Changes to Ebay Final Value Fees

Strapped

Bad news for sellers like me with a high postage to item price ratio. Still, at least we'll no longer have war-and-peace threads about postage costs

soolin

steveE2 wrote: »

Soo thats a Yes,its in FAQ
Will private sellers need to pay fees on postage and packaging?
Yes, this change will affect all sellers on eBay.co.uk.

Sorry, I meant listing fees.

A few of my competitors still sell as private sellers and don't always wait for free listing days ( I suspect some have fallen below standard) . If they are now listing routinely at the current price of 15p for items up to £4.99 then my fees will be 100% dearer as I will be paying 30p.

soolin

campdave wrote: »

I don't mind paying fees on postage per se, but I do object to sellers who offer 'free' postage now getting an advantage - as a seller of small, light items, I charge for postage on the first item but free postage om all additional items and around 50% of my customers take advantage of this and buy several items (last night I sold 19 to one customer).

Sellers in my category who offer free postage sell many fewer items than i do, so this is a bit of a kick in the teeth as this combined with the fact my items no longer qualify for TRS status is a bit much considering how close together they have both come,

A bit of fag packet calculations suggests ill be worse off to the tune of about £50 per month once the increased free listing for featured shop listings are taken into account.

My buyers will be paying more if I opt for free postage and try to retain my TRS status. I currently sell a line of items that vary slightly in weight and can often get two in the same box so I refund the 2nd lot of postage, obviously with free postage I have very little incentive to do so as I am getting 5* automatically anyway.

Strapped wrote: »

Bad news for sellers like me with a high postage to item price ratio. Still, at least we'll no longer have war-and-peace threads about postage costs

I'm surprised it has taken so long to implement this actually, every time there is an announcement I expected this to be included.

ballisticbrian

OK, this is great news... for those threads about whether the postage was fair. Bad news for customers, and sellers. Well done eBay, :T

soolin

There is a thread on the community boards about it:

http://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-News-Autumn-2013/Fee-structure-changes/td-p/1710948

Someone has made an interesting point, one I had perhaps overloked. As a seller that has a very high international sale rate- and consequently very high airmail costs, this is going to mean I will seriously have to reconsider shipping some of the heavier but cheaper items outside of Europe.

Strapped

soolin wrote: »

There is a thread on the community boards about it:

http://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-News-Autumn-2013/Fee-structure-changes/td-p/1710948

Someone has made an interesting point, one I had perhaps overloked. As a seller that has a very high international sale rate- and consequently very high airmail costs, this is going to mean I will seriously have to reconsider shipping some of the heavier but cheaper items outside of Europe.

Or list them separately directly on individual international sites, as they still only charge fees on the item price. Which is a bit of a pain, and a gamble - pay the listing fees (definitely) to save on FVFs (maybe).

thebestnameshavegone

I'm another one who will be slaving over a hot calculator later - one of my accounts won't see much difference as I include postage in the cost of the item anyway; but I sell a lot of clothes, shoes, and accessories on my second account and price postage separately (mostly as the FVF is higher in that category and it was a way to save costs). I forsee lots of number crunching (at least until ecal updates!!).

sequence

So far as I can tell, these changes will make precisely zero difference to me.

Lee999

Just looking into this. Def going to be paying higher FVF as Ebay are telling us to basically put the postage costs into the item costs. So for me if an item is £5 plus £3 postage - ebay currently get 50p, change it to £8 with free p&p and I'm paying ebay 80p.

I'm really concerned about items which are low value but high postage (i.e. £2.70 plus £4.30 postage as posted with Hermes due to size), will now be £7. I think it will look expensive to buyers rather than £2.70 plus p&p. I know its the same overall but a lot of people see the item cost first.

Also, combined postage obviously goes out of the window as for example customers will now be paying £7 per item when before it was £2.70 plus £4.30 p&p. So where as buying 2 items would cost them £5.40 plus £4.30 (£9.70 with combined postage), now buying these 2 items with free p&p means they are paying £14 and ebay cash in on all the extra fvf!

Catch 22 really, lose profit and keep TRS, or lose exposure and possibly sales by not being TRS.....

ballisticbrian

I agree with everything Lee999 said. I sell lots of bits and pieces that go together, a pack of hooks 99p, various floats 99p each, a rig wallet 1.99 a few more 99p items, how does eBay propose to add free postage onto all these?