Jump to content
 

The end of max £1 selling fees?


ejstubbs
 Share

Recommended Posts

I received an e-mail today from the "eBay Seller Team" offering maximum £3 selling fees for listings placed this weekend.  Previously, in my experience at least, it was always £1.  Has anyone seen the £3 offer before or have the halcyon days of the £1 offer passed?

 

I have some items I'd been waiting to list but I'd rather not jump at this offer if the better offer is likely to reappear at some point.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I suspect ebay have concluded that they are not making as much profit out of us as they would like.

 

I've not seen the £3 at all, nor have I seen the £1 recently, that had been about monthly.  I didn't get the £1 offer the last couple of times that I was aware others had got it.

 

I have a dozen or so unsold items of railwayana I am hoping to relist but £3 max would not make it worthwhile.  I will probably take my surplus stuff to a Quorn swapmeet next year if I am stuck with ebay's new fees.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

The small print on this latest offer shows it is only inviting people on the e-bay managed payments scheme to the offer. My last £1 selling offer came about 2 months ago-this was followed by an 80% off fees which I had no items sorted out for, so I was hoping for a £1 offer for this weekend-as others have said above, I was also sadly disappointed to read that the offer was £3. Maybe time to put a couple of larger lots on as I have about 50 Bachman carriages and 80 coal wagons to shift -judging the market's capacity for larger lots might be a 'chuck it and chance it' strategy?

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

They’ve done it before. I had 80% off fees a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve had £5 max fees too, interestingly when friends have had £1 offers, so clearly they do a bit of multi variant testing of this stuff. 
 

As it happens I’ve been waiting to list a couple of bits that should get £300+, so it’s an easy decision for me!

Edited by njee20
Link to post
Share on other sites

I've had a £3 offer a few times before. 2 weeks ago I had the 80% offer under the new "managed payments" system, which generally works out better than the £1 + paypal fees. The £3 offer with no paypal fees  works out better than £1 + paypal if you are selling items valued £60 upwards, and cheaper than the 80% offer for items £100 upwards.

Edited by daltonparva
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I had £1 max every other week from the beginning of the year - I suspect ebay wanted to get people into the habit of selling, so that when you had to link your bank account with ebay, you did, however all if proved to me is what a faff selling on ebay can actually be, and since I was running out of things that were actually worth my time selling, I still haven't re-registered.

 

Jon

  • Agree 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

I have been an eBay member for 20 years and the service has gradually got worse over the years. I remember when you would be sent a voucher for £10 to spend on any item and with no strings attached such as having to buy a new item or a minimum spend.

It has got more difficult to contact them and as for the latest scheme of your payment being sent to your bank account.... The PayPal instant payment was excellent for buyers and sellers but as a seller this is no longer available.  
I am currently waiting for a payment to arrive in my bank account but have been informed that there is an unspecified issue with it. I followed eBay instructions and posted the item to the buyer. So the buyer has now received the item but I am no nearer to receiving the payment. 
 

John

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
  • Friendly/supportive 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I am on Managed Payments which does have the advantage of a breakdown summary of transactions and the fees extracted therefrom but the delays in actually receiving the payment is completely ridiculous in this day and age.

 

Also, despite being on Managed Payments, I have just received a invoice for further selling fees, so not as clear cut and streamlined as their slick sales patter had led me to believe...

  • Agree 1
  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Also, despite being on Managed Payments, I have just received a invoice for further selling fees, so not as clear cut and streamlined as their slick sales patter had led me to believe...

 

Maybe for sales before you switched over. Invoices for fees are issued in arrears.

 

Which reminds me, my bank and/or card have been linked to Ebay for years for the automatic payment of fees invoices with no issues.

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 37501 said:

the service has gradually got worse over the years.

 

 

1 hour ago, 37501 said:

It has got more difficult to contact them

 

 

It's now ridiculously difficult to contact them.  In one dispute concerning a fraudulent seller, I had to spend 5 hours on the phone - a 25-minute wait each time, a different person each time,  so I had to explain the whole thing all over again, to someone whose first language wasn't English.

 

On another occasion, I stated that I wanted to explain the details of an issue in writing by email rather than on the phone. The person on the other end kept saying why and asking what is the issue. I just kept repeating that I want to explain the details of an issue in writing by email. After twenty minutes of  going round and round with this, she finally gave me an email address. I emailed it and got a message back saying Ebay don't monitor this email address.

 

I'd like to see a law passed requiring online companies to provide a functional Email  address or a UK postal address,

  • Like 1
  • Agree 7
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

When I had an issue recently the eBay agent said I would be called back - I received the call back at 3.30am in the morning. Their call centre hadn't a clue about the local time in the UK! (Still waiting to hear back about the complaint I raised).

 

I had a 50% off fees offer last weekend - the small print says: ..."Applies to final value fees on up to 100 listings. Item must sell within the first listing period. No insertion fees apply. Private sellers activated on managed payments only. Offer excludes the 30p order fee for private sellers activated to managed payments."...

I assume that the offer only applies for the first month now that fixed price listings are "Good 'Til Cancelled".

 

But it's still worth cancelling any existing listings you have (if the fees are higher) and re-listing them using the offer.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

What on Earth is this "30p order fee for private sellers" business? Another little extra fee they have snuck in whilst they thought we weren't looking?

Link to post
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, John M Upton said:

What on Earth is this "30p order fee for private sellers" business? Another little extra fee they have snuck in whilst they thought we weren't looking?

 

It's the non percentage part of your final value fee - 30p+whatever percentage that category attracts. So you're getting 50% off the percentage only in Andrew's offer. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 18/05/2021 at 18:47, Mike Buckner said:

It's now ridiculously difficult to contact them.


Go to their "Contact Us" or "Help" section and look for the button/link that says "hard of hearing?" - email that.

I've always had a good response using that link.

Edited by Sir TophamHatt
  • Thanks 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 18/05/2021 at 17:43, John M Upton said:

I am on Managed Payments which does have the advantage of a breakdown summary of transactions and the fees extracted therefrom but the delays in actually receiving the payment is completely ridiculous in this day and age.

 

Also, despite being on Managed Payments, I have just received a invoice for further selling fees, so not as clear cut and streamlined as their slick sales patter had led me to believe...

Your invoice relates to the the listings made before you switched to managed payments which stay on the old system until sold, ended or renewed.

The £1 max always excluded PayPal fees so I don't expect they will appear again. But no doubt they will try different formulae.

 

Ebay has it's annoyances but I still contend that compared to other channels it's still the best deal. There are plenty of alternatives like Shpock or Facebook if you don't like ebay but having checked them out they don't (yet) compete with the reach of ebay.

  • Like 2
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I'd suggest that 'paypal have jumped on the bandwagon as a result on lockdown easing. Being RMWeb  users, I'd suggest using the sales & wants on here. If  it gets properly used, there is a couple of upsides to this.

 

With he relaxing of rules, perhaps swapmeets will be back in vogue*

 

* No, not that Vogue; the other one.  " For sale, a full-length evening dress, in silk.  Embroidered with a stunning 'Leader' display at or about the midriff.  Complimented with a set of diamante brooch, and a firemans jacket, ex- Longsight..." 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I had a conversation with an eBay rep the other day. A seller pays eBay ALL the fees now that were previously shared with Paypal. That means that eBay pays the Adyen fees (Adyen won't be providing eBay with a service for free) but I threw a curved ball into the conversation ...... buyers are still given the option to pay with Paypal, so who pays the Paypal fees? Certainly not the buyer, so who does? Is it the seller for accepting Paypal or do eBay cover Paypal's tab (who also aren't providing the service for free)? The eBay rep said that eBay are considered to be "the shop" so eBay cover the Paypal tab. If that is the case, why add all this complication that theoretically costs them more?

  • Like 2
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Last £1 offer I had was 14 April, then £3 offer 14 May, and now the 50% + 30p offer today. I moved to the managed payment account on 23 March.

 

I must admit I can't be faffed reading all the small print to work out what it is going to cost me to sell a few low-value items, left over from a while back - so I just won't bother.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...