01-10-2024 1:34 PM - edited 01-10-2024 1:44 PM
From the sky news article here which is obviously a press release https://news.sky.com/story/ebay-selling-fees-are-scrapped-to-boost-to-reselling-13225638
It seems clear ebay is following in the footsteps of other selling marketplaces by adding fees for buyers in the early new year, but since fees remain in place for business sellers adding another fee on top of this is another hit to our bottom line.
We will now be expected to absorb the buyers fee and our own business selling fee (and shop fees etc).
This seems crazy to me - although eBay say it'll be 'small' , if it's 8% like elsewhere that's a massive hit for us to take. Yes it's for the buyers but we all know prices will drop because of it - for example a 350 item will now cost 379 to the buyer with an 8% fee that is currently used by another platform, so ofc sellers will drop the initial price so that the item actually sells and to offset this.
Fine for private sellers who have no fees to compensate, but insane for business sellers with hefty fvf and shop fees already
Solved! Go to Solution.
12-01-2025 5:46 PM
12-01-2025 7:02 PM
I do not see that the majority of business sellers are competing with private sellers - maybe a few but the vast majority are selling totally different types of items .
Genuine private sellers are an asset to business sellers - they will draw additional buyers to ebay and quite often members selling unwanted personal items also buy on ebay not only second hand unwanted items but new repeat lines from businesses.
It is terrible that personal sellers feel that customers looking for used or unwanted goods from private accounts are being driven to buy only from business sellers - they are going to be sorely dissapointed if they are because it will be a miracle if they can find the curios, second hand or unwanted items from a business .
Customers of private sellers with a variety of items sparks buyers to browse the items for sale and maybe buy because it sparks an interest or it just tickles their imagination or of course they come across just the item they need that is no longer sold new, or is no longer manufactured by a business.
These same buyers have everyday needs as well where they are going to need new items traditionally purchased in the high street.
Business customers tend to buy and go - ie they log on - search - buy then leave - they may do this often but do they then browse personal sellers items ? - maybe but I feel the traffic is more from private sellers to business than the other way round.
12-01-2025 9:02 PM
13-01-2025 12:38 AM
You have been a member for may years and have seen changes come and go, these latest changes seem on the surface to be quite alien to small genuine sellers operating on private selling accounts.
Much is being made about simple delivery and buyer fees and the consensus is that everybody will leave ebay but I heard the same comments with managed payments - nearly all are still selling on ebay and it didn't turn out all bad in the end !
What do we know - ebay removed seller fees for a couple of months but most sellers maintained their prices to benefit from the windfall.
With your unique dolls which fetch relatively high prices you have the option to look at what fees you were paying within the advertised sale price and the new buyer fees going to be added to your price.
You can then decide whether you give none, some or all of the seller fees that you had already built into the prices back to the buyer by reducing your price to mitigate the new buyer fees.
With simple delivery this is not compulsory - there is an opt out and I feel that it could be some time before it is made compusory and that there will be many changes before and after it rolls out. What we are seeing at the moment is unlikely to be the finished product.
The sellers who may have the biggest problems are low value sellers but time will tell when more is revealed by ebay !
13-01-2025 10:46 AM
13-01-2025 12:03 PM
Managed Payments was a bit of a pain, but opening a new bank account wasn't too big a deal even for people with mobility issues or 20 miles from a drop off point. In contrast, Simple Delivery without an option to collect from the seller is a killer for some of us.
And if you think Simple Delivery won't be mandatory before the end of March, you haven't been paying attention. Go read some of valueaddresource's posts, pointing at the transcript of the CEO's presentation Q3 to investors. It's all in there, no ifs/buts.
13-01-2025 1:40 PM
To me I can live with fees, but as it's the buyer seeing the increased cost, will they? If I'm selling CDs from my collection at £7 (for less collectable CDs) including postage, those prices going up 75p+4% for the buyer are likely to be a deterrent.
Following the removal of FVF I reduced the prices on most of my items to bring interest in, and saw a big uptick in sales to the point I was motivated to start getting more listings done. I try to get my prices to reasonable amounts by coordinating sale information from a couple of different places, which in some instances leads me to significantly undercut overpriced items on eBay (usually from more business oriented accounts trying to take advantage of having the only listing of an item). I don't always succeed, but I try to be more reasonable. But there does come a point where it's just not worth selling something because of the costs involved, and the time and effort for a couple of quid when there isn't the regular volume of sales to make that worthwhile.
Personally Simple Postage is the deal breaker for me. If I'm going to list a Vinyl worth a couple of hundred pounds, that has great sentimental value to me, I don't want that to get stolen/trashed by Evri's incompetence. I want it in the hands of the person buying it because I care that these things get to a good home. I've exchanged messages with people about items I've sold them and been really happy to hear they are in good hands and arrived safely. I won't be forced into using a substandard delivery service when I have something right now that works perfectly well and I trust.
13-01-2025 2:49 PM
13-01-2025 3:04 PM
"To me I can live with fees, but as it's the buyer seeing the increased cost, will they? If I'm selling CDs from my collection at £7 (for less collectable CDs) including postage, those prices going up 75p+4% for the buyer are likely to be a deterrent."
How do you sell a CD at £7 when MusicMagpie and the like are banging them out for less than the cost of normal postage even?
Please, give us a break. No wall of text, just put in a blank line every few sentences. Otherwise, for some of us it's unreadable.
13-01-2025 3:11 PM
13-01-2025 3:30 PM - edited 13-01-2025 3:37 PM
The CDs I sell tend to be more niche and therefore more collectable/valuable to fans (as an example some are original pressings/out of print by cult bands) and less likely to be sold by the MMs/WoBs of the world. Even standard pressings of some bands can easily be sold at £8-10. Not always, mind, the ones that are ten a penny I
sold to Music Magpie or the like myself because like you say, you can't compete with them.
But Music Magpie are one of the businesses I alluded in my post, I've seen sellers like them having the only listing for a CD (not even particularly rare) and sticking them up for £40-50 when a cursory look at Discogs can easily show you it's not sold for even a quarter of that. It just looks rare because there's no other listing for it so they try to gouge away.
It's also my suspicion that some people are more willing to go with someone who is providing a more detailed description/pictures of an item because bulk sellers give very little clear information about what they are selling, and for collectors they want details. I know if I was still buying CDs I'd probably think twice about orderinging from MM and probably look more to other actual collectors.
13-01-2025 4:50 PM
13-01-2025 5:12 PM
My doubt as to the timing for simple delivery comes from the statement ebay made when it was announced in the press that it would be rolled out with an option to opt out and that it was planned to become mandatory at some time in the future - a bit wishy washy but the hint was that they were going to roll out in stages during 25 and then make it mandatory in the future - of course they could mean Feb 25 as no dates were alluded to.
For sure it looks like it will be mandatory but just unsure when given the information supplied publicly by ebay
13-01-2025 5:30 PM
13-01-2025 5:31 PM
@dch2112011 wrote:My doubt as to the timing for simple delivery comes from the statement ebay made when it was announced in the press that it would be rolled out with an option to opt out and that it was planned to become mandatory at some time in the future - a bit wishy washy but the hint was that they were going to roll out in stages during 25 and then make it mandatory in the future - of course they could mean Feb 25 as no dates were alluded to.
"Managed shipping is currently live for C2C pre-owned apparel listing in the UK. In Q4, we plan to expand managed shipping horizontally on an opt-out basis, before mandating the program for eligible items listed by C2C sellers during Q1 of 2025."
So that's on or before March 31st.
13-01-2025 5:43 PM
13-01-2025 5:53 PM
13-01-2025 6:45 PM
Something doesn't add up - the user agreement has been updated to include simple delivery but does not come into force until 3rd June 2025 which throws doubt on the March 31st date for it becoming compulsory across the board for fee free private sellers UK based shipping to UK based buyers.
Will it be just the clothing section rolled out that will become compulsory March 31st with others to follow or will they have to delay until June before it can be made compulsory ?
13-01-2025 7:36 PM
@dch2112011 wrote:Something doesn't add up - the user agreement has been updated to include simple delivery but does not come into force until 3rd June 2025 which throws doubt on the March 31st date for it becoming compulsory across the board for fee free private sellers UK based shipping to UK based buyers.
Will it be just the clothing section rolled out that will become compulsory March 31st with others to follow or will they have to delay until June before it can be made compulsory ?
Doesn't really matter, does it. Whenever it happens, that's when I bulk edit all my listings to local collection only and start trying out other platforms. I'm guessing there'll be others doing the same.
If it doesn't happen by the end of Q1 the CEO is going to look like a Wally to the investors. I'll try not to feel sorry for him.
13-01-2025 8:00 PM
@dch2112011 wrote:Something doesn't add up - the user agreement has been updated to include simple delivery but does not come into force until 3rd June 2025 which throws doubt on the March 31st date for it becoming compulsory across the board for fee free private sellers UK based shipping to UK based buyers.
Will it be just the clothing section rolled out that will become compulsory March 31st with others to follow or will they have to delay until June before it can be made compulsory ?
@dch2112011 you might want to go back and read that again - it shows the previous User Agreement went into effect 3 June 2024 (last year) and the new terms go into effect immediately for new accounts or from 4 February 2025 for existing users.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/user-agreement?id=4259