items such as clothes from their wardrobe, bits from their loft/garage etc.

A Business seller is someone who buys or makes items to sell on.  They need to be registered as a business to meet the requirements of UK law. They need to declare income to HMRC once they reach £1,000 worth of sales (eBay will be providing HMRC with your details anyway so it's vital to keep correct accounts for your tax return). You can obviously offset more expenses as a business seller, but can't offset any at all as a private one.  

To correctly register as a business seller simply go to your Personal Information in your account and to the right of Account Type, which will be showing as 'Individual'  you'll see an Edit option.

https://accountsettings.ebay.co.uk/profile

This doesn't affect your feedback profile or any current listings, it merely upgrades your account so that you're compliant with current consumer and eBay policy.

If you're also selling your own items, just open another eBay account (you can have more than one).