Double Wammy for eBay sellers, eBay prices to rise by at least 10% plus postage going

ballisticbrian

It's coming up to that time of year when postage prices rise, we don't yet know how much for basic services like franking and stamps, but last year saw record rises particularly for franking.

Just to add insult to injury, eBays top rated sellers are loosing 10% of their discount for good service which will immediately impact prices.

A lot of consumers use ebay for purchases of single items where a handling charge from other web based retailers of a few quid on an order doesn't exist in eBay. The margins are tight with pressure on sellers to keep prices as low as possible, but the impact of these up coming changes will be quite drastic and noticeable.

lovinituk

Why will it make ebay prices rise by 10%? The 10% loss of discount is on the Final Value Fees only which are 10% of the sale price. Not sure how this means that prices will increase by 10%?!? I'm top rated but I won't be putting my prices up at all due to the drop in discount, let alone 10%!!

ballisticbrian

OK maybe I worded it a bit wrongly, but say an item is £2.00, current final sale fees (not including paypal fees which on a £2 item are 20p plus 3% -26 pence!) ebay fnaal value fee are 20p - 10%, mius 20% of 20p - 4p, this will be halved to 2p making the fees go up from 16p to 18p, this is effectively a pric e rise to many ebay sellers exactly when postage is going up.

lovinituk

ballisticbrian wrote: »

OK maybe I worded it a bit wrongly, but say an item is £2.00, current final sale fees (not including paypal fees which on a £2 item are 20p plus 3% -26 pence!) ebay fnaal value fee are 20p - 10%, mius 20% of 20p - 4p, this will be halved to 2p making the fees go up from 16p to 18p, this is effectively a pric e rise to many ebay sellers exactly when postage is going up.

So taking nothing else into account, the £2 item will cost the buyer an extra 2p which if they add that to the sale price to compensate would be £2.02 which is a 1% rise, not a 10% rise!! Your thread title just came across as slightly scaremongering!

I'm sure some sellers will increase their prices if they are working on tight margins, but some of us are sensible and treat the discount as a bonus. As I posted on another thread, I have never included the discount when working out my profit margin.

The postage however may be a different story. Royal Mail have already announced the business price rises and some are rising by effectively almost 50%. I won't be increasing my prices initially as I want to see how it affects other sellers first.

ballisticbrian

I may be scaremongering a little bit. What do you think of eBay raising prices in the current climate??? I think it's sick. Don't forget they are basically owned by a bank called paypal which is a huge cash cow.

lovinituk

ballisticbrian wrote: »

I may be scaremongering a little bit. What do you think of eBay raising prices in the current climate??? I think it's sick. Don't forget they are basically owned by a bank called paypal which is a huge cash cow.

But ebay are not raising prices (well only in one category) - they are reducing a discount, that is not available to all sellers anyway. If any business has set themselves up to rely on that discount then they are very short-sighted.

At the end of the day ebay are a business out to make money. Every year, half the selling community is up in arms when ebay announce their changes. No amount of shouting by any amount of sellers is going to stop the changes happening so its pointless complaining really. I prefer to just adjust accordingly and get on with it.

There will be the usual fall out of sellers who are so disgusted that they will leave ebay, even if it means walking away from a (slightly less) profitable sales venue. I bet ebid are readying themselves for the influx of new sellers over there!!

Crowqueen

I bet ebid are readying themselves for the influx of new sellers over there!!

And then the inevitable drop-off again when the eBay escapees realise that although they can do as they please, no buyer is going to touch the place with the proverbial barge-pole.

RFW

Crowqueen wrote: »

I bet ebid are readying themselves for the influx of new sellers over there!!

And then the inevitable drop-off again when the eBay escapees realise that although they can do as they please, no buyer is going to touch the place with the proverbial barge-pole.

They've certainly had enough opportunities to capitalise and not managed it in the last 12 years. I'll stick to where the buyers are and not the disgruntled sellers.
Our business model is gradually moving away from Ebay but I certainly couldn't see using Ebid as a viable or worthwhile option.
With the current economy inflation is likely to start rising soon, this is all going to be part of it.

Notmyrealname

Ebay are reducing the TSR discount. They're raising the FVF in technology categories for businesses by 66% (3%-5%) Whilst it may not sound a lot, it adds up when the things you sell are typically £200+.

I did the sums today. Based on the crap month I had where I struggled to shift 40 laptops despite them being 2/3 of the price they were in September, it has now got to the point with Ebay that with all the fees and the costs I have to absorb with post and packaging to keep a 5 star rating it is cheaper for me to open and run a bricks and mortar store on the High Street of my town. And thats on just 10 laptop sales a week.

At least with a bricks and mortar store I will be free of all the cost, stress and time it takes to get the 5 stars required to maintain TSR. It has got completely out of control. My TSR is at risk and "being protected by Ebay for 3 months" because IN ONE YEAR I have had three 1 star ratings which were all in one week where the country was 3ft deep in snow. The fact that hundreds of Ebayers have been happy and that the lowest I have in any category is 4.95 doesn't seem to matter.

RFW

Notmyrealname wrote: »

At least with a bricks and mortar store I will be free of all the cost, stress and time it takes to get the 5 stars required to maintain TSR. It has got completely out of control. My TSR is at risk and "being protected by Ebay for 3 months" because IN ONE YEAR I have had three 1 star ratings which were all in one week where the country was 3ft deep in snow. The fact that hundreds of Ebayers have been happy and that the lowest I have in any category is 4.95 doesn't seem to matter.

I'm sure you know your own business but there are as many if not more stresses and costs in running a shop as being on Ebay with less potential footfall. DSRs can be a pain and the hoop jumping can be a bit much. That said you're in a pretty competitive market and will be wherever you go.

Notmyrealname

RFW wrote: »

I'm sure you know your own business but there are as many if not more stresses and costs in running a shop as being on Ebay with less potential footfall.

Not any more there aren't. Take a laptop I sent to Poland this last week. I put a piece of paper in with the product key on and put a X next to it in marker pen, folded up the paper and put it on the keyboard, parcelled up the laptop. I get an email from the buyer yesterday to say there's a problem with the screen. Turns out the ink leaked through the paper onto the screen. 30 seconds to remove with some hairspray and a cloth. However he's Polish and what he calls "middle level english". I think I've explained what happened to it and how to sort it but I can't be sure.

I couldn't get to sleep last night worrying about it. Because of the screwed up way the star ratings are implemented, if he gives me low stars I lose my TSR status because you only need 3 low stars in an entire year to lose it even though you have 100% feedback,a 4.95 rating and hundreds of 5 stars. TSR status means I can get about 10% more for the laptops I sell which is the only thing keeping me making a remotely worthwhile profit (10-15%) at least in this month as the cost of procuring used laptops has gone up significantly yet the amount they sell for is dropping so TSR status is bloody important. My TSR status FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS balances on a 23 year old Pole understanding what I told him and accepting I made a mistake.

I can't recall having that much stress about a shop.

lovinituk wrote:

So taking nothing else into account, the £2 item will cost the buyer an extra 2p which if they add that to the sale price to compensate would be £2.02 which is a 1% rise, not a 10% rise!! Your thread title just came across as slightly scaremongering!

The 2% increase in the FVF alone for business sellers in the technology category adds for me about £5 in costs per laptop which I can't recoup. That for me is at least an extra £50 per week or £2600 a year.

I'm glad you can afford to think of such sums as trivial.