Would Buyer Fees on eBay Be Good for Sellers?

by: terry55

Maybe dealing with the "vault" but adding a Buyers Premium to all categories and the buyers see it, I'm pretty sure that would be a major turn off. I doubt(almost guarantee) ebay wouldn't drop their fees, they are laying off people already.

by: GetAGrip

Would Fleecebay do it. Absolutely. If there is a chance of making more money they are in. Ebay doesn't have original ideas, they always wait until someone comes up with something and then they hop on board. Even Rex the dog would bark her approval.

by: Stone Cutter

*** This sounds contrived!! ***

If Sellers cannot sell their products due to high prices that is created by a Marketplace Fee, Sellers may have no choice but to reduce their prices to make a sale. This schema is nothing more than profit for Etsy while Sellers could take home LESS money.

The UK is having a hard time with inflation and a slow economy. Product prices should fall, not increase!

This is such B.S.!!! I sell jewelry at $350. If Etsy were to add an additional 5% to my sale, my buyer would have to pay an additional $17 bucks. This could be enough to lose a sale.  

by: comments

I think that all of these marketplaces are planning for their demise more than they are planning for the future.

They have all tried everything except for partnering with the sellers for a successful future. If any marketplace fees me to death it takes away my ability to invest in further inventory and it puts a lot of inventory out of reach.

The only consistent thing that I head from buyers is that they want lower prices. Virtually every communication with customers is about price, price, and price.

The path to success is price, price, and price. I could repeat it a few more times but that is the catch all.

Here is what is baked into the sale from seller side and buyer side.

-The cost of the item to the seller.

-The time it takes to sell the item because unsold inventory is essentially frozen cash.

-The fee to the marketplace for the cost of the goods plus taxes and fees.

-Advertising

-Theft, damage, item shelf life, products being devalued by markets for collectables or products that become obsolete and unsellable (eg old cell phone cases or camera batteries), postal damage/loss, and other shrinkage.

-Insurance

-packing materials

-Labor

-Transport to the shipper or time waiting for a pick up window.

-Sales tax to buyers or VAT tax for international buyers.

-Legal and regulation (eg something with batteries must by shipped special)

-SALT taxes (State and local taxes)

-Income Tax

-Distributer fees

-Cost to ready items for sale (eg new tires for a car or certification for a baseball card.

-Cost of hunting down inventory

-Buyer fees if the inventory comes from an auction.

-$14.99 Amazon Prime fee since many sellers are still sourcing their items from Amazon.

-Marketing discounting to buyers (such as sending out coupons to entice the sale)

-Cost of education or research materials, price guides, and other relevant subscriptions.

-New shoes from having to pace around all day waiting for deliveries (okay this one is a joke. But is it really?)

I can sit here all day and think of more but the ultimate answer to the question is NO we do not need MORE fees. We need MORE buyers and buyers are earned with value. With all of the above in mind I think that all of the market places should take a fee structure approach that fits the business model of the seller. If you keep the sellers profitable and the buyers protected you will see gains. No one is motivated by more fees.

by: comments

@ Stone Cutter

Very true about the extra $17 being a deal breaker for some.

For me. Every time I have to decline an offer because I simply don't have the room it is a missed opportunity. That hurts the buyer, the seller and the marketplace.

Also a point I forgot to touch on above. I also depend on my competition to keep buyers active on the site. I don't want to be the last man standing. It is not profitable to be on a dead marketplace.

When I started it was pretty much a free for all (which is not good either) but I didn't have limits or aggressive VeRO and equivalent taking down and banning me for genuine products to stop me from offering their item at a value price and other nonsense that has since evolved. How does someone start a business now? Without a year track record a handful of bad returns would end my career before it began. How does anyone start today?

The regular fee hikes are just further proof that the marketplaces themselves don't believe in their own futures. There is no need to invest in a future that they believe isn't coming. It is just get it while the gettin's good.

by: KingForADay

No, no, no. It would send people directly to Amazon even more often than they're doing already. Buyers don't understand built-in fees, only ones you spell out separately.

by: Stone Cutter

@Comments

You say…
” I also depend on my competition to keep buyers active on the site.”

YES, I agree. I’m an artisan jeweler on Etsy. I need other artisan jewelers to survive in order to bring in that specific buyer who wants variety to choose from. If other artisan jewelers crash & burn, buyers will leave Etsy and my shop will die, too.  

by: None Such

Depends on what is sold.  Buyers are used to a buyers fee for goods at auction, particularly high value collectibles.    They MIGHT be willing to pay a similar fee on eBay.   But it would drive out low price collectibles where such a fee would be a deal breaker.   And low price collectibles have a market on eBay and do sell, if the price is right and especially if a buyer buys a number of different items.  But add a fee to such low price items and they'll no longer be attractive to buyers.  

by: comments

@None Such

Obviously, you have a valid point about the willingness for buyers to pay a buyer fee on collectable auctions specifically. This is the same with car and art auctions. That is not the type of marketplace that we have set up for us to use. IF ebay offered a free no reserve selling option where the buyer paid a fee it would probably get a lot of attention. Buyers are ready and willing to pay a buyer fee on a no reserve auction of a quality collectables and jewelry but there are many fees associated with selling already. They still factor the total cost of the sale though.

If the business model was for me to sell at auction with no reserve and 100% sell through rate and I paid $0.00 per sale and the buyer paid for the winnings plus buyer fee and shipping I could actually afford to sell the items for half the price. There is a component where selling at a real auction house could be a benefit in that regard. Most that consign to auction are rarely in it for profit though. It is disposal for lack of a better method to the many that don't want to or can't participate in online retail selling. That almost begs the question as to why we collect things or buy designer things we don't "need" for survival in the first place.

In this scenario though it is the consigner that absorbs the risk and loss. The buyer and auction house make out. You ever watched a real auction full of reserved items? The bid just goes on as the gentleman at a popular auto auction puts it.

A fee is always paid by someone or there would be no venue or platform to do it. That much is understood by even those that thought Meg Whitman was a fee monger. We are long past the point where buyer, seller, or consigner needs to pay their "fair share". Instead we are at the point we the marketplaces need to start competing for more buyers. Any of these companies can grow.

How can growth happen? More fees? Not likely. The better way to do this is to send buyers coupons. Look at when ebay gave ebay bucks promos. That few extra dollars caused a lot of sales which has already realized Stone Cutters point above. They could also do flash sales on slow days "get 50% off selling offs associated with any transaction you utilize the "send an offer" feature from this date to this date. This would have the added benefit for putting money in sellers' pockets to freshen up the inventory leading to more sales. But instead they raise the fees and prevent me from getting the sale so they have to raise prices to stop me from getting more? I wouldn't hire a graduate of MIT or Princeton to mow my lawn!

I just think it would be nice if they were more mindful and understood their own business model. Instead they choose their buddy that they were on the board with at this company or that one. DW and JD should be unemployable after the destruction of an empire. Instead they jumped ship, right along to even better jobs. Mr. Donahoe is now employing China to produce slave labor according to the BBC and they even have their own wikipedia page documenting their human rights abuses (Google nike sweatshops). Nike's own website has a page dedicated to their "statement" about it. We all know what DW's executives did to Ina. Many of us now work in the shadow of this legacy.

A 5% buyers fee added on is just as bad as the "small" internet sales tax that customers are still upset about. It would likely have the same negative impact as well. I still don't understand why I have to pay for sales tax collection to places I have never been since most venues charge based on the cost of sale including sales tax.

Okay I am done ranting. If you actually read this I apologize :)

by: toolguy

A 5% buyers fee?

I'm walking away!

@Get a Grip "Ebay doesn't have original ideas" ~  Does FVF on shipping ring a bell?  

by: Chicago48

I cannot see AMZ doing this.  It would be the death knell for EB if they charged buyers.  Nope, I don't see it.  And I predict the feet will end Depop's career.
Buyers would go to the retailer's site and pickup at store vs. having it sent out.  The exception would be for an expensive designer item.

by: Rexford

Gotta Gripe says "Even Rex the dog would bark her approval."

Good morning Gotta Gripe!  I hope that you woke on the right side of the bed this morning and will get right to work on that sunny disposition that you always project.

Please make note however, nobody barks for Rex the dog but Rex the dog himself.

by: Rexford

This buyer's "marketplace fee" wreaks of "we are incapable of growing our business so let's just take the easy road and start stiffing the buyers with fees like we have done with the sellers".

What we have learned from all of these marketplaces *except for Ecrater) is that no dollar amount will ever be enough for them.  They will always want more and more.

by: epuise

Buyers shop/buy by 'total cost':
Item + Shipping + Taxes
Adding a Buyer's Premium will only benefit the Venue/Platform.
A Buyer who wants an item for $20 total:
Is going to find items that are priced low enough to total the $20.
The loser is the Seller, again.
At 'live' Venue, Buyer's often make a lower 'offer' knowing they'll pay Sales Tax. Online: they often site 'high shipping' in Request to Seller for lower 'buy' price.
The Buyer Premium will be, in effect, paid by the Seller in reduced item price.
Just as 'Tariffs' on Imported Goods are paid by the Customer.

by: pace306

Maybe I’m missing something…. Unless the item is rare/expensive/special (original creation for that specific buyer) .. why would any buyer pay that fee???

Sure if it’s in the above category or it’s a collectible then a buyer would want to pay up for it, but otherwise?????

Most of these platforms cause damage to their own platforms by just being too greedy. Large unearned salaries, to nothing employees, too many employees and all of them wanting to be Amazon, destroy the “mission statements” of these places.

If eBay just stuck “not being Amazon” it would do better.

Problem is that the CEOs of these companies are about as bright as a 25watt bulb and don’t understand how their business runs.

All of them fight their suppliers… not smart at all.

by: Hedgehog

Adding a fee for buyers would drive many bidders away.   It's not going to bring in any bidders.  Many bidders already end up paying sales tax on shipping, which drives up the price of an item.  Another buyer fee could end up being yet another straw that breaks the camel's back.  

by: Stone Cutter

I had the same thoughts as @Chicago48…I cannot see Amazon doing this.

Etsy recently sold shares to Elliot Management with one of their intentions to help move Depop forward. I hope this new fee schema fails badly, otherwise, this fee structure will bleed into Etsys main business, and Ebay.

But I’m with @Chicago48…this could be the end of Depop.  

by: RL15

coming soon....

the walmart dope waves his magic wand....poof...

more money for the cesspool

by: Snapped

The ‘willingness’ of a given buyer to accept a buyer’s fee for certain types of listings, but not for the (majority?) of others, like FP commoddities, is the salient point here.

It is another example of the vast diversity of ‘selling models’ that exist as perfectly viable options, but that eBay continues to ignore by attempting to make all their shoes fit one size of foot, insofar as they can see.

Different models.  Different marketplaces.  These are not best served by shoehorned inflexible listing constraints defined by eBay as best practices for what THEY want the market to be.  

by: MARK NICHOLS

If I walk inside a STORE or RESTAURANT to make a purchase and find out they CHARGE EXTRA for CREDIT/DEBIT CARD use ... I usually check to see how much CASH that I have - and if not enough - I usually just WALK RIGHT BACK OUT (NOT to return).  As a CONSUMER ... NO EXTRA FEES for me!!!  ENOUGH SAID?