Changes to Ebay Final Value Fees

soolin

I hope I'm not breaking rules here but an ebay rep has posted this on the boards:

Hi all,

To address the 2 main concerns on this thread.

Final Value Fee charged on multiple purchases

I can confirm that the Final Value Fee will be taken on the amount the buyer pays – so if a buyer buys multiple items from you and you give the buyer a discount for this then provided the invoice is updated the reflect this we will charge your Final Value Fee based on what the buyer pays you. We are encouraging sellers to offer discounts.

Here is more information on offering combined postage / postage discounts: LINK

Selling Internationally

If you sell internationally then this fee structure change may well see your fee's increase. There is some great advice on our announcement page on this point which could help you save on fees and also see your visibility increase on international eBay sites.


"It is important to remember that fees are based on the site that you list on. If you list on ebay.co.uk and simply make your item available to international buyers (Basic International Selling) you will be charged on the delivery option selected by the buyer. If you list directly onto a site other than ebay.co.uk (Advanced International selling) then you'll be charged according to the fee policy on that site.

While ebay.com charges a fee on the postage part of the transaction, no other eBay Marketplace sites do. Listing directly onto a site also has other advantages such as automatic search visibility, and don’t forget that we've also made it much cheaper for both Featured and Anchor store sellers to list on international sites directly. "



Have a look at this LINK to see more information on how we've made it cheaper to list your items internationally.

Many thanks,
Alan

campdave

thebestnameshavegone wrote: »

The only thing I can think of is to make a multi-variation listing of these sort of items - where you price the item individually but then also list a variation of 'pack of two', 'pack of three', etc and price accordingly. Not sure how easy it would be to keep control of your stock levels though?

You can only have one P&P for a multichoice listing - fine for light items domestically, depends if several may mean a change in weight or size.

soolin

campdave wrote: »

It says very clearly in the FAQ that FVF are charged on the postage option the buyer selects if you offer more than one service.

So if you offer free postage with an upgrade, you will get charged fees on the upgrade.

Which could be a worry for buyers who pay for multiple items before seller can send the revised invoice (obviously where p and p is seperate)

What about collection items? Are we happy that the ebay system is good enough to pick up the fact that FVFs should not be charged on postage if buyer collects and pays cash?

campdave

soolin wrote: »

I can confirm that the Final Value Fee will be taken on the amount the buyer pays – so if a buyer buys multiple items from you and you give the buyer a discount for this then provided the invoice is updated the reflect this we will charge your Final Value Fee based on what the buyer pays you. We are encouraging sellers to offer discounts.

All well and good, but I often get cretins (I mean lovely buyers dear to my heart) who buy several items, pay separately and I refund postage. I'm assuming I then pay FVF on what they have paid me BEFORE the refund?

soolin

campdave wrote: »

All well and good, but I often get cretins (I mean lovely buyers dear to my heart) who buy several items, pay separately and I refund postage. I'm assuming I then pay FVF on what they have paid me BEFORE the refund?

That appears to be how ebay see this working.

So my one from the weekend who got a refund of the £2.80 being one lot of p and p would have actually cost me an additional 28p in FVFs.

This is going to be a real problem for my bread and butter items- but maybe i will go free p and p and just keep the extra profits myself-which is of course a *bad* thing as I will be charging them for p and p (within the item cost) which they didn't need to pay.

Hmm, I feel another rethink coming on get the calculator back out!

RFW

soolin wrote: »

That appears to be how ebay see this working.

So my one from the weekend who got a refund of the £2.80 being one lot of p and p would have actually cost me an additional 28p in FVFs.

This is going to be a real problem for my bread and butter items- but maybe i will go free p and p and just keep the extra profits myself-which is of course a *bad* thing as I will be charging them for p and p (within the item cost) which they didn't need to pay.

Hmm, I feel another rethink coming on get the calculator back out!

Given the TRS changes I switched to 'free' post a while ago, so not worrying about FVF at this stage. I previously listed as free additional postage across most of my items, I haven't noticed any dip in sales since going 'free', if anything there's been a slight increase in multiple sales.
People like to pay more as long as they think they're getting a better deal, it's just an illusion.
You only have to look at the recent outcry when Amazon announced changes to their free postage. It will hardly make a difference to any orders yet they've had a large amount of adverse publicity from it.

campdave

It's interesting - judging by sales in my category, I'm absolutely convinced increasing price and having free P&P would kill of a substantial portion of my sales, based on the sales of competitors who do offer free p&p.

My decision will depend on what other sellers in my category do, though I am fortunate to have quite a few items that only I supply so would hope sales of those would continue to be strong.

paddyrg

Ebay built a successful semi-monopolistic platform, time for them to reap the benefits.

marking_bad

How does it work in the US? Are they charged on individual or combined shipping?

ballisticbrian

I can confirm that the Final Value Fee will be taken on the amount the buyer pays – so if a buyer buys multiple items from you and you give the buyer a discount for this then provided the invoice is updated the reflect this we will charge your Final Value Fee based on what the buyer pays you. We are encouraging sellers to offer discounts.

Can anyone explain how this will work with the other news that the buyer will have to pay immediately to confirm the order (immediate payment required) because I thought that meantthe order wouldn't even appear at the sellers end until it was paid (or no?)