PSA eBay now free for private sellers

I had to Google it as that's a biggie - but yep, no final seller fee's

Free selling for UK-based private sellers
It's now free for UK-based private sellers to sell on eBay (excluding motors: Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles listings). You won't pay final value fees or regulatory operating fees when your items sell.

Fees will apply if you list more than 300 items in a month, if you add optional upgrades to your listing, or if you deliver to an overseas address. See our FAQs - opens in new window or tab for additional details.

Wow that's a massive change! Welcome but massive.

Can't help but be suspicious. I can't see eBay choosing to make less money. Any idea how they're making money off this?

It's welcome, but I bet it means that anything over and above a simple reserve-less auction listing that starts the minute it's created, with a few pictures, will be an optional upgrade.

My wife noticed this this morning and was trying to work out the angle. They have a lot of business sellers and I presume the no fees on clothes has given them something even if it is just clawing back market share.

She had some drafts ready to go awaiting an 80% offer so they have gone live now.

Definitely market share will be part of the reason. eBay already introduced free selling for clothes due to Vinted etc.

I think they make most money from commercial sellers. Maybe they want to move over more private sellers who are actually commercial, maybe it's just to drive more traffic to the site. There is a huge benefit to being the biggest marketplace

Can’t help but be suspicious. I can’t see eBay choosing to make less money. Any idea how they’re making money off this?

Probably more a case of reducing the fall in traffic they are losing to other sites which do list for free.

Wouldn't be surprised if payouts will become much slower and non automated..

Encouraging people to buy postage or use their balance to buy other stuff..

I wonder if there’s a “green” angle to this.  Private sellers are essentially recycling, thus eBay can claim to be a bit greener?

That's quite a bit change, if I understand it correctly.
I just sold some door handles on ebay that have sat unused in my garage for years. Stuck them on for £9 just to get rid & had one bidder. Total fees for the transaction was £1.90, which is over 20%.
If I'd have known this was coming in, I'd have waited a week.

Crap - this just after they’ve charged me over £200 in final value fees for 2 biggish items I just sold…☹️

most people i know have stopped selling on ebay due to the fees so they must have seen private sales dropping off a cliff as they move to the other free platforms out there.

Crap – this just after they’ve charged me over £200 in final value fees for 2 biggish items I just sold…☹️

Yep they obviously thought "joshvegas seems to be slowing down selling all his old shit. Now is the time"

You'll have to pay to promote your listing, otherwise it will just be sunk into the abyss of similar items, unless you're selling something truly unique, in which case, ebay is probably the wrong place.

The upgrades seem to be more expensive and you pay for international listing now.

Ok so no automatic withdrawal. At the top of the app listing page;

Bastards have cost me a fortune in fees over the past year or so. Was still the biggest platforms though, so had to suck it up if stuff didn't sell other places like here.

I'm pleased they've changed tack now though, as I will definitely have more stuff to offload in the future.

This is good news. I completely stopped selling with them when they stopped letting me use the 80% or 70% off final value fees vouchers.  Loads of people on the monthly Hot UK Deals threads were moaning about it as well so I guess it finally hit them hard enough.

Back in the day it used to be free, then ebay got shit ie idiots wasting your time/scams and they put ridiculous fees on so I personally stopped using it, and so did loads of people.

I now sell anything I want to sell on Facebook market place which is completely free

I guess this is them trying to get some market share back.

Isnt Facebook and ebay one and the same thing though?

Are they going to make you use Paypal etc, or have a withdrawl fee or something ie 'free' to sell, but skank you when you want to get your money ?

Thanks, was wondering why I hadn't had an 80% off fees offer recently

You’ll have to pay to promote your listing, otherwise it will just be sunk into the abyss of similar items, unless you’re selling something truly unique, in which case, ebay is probably the wrong place.

This.

For a year or two the eBay algorithm has buried listings that don't fork out for "promoted item" status, I expect that will get even worse.

Ok so no automatic withdrawal

I prefer that. I used to like having "PayPal money" that meant I could have free bike parts using man maths.

Thanks, was wondering why I hadn’t had an 80% off fees offer recently

+1, I'd not had an 80% offer since the start of September and wondered why.

So, for items already live/listed - do we think we'll still be charged fees for those or would it be best to end and relist to take advantage of the free fees?

Good news!

Yeah there are so many trade sellers on there now - I buy new things from "shops" on ebay more than Amazon, so I don't think they'll be losing that much. Nice not to get stung in future when selling small items.

So, for items already live/listed – do we think we’ll still be charged fees for those or would it be best to end and relist to take advantage of the free fees?

Not according to HotUKDeals. Someone on there posted that they'd sold something this morning on an old listing and got all the money

Yes, hopefully the stuff* I listed at the weekend will be free.

Isnt Facebook and ebay one and the same thing though?

No, completely different companies

Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram are all owned by Meta, if that's what you're thinking of

I prefer that. I used to like having “PayPal money” that meant I could have free bike parts using man maths.

Agreed, nothing better than buy "free" parts.

Daughter #1 works for eBay and she didn't tell me about this so the NDA is working!!

Yep there's a LOT of businesses using eBay (she manages some ).

What's the betting that they'll suck up the costs for while before introducing some sort of 'buyer protection' fee that adds 10% onto the price of everything you buy.

Then there'll be some sort of withdrawal fee to actually get your money off the site so it'll still ending up costing to sell, just in a different way.

I'm so cynical sometimes I even annoy myself.

I haven't sold a anything on ebay since they changed the rules and made you give up your bank details.

No fees makes it better but I'm not sure it's enough to tempt me back.

 It doesn’t include “vehicles”

Don't hold your breath (from daughter!!)

+1, I’d not had an 80% offer since the start of September and wondered why.

I haven't had one for about 2 years!

Isnt Facebook and ebay one and the same thing though?

That's Gumtree you're thinking of.

Well chuffed, I'll be putting a whole load of stuff up now. Vinted must have put the wind up them.

Time to clear out all the stuff I’ve been waiting on an 80% off listing for.

most people i know have stopped selling on ebay due to the fees so they must have seen private sales dropping off a cliff as they move to the other free platforms out there.

This – I have completely stopped using Ebay because of the fees. I now either Freegle low value stuff or stick stuff on Facebook Marketplace.

Well chuffed

So is my daughter - they've had free breakfast and pizza vans at the offices today to celebrate!
(eBay are very good for staff perks like that.... always something going on!)

back to the gold old days, hopefully site traffic will pick up.

item views and watchers have been really low in recent years, maybe a peak around covid and then down due to inflation etc.

i'd say im on vinted more time than i spend on ebay

Result, I got £100 off my bike on Saturday as we agreed to do bank transfer rather than through eBay.

Just seen the notification from eBay, think this suggests that cash on collection will no longer be possible?

We’re making selling locally easier and safer with our improved collection option. When you list an item, you can choose to offer local collection, delivery, or both. If you sell your item locally, use the chat feature to discuss with your buyer and arrange the collection. When your buyer comes to pick up the item, quickly confirm the collection using a unique QR or six-digit code. With no physical cash payments, your money will be kept safe and you’ll be sure to get paid quickly.

So presumably eBay will still be charging transaction fees & holding on to your money until you request it..

I've used the QR code on a pickup before while still exchanging cash.

I just sold some door handles

Have you got any fork handles lurking in the garage by chance? Asking for a friend, I think that's what he said

I’ve used the QR code on a pickup before while still exchanging cash.

So have I both selling & buying, but that text is from their latest free selling announcement & suggests to me that cash will no longer be an option - I'd like to be proved wrong but....

I think it might just be as simple as "we make most of the money off the commercial storefront stuff, but private sellers bring us the visibility and audience that made the commercial side work" sort of thing. I wouldn't be surprised if we do see some sort of enshittification, "optional" optimisation etc.

But it's definitely good for me, I've paid easily over a grand, probably over 2 in ebay fees over the year, never regretted it as the extra visibility you get's worth every penny but it'll be nicer to just not 🙂 Especially since my actual sales have fallen tons in recent years with the cost of living crisis etc, I'll be putting the fee cut straight into the sale price

I’m with Northwind. I usually go to ebay to look for used items. But as a result i see loads of new stuff from businesses. If they can get all the used bikes back on there I’ll me there more often

let’s not forget it’s costing them almost to list something

I’ve paid easily over a grand, probably over 2 in ebay fees over the year

Bloody hell, how much stuff do you sell?

Shitloads 🙂 But also I've been on ebay since before there was an ebay.co.uk so it adds up.

Just had a sale for something listed a while ago. Sold yesterday afternoon, money in my account this morning. No fees. Nice

eBay used to be my default for buying items, but a gradual shift to not seeing true sellers and more cheap trash posts from traders so stopped using really. Coupled with the rise of FB Marketplace and Vinted, I'd say 90% of the stuff Iused to buy I now buy elsewhere.

Selling was more of a pain, x% to ebay, x% stolen by paypal when FB Marketplace is free.

As others have said, theyve got to do something to turn the tide, must have been losing users in droves.

This is really good news, I've been using almost exclusively facebook marketplace to sell items but there's a gap there for items you're prepared to post because people have their master list sorted by location.

I’ve used the QR code on a pickup before while still exchanging cash.

And I’ve forgotten about the QR code before and ended up with endless reminders afterwards. Pesky.

Well, that works then!  Sold an item for £175 yesterday and £175 has just been deposited into my bank a/c without deductions and without me having ask for it.  Excellent.

and without me having ask for it.

that’ll change from the 16th iirc.

Ah well, a button to click after the sale to get the funds, hardly the end of the world.

Looks like they are already back tracking. A new buyers protection fee. Added to the sale price so pretty much exactly the same as the old sellers fee in reality. By my maths the fees are still cheaper than the old sellers fees so not terrible but pretty cheeky after last year's big announcement.

Still a month of feeling free selling. If you are planning a clearout might be worth getting on with it.

https://channelx.world/2025/01/new-ebay-buyer-protection-and-new-fee/

From the 4th of February, eBay Buyer Protection will be included on every purchase on eBay

Like it wasn't before? How very weird

private sellers will only be paid once the item is delivered.

bloody hell, sounds like scammers are going to have a fun with that. 'Never received it mate!' And you can't even refund, cos you just won't see the money. Yeah, back to not bothering to sell on there after Feb.

Also, just discovered (like, just now!) that you can't leave your selling balance on Ebay indefinitely. Like I was, to pay for future purchases. Emails says it will automatically get sent to my bank in a few days.

Yup, clear out over the next month is definitely called for, just when most people have no spare money ?

As part of this change, eBay are now launching Buyer Protection to give buyers more confidence and security when shopping.

What a load of nonsense - its almost always sellers who are scammed these days. Also you'll have to use ebay postage really or there will be no foolproof way for the delivery to be logged and you won't get paid.

Oh well it was nice to have fee free selling for a few months but I'm oot.

The way I read it, the buyer protection will be added as a non-itemised cost to the current bid or buy it now price, so a seller and buyer will presumably see different values on the listing. e.g. I'll be told someone bought a thing for £5.00 and get it all because no seller fees, but the buyer will pay £5.50 which includes the protection, it's effectively become a buyer fee instead.

 Also you’ll have to use ebay postage really or there will be no foolproof way for the delivery to be logged and you won’t get paid.

This is right though I reckon. I like to take stuff to the post office because it's close to home and generally think post offices disappear if they don't get sufficient use. That makes any tracking difficult through ebay, so I guess it's out of the question now.

That makes any tracking difficult through ebay, so I guess it’s out of the question now

I just enter the Royal Mail tracking number into the relevant bit on My Ebay, and it pulls in tracking info directly and sends dispatched / out for delivery / delivered updates automatically.

I just enter the Royal Mail tracking number into the relevant bit on My Ebay, and it pulls in tracking info directly and sends dispatched / out for delivery / delivered updates automatically.

Same, I always use Royal Mail and I do this. I also send it 'signed for', if it's of any value and include the cost of this in the postage I charge the buyer. This reduces (though doesn't eliminate) the chance of spurious "never received it mate" claims. TBH I've been selling stuff for years on eBay and have never had an issue.

Describe stuff very honestly, include lots of photos, package  it well, post it promptly and most people are happy. I have just funded a new bike by having a massive clear out of kit from hobbies I no longer pursue. Apart from the pain of packing and queuing at the PO, it's been hassle free and the recent spell of no sellers fees has been great. I still far prefer eBay to FB marketplace or any of the other options. It's not perfect, but it's a pretty good platform if used sensibly imo.

This is right though I reckon. I like to take stuff to the post office because it’s close to home and generally think post offices disappear if they don’t get sufficient use. That makes any tracking difficult through ebay, so I guess it’s out of the question now.

Using eBay "Simple Delivery" the item postage is priced up and when sold you get a label to print and/or QR code. You can still use Royal Mail but it will automatically be tracked via eBay so once delivered the money will be sent to your account.
If the buyer does not receive the item it is the sellers problem anyway but if the buyer has already paid it becomes their problem as they have feel they have lost their money so this is actually a good move really to put responsibility of successful delivery onto seller.

That makes any tracking difficult through ebay, so I guess it’s out of the question now.

I quite often use royal mail drop off so, i assume the post office gets something for that?.

When purchasing from private sellers, buyers will pay up to 4% of the item price, plus £0.75 (excluding excludes Vehicles, Classified Ads and Property). The fee is lower on higher-priced items over £300, and there’s a cap on the total amount they’ll pay.

As an example, when buyers see an item for £20, the Buyer Protection Fee of £1.49 will already be part of the price. This is something we wanted to see at ChannelX – no adding on of a fee after you’ve bid or clicked to Buy It Now – the price the buyer sees is the price that they’ll pay:

For business sellers there will be no buyer fee – eBay won’t double dip as you already pay seller fees
When buying from a private seller the new Buyer Protection Fee will be included in the displayed price
Private sellers will receive the sale price less the Buyer Protection Fee

I'm slightly mystified by this.  If I list an item buy it now for £20 the actual BIN price as it will appear to people searching will be £21.49? So if I want to be competitive with a business seller I'd need to list it at £18.50?

But if it's an auction and I bid £20 the seller will only see a bid of £18.51 or something weird.  Just bizarre -feels like this is less transparent and clear than the sellers fees there were previously.

What a load of nonsense – its almost always sellers who are scammed these days.

Not totally sure about that, but maybe we are just too smart to buy scam listings like cheap knock-off designer goods?

I quite often use royal mail drop off so, i assume the post office gets something for that?.

Yes, I understand that's the case as they are separate businesses. And I took a closer look at the new ebay postal process and see that Royal Mail is one of the courier options, so sounds like I still get to support my local PO.

b33k34, thats how I interpret it too. Well, as a seller, but I reckon you're right about bidding on something also.

I wonder if eBay keep those nice "buyer protection fees" in the case of a refund....

I quite often use royal mail drop off so, i assume the post office gets something for that?.

My understanding - and I may be wrong - is that they don't. The Post Office and Royal Mail are separate entities, which is why some branches will refuse.

Or maybe I'm mixing them up with Parcel Force, I'm not sure.

If you've paid for Royal Mail online, then take it to a local PO to drop off, they get nothing. If you go to the PO to pay, then they do get paid (not much).

@dafydd17 that seems to have changed.  If you pay for postage online you can drop it at the sorting office, or have it collected by the postman for free.  But pay an extra 20p (IIRC) to drop it at the post office.  Last time I missed the sorting office closing time and walked on to the post office round the corner they charged me the 20p at the counter.

Not sure what happens with eBay Royal Mail postage purchases.  Assume they always got something at the post office when you dropped it off but now it's an explicit additional charge to the consumer.

So this seems to be pretty badly presented but as far as I can tell, if you're a private seller they're going to add an extra amount on top of your listing prices? So if you had, frinstance, a £20 item listed the buyer will actually see and pay £21.55 and you'll get £20. Pretty bloody weird tbf, definitely going to mess up a bunch of my listings if that's how it goes, because I'll be more expensive now than a full business seller. Might possibly be enough of a difference to make it worth me finally going proper business, not sure.

As kinda expected they're also removing some features that everyone had before and restricting them to business sellers but it's all stuff I've never used, coupons and such.

Oh off topic but who else absolutely ****ing hates the new Saved Feed? "Hi, here's some but not all of the new items that are in your saved list, and also for some reason a load of stuff that's in your Watch List already. Oh just for lolz the Watch List stuff will appear 1-3 times on the page. No you can't delete anything on this even once you've seen it, we know you used to do that but we've taken it away for no apparent reason"

I love how I keep getting prompted to look at something. Oh yeah, it's collection only 50384849 miles away. Never mind.

Week later, this item is almost yours!

Huh, cool, no wait, that's the one that's collection only 50384849 miles away. Never mind.

Day or two later, this item has been relisted. Etc.

See also same "new" items in your saved searches.

Not surprising really. This is how it works on Vinted, and TBH it seems a clever move psychologically from the marketplace PoV. If the fee is charged to the seller (as before this summer on eBay), it's discouraging sellers to list. But if there's no fee for sellers, they can happily list something for £X knowing they'll get £X if it sells.

But someone has to pay the fees... The buyer can see the price inc. fees up front and they want the item (compare and contrast with if the seller had been put off by the fees and just hadn't bothered listing). And we all know how powerful wanting something is. Most of the time, they're not going to be put off by a small % fee.

Of course, as alluded to above, it will just drive prices down and sellers will lose out too, though I think in reality the hit will be shared by buyers and sellers (regardless of who is actually making the fee payment).

It's working for Vinted and eBay are rightly scared of this.

Still a month of feeling free selling. If you are planning a clearout might be worth getting on with it.

Definitely this though. It could never last, it was too good. I've sold over a grand's worth of bits and pieces on eBay this year.

Buyers protection is a joke, as far as I'm concerned however they like to dress it up. Utterly useless:

• Tracking shows your item was delivered
• Yes, but that's not my address.
• Seller says item delivered by RM.
• Track down delivery address and screenshot of delivery address.
• Contact seller - not interested.
• Contact eBay and send screenshot of wrong address.
• eBay want a 'denial of receipt' from RM.
• RM Say it takes 10 days.
• 10 Day pass. Nothing.
• Back to RM. Where's my denial of receipt letter?
• RM says they'll look into it.
• Another 10 days pass.
• Back to RM. Sorry we don't do that as it is too late.
• Back to eBay. We need a denial of receipt from RM.
• Explain to eBay, RM can't seem provide one.
• I've shown you where it was delivered and you know that's not my address. What more can I do?
• We need a 'denial of receipt' from RM.
• Arrrgh!

They probably made a killing on the auto-renew listing thing if an item didn't sell. An option I must have missed a few times when selling something... Crafty.

Always sh1tted me paying eBay and Paypal fees.

I've sold a few things on eBay since they moved to "no fees" and just had my first issue with it.

Sold a vintage cap. Accepted an offer significantly lower than the listing price, but enough for me. Listed as "no returns" - I'm just clearing out my cupboards, I'm not a trader.

Over a week after receiving the cap - the day after I go on holiday mode, marked as "away" -  the buyer requests a return becuase "it's defective".

WTF? It's clearly listed as "no returns", but eBay say becuase it's defective I've got three days to accept. No option to say "nope" - just various ways to either accept a return (for which I would have to pay postage), or discuss a partial refund.

And why is it "defective"? "Oh the peak isn't quite flat so I look silly"

Really. The peak, on a vintage cap is not perfect. I despair.

To be fair, I requested a call back from eBay and within half an hour, they'd agreed that they would refund the buyer but would not require anything of me, and it won't affect my seller account. I'm not sure that I'll be selling much more on eBay now though.

I'm slightly confused about the free - I have just sold some text books for £5.00 (less than I wanted, but I thought I was doing an auction as I haven't sold anything on ebay for donkeys) they have taken a 16p transaction fee - that is not free.

What have I missed?

could be any of these

1) registered as a business seller

2) selling to someone outside the UK

3) listed in more than one category

4) opted to promote the listing.

I've sold about a grands worth of stuff since ebay became free and haven't been charged a penny in fees.