eBay "Buyer Protection Fees" (New charges for buyers from private sellers) - Details just recieved

Spoonie_Turtle

thepaperman said:

How long before £20+ items are advertised for less than £1 but with exorbitant postage charges. Much lower fees for the buyer with the overall price nearer to what they would have paid previously with only the 75p fee to be paid. That's what they originally worked to eliminate. Are the listing tools going to include a fixed or maximum postage charge?

They have for a long time capped the maximum you could charge for postage depending on the category. 

Several years ago I came up against this when I sold a large box set of DVDs; the max I could charge was £5, but the actual postage was well over that due to weight and I had to send the buyer an invoice to include the actual postage (I was fortunate that they read the description where I explained about it).

Rantband

thepaperman said:

Once upon a time sellers advertised at low prices but with very high postage charges. That was because eBay only charged fees on the item.

After a while it was announced that fees would be charged on the combined price plus postage charge. They has finally realised that they could make more that way, and stop the fee avoidance.

Next, they recommended making items freepost by including the postage into the advertised price so that buyers knew exactly how much they would have to pay, especially if postage costs changed dependant on the item value. Now, that's no longer a good idea as it would mean that the 4% fee would be on the postage charge as well.

How long before £20+ items are advertised for less than £1 but with exorbitant postage charges. Much lower fees for the buyer with the overall price nearer to what they would have paid previously with only the 75p fee to be paid. That's what they originally worked to eliminate. Are the listing tools going to include a fixed or maximum postage charge?

Personally, I've worked out that, on 'buy-it-now' items, I can reduce my asking price to how much I used to get under the old seller fee system (effectively by the 75p + the 4% fee), remove the freepost option and charge for the postage (with no 4% fee) as in the old days. At the end of it I will be getting the same amount I used to get and the buyer will not be paying any more than they have for a similar item in the past.

I'm sure it won't be long before eBay change the rules yet again!

Where have Ebay stated that postage is NOT subject to the 4% fee ?

hermante

thepaperman said:

Once upon a time sellers advertised at low prices but with very high postage charges. That was because eBay only charged fees on the item.

After a while it was announced that fees would be charged on the combined price plus postage charge. They has finally realised that they could make more that way, and stop the fee avoidance.

Next, they recommended making items freepost by including the postage into the advertised price so that buyers knew exactly how much they would have to pay, especially if postage costs changed dependant on the item value. Now, that's no longer a good idea as it would mean that the 4% fee would be on the postage charge as well.

How long before £20+ items are advertised for less than £1 but with exorbitant postage charges. Much lower fees for the buyer with the overall price nearer to what they would have paid previously with only the 75p fee to be paid. That's what they originally worked to eliminate. Are the listing tools going to include a fixed or maximum postage charge?

Hahaha yes I remember making listings for £1 + £500 postage to avoid fees.. All my sales were around £10-£20 at the time, it was just one buyer who said he would like to buy 100 of a single item which I could easily source in London but for some reason he could not source it in rural Suffolk.

I did £500 at a time to keep under the special delivery compo limit. After a few rounds ebay sent me an automatic warning so I stopped.

I thought ebay was going to require that you buy postage through them. While I'm not pleased about that, on its own it sounds like a fair way to prevent fee avoidance but not charge the fee on postage

soolin

hermante said:

thepaperman said:

Once upon a time sellers advertised at low prices but with very high postage charges. That was because eBay only charged fees on the item.

After a while it was announced that fees would be charged on the combined price plus postage charge. They has finally realised that they could make more that way, and stop the fee avoidance.

Next, they recommended making items freepost by including the postage into the advertised price so that buyers knew exactly how much they would have to pay, especially if postage costs changed dependant on the item value. Now, that's no longer a good idea as it would mean that the 4% fee would be on the postage charge as well.

How long before £20+ items are advertised for less than £1 but with exorbitant postage charges. Much lower fees for the buyer with the overall price nearer to what they would have paid previously with only the 75p fee to be paid. That's what they originally worked to eliminate. Are the listing tools going to include a fixed or maximum postage charge?

Hahaha yes I remember making listings for £1 + £500 postage to avoid fees.. All my sales were around £10-£20 at the time, it was just one buyer who said he would like to buy 100 of a single item which I could easily source in London but for some reason he could not source it in rural Suffolk.

I did £500 at a time to keep under the special delivery compo limit. After a few rounds ebay sent me an automatic warning so I stopped.

I thought ebay was going to require that you buy postage through them. While I'm not pleased about that, on its own it sounds like a fair way to prevent fee avoidance but not charge the fee on 

The simple postage scheme was due in the 1st quarter of this year, but nothing else has been mentioned. At that point  sellers won’t get postage money, just a pre paid label. 

jon81uk

Rantband said:

thepaperman said:

Once upon a time sellers advertised at low prices but with very high postage charges. That was because eBay only charged fees on the item.

After a while it was announced that fees would be charged on the combined price plus postage charge. They has finally realised that they could make more that way, and stop the fee avoidance.

Next, they recommended making items freepost by including the postage into the advertised price so that buyers knew exactly how much they would have to pay, especially if postage costs changed dependant on the item value. Now, that's no longer a good idea as it would mean that the 4% fee would be on the postage charge as well.

How long before £20+ items are advertised for less than £1 but with exorbitant postage charges. Much lower fees for the buyer with the overall price nearer to what they would have paid previously with only the 75p fee to be paid. That's what they originally worked to eliminate. Are the listing tools going to include a fixed or maximum postage charge?

Personally, I've worked out that, on 'buy-it-now' items, I can reduce my asking price to how much I used to get under the old seller fee system (effectively by the 75p + the 4% fee), remove the freepost option and charge for the postage (with no 4% fee) as in the old days. At the end of it I will be getting the same amount I used to get and the buyer will not be paying any more than they have for a similar item in the past.

I'm sure it won't be long before eBay change the rules yet again!

Where have Ebay stated that postage is NOT subject to the 4% fee ?

eBay haven't really said anything either way, but the FAQ here The best place to buy and sell | eBay.co.uk states that the fee is applied to the item price, so the assumption is there is no fee added to the postage amount, but it isn't clear so probably wise not to assume.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

jon81uk said:

Rantband said:

thepaperman said:

Once upon a time sellers advertised at low prices but with very high postage charges. That was because eBay only charged fees on the item.

After a while it was announced that fees would be charged on the combined price plus postage charge. They has finally realised that they could make more that way, and stop the fee avoidance.

Next, they recommended making items freepost by including the postage into the advertised price so that buyers knew exactly how much they would have to pay, especially if postage costs changed dependant on the item value. Now, that's no longer a good idea as it would mean that the 4% fee would be on the postage charge as well.

How long before £20+ items are advertised for less than £1 but with exorbitant postage charges. Much lower fees for the buyer with the overall price nearer to what they would have paid previously with only the 75p fee to be paid. That's what they originally worked to eliminate. Are the listing tools going to include a fixed or maximum postage charge?

Personally, I've worked out that, on 'buy-it-now' items, I can reduce my asking price to how much I used to get under the old seller fee system (effectively by the 75p + the 4% fee), remove the freepost option and charge for the postage (with no 4% fee) as in the old days. At the end of it I will be getting the same amount I used to get and the buyer will not be paying any more than they have for a similar item in the past.

I'm sure it won't be long before eBay change the rules yet again!

Where have Ebay stated that postage is NOT subject to the 4% fee ?

eBay haven't really said anything either way, but the FAQ here The best place to buy and sell | eBay.co.uk states that the fee is applied to the item price, so the assumption is there is no fee added to the postage amount, but it isn't clear so probably wise not to assume.

I have a feeling that it won't apply to the postage as soon there won't be any postage for private sellers and then the problem of fees and payment holds will be the least of problems! 

soolin

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

jon81uk said:

Rantband said:

thepaperman said:

Once upon a time sellers advertised at low prices but with very high postage charges. That was because eBay only charged fees on the item.

After a while it was announced that fees would be charged on the combined price plus postage charge. They has finally realised that they could make more that way, and stop the fee avoidance.

Next, they recommended making items freepost by including the postage into the advertised price so that buyers knew exactly how much they would have to pay, especially if postage costs changed dependant on the item value. Now, that's no longer a good idea as it would mean that the 4% fee would be on the postage charge as well.

How long before £20+ items are advertised for less than £1 but with exorbitant postage charges. Much lower fees for the buyer with the overall price nearer to what they would have paid previously with only the 75p fee to be paid. That's what they originally worked to eliminate. Are the listing tools going to include a fixed or maximum postage charge?

Personally, I've worked out that, on 'buy-it-now' items, I can reduce my asking price to how much I used to get under the old seller fee system (effectively by the 75p + the 4% fee), remove the freepost option and charge for the postage (with no 4% fee) as in the old days. At the end of it I will be getting the same amount I used to get and the buyer will not be paying any more than they have for a similar item in the past.

I'm sure it won't be long before eBay change the rules yet again!

Where have Ebay stated that postage is NOT subject to the 4% fee ?

eBay haven't really said anything either way, but the FAQ here The best place to buy and sell | eBay.co.uk states that the fee is applied to the item price, so the assumption is there is no fee added to the postage amount, but it isn't clear so probably wise not to assume.

I have a feeling that it won't apply to the postage as soon there won't be any postage for private sellers and then the problem of fees and payment holds will be the least of problems! 

Very good point, I wondered if they had intended to bring in simple postage at the same time - hence no need to mention postage, but have delayed it until the furore over this dies down.

anon_ymous

Just found out about this now, and even as a seller this is honestly ridiculous. I had something on for £129.99 with free delivery 

Now the point there is that £129.99 has a psychologically better price than £130.00. Now that eBay is doing this, it added £5.91 to the price

I actually prefer the older way even as a seller where the seller pays the fees because that way, you can set nice, easy to read prices instead of this bs. I know they're trying to copy vinted but eBay isn't vinted 

noitsnotme

waqasahmed said:

Just found out about this now, and even as a seller this is honestly ridiculous. I had something on for £129.99 with free delivery 

Now the point there is that £129.99 has a psychologically better price than £130.00. Now that eBay is doing this, it added £5.91 to the price

I actually prefer the older way even as a seller where the seller pays the fees because that way, you can set nice, easy to read prices instead of this bs. I know they're trying to copy vinted but eBay isn't vinted 

So set your price at £124.27 which should then end up at £129.99 once the buyer fee is added.  That's no different to the seller paying the fee, you just have to do a few extra calculations (took me about 10 seconds).

RFW

noitsnotme said:

waqasahmed said:

Just found out about this now, and even as a seller this is honestly ridiculous. I had something on for £129.99 with free delivery 

Now the point there is that £129.99 has a psychologically better price than £130.00. Now that eBay is doing this, it added £5.91 to the price

I actually prefer the older way even as a seller where the seller pays the fees because that way, you can set nice, easy to read prices instead of this bs. I know they're trying to copy vinted but eBay isn't vinted 

So set your price at £124.27 which should then end up at £129.99 once the buyer fee is added.  That's no different to the seller paying the fee, you just have to do a few extra calculations (took me about 10 seconds).

I'm a business seller so no way of checking but I'm curious and thought it may be a useful question to be asked:
do you see the selling price before the item is listed or do you have to wait until it's live and then adjust it?