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

RFW

Money_Grabber13579 said:

It seems that this has all been driven by a desire by eBay to increase their profits, as fees payable under this model are likely to be significantly higher.

I'd be surprised if anything they did didn't have an end goal to increase turnover and profits.
They will have had this planned for some time, there were rumours circulating about a buyer's premium for most of last year. The totally fee free period will have been to get private sellers onside before this more significant change.
Plus they can still market the "sell on Ebay for free" which is quite a good ad and presumably quite effective.

soolin

Money_Grabber13579 said:

It seems that this has all been driven by a desire by eBay to increase their profits, as fees payable under this model are likely to be significantly higher. I had got into the habit of only listing items on a discounted listing weekend which meant I probably paid fees of about 3%. So can only see this resulting in even lower selling prices/rates than before…

EBay is a business, that’s what businesses do, they make money 

if you are looking at a free online site to use then you are probably looking at facebook marketplace (but then if posing items will probably end up having to pay PayPal fees) or your own website. Yes selling entirely free , or for single digit FVFs was great, I cleared loads of old stuff I had laying around, but I think we have to accept that any business is goingto want to monetise it somehow. 

savergrant

First listings under the new regime, a couple of old laptop chargers. When setting the buy-it-now price I got a message 'UK bidders will pay £1.06 buyer protection, so I had the opportunity to tweak the price.

soolin

savergrant said:

First listings under the new regime, a couple of old laptop chargers. When setting the buy-it-now price I got a message 'UK bidders will pay £1.06 buyer protection, so I had the opportunity to tweak the price.

Thank you, that’s  handy to know , that makes setting a start price easier for those who want to show a ‘set’ price for a potential buyer, rather than an odd amount. 

Money_Grabber13579

soolin said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

It seems that this has all been driven by a desire by eBay to increase their profits, as fees payable under this model are likely to be significantly higher. I had got into the habit of only listing items on a discounted listing weekend which meant I probably paid fees of about 3%. So can only see this resulting in even lower selling prices/rates than before…

EBay is a business, that’s what businesses do, they make money 

if you are looking at a free online site to use then you are probably looking at facebook marketplace (but then if posing items will probably end up having to pay PayPal fees) or your own website. Yes selling entirely free , or for single digit FVFs was great, I cleared loads of old stuff I had laying around, but I think we have to accept that any business is goingto want to monetise it somehow. 

I’m well aware that they are a business and that making money is what businesses do…

My point was nothing to do with the free selling period, which has been very welcome but I accept that it is likely unsustainable for eBay.  Instead, my point was that eBay are making fundamental changes to the fees model (moving from seller fees to buyer fees), using marketing to shout about it being free to sell (even when it’s no longer free to buy) and it actually being more expensive generally than it was before. It’s a cloak and dagger way of increasing fees whilst pretending it’s the opposite.

In other words, irrespective of who eBay charge fees to, it will be the seller who ultimate bares the cost and so my selling prices will likely be lower or selling volumes will be lower than if they had kept seller fees. 

testertrev

Just noted that over the last few days the amount of items listed in the collectible postcards section (which is my hobby) has dropped dramatically and virtually no 99p start items at all!  Has anyone noticed the same in what they look at? 

I also sold some items as buy it now this morning but  cant, as a private seller, see what the buyer actually paid.  

noitsnotme

testertrev said:

Just noted that over the last few days the amount of items listed in the collectible postcards section (which is my hobby) has dropped dramatically and virtually no 99p start items at all!  Has anyone noticed the same in what they look at? 

I also sold some items as buy it now this morning but  cant, as a private seller, see what the buyer actually paid.  

The buyer fee is so far only being added to the Electronics category.  So none of the prices of postcards will be affected at this time.

testertrev

noitsnotme said:

testertrev said:

Just noted that over the last few days the amount of items listed in the collectible postcards section (which is my hobby) has dropped dramatically and virtually no 99p start items at all!  Has anyone noticed the same in what they look at? 

I also sold some items as buy it now this morning but  cant, as a private seller, see what the buyer actually paid.  

The buyer fee is so far only being added to the Electronics category.  So none of the prices of postcards will be affected at this time.

I'm aware of that but think its a precursor of what's to come!  People are already starting to vote with their feet as there's  no definitive  'go live' date for the rest of the categories!

soolin

My question then would be, where have all those postcard sellers gone? Have they given up selling off their collections or can we expect a large influx of postcard collections to start appearing in charity shops? 

Vinted announced this week that they are opening new collectable categories for selling, I haven’t checked if they now allow postcards , but even if they do the buyer premium their is about the same as eBay and they are already doing the equivalent of managed postage so I can’t see the benefit. 

soolin

Out of interest I just checked for postcards and I can see 3.2 million+ listed in the Uk with some at less than £1 with free postage. I can’t imagine how many there must have been if 3.2 million + is hardly any. 

Loads at 99p and even though I never wanted to buy a postcard I’m tempted by a 99p one from the 1970s I’ve just seen with free postage, it says best offer, but I wouldn’t be comfortable offering less……I wished I hadn’t looked now as I do have a rather compulsive nature.