The new fee ' Regulatory operating fee'

[oneblankcard]

So.... some pay an insertion fee, some don't depending on circumstances. (shop or no shop)

Then the Final Value Fee varies depending on what category the item is sold in.

Then there is a fee for handling the transaction which can be 25p or 10p.

Now we have this extra Regulatory Operating Fee which is charged on the whole lot PLUS VAT but that  already includes VAT...so is it right to charge VAT on VAT - probably but seems wrong to me.

All in all a little bit more nibbled away so profit margin is less. Customers are hard enough to get in the first place without me having to put prices up to keep my margins. If eBay doesn't look after sellers they may find them dwindling - other auction sites are available! It's late and I felt I should have a moan before I made my cocoa. x

[myfairdeals]

Oh so true your comments - my feeling entirely - we are truly being conned here in this instance - i already worked out it looks like a tax on top of something already taxed - strange and in some sinister way horribly dishonest its like a compound interest on fees 

[crondallrnr]

Indeed after my current item sells I'm binning eBay for good. I don't normally use eBay but have an account from way back. Didn't sell an item locally so put it up on eBay and had loads of interest eventually selling it for 500 sovs. I hadn't checked the fees before hand so was floored when I got charged 64 sovs for the sale. eBay can do one as their charges are extortionate IMO.

[tressygirl]

Yep,  eBay seller fees are 12.8% plus 30p per transaction.

Not cheap,   but for that price you get a worldwide audience,   and it's still far cheaper than an auction house.

Mine charges just under 30% if you add all the service and VAT charges on top of the winning bid price.

[oneblankcard]

Plus the regulatory fee plus VAT  and all the fees are not just charged on the item price it includes delivery cost as well.

[ravergamer]

This fee wasn't there before. Ebay have added a bull*bleep* extra charge to make more money. I only use ebay as a back up when my items don't sell on vinted which is a way better platform than ebay is. Ebay have got so greedy over the years they can't help themselves to squeeze more money out of your sales. Every ebay seller should boycott their platform. That would give them a kick up the arsenal they need

[aksluk]

Disgusting from eBay. Didnt' receive any email/notification that they will be slapping this fee. 

[oneblankcard]

They did send out an update , but my arguement is that if it's a regulatory fee why don't people who sell clothes have to pay it. 

[arabwade-0]

calling it regulatory makes it feel "nothing we can do it is mandatory it is a pass on cost" it is not this but a cost to cover the costs of operating. just put up charges % and be transparent. 

[oneblankcard]

The Financial Conduct Authority introduced it. I just don't know why clothes aren't included??!!

[papso22]

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@oneblankcard wrote:

The Financial Conduct Authority introduced it. I just don't know why clothes aren't included??!!

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No they didn't.

It's just another ebay fee charged to sellers and introduced to cover the costs of complying with various regulations, including the cost of reporting sales to HMRC from 2025.

As such, it is up to ebay who they charge, and where something is free to sell, it will mean there are no selling fees of any sort.  So ebay must have worked out that the regulatory operating fees they do charge are sufficient.

[petesunandsand]

I've just seen your post from 24 Feb 2024, where you say ebay are charging vat on vat. I think you should look at the calculation again, because what you are suggesting is simply not true. They have to earn money somehow, and the way the charges are organised now are far better than the early days. Today you can list for free, whereas you used to pay 20p for every listing even if it didn't sell.

[a45heaven]

Plus Insertion Fees, plus the new Mystery Regulation Fees. ebay wont even reveal what the regualtions actually are which members have to pay now.

The fees are around 20% plus now , thats before promotions and ads are included too.

Auction houses do far more work  in preparing items to be auctioned, ebay simply have folks load their items onto a constantly flawed platform.

[e-breaker]

I don't get why many American company's do this,  why can't they just come up with a set percentage they want to charge that will cover all the expenses they claim to charging customers for, instead of splitting it all down into subcategories, I'm a user of another site where the only way to participate and buy things is online yet they have many fees as well as your normal percentage of purchase fee, one of them being entitled online bidding fee, another is a fee for basically handing over your purchase at the point you collect it. just seems to wind people up. 

[theelench]

One reason is undoubtedly that the resulting fee would be larger and more off-putting to some punters.

It could also become horrendously complicated by showing all the possible fees on different types of sales, especially as ebay has different fee structures for Business Sellers and Private Sellers.

I think it's better to show basic fees with a "Help Page" listing all the others that are, or can be applicable to the two types of seller.

As a private seller, I don't pay any listing fees, business sellers more often do pay listing fees on some or all of their listings.

Even as a private seller who only posts to the UK, I've had a few surprises when the fees on a transaction look too high.  Usually an overseas buyer (mostly from Australia), has arranged a UK delivery address but pays using Australian $.  Ebay then charges me currency conversion fees.

I don't know if you were selling here when ebay took over payment processing from Paypal?

There were many sellers who were upset when ebay 'increased' its fees from 10% to 12.8%.  Apparently many sellers were not aware that they were paying paypal 2.9% in addition to ebay's 10% and they had, in fact, been given a (miserly) 0.1% reduction.

IMO ebay is pretty clear about its fees.  When I list it always tells me if I've incurred any fee above the basic FVF on the listing form.

The regulatory operating fee is just another fee increase, but at least while it is shown as a separate fee we can see when it is increased and can question why.  Hidden away in one fee we would know even less about what we are actually paying for.

[surplus-q]

In some cases eBay fees are around 30%. I know it is hard to belive... but it applies to our type of business and the stock we sell. It was the main reason we moved over 75% somewhere else. With 30% fees the eBay profit was higher than our profit... I'm attaching the print screen when eBay fees are even higher... over 50%. These greedy people from eBay are making fools of people and getting richer at the expense of the middle class.

[thetimetower]

Yup. At this point half of ebays fees are questionable. They just get greedier and greedier.

[myfairdeals]

I HOPE YOU MAY LIKE THIS - I JUST WROTE IT THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/THE-DEATH-OF-MY-FATHER-AND-EBAY-SELLER-PROTECTION/m-p...

[pressingmattersrecordshop]

I also note there will be an increase in fees shortly and also a drop off from 1000 items to 300 per month for 'free'... Only just getting started here on this new account but feel like it's going to be a non starter now. So see ya later eBay, Discogs it is and finish our own website and push that through social media instead. 
Margins killed once again by OTT greed.

[sml192]

Where are you seeing that fees will be increasing shortly, or are you referring to the fees for international transactions?