Any info out there on how they actually plan on making money going forwards?
The article talks about other platforms charging a fee to buyers instead but mentions nothing about eBay introducing this.
Are they really making enough from ads on the site and vehicles to replace the lost revenue?
Not certain but I believe listings are now free to post but when you sell something they charge a commission. It has been this way in the USA for a while, if you’re a small vendor you can list a couple hundred/thousand items for free and they charge fees when sold.
Those are exactly the fees they’re removing in the uk:
On Tuesday, eBay said its move, which has taken effect immediately, meant private sellers would no longer pay so-called final value fees or regulatory operating fees when they sold on the site.
They’re also changing the way you get money after someone buys something.
eBay balance, apparently. So by default, when a transaction happens, the money stays in eBay, and you have to manually transfer it out, instead of scheduled timed payouts.
So I’ve heard they have already switched eBay in Germany to this no-fee system. It proved more profitable for eBay because private sellers who accrue an eBay balance from sales were in turn more likely to spend it on eBay.
Previously you got 10,000 free listings a month on private seller accounts, now it’s 300. Which is plenty for actual private sellers, but businesses operating as private sellers will have to start paying for their listings
That makes a lot of sense, I hadn’t considered that business sellers would still be charged.
Yay.