final value fees now include shipping

Brooker_Dave

Seems a bit unfair...

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2011/7/1310148072.html

shaun_from_Africa

I think that page is just referring to ebay.com.
Over there, they do pay FVF on postage, but it doesn't apply on ebay.co.uk (yet).


Ebay.com.

Here's an example of a final value fee calculation for an auction-style listing:
You sell an item for $95.00 with a shipping cost of $5.00.
Your final value fee on the item cost is 9% of $95,00, which is $8.55.
Your final value fee on the shipping cost is 9% of $5.00, which is $0.45.

.co.uk

Final Value Fee - If the item sells, you are charged a Final Value Fee. The Final Value Fee is based on the final amount the item sells for. The Final Value Fee does not include postage costs.

Enterprise_1701C

I haven't read the article, but my first reaction was that finally, it may well stop the people that add an exorbitant level of P&P! I personally always check P&P first, but there is a lot of people that see a cheap price for the product then get burnt by the P&P being 20 times the item price.

IF it doesn't apply to the UK yet, then it should do.

sam.4000

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

I haven't read the article, but my first reaction was that finally, it may well stop the people that add an exorbitant level of P&P! I personally always check P&P first, but there is a lot of people that see a cheap price for the product then get burnt by the P&P being 20 times the item price.

IF it doesn't apply to the UK yet, then it should do.

I think that is a crazy idea, another way of ebay making more money. Maybe ebay should target those who charge over the odds for postage.

shaun_from_Africa

it may well stop the people that add an exorbitant level of P&P!

Surely all that will happen is that people who charge a reasonable amount for P&P will have to increase it to cover the deductions, and people who charge exorbitant P&P will have to increase it to cover the deductions, so ebay will make more, the sellers get the same amount and it's the buyers who will be the ones losing out.

terra_ferma

They lowered fees overall, and I believe they pay lower fees on the postage bit (not 100% certain though).

Ebay.co.uk have said very clearly on the ebay boards that there are no plans to introduce that to the UK.

It's not fair or unfair, IMO, it's just a different way of calculating fees.
Seems stupid to have two different rates, (in the UK it's 0% on postage, but still a different rate in a way) just makes pricing more complicated. I agree it would be much easier to have only one rate for the whole price, item+P&P, as long as the overall fee is the same.

mikey72

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Surely all that will happen is that people who charge a reasonable amount for P&P will have to increase it to cover the deductions, and people who charge exorbitant P&P will have to increase it to cover the deductions, so ebay will make more, the sellers get the same amount and it's the buyers who will be the ones losing out.

Why do you think the buyers will pay?

Although I do agree there are ones that appear to pay any amount still, perhaps still thinking "it's ebay, it must be cheap"

shaun_from_Africa

Why do you think the buyers will pay?

For the same reason that they pay now.
If the P&P costs start to incur final value fees, sellers who only charge their actual costs will wither have to increase their P&P or pay the fees themselves, and I can't see many sellers wanting to be out of pocket on this.

an extra 20 or 30p on the overall cost won't put off many buyers, especially if the majority of sellers are all changing similar amounts.

Brooker_Dave

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

I haven't read the article, but my first reaction was that finally, it may well stop the people that add an exorbitant level of P&P! I personally always check P&P first, but there is a lot of people that see a cheap price for the product then get burnt by the P&P being 20 times the item price.

IF it doesn't apply to the UK yet, then it should do.

If people charge more for posatge and less for the item, how is anyone losing out?

shaun_from_Africa

If people charge more for posatge and less for the item, how is anyone losing out?

ebay are losing out because they receive less in final value fees. This doesn't worry me, but if their income declines too much, all they will do is to increase fees to make up for it.

Also, sellers who have a low item price and high P&P will have their items featured higher in item searches so may have an advantage over sellers who list with fair prices and fair P&P.

Brooker_Dave

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

ebay are losing out because they receive less in final value fees. This doesn't worry me, but if their income declines too much, all they will do is to increase fees to make up for it.

Also, sellers who have a low item price and high P&P will have their items featured higher in item searches so may have an advantage over sellers who list with fair prices and fair P&P.

I thought these days those who offered free postage were the most visible?