eBay is eliminating volume discounts on selling fees in the UK next month, effectively raising fees for all but the smallest sellers. eBay chose to email sellers rather than publicly announce the change.
It may come as a surprise to many readers that eBay had offered volume fee discounts to UK business sellers. The fee page on eBay UK explains that business sellers whose sales in a prior 3-month period reach £25,000 qualify for a 4% discount on final value fees, while those whose sales exceed £200,000 qualify for an 8% discount.
(Note that’s an average of £8,333/month in sales for three consecutive months to qualify for a discount.)
eBay sent an email to sellers on Wednesday informing them of the end of the volume discounts beginning March 20, 2022.
The news is particularly surprising since eBay announced the 2022 Winter Seller Update publicly last week, adding to the feeling of secrecy around today’s news.
eBay had written on the Seller Update landing page for UK sellers last week:
We heard your feedback on fees
At eBay we’re committed to building a marketplace that works for all sellers, no matter what you’re selling or the size of your business. We’re always listening to your feedback on the challenges you face when it comes to our fees and we’re making changes to support this. We’re also updating some of our policies. You’ll see below that this involves removing or adapting the policies that you’ve told us don’t work for your business and extending the ones that do.
It went on to announce three changes last week, with no mention of the volume discount:
- Low-cost item offer update
- New reduced fees for low-cost collectible items
- Changes to how we refund fees
Sellers discussing Wednesday’s bombshell email on the eBay UK discussion boards were upset to learn they would pay more in fees to eBay. “They are an absolute disgrace. Their greed and complete disregard for the troubles small businesses are facing at the moment and for the last coupe of years is quite breathtaking,” wrote one seller.
A “body blow,” one seller called it. “With one hand they send you invitations to borrow money off them and with the other they are wacking fees up. eBay already get massive fees… final value, promoted listing fees and the new pay per click promoted listing ads. Next they will be charging us for feedback stars!!!”
One cynical seller said, “It seems the volume discount was just a carrot to get us to move quietly away from PayPal to the managed payments!”
