eBay Tests Fee Free Selling For Private UK Sellers With Special Promo
The eBay UK community is buzzing with news that some private sellers have received a special invitation promotion for zero selling fees through April, including no listing fees, no fixed $0.30 per transaction fee and no variable Final Value Fees.
Some private sellers have received a stonking offer.
Free to list
Free to sell
Until April!
Don't know what the T's & C's look like but damn I could do with those types of offers.
According to sellers who received the offer, there does not appear to be a cap on the amount of listings or sales that can be used with this promotion, though regular selling limits may apply.
It looks like it is uncapped. I have copied the full T&Cs below. I get the 80% off every fortnight and woke up to this offer this morning and it is showing on my hub.
Specific information about this Promotion
What's it all about?
- Get 100% off fixed order level fee of 30p and variable percentage final value fees ("FVF") per listing in final value fees if the item sells and pay no insertion fee.
- Other fees, including any International fees, still apply.
- Listings must start during the promotional period.
- Listings can be auction-style or fixed price format.
- The promotion start and end dates are included in the email we send to invited sellers.
- Eligible listings must sell during the promotion period or within the first listing period post promotion end date.
Sounds good, where do I find the promotion and how do I sign up?
You can take part in the promotion on eBay.co.uk. Eligible sellers will receive an email with the RSVP link to the offer. You must opt in to the promotion by clicking on this link to start the benefit.
Anything else I need to know?
eBay charge an FVF when your item(s) sell(s). The FVF charged per order consists of: (i) a variable portion (“Variable Portion FVF”) which is calculated as a percentage of the Total Sale Amount; and (ii) a fixed portion (“Fixed Portion FVF”) for example 30p. The Total Sale Amount means the amount the buyer pays for an order, including the item price, postage, taxes and any other applicable fees.The FVF Discount in this promotion applies to both the Fixed Portion FVF and Variable Portion FVF (net of any other discounts) in respect of the eligible items’ Total Sale Amounts. For example, if you would have been charged 12.80% on the Total Sales Amount, the 100% FVF discount will reduce this to 0%. The Fixed Portion FVF (e.g. 30p) will be discounted to 0.
You won't pay an insertion fee for eligible listings. Listing upgrade fees will still apply and will be charged according to the eBay fees policy.
You may also be subject to International fees.
Who can take part?
- This Promotion is open to all registered private sellers who (a) have been invited to take part, (b) are registered to managed payments, and (c) have actively opted in (“Eligible Sellers”). If you have not registered for managed payments you will be prompted to update your details after you opt-in to the Promotion.
- Participation is linked to the seller's account and is not transferable.
- Eligible Sellers’ accounts must meet eBay minimum seller performance standards.
- Please sign in to My eBay and view your seller standards dashboard to verify whether your account is currently meeting the standards. The seller standards dashboard is available to all sellers here.
- If you registered after 15 March 2011 or haven't listed any items for a while, you may have a listing allowance of 10 items per month or of £650 per month, whichever is reached first. You may be able to increase this allowance by providing additional verification.
- An eligible item previously scheduled to go live during the Promotional Period will qualify for the Promotion only if you have opted in to the Promotion before the listing starts.
- If an item that is eligible for the Promotion had previously closed without a successful sale and is re-listed during the Promotional Period, it will be eligible for the Promotion.
- You will not receive a refund of your original insertion fee if the item sells.
- Listings not sold successfully during the Promotional Period are eligible within their first listing period
- If an item qualifies for the Promotion and when the item sells, the invoice will indicate the fee including the discount. Please note: if the item does not sell the first time and if it is automatically relisted during the Promotional Period, it will still be eligible for the Promotion discount. If the item does not sell the first time and you relist it after the Promotional Period, standard final value fees will be charged according to the eBay fees policy when the relisted item sells.
- Items that are automatically relisted through the Automatic relist function or the Good 'Till Cancelled function will be eligible for discount.
- For items listed in 2 or more categories, only the insertion fee for the first category is included. Standard insertion fees will be charged for listing the same item for each additional category, according to the eBay fees policy.
- Single and multi-quantity listings are eligible.
Restrictions & exclusions
The following are excluded from the promotion:
- Business sellers
- Sellers who have been invited to participate, but have not actively opted in to the promotion via the RSVP link shown in the marketing communication.
- Invited Sellers who have not registered for managed payments after opt-in and before listing their first item.
- All items listed in the Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles and Property categories. However, items listed in the Vehicle Parts & Accessories category are included.
- Items listed in the Classified Ad format. Auction-style listings ended early. Identical listings that don't comply with our duplicate listings policy.
- Any item listed that doesn't comply with eBay listing policies or prohibited and restricted items policies.
- Any item listed during the promotional period but scheduled to start after the promotional period.
- Listings that are listed during the promotional period but do not sell and are relisted outside of the promotional period.
- Listing upgrade fees apply and will be charged according to the eBay fees policy. PayPal and any other third-party fees still apply.
- Final value fees apply for Second Chance Offers.
- You may be subject to International fees.
Additional terms
Any attempt to manipulate this promotion, or past promotions will lead to automatic exclusion from participation. eBay reserves the right to suspend, change or cancel the promotion at any time, in the event of circumstances arising which, in eBay's opinion, make it necessary for it to do so. eBay reserves the right to add additional terms and conditions for certain parts of this promotion. eBay also reserves the right to exclude users on the basis that their seller accounts have fallen below the minimum required seller performance standards. Sellers should confirm eligibility by checking their account status on My eBay. The decision of eBay regarding any aspect of this promotion is final and no correspondence will be entered into.The decision of eBay regarding any aspect of this promotion is final and no correspondence will be entered into. In purchasing the relevant delivery services, users will also be asked to accept and be subject to the Terms and Conditions of Packlink, a third-party delivery service provider working in collaboration with eBay.
Limitation of liability:
eBay makes no representations or warranties of any kind regarding any product or service provided by any third party in connection with any promotion.
eBay shall not be liable, in contract or tort (including negligence) or the breach of statutory duty or in any other way, for the loss or damage howsoever arising suffered by the entrant resulting directly or indirectly from entry to this promotion. Nothing in these terms shall limit eBay's liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence or fraud.
eBay will not be responsible for any third party's performance or failure to perform any services related to any promotion, or for any costs, damages, accident, delay, injury, loss, expense, or inconvenience that may arise in connection with the use of the promotion, provided that nothing shall limit eBay's liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence.
eBay does not accept, and is not responsible for, any lost or delayed entries. eBay reminds entrants of the nature and limitations of the Internet and is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunctions of any communications network, online system or computer hardware or software that may affect entry to the promotion.
eBay introduced a similar program in Germany last year, permanently ending fees for private sellers on eBay.DE (which according to eBay only make up about 20% of sales in that market.)
Liz Morton
At the time, many speculated Germany was just a trial run and that if it was effective at pumping up consumer selling on the platform, eBay may expand the concept to other markets.
The "limited time, invitation only" promo may be the next step in a wider plan to win back a crucial piece of the C2C market, especially in categories like pre-loved fashion where eBay has been particularly focused for the UK.
Foregoing listing and commission fees may seem shocking, but eBay is desperate to reverse the now 6 quarter long trend of having less active buyers than in 2018 and may be willing to burn cash in order to try to stop the hemorrhaging.
Those consumer sellers may also choose to opt in to the growing plethora of eBay's Promoted Listings cost per click and cost per sale advertising schemes, especially in saturated categories like the above mentioned pre-loved fashion, which will certainly help take the sting out of the loss of other fees as ads continue to be a major source of revenue growth for eBay.
Some sellers expressed concerns that the no fee free for all could embolden shady businesses who pretend to operate as private sellers, creating unfair competition.
Those business sellers trading on a private account will be laughing all the way to the bank.
It's probably the most ridiculous move I've seen eBay do for quite some time. Like I mentioned in another post, we all know about private business sellers and so do eBay. Yet they have truly just handed it to them on a plate.
All 100% does with unlimited listings is allow those private business sellers to continuously undercut businesses for the next 2 months causing a lot of very sour grapes and abandonment of the platform.
I had already decided we were leaving eBay after the lack of fee promos, not even at Christmas. This only pushes things to happen quicker. We'll be reserving vintage clothing to our own independent website when it's launched and the rest will follow soon after.
No doubt we'll see another video soon saying how eBay really support businesses. This move has really shown the opposite.
What do you think of eBay courting more consumer to consumer private sellers with fee free listing and selling? Should they make this a permanent change across all markets? Let us know in the comments below!
