Ebay gone to far with new policy change from 4th Feb 2025!

soolin

GadgetGuru said:

The buyer fee stuff is a complete mess. As a private seller I feel confused on where to price something because the buyer fee just increases the cost so I may be more expensive then others straight away - or when sending an offer etc.
I feel I have to take the buyer fee into consideration within my price now, so its like I'm taking the hit on the fee indirectly since I'm having to lower my listing price in the first instance. It's not really a buyer fee at all. 

It will become easier as we sellers get used to,it. We managed for years adding fees onto our asking price when we listed something to account for FVFs, now we just have to,learn to do it in reverse. 

Incidentally, some years back someone on here posted a study that said random priced items on eBay tended to sell slightly quicker than standard priced items , so asking £12.33 might be more effective than £12.50 or eben £11.99 . Anything is worth a try, and I admit I am still listing for what I want, although I have reduced my prices a little and also made up some bundles instead of selling individually, and not really worrying what the final price looks like. 

I’ve kept my business stock the same as there’s no need to change that and my prices are based on what competitors are selling for, although I’m never necessarily the cheapest. My private sales are just unwanted items so don’t matter as much. 

prowla

I've only dropped in to eBay a couple of times this month, but I've seen items with random pennies in the price; that suggests that sellers are keeping to their rounded asking price and letting eBay add on the buyer fees, ie. jacking up the price by 4%+75p.
The idea that sellers are going to do the reverse calculation to set their initial price is perhaps more aspirational than factual.

martindow

prowla said:

I've only dropped in to eBay a couple of times this month, but I've seen items with random pennies in the price; that suggests that sellers are keeping to their rounded asking price and letting eBay add on the buyer fees, ie. jacking up the price by 4%+75p.
The idea that sellers are going to do the reverse calculation to set their initial price is perhaps more aspirational than factual.

You're probably right that most won't, but the posts above show that it's possible to get round figures if you want.  Maybe some buyers who prefer to buy from business sellers will dismiss any listings that are odd amounts, so maybe it could be worthwhile.

2dareis2do

Just had another one today

Subtotal

£1.50

Buyer Protection fee

£0.78

Postage

£1.55

---

Order total

£3.83

Here the difference variable fee looks like 2%

0.03/1.50 = 0.02 * 100 = 2%

in_my_wellies

martindow said:

prowla said:

I've only dropped in to eBay a couple of times this month, but I've seen items with random pennies in the price; that suggests that sellers are keeping to their rounded asking price and letting eBay add on the buyer fees, ie. jacking up the price by 4%+75p.
The idea that sellers are going to do the reverse calculation to set their initial price is perhaps more aspirational than factual.

You're probably right that most won't, but the posts above show that it's possible to get round figures if you want.  Maybe some buyers who prefer to buy from business sellers will dismiss any listings that are odd amounts, so maybe it could be worthwhile.

I've listed a few items with the new system and have tried to get a round number, £xx.99 or £xx.95 and listed with postage so the buyer won't pay fees on postage
What I haven't had time to do yet is change existing listings to rounded prices and separate postage but I will eventually do this. 
I've been concentration on combining low price items into bundles, however, I've been surprised that I have sold three packets of a small item, listed at £2.75, now £3.58 to three people. Felt a bit sorry for them that they didn't buy last week so I added a few extra bits. All gone now 

My local charity shop has seen a rise in small craft items. They've made a space for some large boxes, everything 50p, £1 or £2. I did wonder if that was anything to do with the new system 

MR1988

Not sure if mentioned previously, but there's also a 20% VAT added at checkout on top of the "Buyer Fee." I just realized this today when I went through some orders.

RedImp_2

savergrant said:

2dareis2do said:

RedImp_2 said:

Yes I had a couple of books on sale starting at 99p, now says £1.75. Must admit can’t work the maths out!  But I think it’s the end of low price items being sold on EBay, presumably that’s what they want.

For offers the following applies where x is the item price in pounds and pence and y is the required offer price

y = 1.04 * (x +  0.75)

This may help to make sure you get the offer price you want.

I'm not sure where your maths is coming from. I think you mean y= (1.04 * x) + 0.75

However 99p * 1.04 = £1.03 then +75p =£1.78 which I think is what RedImp was expecting.

Your formula would be;
Y = 1.04 *(0.99 + 0.75)
1.04 * 1.74 = 1.81

As you are adding 4% to the fixed element of the fee.

Even if ebay are rounding down the offer price should be £1.77 not £1.75

Yes was exactly what I was thinking 

RFW

MR1988 said:

Not sure if mentioned previously, but there's also a 20% VAT added at checkout on top of the "Buyer Fee." I just realized this today when I went through some orders.

There shouldn't be. AFAIK it has to be the listed price in the UK, unless it's a B2B transaction the price should be clear at time of purchase. So if the price showing on Ebay is £10 including a £1 buyer fee they can't add an extra 20p at checkout. The fee may include VAT and they are showing that to the seller but it shouldn't be ab additional payment for the buyer.

MR1988

RFW said:

MR1988 said:

Not sure if mentioned previously, but there's also a 20% VAT added at checkout on top of the "Buyer Fee." I just realized this today when I went through some orders.

There shouldn't be. AFAIK it has to be the listed price in the UK, unless it's a B2B transaction the price should be clear at time of purchase. So if the price showing on Ebay is £10 including a £1 buyer fee they can't add an extra 20p at checkout. The fee may include VAT and they are showing that to the seller but it shouldn't be ab additional payment for the buyer.

Possible, I can't really tell but I will pay attention next time I purchase again from a private seller. It might be that it's hidden/inclusive at checkout and it shows differently in the order details.

For example, I have an item I sent an offer for £15 and got accepted by seller. On order page it says under item price "£16.10 incl. £1.10 for Buyer Protection." Then on Total breakdown it also adds Postage, which was £3.39 and VAT at £0.22.

savergrant

MR1988 said:

RFW said:

MR1988 said:

Not sure if mentioned previously, but there's also a 20% VAT added at checkout on top of the "Buyer Fee." I just realized this today when I went through some orders.

There shouldn't be. AFAIK it has to be the listed price in the UK, unless it's a B2B transaction the price should be clear at time of purchase. So if the price showing on Ebay is £10 including a £1 buyer fee they can't add an extra 20p at checkout. The fee may include VAT and they are showing that to the seller but it shouldn't be ab additional payment for the buyer.

Possible, I can't really tell but I will pay attention next time I purchase again from a private seller. It might be that it's hidden/inclusive at checkout and it shows differently in the order details.

For example, I have an item I sent an offer for £15 and got accepted by seller. On order page it says under item price "£16.10 incl. £1.10 for Buyer Protection." Then on Total breakdown it also adds Postage, which was £3.39 and VAT at £0.22.

I suspect that is 'simple delivery'. The Buyer is paying ebay for postage and ebay is paying the courier. I had it on an item I sold (only time I've used simple delivery) postage £2.45; VAT  49p which equates to evri's private customer price of £2.94

Not sure why it's so low in your case though, unless they can set something off against VAT?