Buyer fees 2025

[tulipsorange12]

If I sell something for £1 is it true that the seller is charged a 75p flat fee? That is so  off putting as a buyer and seller. 

If I send an item via Royal Mail's untracked service when will I get paid - will it be 48 hours after the estimated delivery date. 

These changes are rubbish for everyone.  Surely they will impact sales adversely.

[parsley2003]

Just hope that people leave in droves, it seems they tried this in USA and it was a disaster and they had to change it all back

[parsley2003]

It's on Facebook, doesn't work for me lots of people mess us around don't turn up to collect i gave up with it long ago

[lucy_farmer]

'Of course nothing ever goes wrong there.'

😂🤣👍brilliant comment 

[papso22]

These recent changes don't impact those with business accounts, I.e those who buy items to sell, often new items.

[carrotdrusus2]

This is without a doubt the most sensible comment I have read on these boards regarding the imminent changes.

Buyers will just not accept it

See what has happened to Delcampe, Poshmark and Mercari to name but 3 organisations that went down this route.

It was a disaster every time.

[abbotstamps]

This post is directed at who run Ebay. You were losing private sellers selling used clothing and household good and some other items. Your new competition such as Vinted, Depop , Etsy etc and American sites started charging buyers a fee. So what you did was decide that private sellers could sell for free and that you would then charge buyers. So in all categories you decided that you would charge a percentage plus 75 pence per item. Good thinking as that means that lower priced items would go up in price from anywhere between 25% and 75% for each item. Not only that you did not carry out proper research into what categories you could list on your competitors website vs you own categories. So for instance in the collectibles categories and sub categories that cannot be listed on your competitors websites, you effectively impose buyer fees quite often on low value items for each item. Well done, you have effectively killed a market where you were actually very good in, where someone your end had made a very good job setting it up. The other issue is that your numpties cannot seem to grasp that not everyone wants to be the next Amazon. Some private sellers are small, but are really hobbyists running small side hustle businesses. Unfortunately unless we turnover more than £12,000 per year, it is not worth us setting up shops because of your extortionate costs. So for us with a turnover about ¼ of that figure, we have to operate as private sellers but have to ensure that we abide by all tax and consumer laws.  Many of us would prefer to pay Ebay fees. So well done at managing to lose even more revenue streams and continue to alienate both buyers and sellers   

[tressygirl]

Shame that eBay do not come to these boards to read posts, to see the many unhappy discussion threads.

@abbotstamps 

[papso22]

You cannot abide by consumer laws trading as a business 'hobby' or otherwise, on a private ebay account.

Business accounts do not have to have shops.

[abbotstamps]

If the law states that you have 14 days to change your mind and can return goods. and also the other topics covered by the the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, then it is your option as a private seller (as determined by Ebay) whether to abide by it. All I care about is that I am registered with HMRC for self assessment and abide by the acts in selling second hand items. That is all that UK law requires.  What Ebay says or thinks is irrelevant. You cannot even get a direct answer to a direct question from their help section or email help, and oh boy have I tried. It is high time that Ebay was reported to the CMA.

[three60degrees]

www.change.org/p/ebay-gone-to-far-with-new-policy-change-from-4th-feb-2025

[papso22]

What you cannot do without an ebay business account is provide the legal information required before a buyer buys, which is primarily business contact details.

Private listings also say that EU law doesn't apply, when Ebay account status does not dictate whether laws apply, it is the status of the seller that does that.

And finally it is an offence (i.e against the law), for a  business to misrepresent themselves as a private seller, which is exactly what happens when a business trades on a private account.

It is not all about accepting returns.  In fact, by not displaying business contact details a seller is open to returns for any reason, for 12 months, at their expense. 

Hopefully you can now see how a business trading on a private account is indeed breaking the law.

[papso22]

---

@three60degrees wrote:

www.change.org/p/ebay-gone-to-far-with-new-policy-change-from-4th-feb-2025

---

That post/petition is by a misinformed seller who hasn't bothered to check her facts and has been called out on other forums for the errors. 

[abbotstamps]

I stand by what I said. The problem is not from my end , but from Ebays. They effectively are the ones who are preventing us abiding by the letter of the law in not allowing us to have contact details. Virtually every listing I have is unique and virtually every listing is "second hand" in a very niche market. I have been trying to ascertain whether if I was a pay as you go business whether my unique buy it now listings would be charged a renewal listing fee every 30/31 days. I believe that they would incur this. That makes it impossible for me to sell on Ebay. That is why I sell as  a private seller as do a lot of others in that category.  It is not my problem if Ebay is acting outside the spirit of UK law. If asked I would provide contact details,  hence my comment that Ebay should be reported to the CMA. It is highly unlikely that any conviction would result from not having contact details present on Ebay as that is totally down to them and their laisse faire attitude to UK law, their total lack of understanding of markets in certain categories AND the wishes and needs of their sellers and buyers. Remember I am not importing container loads of new items to specifically sell, but operating in a second hand specialist niche market, which does have a need for a good easily accessible marketplace. This funnily enough Ebay does provide very well as someone at Ebay set it up correctly and thoroughly

[papso22]

Don't be ridiculous,  you have decided to have a private account with all that means legally (and illegally).

That's your choice and the consequences are entirely down to that choice.

Stop blaming ebay, it makes you look silly.

[abbotstamps]

It is down to Ebay and their restrictive uncompetitive practices that are causing the problem. What you are saying is that although we want to follow the letter of the law, we are not allowed to trade because some American entity has so far not been held to account. All Ebay has to do is allow us to have the ability to put contact details down. What you are saying is effectively that Ebay dictates who can and cannot join any given marketplace because they maintain these restrictive practices that are not in the spirit of UK law

[papso22]

I am saying that you have deliberately chosen the path you have. No-one has forced you. You quite clearly do not want to follow the letter of the law because you can easily do that by upgrading to a business account.  Of course you allowed to trade legally.

You have chosen the path you have purely based on financial considerations which means you are in unfair competition with properly registered business sellers of unique second hand items.

Even if ebay allowed private accounts to show contact details (which they won't ), unless they also get rid of the entire private/business account status, business sellers using private accounts would still be breaking the law by masquerading as private sellers.

[abbotstamps]

You really have no idea do you. Yes of course it is a financial decision. So answer me this bearing in mind my niche category. At what annual turnover would I have to trade to make reasonable returns on items sold ? Would any buy it now listings renew without cost ? This is a question you have ducked. Just bear in mind that the average sale I have is approx £5. Also please tell me why I cannot find correct answers to questions on Ebay. Using their help system it threw up 2 shop costs. One being £27 per month and from another recent link said £19.99 per month in a second column the first seeming to indicate that without a shop I would have 300 free listings per month (or was it alluding to the difference between private and business seller cost). I would gladly pay Ebay fees or switch to a business account if the information I had was accurate and reliable. In fact my fees previously as a private seller were higher than business sellers in my category. That countermands your comment about being unfair to business sellers. Also please tell me that if buy it now listings be are charged every month they roll over , then how can some businesses in my category afford to have over around 4000 buy it now listing on items that are of lowish value and quite probably turn over slowly as well.

Also a reply from Ebay customer service seemed to indicate that it would be best to carry on as I currently am as a private seller. They also ducked the Buy it Now question. Remember I trade in a niche second hand collectibles category.   

[kath3735_wxmjn]

a very badly written petition!  She keeps saying that you only get paid on the tracking saying delivered but that is not true, if there is no tracking you get paid after 14 days. (not saying that is right but you do get paid eventually)

[abbotstamps]

You are correct on the 14 day rule. If sent untracked i believe you will receive available funds 14 days from the order date. For me my items usually fit in an envelope and can be sent 2nd class ordinary post. To use a tracked service would cost 3 times that and for low value items it is not in mine or the customers interest to support the profits of Royal Mail because of misguided directives from Ebay

[papso22]

I have no idea how your financial model would work, but as I have repeatedly said, that is not a consideration as to which type of account you have on ebay.  Businesses sellers, like you have admitted you are, have to trade on business accounts.

As for fees, they are all set out here in an accurate and reliable way.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fees-business-sellers?id=4809&st=3&pos=1&q...

You currently pay no selling fees and haven't since last Autumn.

If you still don't understand about the BINs you might have to wait for a kind hearted properly registered business seller to explain it to you.  As far as I am concerned it is irrelevant to the decision you need to make.

This is ebay's published policy on business selling, it overrides whatever CS might have told you.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/selling-practices-policy/business-seller-polic...