eBay Winter Seller Update 2024 - Increased Transaction Fees, Unpaid Offers & More!
UPDATE: eBay has just released the Winter Update for Canada as well and it also includes the $0.10 increase in the per order fee.
eBay has released their Winter 2024 Seller Update and the big news is the per order transaction fee will be increasing from $0.30 to $.40 for orders over $10 across all categories, starting March 15.
What you need to know
Starting March 15, 2024, the per-order fee on orders over $10 will increase from $0.30 to $0.40 across all categories.For example, if you sell a trading card for $25 including shipping and tax, you’ll now pay a fee of $3.71 instead of $3.61, an increase of $0.10.
We understand this change could impact the economics of selling lower-priced items. That’s why for orders $10 and under, there’ll be no change and you’ll continue to be charged the current rate of $0.30.
It's important to note that $10 limit is the total order amount (including shipping and tax), not just the item price.
While a $0.10 increase may not look like much on the surface, this will make a big difference for sellers of lower value items and could be a strategic ploy to try to increase average order value across the site, which of course would also increase fee revenue and, perhaps most importantly comes earnings time, boost GMV.
It could also impact some of eBay's focus vertical initiatives as their own example shows items like single trading cards could take a big hit.
As part of this update, eBay is also finally making previous changes to how unpaid items work for offers that have been confusing users for months official - items will stay active until/unless a buyer who receives an offer completes checkout and pays.
Reduce unpaid items when sending offers to buyers
In recent months, we’ve made improvements to reduce unpaid item cases for Buy It Now and Best Offer sales, which has led to an increase in successful payments.Based on your feedback, we’re extending these improvements to seller-initiated offers over the coming weeks. When potential buyers are interested in your offer, they’ll be taken directly to checkout and, in order to accept the offer and secure the item, they’ll need to successfully complete payment.
What you need to know
- This change to seller-initiated offers will help reduce unpaid item incidents by requiring buyers to pay for the item in order to accept your offer.
- If a buyer abandons the checkout page, the item will still be available to other potential buyers.
Important points from the FAQ:
What is changing when I send offers to buyers?
As a seller, you can continue to send offers to your interested buyers just as you do today. With this change, buyers will need to complete payment to accept your offer. Until then, the item will remain available for other potential buyers to purchase or make offers. This ensures your inventory remains available for customers and avoids an unpaid transaction.What is changing when a buyer receives an offer from a seller?
If a potential buyer is interested in accepting your offer on an item, they’ll be prompted to complete their purchase at checkout. Upon successful payment, the item becomes theirs. Until then, other buyers are still able to purchase the item.
The US update also includes similar sections as UK and Australia covering enhancements to multi-user account access, Sell It Faster features in Active Listings tab, and saving drafts for 75 days - most of which are not new and have also been observed by sellers for several months.
More info on updates from UK and Australia:
Liz Morton
Liz Morton
Over all this is a much lighter update than we had expected and the lack of any really new exciting features (like the promised Magical AI listing experience) is noteworthy.
The fee increase will hit sellers of lower value items disproportionately (which may not be unintended) and the changes to offers may be helpful now that eBay has actually bothered to explain them, but they are certainly not groundbreak or earth shattering.
One again we have to say - where is the magical tech-led reimagination of eBay we were promised when CEO Jamie Iannone took the helm in 2020?
After this week's news of a potential leadership shakeup, we're seeing signs eBay may finally be considering shifting away from the narrow "vertical high value enthusiast buyer" strategy and back to a broader non-new in season consumer-seller focus.
Liz Morton
From what we've been seeing over the last year on eBay, that strategy pivot is long overdue and can't come soon enough!
What do you think about eBay's Winter 2024 Seller Update and where would you like to see them turn their attention for longer term strategy? Let us know in the comments below!
