eBay Selling Fees

[olisuds]

EBay selling fees are now free? Apart from international and business sellers I think? What am I missing? There's got to be some catch!

 

[Gadders]

EBay selling fees are now free? Apart from international and business sellers I think? What am I missing? There's got to be some catch!

I think the catch is buyers now pay a small fee instead of the seller.

 

[lejackal]

I think the catch is buyers now pay a small fee instead of the seller.

Buyers do not currently pay a fee. Private sellers will be encouraged to open a 'shop' for 20 quid a month to get to list more items for free. Once you go over a certain number of sales, or value of sales, they'll almost certainly want to recategorise you as a business.

 

[jared007]

I'm glad this is being asked - I wanted to post a similar question. From what I have seen others say (but I have not verified this myself in the T&Cs), it seems 100% free for the seller here in the UK if the item sells to another address in the UK. If it sells to the US for example, then fees apply as normal.

The next bit is that it is only free when then total combined account sales stay under £1,500 in a year (unsure if that's calendar year, or rolling 365 day period). If you go over that amount then you must enroll as a business seller to continue (you start paying fees) and also HMRC are now notified of your extra income that I presume will attract personal tax.

I am looking to sell a couple high end pieces very soon, so I am seriously considering selling on eBay again. I have not sold anything on eBay since they dropped PayPal and pay into a bank account so yet to experience that part. All considered, it looks like a good deal if you can stay under £1,500 in sales. And like it or not, great to see eBay trying new things to stay relevant. I'll be giving it a go with something small to start with!

Cheers, Jared.

 

[jared007]

The next bit is that it is only free when then total combined account sales stay under £1,500 in a year (unsure if that's calendar year, or rolling 365 day period). If you go over that amount then you must enroll as a business seller to continue (you start paying fees) and also HMRC are now notified of your extra income that I presume will attract personal tax.

Ok, so I have just read through all T&C I could find. I can't find any reference to a £1,500 limit anywhere. So all this bit I put above can be classed as fake news until otherwise proven.

I always like to understand how businesses make money, so here is my take now. eBay now charges for listing enhancements that used to be free such as reserved prices, custom listing duration, large images and a few other things, so I think they are hoping people will add that stuff on. They will still make fees if someone outside the UK buys the item. I suspect they will be banking on sellers not limiting the scope of their listing from other markets. If a foreign buyer buys, and you cancel the listing to avoid fees cause you didn't realize it was listed globally then I think you will still get stung with the final value fees. If there is even a hint of coms to do the transaction outside eBay then the final value fees are taken as an introduction fee. eBay also has an advertisers revenue stream. So by encouraging sellers to create more content on the site, there is bigger advertising potential. Free listings with no seller fees certainly encourages that.

So all considered, this is a very encouraging move from eBay and it has my attention. I'd be interested to hear how others get on with it! And do chime in if you read things differently to what I have.

Cheers, Jared.