Now I'm confused about ebay fees - does free not always mean free?

ElefantEd

I'd understood that for the last few months private sellers have paid no ebay fees either for listing or as final value fees, unless you add the optional extras like reserve prices, subtitles etc.

I've listed a few items recently, the latest one was snapped up at a Buy It Now price by someone in the USA (paying £15 for the item and £35 for postage and import fees (!), the package going via the Global Shipping Programme. According to my seller dashboard, I've been charged a whopping 46p in fees. Is this because I've used the GSP, and so the thing is going abroad - which is one of the extra categories, but I must admit I thought it would count as being in the UK as that's where I sent it.

Now I must admit I have no problem at paying 46p to use the GSP, as I'm pretty sure I would have only got the starting price of £10 (if that) if I'd restricted sales to the UK, I was just surprised. Can anyone confirm this is the reason, or have I missed something else?

gntfieldside

Stuff on ebay I read yesterday says fees apply for international sales. Just start the process to list an item and you see details of free fees.

I am also questioning whether free is really free. I am first time seller . Too good to be true.

I previously had a classified ad for a month stay in holiday house. Got the odd message but no sale yet and assume payment all works same as a classified ad on  gumtree (ie I offer card payment or bank transfer once dates and any extra needs etc all agreed with no involvement from website offering a classified).

Looks like my classified listing has no payment options on listing so all good. Has been placed twice and free *is* really free.

I then went gung ho a bit and listed an auction for a specific 2 weeks with fixed percentage (likely to be all profit and maybe more if price stays low) to a local dog rescue charity.

Last night, day 7 of 10 day auction, suddenly realised ebay have payment options for this auction listing and was slightly alarmed to see past posts indicating a 13%: fee. If bid up to bin price thats 260.- quid I hadnt accounted for. Eek.

AFAICS this free for private users means no fee at all for taking payment. Never sold on ebay but I assume fee for taking payments was included in FVF final value fee and for UK to UK that is currently free.

Knowing that taking a credit card costs any merchant including ebay a few percent this makes no sense. If my auction ends at 1000 which is still cheap for 2weeks in a 3 bed house, ebay are paying at least 20 quid probably more if buyer pays with cc.

OK its a loss leader as they try to boost sellers using their site and high value is unusual but still makes me ask the same question as you. Is it really free?  

Also understandable that ebay are now adding buyers fees. 

As a buyer (my usual role), I dont really object providing amount shown is price I pay. However how will this work with auctions?

Would make more sense for ebay to charge a final value fee of 4% which is much better than it used to be for sellers.

jon81uk

ElefantEd said:

I'd understood that for the last few months private sellers have paid no ebay fees either for listing or as final value fees, unless you add the optional extras like reserve prices, subtitles etc.

I've listed a few items recently, the latest one was snapped up at a Buy It Now price by someone in the USA (paying £15 for the item and £35 for postage and import fees (!), the package going via the Global Shipping Programme. According to my seller dashboard, I've been charged a whopping 46p in fees. Is this because I've used the GSP, and so the thing is going abroad - which is one of the extra categories, but I must admit I thought it would count as being in the UK as that's where I sent it.

Now I must admit I have no problem at paying 46p to use the GSP, as I'm pretty sure I would have only got the starting price of £10 (if that) if I'd restricted sales to the UK, I was just surprised. Can anyone confirm this is the reason, or have I missed something else?

There is an international fee of 3% when selling internationally, think it came about a few years ago. Doesn't matter if you sort the postage or use GSP.

Fees for private sellers | eBay

Changes come next week means buyers will have a fee added for all sales.

ballisticbrian

jon81uk said:

Changes come next week means buyers will have a fee added for all sales.

fee added for all sales from private sellers.

daddyelf

OP your fee will be the 3% international fee which is chargeable regardless of using GSP. It will relate to the final destination address provided by the buyer. This has been the case since last October when it became "free to sell".

soolin

daddyelf said:

OP your fee will be the 3% international fee which is chargeable regardless of using GSP. It will relate to the final destination address provided by the buyer. This has been the case since last October when it became "free to sell".

It was the same before then as well, there was also an international fee added to sales where buyer has an overseas address.