eBay just announced fee changes to all UK sellers, but the announcement is confusing because of the way eBay chose to announce the changes.
Here’s what’s happening:
eBay has increased its final value fee to 10% for all items sold on the site. Previously, sellers paid a lower percentage on items that sold for less than 50 pounds (the lowest rate was 5.25% for items selling for less than 30 pounds).
eBay removed that category in its announcement and said, “We’re simplifying our eBay fees to make it simpler and more transparent.”
However, it failed to note that it is effectively raising fees for everyone who sells an item priced at over 30 pounds (about $38).
And sellers are not happy about it. In response to an EcommerceBytes story, a reader wrote, “This is going to cost me an extra £2k p/a which I can ill afford right now.”
The changes to fees affect basic insertion fees, advanced listing upgrade fees, final value fee rates, and final value fee caps. eBay is also introducing a new optional listing upgrade called “Featured First,” which means sellers pay an additional fee if they want their listings to appear in search results before non-paying listings.
Affected categories include Books, DVDs & Movies; Business, Office & Industrial; Cameras & Photography; Computers/Tablets & Networking; Consumer Electronics; Crafts; Dolls & Bears; DVDs & Movies; Home, Furniture & DIY; Musical Instruments; Pottery, Porcelain & Glass; Sound & Vision; Sporting Goods; Toys & Games.
eBay sellers have described the changes as “a joke” and “a joke, a con.”
One seller said, “You’ve got to be kidding with this announcement. The fees have been reduced for low-volume sellers by between 1% and 2%, which is nothing, if anything. For medium volume (around 100 items/month), it’s gone up by over 4%. For high volume (over 500 items/month), it’s gone up by about 13%. I am very disappointed and saddened. Guess will be looking at other options like Bonanza and Etsy soon.
Author bioPayment industry guru Taylor Cole is a passionate small business payments expert who understands the complex world of merchant accounts. He also writes non-fiction, on subjects ranging from personal finance to stocks to cryptopay. He enjoys eating pie with ice cream on his backyard porch, as should all right-thinking people.