Final Value Fee Increases ??

[wildpitchsports]

eBay Winter 2022 Update 

I was away for a bit and missed this update.  The link is above.

Am I really reading this right ? Fee increases on top of the new $600 IRS reporting trigger for the 1099K starting this tax year?!!?

I guess that's one way to boost revenue. At this rate by the Winter 2023 update it will be 15%-20%. 

Someone called this out at the end of last year - sellers leave = eBay raising fees. Wonder how long before it hits Amazon levels of 30%+?

Time to take a long, hard, serious look at your business model folks and contemplate if it is even sustainable.

[heckofagame]

You do know that the $600 reporting thingy is not something that eBay created, right? In fact, they lobbied against it.

[wildpitchsports]

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@heckofagame wrote:

You do know that the $600 reporting thingy is not something that eBay created, right? In fact, they lobbied against it.

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Oh I am well aware of that and that part wasn't their fault. The result of that is and will be sellers leaving which = less revenue and therefore in order to sustain stock price they need a new revenue source.

It just compounds the challenges for small sellers 

[flyingmvp]

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@wildpitchsports wrote:

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@heckofagame wrote:

You do know that the $600 reporting thingy is not something that eBay created, right? In fact, they lobbied against it.

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Oh I am well aware of that and that part wasn't their fault. The result of that is and will be sellers leaving which = less revenue and therefore in order to sustain stock price they need a new revenue source.

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Sellers leaving = increased fees on the sellers who stay.

[m60driver]

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@wildpitchsports wrote:

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It just compounds the challenges for small sellers 

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Just abut every change compounds the challenges to small sellers.  No different than the challenges constantly thrown at me when I ran my brick and mortar stores.  Almost by definition a larger seller is more efficient than a smaller seller.  The recent 3% increase in the FVF will of course impact the smaller seller more than the larger seller.  There is a reason that in just about every mature market there exists monopolies, it is the inevitable outcome of capitalism.  Resistance is futile.

[b86fiero]

Yep, fee increases.

Don't forget the special USPS Holiday Surcharge shipping rate increases that ended after Christmas and the recent USPS shipping rate permanent increases that recently went into effect.

eBay makes money off of those too.  

Of course all cost increases get passed on to buyers.  

[fuzzface50]

I wish everything else that went up on price lately went up just the little bit that ebay fees did. The little bit they went up looks like a bargain to what everybody else went up by. 

[wildpitchsports]

Agreed

[luckythewinner]

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@wildpitchsports wrote:

Am I really reading this right ? Fee increases 

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I think you also have to consider that when you issue a partial refund, you will now get a pro-rated refund of your final value fees that you did not get before. 

The fee increase will add an additional 0.35% to my fees, which means for every $100 in total sales my total fees will increase by 35 cents. 

But every time I give a $3 partial refund for a combined shipping discount, I will get a final value fee refund of 39 cents that I did not get before. 

Looking at my last couple months of sales, I suspect my total fees will not change at all after I take both of the fee changes into account. 

[dryophelia]

This isn't an fee increase for just a few small sellers. This is a fee increase that will effect all sellers. ALL SELLERS will be adjusting their prices to make up for this increase. 

When USPS, or any carrier, increases their prices, again, that is across the board. It effects all sellers who use that carrier. ALL SELLERS will adjust their prices to make up for this increase. 

It looks like it will cost ALL SELLERS $0.35 per $100.00 to accommodate for the prorated refund on fees when issuing a refund to a buyer. Did y'all really think that wouldn't cost ALL SELLERS something?  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques · Accepted solution]

@dryophelia Well, technically, not necessarily ALL sellers. The fee increase is category based, and while most categories see the same increase, not all have the same increase and at least one has no increase. Womens Handbags, for example, sees no increase. And books see a smaller than average increase. There are a a few others. 

I wouldn't really say it hurts smaller sellers more than larger sellers. What I would say  is,  it has more impact on sellers with narrow margins than sellers with broader margins. So, whether you are large or small, if you usually pay $2.00 for an item you sell at $20, this impacts you less than if you usually pay $10.00 for an item you usually sell at $20.

Most of my items have strong margins, and this change is not going to cause me to adjust my prices because my margins are sufficient to handle the increase. That doesn't mean I'm delighted to see an increase, it simply means it is not significant enough for me to take any action based on the change. It certainly isn't going to cause my departure. Other sellers with different business models may draw a different conclusion for their business.

[wildpitchsports]

Thank you for your insight.

[isaiah53-57]

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@wildpitchsports wrote:

eBay Winter 2022 Update 

Am I really reading this right ? Fee increases?!!? ... At this rate by the Winter 2023 update it will be 15%-20%.

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Thanks for the Post - Like many posters here who focus on the smoke-and-mirror Final Value Fee that ebay presents to us with a wink... you fail to realize(or note) that fees are ALREADY 15-30% of the item price - Fee as a Percentage of the Items price is the only number that matters - not creative accounting numbers...

ebay touts their low 12.55% fee rate and I see it being passed on by board posters as if it was written on one of the stone tablets Moses brought down from the Mountain...

Here is a conservative example of the TRUE FEES we pay:  Sell a $40 item (not a book or movie due to Fees being higher in these categories) - add shipping at $12.00 and Taxes at $3.00 - Pay 12.55% of that amount plus  add the .30 cent Per Transaction Fee - that amounts to $7.20 in fees which is 18% of items $40 Price...And then they want us to pay a Promoted Listing Fee of 5-to-10% or more??? HUH? -

Sticking with Site Specific Fees, Variables & Payments, the above numbers also do not take into consideration the price of an ebay store, listing fees, or the risks of selling on the site.

We track most ALL of our fees at 16 -24% of the Items Price(excluding everything except the base Final Value Fees)  -

Fees as a Percentage of the Items price - The ONLY NUMBER that matters..

[coolections]

In many of the categories Ebay may lose nothing if some sellers leave. If there are 100 sellers of the same thing and only 30 buyers typically buying that item, even if half the sellers leave there is still enough listed to get all 30 sold.

[humminbird-heaven]

I just sold an item for $109.99 after no sales for 5 days, so I know the payout will be only for that sale...shipping $5.99...$10.44 tax...$126.42 total...my pay-out was $88 and some change...thats over 20% FVF???