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

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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]

Also it could be eBay UK's answer to sellers getting a bit thin on the ground. It almost seems every week that some new app selling site opens. Often fee free.

Even Etsy UK is currently funding a £5 off end of April sale. As they said "it was implementing the new marketing strategy because it was experiencing an increasingly competitive retail environment". Though they told sellers "it was running the current UK promotion because it wanted to help support their businesses". Of course they do 😀.

Personally I think the days of sellers being easily replaced are past.

[yuzuha]

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@onefootflippers wrote:

For anyone serious about ebay something like this is a bad change. 

Why not flood an already flooded market with more listings from people who aren't selling for profit AND give them a financial edge against the for profit sellers, which would be basically everyone reading this forum.

Why would any of you want that?

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Agreed. eBay needs to bring back listing fees, not get rid of them. The site is already clogged with too much junk that will never sell, sellers who list their items for ridiculous prices that no one will ever pay, and yard sale sellers who list their stuff for giveaway prices where they're basically losing money on every sale and are hurting all of the sellers who are actually trying to make a profit.