Having scrapped fees for private sellers how do eBay make their money?

[dancewithadingo]

Surely this will mean a substantial drop in their profits?  Where is the shortfall in revenue coming from?

[ett1954]

"So do private sellers" - my apologies I had heard all fees had been scrapped for private sellers.

"business sellers usually get their postage cheaper" - not so, these days many small business sellers, myself included, cannot guarantee the consistent amount of sales needed to benefit from a business account.  The only discount I get is from using Royal Mail's website direct which anyone is entitled to use.

An example; a simple large letter to the US under 250 grams un-tracked attracts around a pound in fees and VAT on those fees to my costs, and that is before any taxes collected, on which I also pay fees .  Then of course there is currency transaction fees I also have to pay on those postage costs.

No doubt when the buyer fee comes in next year the collection of those fees by eBay will result in the business seller paying a fee on those also in much the same way as we do for taxes collected by eBay on international sales.

[pg_kicks]

Genuine question, what kind of discount do you think a small business gets on postage if they use Royal Mail small parcel Tracked 48 and say send 50 parcels a week as I can pretty much guarantee it wont be anywhere near what you think, you need to be medium/big to see any real discount.

[pokepost]

Hi guys, I'm new here to posting, I'm just checking my eBay messages (something i don't do very often) and it now says "it's free to sell on eBay"

So my question is, What's the catch? I normally buy Pokemon cards, But i have 8 graded cards probably worth over £15k that I'm looking to sell soon. So, Say i sell these cards, Am i paying any sort of fees after they have sold? "Free to sell on eBay" sounds too good to be true. 

Thanks for the help.

[cobwebcottage]

As it says on the tin, no fee's for private sellers. What you sell at is what you get.

[pg_kicks]

If you are on a private account selling on a standard 7 day auction without any add ons (reserve/promoted) it will be free to sell. I'd not touch eBay if I were selling a card worth over £1000 though, a quick looks shows there dont have any type of authentication service so your buyer could just say you sent a random card (sorry know nothing of pokemon) and then open a return sending you back a 5p card and eBay arent exactly known for standing up for the seller. Take it to a card show/shop and yes you will take a hit of 25% but its better than running the risk of 100%, is there is some sort of authentication that I've missed then hopefuly somebody will point it out.

If I were you I'd get on a few forums or reddit and ask where they advise is best, its better to pay and be covered imho.

[pokepost]

I haven't sold anything on eBay in a few years, But i did get burned before with a scammer and it has totally put me off, You are 1 million percent correct, I probably wouldn't sell on eBay again as there are far too many scammers, I and I'm sure like many others in my position would rather sell in person, Cash in hand from Facebook marketplace (once you sieve through all the scammers on there) or a Card Show/Shop, cash in hand is cash in hand at the end of the day and no scammers claiming back.

Graded cards from PSA and Beckett and a few others are authenticated real cards, But as you say (eBay can't authenticate them, Not in the UK anyway i don't think) The seller could send a random card back saying this is what they received, And keep the real card worth thousands and their money back. 

Thanks for your help, Me and the Mrs are planning on doing a card show next year in the States. 

[txt.ltd]

• eBay Balance: Starting from mid-October, this new feature gives sellers the flexibility to use their earnings to shop on eBay, promote their listings, purchase delivery labels or withdraw available funds.
• cash: Starting from way back when, this old feature gives sellers the flexibility to use their earnings to shop on eBay, promote their listings, purchase delivery labels or keep available funds in a place they can be used on other things outside eBay.