It’s been rumoured that eBay will be changing their fee structure in the next seller release which is officially due to be published on the 30th of July.
What we can tell you is that fees will change to include postage. In the future eBay will charge fees on the total paid by the buyer, not just the final value fee. That’s the bad news out of the way. Also it’s not all bad, it’ll finally remove any incentive to gouge on postage and that will impact overseas sellers of the 99p item with £10 carriage a lot more than UK sellers charge sensible postage costs. On the plus side eBay have a whole load of fee changes coming down the line which will save you money.
Final Value fees will be reduced by 1% in some categories (CSA, Collectables, Tyres, and Watches). More importantly eBay are to introduce fee caps which will help a ton of sellers of high end products. Going back a few years when eBay removed tranched final value fees there were many complaints that fees for high ticket items were punitive for sellers. These caps will limit the total fees for Consumer Electronics (£10 cap), Furniture, Baths, Holidays & Travel (£40 cap), Tyres (£15 cap) and Watches (£50 cap).
Insertion fees will also be changing in business seller’s favour. Basic shop fixed price listing allowances will rise to 200 free listings on eBay UK and Featured shops will get 1200 free fixed price listings. Anchor shops already get free fixed price insertion fees but it’s rumoured that the monthly cost of an anchor store will be reduced.
For all shops, auction insertion fees will cost 5p for a start price of 99p or lower. For auctions with a start price over £1 the insertion fee will be a flat 30p without a shop or 15p with a shop. For the first time it makes sense to have an eBay shop for auction sellers from a pure fee perspective. Currently for higher end products auction insertion fees can cost up to £1.30 for items over £100 start price.
We know that there will be a ton of other changes in the seller release, but we’ll have to wait to the 30th to see what else is announced. In the mean time what we do know is that we can tear up the current assessment of what an eBay shop is worth. Once we have the full price change details we’ll do some analysis but it’s going to be complicated. From now on it won’t be a simple how many fixed price listings make which level eBay store the most attractive – it’ll include how many auctions you run as well of course as the free overseas listings already available for some Anchor shop subscribers.
We’ll have full details of the seller release the minute eBay make the information officially public on the 30th.
49 Responses
Superb news.
Charging FVF on postage will mean a HUGE increase in fees for sellers sending stuff Internationally. Knocking 1% off FVF will only chip the edge.
Sellers of lower value items will be hit extremely hard.
And of course RM International Mail prices have been increased a fair bit and are quite likely set for further rises.
Buyers on eBay will simply have to pay more while sellers stand still and eBay rakes it.
god bless ebay at least we wont be talking about some royal rug rat addition to the family business
in effect this penalises sellers whocharge fair and reasonable postage , as those that use postage as extra profit will be able to carry the extra 10% or so and still profit
if ebay charge us a fee on postage we will simply pass the cost on to the customer,
Really can’t understand the logic with the auction listing fees, 5p under 99p is fine but 30p over £1 is really going to affect me as I auction lots of items between £5 and £15, that really is a HUGE increase.
I will just have to sell everything fixed price through my featured shop and only auction £15 plus material… maybe that’s what they want me to do.
When I retired and started my online business I thought I would be in control of my destiny after many corporate years, now it appears I’m working for eBay… best shift listings to my website then
Just been reading the full release on eCommerce Bytes and they state that the auction listing fee above £1 will be 15p not 30p…
if you’re listing (as I am) around 15,000 auction listings a year, then those pennies really add-up…
Well, I’m feeling a lot calmer now, I can handle 15p for the auction items.
The problem with my collectible sales is there’s often no agreed market price which makes the auction format ideal, I’m constantly surprised by the lots that should be worth £40 going for £300.
I do think eBay are missing a trick with promoting fixed price at the expense of auctions and I really don’t see why there’s a difference in fees – in the USA there isn’t, so why not the UK too?
I sell about 75% outside the UK and I’m 100% not getting involved in the “free” postage that isn’t free malarky, the rest of the TRS requirement is fine but I’m not sure eBay realise the amount of resentment “free” postage is generating amongst many sellers…
It will be interesting to see how they implement the charge for postage. Most of my listings have courier: heavy and large. A lot of the time I don’t even need to send a invoice through the Ebay system as the customer calls to pay by card. It seems unclear how Ebay would be able to charge fee if they are not stated on the system.
I welcome the FVF Cap, should hopefully make a big difference.
Ebay launch all those initiatives to encourage international selling and then slap FVF on postage – which will of course be high for international sales.
Crazy and seriously bad news. Makes Amazon even MORE appealing than ever for selling internationally.
Steve
The postage fee is a big kick in the nuts especially when they are trying to push international sales, I can see why they are doing it but a small reduction in FVF’s in a few categories is a poor attempt at a compromise, it is nothing but a fee hike plain and simple. I wonder how the outlets etc who still charge postage will be treated?
Does anyone know what the % of postage fees eBay would claim, would it be the same % as their current FVF? Surely not…
free postage is a 100% fee
so Shylock ebays 10% pound of flesh
look good
lol
We sell sterling silver charms on Amazon Ebay and EKM.
We get charged 25% fee on Amazon Sale and of course the postage. When it’s international “Signed for” or “Airsure” then it does make quite a difference.
I would imagine that ebay will follow suit as they seem to do with many things and whatever FVF you pay, you will also pay on postage. BUT we will have to wait and see.
Chris,
You mentioned,
“Insertion fees will also be changing in business seller’s favour. Basic shop fixed price listing allowances will rise to 200 free listings on eBay UK”
I have a business account with a basic shop,
When the free listing allowance started they started giving me free listings with a banner at the top of the listing saying so,
But I queried this with ebay Ireland and they said I wasn’t allowed any free listing allowance so ebay had it removed,
I queried why a private seller gets 30 free listings per month when they have a shop and the rep said I was incorrect, private sellers don’t get a monthly allowance, even though I have seen it with my own eyes on a friends account,
I just query it as you mention “rise” which suggest I should be receiving an allowance,
In the past I have struggled to get consistent advise from ebay,
And can’t seem to find any information on this issue,
Thanks.
I will be losing out overall. As with many recent changes it is stacked against sellers of low value items who rely on multiple item orders and charge p&p separately in order to offer fair postage discounts to buyers.
On many of my items the postage is at least 50% of selling price, on some it can be more than the selling price. For international sales it can be 3 times the selling price. But, by refunding any overpaid postage or sending a revised invoice if not paid immediately buyers pay the correct, fair & reasonable amount.
Not all mixed item orders can be covered by ‘postage rules’ as they are inadequate even for UK sales and totally useless for non-UK sales.
I’m even going to have to revert to accepting cheques/postal orders if eBay expand the immediate payment only to all items.
Since my domestic products have free postage, it won’t hurt that too badly. And since international postage costs me nothing (the buyer pays) then having to pay a fee on the international postage costs will hurt, but not too badly.
Remember, though, that PayPal already charge us a fee on the buyer’s postage payment. It all adds up….
The decision to charge fees on postage suggests to me me that sellers have seen through eBay’s attempt to manipulate them into listing with free postage via the TRS programme (and thus increase eBay’s fees through increasing item prices) and so eBay have been forced to increase fees more directly in an attempt to make up the anticipated shortfall in revenue.
We can deal with it on our domestic sales, but we fully expect it to restrict international sales.
It’s the classic case of bad news feeling good…they will word it as if they are doing YOU a favour but think about it for a bit.
At the moment we don’t pay FVF on P+P but in September we will but they have “softened the blow” by reducing fees…GREAT !!!… until they increase the fees next year to about what we are paying this year.
We will not benefit in the long run and what used to be fee free will be a long lost memory.
My very first gaffer said to me, and I will always remember it was…”Always remember in life that ANY changes managment make WON’T, in the long term, benefit you in any shape of form”
I think eBay are really moving to ‘Top Rated Listings’ as opposed to ‘Top Rated Sellers’ – so they will make it lower cost to list items as only those strong items sold by strong sellers will be surfaced.
I admit I shop mainly on Amazon but only because its so hard to find the items I’m looking for on eBay. I know they are there but I am too lazy/time constrained to find them.
Charging fees on postage is the right thing – buyers do not like paying an additional delivery cost even if they know its hidden in ‘free delivery’ so this will encourage more sellers to give buyers what they want.
John
More good news than bad this time round for sellers. Been a while since you have been able to say that. Postal inclusion on fees is the right move, that area still needs tightening up, 1% reduction on some categories doesn’t sound like much but for volume sellers this will greatly help margins. Good stuff for the community.
.
Being in the £1-£9 bracket the FVF on P&P will hit us hard.
Gone now are the days of 99p UK P&P.
Personally for us this is a bad move. Just reduces our margin & increases ebays cut.
Of the cuff. We will just up the P&P charges to get the buyer to pay ebays cut….
ebay sellers will continue to pay more and more in fee’s.
Royal mail will continue to increases prices and introduce more stupid size charts.
Meaning less and less profits for sellers via ebay.
Time to start your own website. “If you build it, they will come”
In a few years (or most likely sooner) you should see the same results you get now from ebay.
all the money you save, not having to pay ebay ‘protection money’ you can use to promote your own website.
Not to mention you can monetize it with google ads and such and most importantly.
YOU are the boss!
I never used to believe in Vampires… but ebay bosses certainly want to bleed everyone dry.
Who the hell leaked this?! Nice one Chris!
Wonder what the tax status is on the fee change. If you think about it, it’s a charge levied on a purchase made (mainly) in the UK (by the customer), for a UK service (the Royal Mail), distributed through a UK service provider (the Royal Mail for example), actioned by sellers based (mainly) in the UK. The largest proportion of goods never leave the UK. Not sure where 15% Luxembourg VAT features in any of that lot as many of the items never left the country or came anywhere near Luxemburg/Ireland.
I don’t sell in any of the areas where the 1% fvf reduction will be given. Or where there will be caps. So all that’s left is fvfs on postage. Which I will pass onto the customer.
Its a big hunt for cash and profits to try and get the share price to record highs.
Ebays our 3rd largest market from being the first a few years ago. They have no intrest in small sellers anymore.
Ebays a market place loosing users in the west. Perhaps some growth in emerging markets will help them. But ebay wouldn’t be in my top 10 long term share purchases that for sure.
It’s all getting so complicated they’ve had to invent this crappy fees illustrator:
https://www.fees.ebay.co.uk/feeweb/feeillustrator
pixel-perfection is right, time to get your own site if you haven’t already.
ow well prices are going up by a quid on all items to compensate for international FV increase.
At the end of the day, the customer pays. Period!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have enjoyed being a ‘top rated seller’ since this scheme started but we now doubt that we can meet our high standard of customer service and comply with Ebay’s latest requirements. To deliver ‘P&P free’ is dishonest as the customer must pay for the service. It would be far better to say ‘P&P included’ . Finally we cannot guarantee a one day dispatched time as many of our products require very careful packing and the occasional surge in orders can overload our mail order department and therefore extend dispatch by a day. You will see from our customer feedback (ebay’mjonart’) that we deliver an exceptional standard of customer care for which our main business is well known. ‘Top rated’ status used to indicate the very best customer service now it will simply mean that sellers just claim to be cheap and fast, just like a spiv barrow boy.
Regards
Mike Tilley
Director
Newcastle Arts Centre Limited