TOPIC:

As of May 1, 2013, eBay final value fees in Australia will be increased to 9.9%, up from the current 7.9% (and it used to be 5.something% a couple of years ago).

www.news.com.au...6610825852

What are the eBay fees in the US, UK etc?

In Australia, in 2020, the eBay fees will probably be 15%.

And in 2100, the eBay fees will be 100% - at which point, you simply pay eBay the full value of everything you 'sell', so that you can give it away to someone else for free. All funds will pay to refuel eBay-Weyland-Yutani's fleet of 22 carat gold spacecraft, so that their board of directors can fly to other galaxies and start siphoning funds from aliens. I just hope they're these aliens:

It's been a gnat's nudger under 10% in the UK for some time, e.g. you sell something for 60 GBP, FVF is 5.99 ... plus of course listing fees & Paypal fees taking the total rakeoff to more like 15%

Don't forget Australia Post charges went up today as well!

Other than Ebay auctions are generally 10% commission, postage is what it is, & I'm sure Paypal don't particularly want to run their business for free.

I know it's irritating when prices for stuff go up, but you have to remember we're paying for the convenience aspect of buying stuff & having it land on your doorstep, which is less effort than reaching for the TV remote...

You could sell your stuff in the paper, & pay for the paper to get the ad slip & probably pay to have the ad listed (ie essentially paying someone to type it out for you & advertise it), pay for the phone call or to post the ad slip. Or you could pay your 5 quid pitch cost & go car boot selling, which entails fuel cost, time & effort.

The only time selling stuff is free is by word of mouth to mates/relatives, the advertising is minimal as will be final value

HI!... Or KIJIJI here in Canada. Totally free. I sell stuff on there all the time.

eddrick wrote:

Other than Ebay auctions are generally 10% commission, postage is what it is, & I'm sure Paypal don't particularly want to run their business for free.

I know it's irritating when prices for stuff go up, but you have to remember we're paying for the convenience aspect of buying stuff & having it land on your doorstep, which is less effort than reaching for the TV remote...

You could sell your stuff in the paper, & pay for the paper to get the ad slip & probably pay to have the ad listed (ie essentially paying someone to type it out for you & advertise it), pay for the phone call or to post the ad slip. Or you could pay your 5 quid pitch cost & go car boot selling, which entails fuel cost, time & effort.

The only time selling stuff is free is by word of mouth to mates/relatives, the advertising is minimal as will be final value

I've heard lots of variations of the "auctions houses charge 10% too" argument - but IMO they're a crock, auctioneers don't charge you for putting an item in a sale, or charge you for getting your money afterwards. Paypal (and as a seller, you have to accept Paypal payments) was bought out by ebay a long time ago, and the "chinese wall" between them is getting thinner all the time.

Those extra fees take it up to more like 15% - so eBay are charging more for the same service ... only they're not - I can't think of any auction house that makes you show your own item/print your own catalogue, make the selling pitch, and take the gavel yourself.

Ebay also don't have the same overheads as a physical auction house - they can locate their server farms wherever it's cheapest/easiest for them, and the same goes for wherever they're "officially" located - that can be wherever the taxes are cheapest ... Luxembourg ATM?

I don't believe that the fact that Ebay have a virtual monopoly on being the best way to sell older, collector oriented stuff - and that the size of the market helps you as a seller - excuses them from taking advantage with the size of their fees

Yogi, yes - sellers in Australia must be really annoyed in general atm.

And JR, yes. Life is good for eBay right now:
www.insidermonk...in-106816/

According to that, we're all far better off investing in eBay, than using eBay.

What really interests me though, is how in any one market, there seems to be only room for ONE auction site. In the UK, USA, Australia and probably many other countries, eBay has proven to be immune to competition for over 14 years now.

But in Japan, it's Yahoo! Auctions. eBay has always been dead in the water in Japan, as many of us know. A search for "Tamiya" www.ebay.co.jp/...a&catidd=0 literally results in zero items

In Taiwan, it appears to be Ruten - www.ruten.com.tw/

In New Zealand, it's TradeMe.co.nz. Which is interesting, because TradeMe is owned by an Australian media company (Fairfax). And yet, in Australia, nothing has ever been able to compete with eBay. The only opponents that have ever shown any potential - sold.com.au and gumtree.com.au, are now both owned by eBay. eBay just buys anyone who starts to put up a fight.

H.

hmm, I didn't about those other sites. To be honest, if I had a store front selling lots of stuff, I doubt I'd think the fees were too bad, not compared to running leases etc (which I do at the moment). If you compare to say Apple, who charges a flat rate of 30% on books, music and apps. So compared to that its not too bad, but they do get to dip their fingers in the pie twice or more with Paypal. But for a small time seller, selling personal stuff, ebay to me doesn't make sense unless you need that larger market. Which seems to me why Ebay is keeping places like gumtree around.

I think its Australia Post's fees that irk me more, sending stuff out overseas seems extreme, small boxes, regardless of weight start at around $17.20 AUD, but getting the same thing sent to Australia is usually half or less,

regards

Johann

I'm not saying I agree with Ebay charges, I'm just saying it's convenient & if it was that bad you wouldn't be using it. After all, we don't HAVE to pay the charges - if we all stopped using the service, they'd have to drop their prices or shut down, but who's gonna do that?

We have the power to force them to do business more cheaply, but "It's too much effort", so we whine needlessly & do nothing about it