eBay Managed Payments – Numbers after 3 weeks

Since eBay Managed Payments kicked in for the first sellers to sign up a month ago, there’s been some impressive results according to eBay.

• More than $20 million GMV intermediated to date (on track to do nearly half a billion dollars this year)
• Sellers are saving with the new experience
  • 25% reduction in payment processing fees – representing $175,000 in seller savings to date (and on track for almost $4 million in seller savings on an annual basis)
• Interesting trend – over 1 in 10 transactions on IOS have been completed on Apple Pay (an option made available through the new experience)

The claimed savings are “based on a July 2018 eBay study of provider rates among leading competitors as they would apply to the average selling price of the invited seller population in the past 90 days, comparing flat rates charged for online processing only and excluding any applicable monthly fees“.

Offering more payments options is also proving to be popular with buyers and it should be – Apple Pay is a doddle to use with the click of a fingerprint scan. With over 1 in 10 eligible transactions are being completed on Apple Pay, the new option for buyers using their iPhones is a winner and sellers should look forward to more payment methods being added – Android Pay seems like a no brainer for the next integration.

eBay reports that sellers in the early trials have seen uplifts in sales – the lack of PayPal as a payment option doesn’t appear to have damaged sales thus far.

It is to be expected that eBay will be upbeat about eBay Managed Payments but we have heard of a few teething troubles such as inability to use the eBay Global Shipping service and PayPal calling in PayPal Working Capital loans (as is their right) as soon as sellers payment volumes stopped hitting their PayPal account. In their update eBay didn’t mention PayPal Working Capital loans, but did highlight the new deal that they signed with Square Capital earlier this summer. Currently eBay Square small business loans still aren’t available and the landing page on Square says that they are ‘coming soon’.

The good news for sellers in the UK is that, although this is a no choice compulsory change to the way the eBay marketplace operates, eBay Managed Payments are being road tested in the US. It’s the sellers that sign up early that will help eBay learn what works and what doesn’t and hopefully by the time it rolls out in the UK it’ll be better than PayPal.