We’re admirers of eBay but – crikey – their terms seem to become ever more complicated. They do offer assistance –
“Our fees calculator can help you figure out about how much you’ll pay to list and sell an item”
but as far as we can tell there are 13 choices to be made in the calculator, and you have to be quite clued-up to appreciate all the optional upgrades available.
It does seem that we are not alone in being slightly bewildered by eBay. Back in 2014 Sophie Christie tried to help via the Daily Telegraph:
( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/11031472/eBay-price-rises-what-you-need-to-know.html )
She wrote:
“eBay is increasing its prices for users who list their items on the site, with the first of two price hikes coming into effect today (14 August 2014).
The timing is unfortunate and may infuriate customers. Two days ago eBay angered buyers and sellers across much of northern Europe as the site went down for the tenth time this year. Users demanded compensation for not being able to log-in or place bids.
From today, the auction website will now charge £2.50, up from 95p, for “gallery plus” – a feature that allows users to display their images larger – on both auctions and “buy it now” listings.
Adding a subtitle which “can increase buyer interest by providing more descriptive information about an item” will increase from 35p to £1. Adding a theme to the listing, called the “listing designer” will now cost 30p, up from 7p.
Adding a “buy it now” option to your listing will now cost a flat rate of 50p. Previously, the fee was tiered according to the price. It cost 10p for items listed between 99p and £4.99, 20p for items listed between £5 and £14.99, and 30p for items priced between £15 and £24.99. Anything above £25 would cost 50p for “buy it now” to be included.
For those adding a reservation price to ensure the item doesn’t sell too cheaply, the fee will now rise from 3.5pc to 4pc of the sale price. EBay states: “If you set a reserve price of £50 or more, you’ll pay 4pc of that price as a fee. You’ll never pay a reserve fee more than £150 per item.”
For 30 day “buy it now” listings, the fee for the “listing designer” feature will increase from 21p to 30p. However, users can buy the “gallery plus” for slightly less, at £2.50, down from £2.85. Adding a subtitle will cost £1, rather than £1.05.
On September 1, the second of the two price hikes will come into effect. Users who successfully sell their items currently have to give 10pc of the final value (including postage and packaging) to eBay. This will remain the same, but the cap on the final value fee will rise from £75 to £250. This means those who sell higher value items will pay a lot more.
For example, if you sell an item for £900, eBay will take £90, rather than £75 which was previously the highest amount they could take. ”
Hmm. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest? Or perhaps we should simply accept that the old brain is not as young as it was?
Luckily, the Daily Mirror is also there for us. Julia Rampen recently (13 January 2016) provided a helpful summary of eBay costs ( http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/ebay-fees-paypal-motors-listing-5311698 )
” eBay fees explained: Listing, selling and PayPal fees at a glance.
If you’re selling anything on eBay, you need to factor in fees. Not only are you paying eBay for the chance to list your items, you may have to cover PayPal fees ”
” You can make a lot of cash selling your clutter on eBay. But you can’t do it for free. Here’s our lowdown to the fees you’ll be charged – and how to lower your costs to the absolute minimum.
If you want to work out your fees before you sell, try using eBay’s fee calculator.
Listing
It’s free to list up to 20 items on eBay a month. After that, you pay 35p per listing. This doesn’t included eBay motors or classified ads.
When you sell
You must pay a final value fee if you manage to sell your item. That’s 10% of your sale price, including postage. The final value fee is capped at £250. To work out 10%, divide your final price by 100 and times it by 10.
PayPal fees
If your buyer uses PayPal, you’ll have to pay extra fees. PayPal charges you 3.4% of the total sale, for sales of less than £1,500, plus 20p per transaction. PayPal reduces the percentage for larger sale.
eBay motors fees
You can list the toy cars for free
You have to pay £10 to list a vehicle on eBay motors for auction or buy it now, and £14.99 for a classified ad. There is no final value fee for selling a vehicle listed as a classified ad, but you must pay 1% for auctions and buy it now sales.
Classified Ads
Classified ads give you more options to buy and sell. You must pay £9.99 to list a business, office or industrial ad, £35 for a property ad and £15 for holidays and travel ads. You don’t have to pay final value fees.
Other fees
Pull an auction, and you could still pay fees
If you end an auction early even though someone has already placed a bid, you may be charged a fee. It will be 10% of how much the item would sell for at the time you ended the auction.
You won’t pay a fee if you cancel your auction within the first 24 hours of listing your item.
How to cut down your eBay fees
You have to offer PayPal in an eBay listing. But you can also adjust your listing to offer other payment methods.
Check out PayPal Micropayments. You may be able to get lower rates if you sell a lot of items under £5.
Hmm. So you pay 10% of the sale price including postage, plus perhaps 3% for PayPal? That doesn’t seem so bad, assuming you achieve an acceptable sale price. But then there’s the packaging and the postage and possible disputes. . . Is there an easier way to offload your surplus assets?
Well, if you’re daunted by eBay’s apparent complexity, and the subtle skills involved (have you seen the cornucopia of eBay tips on Google?) you can use one of the multitudinous eBay intermediaries.
The good news is that they will take on most of the admin, and they will supposedly provide you with considerable advantages over your competitive sellers.
The less good news is that they will charge you a serious whack by way of commission; 33% is not unusual – which is rather a lot if you’re selling into a busy market place where the achieved prices will already be heavily influenced by our “O” level friends supply and demand.
How does this compare with your local auction house? Currently this seems to be 10-15% and perhaps an additional lotting fee. We’re aware of Seller’s Commission as high as 20% and as low as 5% (but unsurprisingly the latter dictates a significant minimum sale value); and VAT has to be added!
So – eBay? Traditional auction? Sell direct to the collector or retailer? First you have to find them – and the easiest way to do that is to ask Where To Sell. QED, since we’re remembering “O” Levels.
