Short version: they trialled this in Germany, and also to a lesser extent with free clothing listings in the UK, and found that there was a massive uptick in sellers actually buying - and 80% of the purchases made were from business sellers. They're banking on increasing business sellers sales, and the fees from those sales will cover the relatively small loss from private sellers.
They've also reduced the number of free listings from 1000 to 300 for private sellers, as part of an attempt to move business sellers masquerading as private sellers into a business account.
There are also options that incur a fee - reserve price on auction, listing in a second category, etc. and if your item is sold via GSP, you'll still pay a 3% fee.
Full text from message received on business account:
Changes to private seller fees and new benefits for business sellers |
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| | We wanted to let you know about some changes coming to private seller fees on eBay, the benefits to you as a valued business seller, and new enhancements we’re introducing for you and your business. | | Starting Tuesday 1 October 2024, private sellers will not pay transaction fees when they sell items on eBay.co.uk*. In addition, we’ll be introducing new benefits for business sellers, like enhanced protection against fraudulent returns and more access to 1:1 support to help you grow your business. | Helping private sellers helps your business | | In Germany, we recently launched a similar free to sell programme, and a lot of new customers joined our marketplace to start selling. But all those new customers didn’t just sell. Hundreds of thousands of them started buying - and they ended up buying twice as much as buyers who don’t sell. | | 80% of the time, they were buying from you, business sellers. We believe this is going to drive more buyers to your business. | New benefits for business sellers | | We’re also adding new features and services to support you: |
| • | Better protection against fraudulent returns: We’re dedicating additional customer support to address fraudulent returns more effectively, ensuring faster and simpler resolutions. You’ll also get more credits for the cost of postage if a buyer falsely claims that an item is not as described. |
| • | Free 1:1 advice with Seller Clinics: Just book a call and you can connect with a Marketplace Advisor for personalised advice on any topic related to your business. |
| More steps to address false private sellers | | At eBay, we are dedicated to ensuring a fair and equitable marketplace for all business sellers. To achieve this, we monitor trading activities, and we’ll continuously help business sellers using a private account to transition to a business account, or restrict selling activity as necessary. In addition, we’ve reduced the number of free listings available to private sellers. | | Over the next few months, we'll be ramping up our marketing initiatives to highlight the benefits of using eBay for both sellers and buyers, and showcase what makes it such a unique marketplace. Our goal is to continuously attract new customers and ensure they receive exceptional service. |
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