eBay UK Goes Permanently Fee Free For Private Clothing Sellers April 8

[valueaddedresource]

In yet another step in eBay's recent strategy shift back to consumer-seller roots, starting April 8, private (non-business) sellers in the UK will no longer pay final value or regulatory fees on clothing sales.

How does free selling for pre-owned clothes work?
Selling pre-owned clothes on ebay.co.uk is now free for UK based private sellers, which means you’ll no longer have to pay transaction fees (final value fee and regulatory operating fee) when these items sell.

For clothes listings, private sellers will only incur fees for any of the following:

Optional listing upgrades
Sending items internationally
Using Promoted Listings to place advertisements

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/fashion-selling/ 

Interestingly, they are not limiting this by condition. Both new with tags or used condition qualify, as eBay defines pre-owned clothes as "items you no longer want or need in a variety of conditions, for example an outfit that no longer fits, an unwanted gift, or vintage fashion that needs a new home. These items can be new or used."

eBay is clearly responding to recent news from Mercair and Depop, subtly pointing out there are no selling or buying fees and no need to request a withdrawal that may incur additional fees.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Another-Competitor-Makes-Some-Big-Changes/m-p/34373213/highlig...

But it seems to be more than just a reactionary move as I've been tracking eBay's increased C2C focus and initiatives since February and it appears to be a key component of Jamie's plans to try to meet the forecasts they've given to Wall Street to see a return to GMV growth by Q3 or Q4 this year.

I won't be surprised if they don't bring this to Australia as well, since they've also stepped up pre-loved fashion efforts there, and we may even see something similar in the US by the end of the year.

[bennotbill]

Just seen an eBay ad on the UK TV about this. The ad's main tagline was interesting as it was like no fees/charges for buyers and sellers.

I wonder why they felt the need to say no fees for buyers. Would that be no buyer fees yet? Will buyer fees appear in select categories? Who knows.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@bennotbill Most likely to distinguish themselves from Mercari, a competing site which just recently announced no seller fees....but simultaneously added buyer fees. 

[bennotbill]

There's no Mercari in the UK as that closed a while back. Plenty of small competing sites with various fee structures.

There was a couple of other UK TV ads which caught my eye. Both were from long established and respected high street names. One was for buying/selling/authenticating/repairing watches. And the other was for trainers, or sneakers as you Americans say.

eBay is facing tough competition even on its flagship items.

[mr_lincoln]

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@bennotbill wrote:

There's no Mercari in the UK as that closed a while back. Plenty of small competing sites with various fee structures.

There was a couple of other UK TV ads which caught my eye. Both were from long established and respected high street names. One was for buying/selling/authenticating/repairing watches. And the other was for trainers, or sneakers as you Americans say.

eBay is facing tough competition even on its flagship items.

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@bennotbill 

Thank you for that insight from someone who is actually there.  

[valueaddedresource]

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@bennotbill wrote:

There's no Mercari in the UK as that closed a while back. Plenty of small competing sites with various fee structures.

There was a couple of other UK TV ads which caught my eye. Both were from long established and respected high street names. One was for buying/selling/authenticating/repairing watches. And the other was for trainers, or sneakers as you Americans say.

eBay is facing tough competition even on its flagship items.

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@bennotbill there may not be Mercari in the UK but there is Depop - and Depop also just recently got rid of their 10% selling fee and instituted an "up to" 5% buyer fee instead specially only in the UK market.

So yes, one way or another, that tagline was designed to differentiate eBay from competitors who are also advertising no fee selling but have shifted some or all of the fee burden to buyers instead.

[mr_lincoln]

@valueaddedresource 

So if the 5% Buyer's fee and NO Selling fees hit here Sellers could easily offer 5% discounts with a note in their Descriptions that it is to offset the new Buyer's fee ... 

[bennotbill]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@bennotbill Most likely to distinguish themselves from Mercari, a competing site which just recently announced no seller fees....but simultaneously added buyer fees. 

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Despite what I said - with eBay UK basically just a part of .com and their generally blinkered view, you're probably right.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Is this a gift to sellers or a recognition that selling used clothing which is other than high priced designer clothing is not any longer a source of profit? And selling high end designer clothing requires authentication which is unlikely to be free.

I have no horse in this race, but might pleasant to stop reading posts on why people are not seeing orders for their clothing.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@bennotbill  Yes, I'd say that ebay is probably distinguishing itself from Mercari (and as @valueaddedresource said, etys's Depop as well), and that's true whether Mercari is currently active in the UK or not. Also, simply advertising that puts some pressure on ebay's other competitors: if they are considering going to free seller fees for their sellers, are they prepared to---and are they capable of ---dropping the fees altogether, or will they end up adding fees on buyers? In other words, it may also be pro-active: a shot across the bow of other competing sites.

Which is NOT to say that,  ebay  will NEVER add buyer fees. I'm certain ebay is watching the pricing experiments of other sites carefully. Keep in mind ebay went to no seller fees on trainers/sneakers for a period of time, in order to regain market share...and once ebay was confident that they had regained strength in that market, they were quick to revive seller fees.

On other threads, I have pointed out that economists have been surprised by the willingness of the American consumer (Mercari dropped the seller fee/added the buyer fee in the US only) to continue spending even while loudly complaining about inflation (which I believe is less here than in most developed countries). I think Mercari may be relying on that same willingness to pay buyer fees. In other words, Mercari figures buyers will grumble, but if they really want something, they'll buy it. (even if it means paying a buyer fee)

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@tobaccocardyahoo  I don't think it's a gift to sellers. I think it is recognition that the used clothing market had grown enormously, and the potential profit overall is enormous...and much of this growth has been fueled by the younger generation, which is generally speaking, far more likely to be using these newer compeitiors than to be using ebay. In short, ebay , which not too many years ago, was in the perfect position to be the real leader in this trend if they had foreseen it and appreciated their huge used clothing seller base, well, ebay is now in a position where they are still a major player in the market, but they are likely losing ground rapidly.

Yes, many clothing sellers here acknowledge that it is a crowded market, but there is definitely money to be made for sellers who figure out exactly what to sell (and can source it) The problem is not simply that the market is crowded, it is that there are many, many sellers who do not understand it well enough to profit from it.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

The used clothing market is way too large for demand and much of it is priced too high.

Not only are Temu and Shain priced below used clothing, but the brand name manufacturer's websites have clearance new clothing priced below Ebay used prices of the same brand,

And the People's Republic of China has increased its output of cheap items to help revive their struggling economy.

Ebay could easily ignore the problem, keep the fees intact and let the clothing sellers in the UK struggle against impossible odds.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@tobaccocardyahoo 

My point is, there are sellers---many of them, actually---who are not overpricing their items, who are not selling clothing for which there is really no particular demand, and who ARE sourcing at affordable prices and who KNOW what sells and what doesn't.

It's like anything. CDs? Most aren't worth much, and can be hard to sell even if lotted together at a low price. But I sold one recently for about 50 bucks that I paid fifty cents for...it only lasted a day or two on ebay...because, yes, SOME cds DO have demand.

One problem with clothing in general is: it is readily available to most resellers and so it is often where newbies get their start....so you have a LOT of inexperienced sellers brining items to market that have little or no demand and that are indeed often overpriced. Some of them crash and burn, but others eventually learn the ins and outs of the market and prosper.

I'm guessing the Pereto Principle applies: probably about 20% of clothing sellers are generating about 80% of the clothing GMV, not just because they are larger sellers but because they KNOW the market.

Is the market overcrowded with clothing sellers who  struggling. Yes. But that doesn't mean there isn't money to be made.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@tobaccocardyahoo  I don't think it's a gift to sellers. I think it is recognition that the used clothing market had grown enormously, and the potential profit overall is enormous...and much of this growth has been fueled by the younger generation, which is generally speaking, far more likely to be using these newer compeitiors than to be using ebay. In short, ebay , which not too many years ago, was in the perfect position to be the real leader in this trend if they had foreseen it and appreciated their huge used clothing seller base, well, ebay is now in a position where they are still a major player in the market, but they are likely losing ground rapidly.

Yes, many clothing sellers here acknowledge that it is a crowded market, but there is definitely money to be made for sellers who figure out exactly what to sell (and can source it) The problem is not simply that the market is crowded, it is that there are many, many sellers who do not understand it well enough to profit from it.

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@tobaccocardyahoo  I pretty much said the same thing as this post, in a different answer & I do believe this IS the answer.  I've never once seen eBay mentioned in the fashion subs on Reddit, everyone only talks about Posh, Depop, etc.  The young people NEVER think of eBay for clothing & ebay hasn't done anything to help them do so.   But to comment on your post, as a longtime clothing seller, there is still a lot of profit.  For me, it's just the buyers that are down.  I still make great profit, when items sell.  Of course, less buyers affect profit, but profit per item is actually up.  

[bennotbill]

It won't be a complete bust for eBay. With the high level of online clothing returns I expect eBay will still make a nice profit from postage labels.

eBay do some strange advertising. On one channel that mainly has repeats, there's a more than a decade old motoring program series shown that come comes up sponsored by eBay. Which shows a guy opening his eBay parcel that contains a locking petrol cap that he fits to his vintage sports car .............. on to opening credits.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Pareto Principle also applies almost everything else on Ebay