Revision to eBay seller fees

[sidmouth]

I have bought and sold extensively on ebay in the past with very little issue until this year

 

both items sent perfect , packaged well and ended up damaged . One I just refunded , one I claimed on the post insurance and received a refund . Since the buyer marked the item as didn't like and never sent it back (their expense) I was able to keep the compensation and original fee which netted the loss on the first item 

 

as a private seller the aggravation of both and following ebay's policy was the final straw and I will not sell on ebay again . The rot set in when postage was included in the fees you paid and since then it has been a creeping grab. I'm sure there is a price point where you actually make a loss 

 

I presume ebay policy is to pursue business sellers with items of value rather than the average person looking to sell on surplus items in their collection to fund new purchases and it certainly feels like a policy to dissuade the casual seller from selling 

[andyman7]

As a private seller the key is to make use of the listing promotions which cap fees. As a long time user (both buyer and seller) I know the reason for adding in postage fees was because of sellers listing things at 99p with £15 postage. Guess what, ebay's buyer feedback suggested that buyers thought this was a rip off....I remember the early days of sellers who (just as in real life with some of the poorer traders) seemed to think that the very offering of their wares was a favour to buyers. Phrases such as 'once it is sent it is your problem' in listings. No sense that anything needed to be wrapped properly or at all (I was once sent an loco in an envelope....). No sense that as a seller once you are paid you need to send the item, not wait until the next time you happen to be in town.

The big change with ebay was the push to compete with Amazon etc which meant that the buyer experience had to be made more friendly. This does create risks for sellers, but if you are an organised and regular seller offering reasonable items it still works better than the other sites. Yes, the balance is tilted in favour of buyers but well described, well listed items from trusted sellers get better prices on ebay then on Facebook or Craigslist or whatever.

 

Having moved on to 'managed payments', I can see the benefit of getting paid net of fees, and clearly seeing what I have paid in commission. I've just sold some old Triang coaches by auction, they started at 99p and were bid up to just over £30, and I can see my fees will be £3.48 including an outrageous fee of 33p for the postage paid. Back in the day, if I'd taken them to a toyfair I would have had a parade of dealers turn their nose up and either tell me to put them in the bin or offer a fiver for them. 

[hayfield]

On 29/04/2021 at 11:18, adb968008 said:

Its a risky game refusing a refund.

 

 

To be fair though, in model railways returns are really low.. like 1 in hundreds.. but outside of model railways ive found so many dodgy sellers and assume buyers are no different..

 

I barely buy or sell anything outside of model railways, I just dont trust it, too many bad experiences. Personally i’d be really happy if a specialst model auction web mimicking ebay was set up.. Ive tried buying on vectis, but I find its too old school, too high in fees and too buyer beware, i’d certainly never sell on it.

 

With few exceptions virtually all my buying and all of my selling has been model railway items, as you say very little if any returns. Every issue I have had as a buyer and seller is down to posting, usually its when a seller fails to pack the items properly. In 17 years the Royal mail lost and paid up on 2 items and I think I failed to pack 2 items as good as I should have.

 

As for non model railway items on eBay and Amazon, I am quite selective

[RedgateModels]

Well I updated my details today. 

 

As I now have to revise my spreadsheet to account for the revised fees it was interesting to compare the before and after fees. Upshot is that on a £50 sale I'm 5p better off than before and I learned about the use of AND in an IF statement in Excel

[Sir TophamHatt]

Maybe I'll follow suit as I've had the reminder for weeks now.

Can you still use PayPal?  If so, there will be entirely no point in ebay having my bank details as I'll still continue to use that... maybe.  I'll have to read back through the thread.

Annoying though as my banking app gives me a notification every time I spend some money... :/

[RedgateModels]

Been said before, but if someone pays you via paypal that payment goes to ebay, they then send you the balance less the 12.8%+30p

[The Fatadder]

13 minutes ago, RedgateModels said:

Been said before, but if someone pays you via paypal that payment goes to ebay, they then send you the balance less the 12.8%+30p

That I hadnt noticed,

Is it possible to remove PayPal completely as a payment option?  With ebay paying straight into my bank account I see no reason to keep it if it is costing me in the process.  I cant see the hit on sales being too bad to offset the massive fee...

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

That I hadnt noticed,

Is it possible to remove PayPal completely as a payment option?  With ebay paying straight into my bank account I see no reason to keep it if it is costing me in the process.  I cant see the hit on sales being too bad to offset the massive fee...

No, you can't remove the option for buyers to use Paypal.  

 

If they do, that isn't costing you as seller the paypal fee any more.  Ebay are pocketing the money that you used to have to hand over to paypal for the privilege of being paid, and that's how ebay have justified their increase in fees.   (don't ask me what paypal gets out of this now). 

 

 

[andyman7]

2 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

No, you can't remove the option for buyers to use Paypal.  

 

If they do, that isn't costing you as seller the paypal fee any more.  Ebay are pocketing the money that you used to have to hand over to paypal for the privilege of being paid, and that's how ebay have justified their increase in fees.   (don't ask me what paypal gets out of this now). 

 

 

Ebay have contracted with a payment partner, and the fee you pay for receiving your payments is a single consolidated fee for accepting payments across a range of payment options. The payment partner has their own commercial agreement with PayPal as well as with other card processors (Visa. Mastercard etc). You can be sure that the payment partner is big enough to negotiate a deal with PayPal unlike us punters who would otherwise just have to agree to PayPal's standard terms.

[Hal Nail]

16 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

Upshot is that on a £50 sale I'm 5p better off than before

Is this ignoring the usual selling offers?

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, Hal Nail said:

Is this ignoring the usual selling offers?

Are you stick getting the usual £1 selling offers? 

I'm not.

[woodenhead]

My latest offer was sell three items for free, I think they are testing different options.

 

I guess they will vary according to how much you sell, I've not listed anything in over 12 months, and those items were after another similar period of inactivity.

[Michael Hodgson]

8 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

My latest offer was sell three items for free, I think they are testing different options.

 

I guess they will vary according to how much you sell, I've not listed anything in over 12 months, and those items were after another similar period of inactivity.

Not seen sell for free.  

I strongly suspect you're right about them analysing your sales pattern,

[RedgateModels]

I've just had a Max £3 selling fee offer, must try harder ebay LOL

[hayfield]

42 minutes ago, RedgateModels said:

I've just had a Max £3 selling fee offer, must try harder ebay LOL

 

Snap, accepted it but I doubt if I will sell anything

 

But even with the latest fees, selling on eBay is still the best way to maximise the net sale value after charges.

[Hal Nail]

7 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Are you stick getting the usual £1 selling offers? 

I havent given them my details so no!

[John M Upton]

From the moment the buyer pays to money actually in your hand seems to be averaging three to five days at the moment, longer if a weekend and a Bank Holiday intervene as it seems Ebay's accounts department doesn't work weekends even though, surely it must all be automated?

 

You could clear a good old fashioned cheque quicker than this utter shambles Ebay have foisted on us!!!

[hayfield]

10 hours ago, John M Upton said:

From the moment the buyer pays to money actually in your hand seems to be averaging three to five days at the moment, longer if a weekend and a Bank Holiday intervene as it seems Ebay's accounts department doesn't work weekends even though, surely it must all be automated?

 

You could clear a good old fashioned cheque quicker than this utter shambles Ebay have foisted on us!!!

 

 

If you sell via a traditional auction house not only will you sell the item for potentially a lot less, pay far higher fees and rather than wait for a few days for payment you will have to wait for a few weeks

 

We have had in the past a better deal than we perhaps thought we had, I for one tended to keep a balance in my PayPal account so waiting a few days is neither here or there. Its still a good deal, if you dislike waiting so long then reduce your listing period, you will get paid quicker

[daltonparva]

Apart from waiting for 2-3 days to see the money in my account, I've made more from the 80% of fees offer I received than I did from my previous £1 + PayPal offers. Thumbs up so far from me.

 

(The only downside, I liked to have my PayPal account as a separate "modelling account", rather than everything appearing together through my bank).

Edited May 17, 2021 by daltonparva

[chris p bacon]

I had a redundant savings account with Barclays with just a penny so this has been used to link to Ebay.

I've only ever had 2 sales (that I can think of) that wanted to return it, it will be interesting if Ebay ever try and take money back from the account, as it will only allow transfers to my current account for withdrawals.

[Crosland]

2 hours ago, hayfield said:

If you sell via a traditional auction house not only will you sell the item for potentially a lot less, pay far higher fees and rather than wait for a few days for payment you will have to wait for a few weeks

 

We have had in the past a better deal than we perhaps thought we had,

 

Indeed. The one I used to visit made 36% on every sale by charging the seller and the buyer.

 

eBay is a good deal in comparison.

 

[SGP]

I'm not sure what is going on here. I have stopped selling on eBay due to not understanding their new payments method. My monthly account was always paid automatically via Paypal but I am now getting statements each month from eBay showing -70p in red. 

Their interest rate is 1.5% compound each month but each time I try to pay the amount (it allows me to use Paypal), I get the message that I cannot overpay and payment is refused. 

So does this mean that they owe me 70p? How is that possible if I can't overpay? 

Trying to get in touch with eBay is impossible, going round and round on menus or typing to an assistant giving no help at all.

Statement attached.

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by SGP

[njee20]

On 14/05/2021 at 10:06, RedgateModels said:

I've just had a Max £3 selling fee offer, must try harder ebay LOL

Speak for yourself, I sold one item for £400 and one for £475, for £6 in fees. Brilliant, saved me £25 in PayPal fees!

[SGP]

Quote

I'm not sure what is going on here. I have stopped selling on eBay due to not understanding their new payments method. My monthly account was always paid automatically via Paypal but I am now getting statements each month from eBay showing -70p in red. 

Their interest rate is 1.5% compound each month but each time I try to pay the amount (it allows me to use Paypal), I get the message that I cannot overpay and payment is refused. 

So does this mean that they owe me 70p? How is that possible if I can't overpay? 

Trying to get in touch with eBay is impossible, going round and round on menus or typing to an assistant giving no help at all.

Statement attached.

All sorted now. Managed to get a one to one telephone call with eBay. I paid them on my credit card although it was a bit naughty on their part .... I had listed an item for free that didn't sell. They automatically re-listed it twice before I sorted out how to take the listing down. For the two automatic re-listings (which I thought I had opted out of on the original listing) they charged me 2x 35p. I only wanted £4 for the item. Not worth the bother of selling as I'd have been in the negative with postage if it had sold. Re-listings should be inclusive (in this case free) especially if I am unaware of a re-listing.

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, SGP said:

I'm not sure what is going on here. I have stopped selling on eBay due to not understanding their new payments method. My monthly account was always paid automatically via Paypal but I am now getting statements each month from eBay showing -70p in red. 

Their interest rate is 1.5% compound each month but each time I try to pay the amount (it allows me to use Paypal), I get the message that I cannot overpay and payment is refused. 

So does this mean that they owe me 70p? How is that possible if I can't overpay? 

Trying to get in touch with eBay is impossible, going round and round on menus or typing to an assistant giving no help at all.

Statement attached.

 

 

I got one of these, its the new monthly balance sheet