In defence of the eBay B.P.F.

zackary71

So here's the thing. eBay provide a valuable service connecting Buyers worldwide with Sellers : Business and Private alike. Private sellers were obviously over the moon when Seller fees were removed last year. But you get nothing for free in this life though and the switch to transferring fees to the Buyer has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons, as highlighted by the anecdotal evidence of reduced sales and general dissatisfaction posted on these and Seller Central boards.

eBay isn't a charity - end of. It has to make money and I respect that. Short of reverting back to the previous Seller fee model with graduated bi-weekly promotions (which I don't think will happen) a change in mindset is needed. I compared a sale yesterday against the Seller fee incurred last year on the 70% off fees promotion weekend, for an identically priced item. There wasn't much difference. 52 weeks of consistent access at a known fee rate beats bi-weekly Offers in my view.

For the few pieces I have for sale, I've adapted the Seller price to incorporate the BPF, and end up with a clean rounded 0.50/0.99 final price.

The BPF has reduced the chances of making a sale I agree, but only as much as you let it. I get the point about closing the price disparity gap between Business and Private sellers also. So adapt or die is my way going forward. 

TripleH

What is the percentage used to calculate them? I have no issue with the fees for the same reasons as Op.

soolin

I agree. I have no issues with paying fees but my preference would have been for the old system of FVFs for the seller, not this new buyer fee which is just causing confusion.

zackary71

TripleH said:

What is the percentage used to calculate them? I have no issue with the fees for the same reasons as Op.

On the old system from memory it was total price including postage x 10.6667% less 70% promotion + 25p fee +20% VAT.
 So. on a £10.00 item plus £4.00 postage,  it was around 84p.
On the new system it works out at 4% of price + 75p, total £1.31.

RedImp_2

zackary71 said:

TripleH said:

What is the percentage used to calculate them? I have no issue with the fees for the same reasons as Op.

On the old system from memory it was total price including postage x 10.6667% less 70% promotion + 25p fee +20% VAT.
 So. on a £10.00 item plus £4.00 postage,  it was around 84p.
On the new system it works out at 4% of price + 75p, total £1.31.

The fee was 30p iirc.  There was some other small % fee introduced in the last year as well , I forget the name.

Spoonie_Turtle

RedImp_2 said:

zackary71 said:

TripleH said:

What is the percentage used to calculate them? I have no issue with the fees for the same reasons as Op.

On the old system from memory it was total price including postage x 10.6667% less 70% promotion + 25p fee +20% VAT.
 So. on a £10.00 item plus £4.00 postage,  it was around 84p.
On the new system it works out at 4% of price + 75p, total £1.31.

The fee was 30p iirc.  There was some other small % fee introduced in the last year as well , I forget the name.

Which is 25p + VAT

zackary71

Many thanks RedImp_2 and Spoonie_Turtle - 25p + VAT does ring a bell now !
I checked back on the example above from a 'pre fee free' item I sold, and it was 90p in fees. Still a bit of a difference to the current model, though I doubt eBay are complaining.