[Closed] Ebay fees - holy crap!

There are frequently reduced selling fee offers on the go, that's the time to list.

Same for me too - FB Marketplace is my go-to now. It's worth the hassle to avoid eBays ever increasing charges.

There are frequently reduced selling fee offers on the go, that’s the time to list.

Yeah, I forgot about these tbh, and have used them in the past but can't remember seeing any for a while.

The fees are pretty high, but I still think for certain things you'll still make more money on eBay.

Sold a coupled of old forks on there recently, one went for stupid money - £170 for a 12 year old 26" fork. There in no way I'd have got near that price on facebook marketplace or similar

As above, you can sell things easily and for more on eBay IME.

Also, only sell when they have a selling fee offer, which is roughly once every two weeks. 80% off selling fees or max £3 selling fees are the common ones at the moment.

They do them on weekends, the notification message gets sent on a Friday morning. You need to manually check your eBay messages for it though as for that particular message you do not get a notification. You opt in to the reduced fees by clicking a link in the message then you usually have until the Monday night to list stuff to take advantage of the offer.

So eg, I sold a 600 quid bike for 3 quid total fee.

Yeah, I get my listings ready with pics/description but leave them as "draft" until those offers appear, so even if I'm away at the weekend or whatever I can get them listed.

I'm no longer able to sell on ebay as I wouldn't give them access to my bank acount.

Mainly because their huge fees disappearing from my paypal account was pissing me off.

So you want to use a platform that has a country / world wide reach to enable you to sell your items and you complain about approx 13% selling fees ??

As above, wait for the free selling offers

I'm not bothered by the fees, I just sell stuff that would have otherwise gone in the bin. So its all free money for me.

Still the fees are not that high, 12.8%. Given you get a very large market and platform. I don't see them as high. What are the alternatives to selling online ?

you complain about approx 13% selling fees ??

Well of course, I mean, we all work for free so why shouldn't eBay?

Still the fees are not that high, 12.8%. Given you get a very large market and platform. I don’t see them as high. What are the alternatives to selling

Spending several hours if not days dealing with FB marketplace muppets? I Mean that's much better than spending £65

“ Same for me too – FB Marketplace is my go-to now. It’s worth the hassle to avoid eBays ever increasing charges.”

I’d rather take a cheese grater to my nuts than sign up for FB to sell things.

I’d rather take a cheese grater to my nuts than sign up for FB to sell things.

You mean you don't want to wake up to 50 notifications saying:

Is this item still available?

Is this item still available?

Is this item still available?

Is this item still available?

Is this item still available?

Is this item still available?

Is this item still available?

I'd totally had enough of eBay and had started using Gumtree and FB Marketplace. I still had a few records and old Nintendo games listed on eBay, good till cancelled. A while back, eBay started bugging me about updating my payment account or something, warning that my selling rights would be cancelled if I didn't comply. Fair enough I thought, I'll just leave it, it'll save me unlisting the stuff I have on there. So eBay removed my listings and that was that.

Just the other day, a buyer messaged me about a Nintendo game I have for sale. I checked, and sure enough, all my listings are back. What's going on?

I’m no longer able to sell on ebay as I wouldn’t give them access to my bank acount.

Mainly because their huge fees disappearing from my paypal account was pissing me off.

Ditto. More than happy with PayPal for Ebay stuff. Yes, there were fees but I accepted this.

ebay fees are roughly 12.8% plus 2-2.5% for sales to a non uk address (although global shipper, they seem to have stopped charging this though)

as others say only list when its 80% off Fees or £3 max, that then works out significantly cheaper than ebay fees plus paypal fees..

as others have said FB marketplace is full of muppets,

i got a "free pallet to pick up" of a local guy the other week, he was amazed i'd turned up when i said i'd come. i was the fourth person to say i'd come collect it..
he'd been asked by multiple people if he could deliver it :0(

gumtree, tried that once.

pinkbike is good for bikes

i got a “free pallet to pick up” of a local guy the other week, he was amazed i’d turned up when i said i’d come. i was the fourth person to say i’d come collect it..

To be honest, if you're picking up pallets of local guy here and there I imagine you're in some fairly niche FB groups and a lot of the other potentials probably smelt a trap and thought better of it.

FB marketplace only these days with local collection. I will occasionally post if they can string sentence together.
I always state in the ad asking "is this is still available" will be ignored. All my stuff sells for what I think it's worth.

So you want to use a platform that has a country / world wide reach to enable you to sell your items and you complain about approx 13% selling fees ??

Yes, clearly. That's what the post is about. And UK will do, thanks. I was expecting fees obviously, but not as high.

Spending several hours if not days dealing with FB marketplace muppets? I Mean that’s much better than spending £65

I've sold loads of stuff on FB, and yes there's quite a few "Is this still available" non-responding, devils cleg-knots about, but largely I've sold a shed-load of stuff on there quite easily. This item is a bit more specialised so wanted to target a larger audience (as pointed out above), just taken a-back by the full amount of fees. Lesson learned really.

As has been pointed out, if you are selling a high value item then wait for a discounted listing weekend. I listed and then sold a bike 2 weekends ago for £300 and my total charges were £9. Money in my account within 2 days.

I sold a £450 bike on eBay and paid £1 on a special selling weekend. Buyer paid cash on collection.

I’m no longer able to sell on ebay as I wouldn’t give them access to my bank acount.

Mainly because their huge fees disappearing from my paypal account was pissing me off.

Nothing disappears from your bank account. Fees are now deducted as part of the selling process so you get money into your bank account (minus fees) not money taken out of it.

eBay fees worth every penny IMO. For many things an auction is the best way to get the “right” price.

Try selling stuff at a proper physical auction -

An example of typical Auction Fees in London
What does the seller typically pay at an art auction?
You the seller usually has to pay:

15% sellers comission
20% VAT
1.5% Insurance
Catalogue illustration £50-£500
Additional charges at a painting auction:

Marketing
Shipping and packing
Restoration
Storage
Import customs duties
They may also have a discretionary reserve which means that you give them permission to sell goods typically 10%-20% below the reserve price.

What does the buyer typically pay at auction?
The buyer of your fine art item usually has to pay:

20%-27.5% + 20% VAT Buyers premium
Up to 4.95% + 20% VAT for online bidding
4% Artist Resale Rights if applicable
Shipping
One is now charging £10 for a condition report.
Storage fees if items not collected on time. One auction house charges £30 after three days, £100 after ten days and then £10 per day!
What does this mean to you?
British auction houses typically take around 50% out of the deal between you and the buyer! You also have to hope that the buyer pays their bill on time at auction, which they don’t always do!

https://www.british-arts.com/guide-to-auction-charges/

Ebay isn't insuring, storing, handling the goods and isn't remitting that 20% VAT to taxman either - so not entirely a fair comparison

You have to balance the fees against the higher amount you hope to sell your item for. Do you think you'd have got the same price selling it on FB or gumtree or whatever? Would you have sold it at all?

Only thing that bugs me is how often it's obvious that people don't really know what it's costing them. Like, I have a wee ebay store, and I sell a lot of pretty low value items- I ship about as cheaply as it's possible for a private individual to ship stuff, and I know all the costs, and my margins are pretty bloody small on these items (I essentially make money on bigger items, and that leaves me with a load of smaller items which make a trivial amount of money, but which is still worth doing because it's linked to the bigger sales)

So I know for sure that there's a load of casual sellers selling the exact same things for less, and losing money, it's literally costing them more in fees and post than they're making on the sale. Unless they're shipping from work or something and basically stealing the postage. It's pretty crazy.

I sold a high value item on eBay the other week under the 80% off fees special. £13 of fees which was fine given how easily it sold.

However I'm having a nightmare with another item. First "buyer" won it at auction in a bidding war frenzy in the last 5 mins - then total silence, no payment. eBay finally culled his account as a serial non-payer, relisted the item and it sold as a Best Offer within 30 mins. Once again - no payment, no communication. eBay timewasters.

Yup, I stopped listing in certain categories after eBay made it mandatory to offer free postage. I'd have been losing money if I never charged postage. Madness.

Ebay is still better than scumtree and fudbook by a country mile though.

squirrelking
Free Member

Yup, I stopped listing in certain categories after eBay made it mandatory to offer free postage. I’d have been losing money if I never charged postage. Madness.

Just build it into the price? All my items are "free postage", it works better for what I sell (and every so often people buy multiples and I make a saving)

Nothing disappears from your bank account

That’s because I didn’t give them access to my bank account.

Plenty, on the other hand, disappeared from my PayPal account . Mainly very large fees.

That’s because I didn’t give them access to my bank account.

I assume they've never been to your house and helped themselves to things either because you never gave them your home address?

I've been visiting my parents for a couple of weeks and stuck a load of old Playstation games and CDs that I found in their garage on eBay. Haven't used eBay in a couple of years so it was the first time dealing with their new bank payment system but everything went smoothly and I ended up with £220 in my bank account with minimal fuss. I think for stuff that's easy to post they're worth the fees, just for the national / international reach your items get.

FB Marketplace - used this to sell a bike and some Thule roofbars a while back and yes, everything eventually sold for the price I wanted but I had to deal with 100+ timewasters before that happened.

Stopped using ebay when the whole paypal thing happened, now just tend to use marketplace or the actual groups on facebook that sell to more niche markets.

I never really minded ebay, but in the end it was a real faff, non paying bidders, relisting stuff due to this, people ripping you off with the usual 'it isn't as described' crap and so on, Marketplace has the same issues, but if you do it all local you save a lot of long distance hassle, and as for both, watch out for fraud all the time, both of these platforms are teeming with folk out to nick your stuff or rip you off, never ever give your address to either, and when using facebook, just be wary of what you post and how you can be found easily with a simple post on your page.

after a few months of managed payment i think its better than ebay fees and then paypal fees on the payment, in the last 2 weeks I've noticed process clearing is now same day, so payment is sent next working day monday to friday.

only negative is i miss having paypal to fritter away

@dangeourbrain I needed some pallets as a one off. i clicked on the fb marketplace icon and lots of local sellers £2-10 and a couple of pallets free of charge, saves them making a trip to the tip.

dangeourbrain I needed some pallets as a one off

@whatyadoinsucka ah, sorry it was pedantry. You typed (or more likely were auto corrected) you picked up pallets of a local, rather than off or from. I just had an image of a pallet full of body parts. Local meat from local people.

sorry i'm a northern i type like i speak, bad english

I assume they’ve never been to your house and helped themselves to things either because you never gave them your home address?

What on earth are you on about ?

I never really minded ebay, but in the end it was a real faff, non paying bidders, relisting stuff due to this, people ripping you off with the usual ‘it isn’t as described’ crap and so on,

Yep, had all of that tried on.
Problem is that ebay (and before that Paypal) will always side with the buyer. I'm not bothered about Paypal no longer being involved. Ebay have sent payments direct to my bank no issues - saves me doing a withdrawal from Paypal to my bank account.

Just build it into the price? All my items are “free postage”, it works better for what I sell (and every so often people buy multiples and I make a saving)

They weren't worth enough to do that, they would have sold at less than postage cost. Mainly shitty old games.

What on earth are you on about ?

Sorry, it was a very oblique way of saying they wouldn't be taking money for fees from your account regardless.

Not giving them your bank details and claiming that's why is a bit like claiming they've not done anything else they don't do because you've not facilitated it.

“ Problem is that ebay (and before that Paypal) will always side with the buyer.”

No they don’t at all. I’m an occasional seller over many years and had a few issues recently as a seller all sorted out to my satisfaction after a buyer went weird.
If you list well, and follow the rules, they will sort you out.

Not giving them your bank details and claiming that’s why is a bit like claiming they’ve not done anything else they don’t do because you’ve not facilitated it.

You've misunderstood. I haven't changed over from paypal because I think their fees are too high. I was sick of (what I thought were) large sums coming out of my paypal account, so when they stopped paypal and wanted my account to deal direct I declined. Mainly cause they are too dear, and secondly because I didn't want them having any connection to my bank account.

I never really minded ebay, but in the end it was a real faff, non paying bidders

I'm rarely in a hurry to sell so I tend to go for the reverse auction approach - list as Buy It Now with immediate payment, start high and gradually reduce the price.

I got scammed for a £850 bike on Facebook Market Place so don't trust that.

Mind you, when the bike was listed on ebay and I complained, they did nothing so who knows!!

I’m rarely in a hurry to sell so I tend to go for the reverse auction approach – list as Buy It Now with immediate payment, start high and gradually reduce the price.

I tend to do that. Start with an optimistic price and then drop it now and again until someone buys it. Sometimes it surprises me and it goes for the optimistic one. Buy it now cuts out a fair few of the time wasters too.

**** yeah USA

crazy-legs
Full Member

Problem is that ebay (and before that Paypal) will always side with the buyer.

Myth, basically. I mean yes they're on the side of the buyer. You have to jump through hoops and do everything right as a seller to have a chance, but that's not really hard to do. Possibly it helps that I've got epic feedback and a pretty spotless account that's literally older than ebay.co.uk, but I don't really lose disputes, except if I've genuinely screwed up.

Myth, basically. I mean yes they’re on the side of the buyer. You have to jump through hoops and do everything right as a seller to have a chance, but that’s not really hard to do. Possibly it helps that I’ve got epic feedback and a pretty spotless account that’s literally older than ebay.co.uk, but I don’t really lose disputes, except if I’ve genuinely screwed up

I used to think that, until that was I’ve just been screwed by a moron and EBay/PayPal.

I’ve got a 2800+ feedback at 100%. I listed an item with good pictures and accurate description. My moron, er… buyer, bought it and tried to fit but didn’t have the mechanical skills for the task then contacted me for a refund as he claimed I’d mislead him with my description. I told him to poke it, after which he opted a dispute with PayPal, even though my payment came direct from eBay. I was afforded one picture and no text as an opportunity to defend “my case”. I lost and they told him to return it, I got an empty box back with a tracked delivery sticker on it, they took the full payment back and an additional £14 to cover the dispute costs (which later eBay refunded out of goodwill? when I phoned to complain). I also got clobbered for postage both ways despite him having it post free in combination with another item he didn’t return.

I’m rarely in a hurry to sell so I tend to go for the reverse auction approach – list as Buy It Now with immediate payment, start high and gradually reduce the price.

I have done that for years and have had years of happy selling. Before that every other sale seem to have a non paying winner and would then need to wait, relist etc,. so not worth the bother.

I also put everything in the description so no questions are ever necessary so I just delete any questions without reading as someone else will buy who doesn't ask silly questions and bothers to read description

These things make selling on eBay very stress free to me.

eBay. I was afforded one picture and no text as an opportunity to defend “my case”. I lost and they told him to return it, I got an empty box back with a tracked delivery sticker on it, they took the full payment back and an additional £14 to cover the dispute costs

If that’s accurate about the empty box, you should have ample proof from the postage weight. It has to be weighed when returned. You should be able to get PayPal to acquiesce to your request based on this. I’ve had to do this in the past.

@daffy
my employers warehouse never received empty boxes, they got potatoes, the weight of an iphone 6.
practises have changed now and boxes have to be opened now

You’ve misunderstood. I haven’t changed over from paypal because I think their fees are too high. I was sick of (what I thought were) large sums coming out of my paypal account, so when they stopped paypal and wanted my account to deal direct I declined.

It works differently now though.
Before, with ebay & paypal, ebay charged you the fees afterwards and took them from the paypal account.
Now, with ebay handling everything themselves, they just knock off all fees before sending the remainder to your bank. You're never charged anything.

Mainly cause they are too dear

Fair enough 🙂

and secondly because I didn’t want them having any connection to my bank account.

Well paypal is/was owned by ebay, so I don't really see the difference.

I’ve got an 80% off fees offer for this weekend. Time to fire up the listings.

I’ve got an 80% off fees offer for this weekend. Time to fire up the listings.

DOH! Are you just trying to wind me up?! 😜

Just sold a fridge freezer on eBay, got a little bit more than what I was expecting and eBay took 13.1%, which is about what the eBay and PayPal combined fee used to be IIRC, but if it was cash on collection you never paid the PayPal fee, whereas I’m guessing you effectively always pay it now as it’s conveniently wrapped into the eBay charge.

I’ve got to list a whole ton of bike stuff and bikes, so will follow the advise here and wait for the reduced fees listing offer. As it’s ok to pay £14 on an £89 freezer, less so on 000’s of gear and bikes.

I’ve heard of good stuff from FB marketplace, some mates selling bikes easily and quickly there. Never used it myself.

The £1 FVF or similar offers have really dried up, eh?

I'm almost considering using the shitty classifieds here instead.

I’ve tried the STW classifieds and haven’t had much luck selling, could be I’m not pitching my prices right.

The £1 FVF or similar offers have really dried up, eh?

£3 FVF or 80% off FVF almost exactly every two weeks this year. Probably due this weekend - check your ebay message inbox Friday AM.

I've been selling on ebay for years. I finally cottoned on to the best tactic - wait for the FVF offer, then list everything with a decent buy it now price (and sometimes enabling "best offer", especially if it's a more expensive item, or maybe I just feeling like messing with timewasters). That way, if I wait a bit, I generally get a good price. Also, buying something I want through an actual auction is a PITA. I'd much rather just buy it and be done.

As for ebay siding with buyers - I've never had it go any other way, but then I've only had one real issue. I sold a laptop, on a very old and trustworthy ebay account, and had it returned to me in a mangled state with wrecked components inside. Ebay made me fully refund the buyer, but then again he knew exactly what he was doing. It seems that you just can't sell certain items (mostly, high-value consumer electronics) on ebay.

I also really hate FB. I am currently trying to source some bike parts, and I know that I'm making life harder for myself by refusing to make a FB account, but then again, someone's got to stand up for what they believe in.

I have no issue with the eBay fees and have very very rarely had any issues with buyers. Equally I have had very few issues using Marketplace also however I automatically list Marketplace items at a lower price as I know eBay will attract fees.

I too often wait for a selling offer. Have sold well over £2k of stuff in the past few months and paid about £10 in fees.

I find stuff sells much faster on eBay, with less hassle than Marketplace and now you can just print pre-paid postage labels off the site it makes packing everything up and shipping it a doddle.