After 15 years and 1700 transactions as a private seller I've decided to call it a day. It's just not worth the aggravation. It feels more and more that Ebay are playing business and private sellers against each other. The new eBay selling conditions also just mean it's all just becoming time consuming and annoying to sell on ebay.
I haven't got a clue regarding other platforms. I've always been on ebay because at the time they were basically the only real choice. I suppose I was blinkered back then and just accepted what they did. But as time moves on it seems ebay don't really know what's happening. They just seems to be chasing the tails of platforms like Vinted, taking the ideas and trying to adapt them. But as I say the thing that irritates me most is appearing to play off business and private sellers against each other.
I am a private seller, just getting rid of stuff around the house. The fee will be shown before they get to check out so they will know in advance, it won't be a last minute shock apparently. What I will do is reduce the price of my items where I can now. And on small items I will bundle them as yes there will no point in selling low cost items. Also I find that when I sell things like used jigsaws etc. many people don't buy the cheapest anyway. If you look at the solds some people will pay loads more for the same thing. So it's not all about being the cheapest anyway. Maybe some buyers will like the idea of paying for customer protection, even though Business sellers offer it too, maybe some buyers will feel more secure buying it and think they are getting better cover when they aren't.
Buyers will be the best off in my opinion. I think private sellers will just lower there prices to still be competitive and they will eventually sell a bit less. I don't see many private sellers paying £27 a month if they only sell say 10 items a month, it wouldn't be worth it. I expect a lot more will sell on vinted as well. With the economy tanking I believe its a very bad thing for reselling in general.
I'm a private seller, started on ebay to help my parents clear their books and CD/DVDs before they moved to retirement living. Jen is absolutely correct that I'll not be able to continue selling cheap at £3 a book/DVD because the %fee and the 75p fee is prohibitive. I don't think the wait for payment until delivery is an issue as private sellers generally make just a few sales (which is probably why ebay wants to focus on businesses that make them more money).
It is a real shame. I guess it was hard enough to sell media with the big companies selling so cheap. I guess we will see if less private sellers actually means less private buyers overall
I wish EBay would make it easier for small business sellers. As a small seller I don’t need 250 free listings that a £32 shop fee costs, and I don’t like having to pay insertion fees on top of normal fees and promotion fees. I would have preferred it if EBay didn’t make private selling free, but allowed small business sellers not have to pay subscription fee on top of normal fees. It is really hard getting a business going as prices are so competitive. I also feel angry when being charged random extra 75p. As it looks like EBay are just skimming extra money for doing nothing extra. Haven’t buyers always had plenty of buyer protection. The whole online reselling business looks very muddled and difficult atm. I hope it settles down soon. I am not at all keen on EBay rn
I sell on Vinted and have had an Etsy Shop with nothing in it for ages as I haven’t had time to work out how to sell on Etsy. I am now going to take the time to work that out. I mostly feel that EBay have been behaving like amateurs in the way they are trying to compete with Vinted, and have been disrespectful to their Sellers in the process.
Yes I agree. They are repackaging things that we’ve already had to make out they are giving us something for free. Best of luck to you with your sales. Etsy can be slow to sell but can go for good money
I'm a private seller decluttering my house. Just been listing items today and the "simple shipping" is already activated. Defaults to a certain courier renowned for losing parcels. No thanks, I had endless problems and will NEVER use that courier again. Had to dig deeper to find the delivery service that I always use for reliability, excellent tracking and a higher level of insurance included in the price.
@@CloudberryMusings there are couriers I would never use! We use the same courier for all of our parcels. Maybe eBay have a deal with a certain courier to push there services?
In my opinion. Someone selling there own item from time to time is a personal seller. Someone that purposely buys something to resell for profit is a business seller.
That's fantastic news. I've lost count of the number of times I've sprung out of my bed at 2.45am wishing I could have a phone conversation with an Ebay rep to discuss an INR rather than just waiting until they open at 8.
You also discussed the buyer protection for private transactions yet this protection is already in place as an INAD could always be opened against a private seller anyway despite a lot of them thinking they do not have to accept returns full stop. Private sellers only don't have to accept returns for non INAD situations. Once again Ebay are basically just paraphrasing themselves in the same way that politicians will avoid a question and answer an entirely different one. The private buyer protection brings nothing to the table and is just Ebay copying Vinted as you said and just creating a new way of extracting money from sales.
I'm a private seller and eBay are now using simplified postage where I get provided a prepaid postage label with the order, just like on Vinted, I don't get involved with the postage payments etc anymore. eBay say simplified postage is just for private sellers.
If this fee is only on private sellers…. Do you think eBay will have a new filter option so that buyers can select business sellers only, so we can avoid private sellers and this fee?
A buyer isn't going to notice the difference between a private and business seller just by looking at the price, as the buyer protection fee will automatically be added to private seller listings: List something for £20, it'll show up to potential buyers simply as £21.49. Nothing is going to change for businesses but I feel that all those private sellers enticed to sign up by the advertising of no fees to sell stuff will do a mass exodus as it's not very clear what % is going on what "up to 4%" isn't helpful. And the extra fee doesn't help those of us trying to move stuff on whilst earning literally a quid per item (sometimes less... but it's more than we had before!)
Didn’t eBay say that they hoped that private sellers would use there earnings to spend on eBay? Wasn’t that the point of having the money held on eBay for private sellers? That seems to have gone out of the window because like you say there will be a mass exodus of private sellers.
For me as a private seller the unknown is the 'simple' delivery and the funds being tied to it, going to start with it before Feb, as somebody who sells at most 4/5 items a week I dont know where this 'business' seller threshold is 🤔
Thanks for the video ladies, interesting update from eBay… I think the bigger picture here is business sellers provide more reliable recurring revenue for them (subscriptions, fees etc) so it’s another push for private sellers towards business accounts - for me as a business seller it provides a little light relief on current high competition from lower value items - I do anticipate we may see fees rise for businesses further though - which would creates an unhelpful bind, we’ll see 😅
retro reselling said it's 4% plus 75p per transaction I think most private sellers won't even know this is happening unless they are a business trading on a private account
I'm a private seller, and almost everything I have sold since the fees were removed have been very cheap, between £1 and £2 so these new fees will almost double the cost of most of my items and make them very hard to sell. Also I can sell them so cheap as I use old mint stamps that cost me very little which I will be unable to do under these new rules as there would be no tracking. So I will not be able to carry on with eBay really.
@thats_flipping_retro I will probably have a look at using Etsy. I only really sell books and magazines that I have finished with as I hate the idea of putting them in the recycling, and nearest charity shop often does not want books.
I'm in the same boat, but ebay postage fees are slightly less than the Post Office in some cases. If all goods are to be sent as tracked there will be 1,000s of private sellers who will simply stop because costs will increase for small items like postcards from 85p to £2.70!
@@judithpride1690 will definitely effect how much I use eBay, will probably stop selling but will also effect how much I use it for buying, a lot of what I buy is low value and also small so postage cost is low. With the 75 pence plus a percentage and a much higher postage cost I would not really want to buy anything from a private seller that is bellow £10 which is almost everything I buy.
I think you can opt out of the simple postage scheme, then you could register and use Royal Mail online, a little cheaper, postman will bring label to you next day or print off yourself or at Post Office.
I'm a private seller who basically sells bits and pieces from around the house, mainly physical media. My issue is that selling on ebay could potentially become time consuming and sales becoming drawn out affairs. I'm not prepared to have to jump through hoops for the sake of the sale of a £5 blu-ray! Ebay seems to be moving away from what it started out as. I think this buyer protection fee will lose them a lot of private sellers and with it the potential purchases the sellers would also make! The way this is going the £1, £2, £3 sales will become a thing of the past. The term "eBay it" may well die out too. As sellers again look to boot sales, Vinted, Etsy etc as a cheaper option.
@bigandynorton1964 I'm a private seller too. I used to sell things and make a £1 or so because it was easy to bang in a envelope and drop at the post box. This new buyer fee will mean people will pay more for the same thing, and ofc will want to send an offer to get the buyer protection fee off, which means that selling things for cheap will be a thing of the past. Like you say, I agree that Ebay is gonna become a thing of the past over the next few months and years, and only after this all happens will Ebay hopefully realised how badly they've ballsed it up. Ebay has dominated for over 20 years, and have been scared of competition and have rushed to copy them, which i suspect ultimately will be the wrong decision to make
Befor you rush to make a video i think you should read the information from eBay and give out the right information,you are totally wrong,there is no fee to the buyer buying from a private seller it will be the private seller that will end up paying for it
In theory the buyer is going to pay the Buyers Protection fee, in practice it will be the private seller who is, as the seller will have to reduce their listing price to be as competitive as the Business sellers price. The reality is that Private sellers are now paying a fee again, Ebay are just trying to make it look otherwise.
@@paulc8717 I can't show a screen shot here but I've added the text hopefully. Fee calculation examples: Item price set by the seller £20 Buyer Protection fee variable (4% of £20 £0.80 Buyer Protection flat fee £0.75 Price that buyer sees for the listing £21.55 + postage
This just means that if a private seller lists an item for £15 the fee will be added onto the price shown to the seller. The buyer will pay the fee rather than the seller. Ebay got rid of fees for private sellers so they are now passing these on to buyers.
After 15 years and 1700 transactions as a private seller I've decided to call it a day. It's just not worth the aggravation. It feels more and more that Ebay are playing business and private sellers against each other. The new eBay selling conditions also just mean it's all just becoming time consuming and annoying to sell on ebay.
@@bigandynorton1964 that is such a shame. Will you move to another platform?
I haven't got a clue regarding other platforms. I've always been on ebay because at the time they were basically the only real choice. I suppose I was blinkered back then and just accepted what they did. But as time moves on it seems ebay don't really know what's happening. They just seems to be chasing the tails of platforms like Vinted, taking the ideas and trying to adapt them. But as I say the thing that irritates me most is appearing to play off business and private sellers against each other.
@ yep whilst only benefiting themselves. Vinted are ok for selling lower priced items I think but customer service can be shocking
I am a private seller, just getting rid of stuff around the house. The fee will be shown before they get to check out so they will know in advance, it won't be a last minute shock apparently. What I will do is reduce the price of my items where I can now. And on small items I will bundle them as yes there will no point in selling low cost items. Also I find that when I sell things like used jigsaws etc. many people don't buy the cheapest anyway. If you look at the solds some people will pay loads more for the same thing. So it's not all about being the cheapest anyway. Maybe some buyers will like the idea of paying for customer protection, even though Business sellers offer it too, maybe some buyers will feel more secure buying it and think they are getting better cover when they aren't.
That’s definitely a possibility. I guess we won’t know until it’s rolled out. Hope your sales don’t suffer because of this.
Buyers will be the best off in my opinion. I think private sellers will just lower there prices to still be competitive and they will eventually sell a bit less. I don't see many private sellers paying £27 a month if they only sell say 10 items a month, it wouldn't be worth it. I expect a lot more will sell on vinted as well. With the economy tanking I believe its a very bad thing for reselling in general.
@@professionalgambler74 yep I agree with you. Thanks for watching
I'm a private seller, started on ebay to help my parents clear their books and CD/DVDs before they moved to retirement living. Jen is absolutely correct that I'll not be able to continue selling cheap at £3 a book/DVD because the %fee and the 75p fee is prohibitive. I don't think the wait for payment until delivery is an issue as private sellers generally make just a few sales (which is probably why ebay wants to focus on businesses that make them more money).
It is a real shame. I guess it was hard enough to sell media with the big companies selling so cheap. I guess we will see if less private sellers actually means less private buyers overall
I wish EBay would make it easier for small business sellers. As a small seller I don’t need 250 free listings that a £32 shop fee costs, and I don’t like having to pay insertion fees on top of normal fees and promotion fees. I would have preferred it if EBay didn’t make private selling free, but allowed small business sellers not have to pay subscription fee on top of normal fees. It is really hard getting a business going as prices are so competitive. I also feel angry when being charged random extra 75p. As it looks like EBay are just skimming extra money for doing nothing extra. Haven’t buyers always had plenty of buyer protection. The whole online reselling business looks very muddled and difficult atm. I hope it settles down soon. I am not at all keen on EBay rn
It is super messy isn’t it and does seem like they are changing for something that we’ve always had. Have you tried other platforms?
I sell on Vinted and have had an Etsy Shop with nothing in it for ages as I haven’t had time to work out how to sell on Etsy. I am now going to take the time to work that out. I mostly feel that EBay have been behaving like amateurs in the way they are trying to compete with Vinted, and have been disrespectful to their Sellers in the process.
Yes I agree. They are repackaging things that we’ve already had to make out they are giving us something for free. Best of luck to you with your sales. Etsy can be slow to sell but can go for good money
I'm a private seller decluttering my house. Just been listing items today and the "simple shipping" is already activated. Defaults to a certain courier renowned for losing parcels. No thanks, I had endless problems and will NEVER use that courier again. Had to dig deeper to find the delivery service that I always use for reliability, excellent tracking and a higher level of insurance included in the price.
@@CloudberryMusings there are couriers I would never use! We use the same courier for all of our parcels. Maybe eBay have a deal with a certain courier to push there services?
In my opinion. Someone selling there own item from time to time is a personal seller. Someone that purposely buys something to resell for profit is a business seller.
I think that’s eBay’s opinion too. Thanks for watching
That's fantastic news. I've lost count of the number of times I've sprung out of my bed at 2.45am wishing I could have a phone conversation with an Ebay rep to discuss an INR rather than just waiting until they open at 8.
You also discussed the buyer protection for private transactions yet this protection is already in place as an INAD could always be opened against a private seller anyway despite a lot of them thinking they do not have to accept returns full stop. Private sellers only don't have to accept returns for non INAD situations. Once again Ebay are basically just paraphrasing themselves in the same way that politicians will avoid a question and answer an entirely different one. The private buyer protection brings nothing to the table and is just Ebay copying Vinted as you said and just creating a new way of extracting money from sales.
lol I wonder how many drunk phone calls they are going to get in the early hours.
Totally agree. More fees for nothing
Thank you ladies 👍 Wishing you both a happy& successful 2025 and hope you get well soon 🫶
Thank you. Same to you :)
I'm a private seller and eBay are now using simplified postage where I get provided a prepaid postage label with the order, just like on Vinted, I don't get involved with the postage payments etc anymore. eBay say simplified postage is just for private sellers.
Ah that’s a plus I suppose so you don’t have to pay for postage up front!
If this fee is only on private sellers….
Do you think eBay will have a new filter option so that buyers can select business sellers only, so we can avoid private sellers and this fee?
If they do have that that will be the final nail in the coffin for private sellers I think.
That’s a possibility. That would be interesting.
With previous changes, Ebay made it clearer whether a listing is business or private seller in the search results.
A buyer isn't going to notice the difference between a private and business seller just by looking at the price, as the buyer protection fee will automatically be added to private seller listings: List something for £20, it'll show up to potential buyers simply as £21.49. Nothing is going to change for businesses but I feel that all those private sellers enticed to sign up by the advertising of no fees to sell stuff will do a mass exodus as it's not very clear what % is going on what "up to 4%" isn't helpful. And the extra fee doesn't help those of us trying to move stuff on whilst earning literally a quid per item (sometimes less... but it's more than we had before!)
Didn’t eBay say that they hoped that private sellers would use there earnings to spend on eBay? Wasn’t that the point of having the money held on eBay for private sellers? That seems to have gone out of the window because like you say there will be a mass exodus of private sellers.
For me as a private seller the unknown is the 'simple' delivery and the funds being tied to it, going to start with it before Feb, as somebody who sells at most 4/5 items a week I dont know where this 'business' seller threshold is 🤔
I guess it will all become clearer once it’s up and running.
Thanks for the video ladies, interesting update from eBay… I think the bigger picture here is business sellers provide more reliable recurring revenue for them (subscriptions, fees etc) so it’s another push for private sellers towards business accounts - for me as a business seller it provides a little light relief on current high competition from lower value items - I do anticipate we may see fees rise for businesses further though - which would creates an unhelpful bind, we’ll see 😅
@@treasuretroveuk1400 as always with eBay we will have to wait and see. Thanks for watching
Buyer protection fee means anything is wrong or the buyer lies the seller pays out ( just like now) and ebay pocket the fee.....
retro reselling said it's 4% plus 75p per transaction I think most private sellers won't even know this is happening unless they are a business trading on a private account
Yeah I’ve seen that. It means that it won’t be worth listing lower value items I guess as the price won’t be very competitive. Thanks for watching
Simplified postage is comingI think
Not sure how that will go down! Thanks for watching
@@thats_flipping_retro I think it depends how well it works.
Can you explain what that will mean?
I'm a private seller, and almost everything I have sold since the fees were removed have been very cheap, between £1 and £2 so these new fees will almost double the cost of most of my items and make them very hard to sell. Also I can sell them so cheap as I use old mint stamps that cost me very little which I will be unable to do under these new rules as there would be no tracking. So I will not be able to carry on with eBay really.
@@edstevens701 sorry to hear that. Would it be worth moving to Etsy?
@thats_flipping_retro I will probably have a look at using Etsy. I only really sell books and magazines that I have finished with as I hate the idea of putting them in the recycling, and nearest charity shop often does not want books.
I'm in the same boat, but ebay postage fees are slightly less than the Post Office in some cases. If all goods are to be sent as tracked there will be 1,000s of private sellers who will simply stop because costs will increase for small items like postcards from 85p to £2.70!
@@judithpride1690 will definitely effect how much I use eBay, will probably stop selling but will also effect how much I use it for buying, a lot of what I buy is low value and also small so postage cost is low. With the 75 pence plus a percentage and a much higher postage cost I would not really want to buy anything from a private seller that is bellow £10 which is almost everything I buy.
I think you can opt out of the simple postage scheme, then you could register and use Royal Mail online, a little cheaper, postman will bring label to you next day or print off yourself or at Post Office.
This will be the downfall of Ebay
I do hope not
And potentially a reduced number of eyes on listings by business sellers.
I'm a private seller who basically sells bits and pieces from around the house, mainly physical media. My issue is that selling on ebay could potentially become time consuming and sales becoming drawn out affairs. I'm not prepared to have to jump through hoops for the sake of the sale of a £5 blu-ray! Ebay seems to be moving away from what it started out as. I think this buyer protection fee will lose them a lot of private sellers and with it the potential purchases the sellers would also make! The way this is going the £1, £2, £3 sales will become a thing of the past. The term "eBay it" may well die out too. As sellers again look to boot sales, Vinted, Etsy etc as a cheaper option.
@bigandynorton1964 I'm a private seller too. I used to sell things and make a £1 or so because it was easy to bang in a envelope and drop at the post box. This new buyer fee will mean people will pay more for the same thing, and ofc will want to send an offer to get the buyer protection fee off, which means that selling things for cheap will be a thing of the past. Like you say, I agree that Ebay is gonna become a thing of the past over the next few months and years, and only after this all happens will Ebay hopefully realised how badly they've ballsed it up. Ebay has dominated for over 20 years, and have been scared of competition and have rushed to copy them, which i suspect ultimately will be the wrong decision to make
Befor you rush to make a video i think you should read the information from eBay and give out the right information,you are totally wrong,there is no fee to the buyer buying from a private seller it will be the private seller that will end up paying for it
Hi eBay have said that it’s a buyers fee so it’s the buyer that will pay it rather than the seller. Buyers will pay up to 4% plus a flat 75p fee.
In theory the buyer is going to pay the Buyers Protection fee, in practice it will be the private seller who is, as the seller will have to reduce their listing price to be as competitive as the Business sellers price. The reality is that Private sellers are now paying a fee again, Ebay are just trying to make it look otherwise.
if you read the the email properly it says the buyer will pay no more than the advertised price so if the item is £20 they will only pay £20
@@paulc8717 I can't show a screen shot here but I've added the text hopefully.
Fee calculation examples:
Item price set by the seller
£20
Buyer Protection fee variable (4% of £20
£0.80
Buyer Protection flat fee
£0.75
Price that buyer sees for the listing
£21.55 + postage
This just means that if a private seller lists an item for £15 the fee will be added onto the price shown to the seller. The buyer will pay the fee rather than the seller. Ebay got rid of fees for private sellers so they are now passing these on to buyers.