I will get to the point quickly, not many will be aware of this, unless you have been a business seller on eBay.
The main point is when buying on eBay, searching and shopping, to get the best price for UK based products, YOU MUST MAKE ADVANCED SEARCH, AND SEARCH FOR ITEMS LOCATED IN THE UK OR SEARCH ON EBAY.COM AND NOT EBAY.CO.UK, BECAUSE BUYING FROM BRITISH SELLERS ON EBAY.CO.UK WILL COST YOU MORE MONEY, BECAUSE OF EBAY.CO.UK SELLER FEES ARE NEARLY 10% HIGHER THEN THE REST OF THE WORLD!
But unless you do this Advanced eBay search or use eBay.com, eBay.co.uk will block you from being able to see these products located and sold in the UK.
Last May 2011, eBay.co.uk and ebay Irleand decided to put up the final value fee (sales fee) on eBay for business sellers.
The reason for this was according to eBay was:
Simpler, flat final value fees (hereafter FVF) will make it easier to predict and calculate your eBay fees when you successfully sell an item.
Benefits of the simpler final value fee structure include:
Flat final value fees
Simpler price structuring
More transparent fees
Easier to manage your business
With few exceptions the FVF was increased from an average of around 3 -4% on products at certain values to 10 - 12% on most products with few exceptions. This meant on an item valued at £500, the increase would be from £15 to £60
(in addition comes Paypal fees if you used Paypal to pay)
If the item you purchased cost £1500, the fee increase would be £45 to £180, last example to illustrate this, item purchased at £3000 would go from £90 to £360 in fees. We are looking at fee increases of 300 - 400% in these cases, in addition add approx. 3% for Paypal fees, which means every sale on eBay from a British or Irish business seller will have their prices increased with at least 15% compared to the normal market value, to be able to cover these NEW increased fees!
However you might say that the trader should adapt, source cheaper products etc., end of the day, only solution is to increase the prices on the products.
Now this would be ok if ALL eBay sellers would get the same fee structure, at least within Europe, as part of the EU is supposed to be that we are competing on level terms. However here eBay have made an exception, eBay UK and eBay Ireland have set these extremely high prices exclusively for eBay.co.uk business sellers.
USA, have an approx. fee structure on average of around 3% (scaled depending on value of products sold)
All European countries, except UK and Ireland have the same, this means sellers in Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain etc. only pay fees on average of approx. 3 % on higher priced products.
eBay have an option where sellers can list on the eBay USA platform, called eBay.com, if I advertise on this part of their platform, my product will be visible in the USA and parts of Europe, with exception of the United Kingdom. Because eBay UK wants that if product is located in the UK, that it is advertised/listed on eBay.co.uk, this way you will be charged the higher fixed flat fee of 10 or 12% when product is sold.
So eBay BLOCKS UK business sellers from advertising on their eBay.com (USA) site, for selling in the UK (if sold from eBay.com site, we would only need to pay 3% in fees) , but not good as UK potential buyers will not find our products on eBay in the UK when searching, due to eBay's blockage of this.
This means we are forced to list on eBay.co.uk, if we are going to be able to attract UK customers, and they are going to be able to find our products when searching on eBay platform.
Now ANYBODY from Europe, does NOT have this restriction when listing on eBay.com, or in the case they list on their own national eBay site in Europe, they can select international sales, and the advert will show up in the UK amongst all the UK sellers who is advertising on eBay.co.UK.
However the major issue is that these sellers, from outside the UK, or only paying on average 3% in sales fees, while we have to pay 12%! This clearly makes it an uneven playing field for us British business vs European business.
I seriously believe there must be a breach of European Law with eBay, as they are putting ALL British based business in a serious disadvantage! We are NOT competing on a level playing field with our EU neighbours, why are sellers from outside UK getting special treatment? It clearly seems eBay has an agenda against UK business, and are misusing their power.
They would never dare to do this Europe, because eBay's position there is not as strong as in the UK, this for me seems to be entrapment, they make business adapt and create a business model that works, and with 3 months notice they change their fee structure, which example for me, would mean 300 - 500% increase in Final Sales Fees to the eBay.
Now the British government must actively work to assist to help protect British business, and they have not with regards to eBay, eBay have been allowed to bully thousands of British business, brought us to our knees, sent plenty out of business, with these unfair and uneven conditions.
I understand if they had done it the same all over the world or Europe, however fact is that they only did this for UK and Ireland!
Another year like this, and my business will be finish, that's the way it is heading, and the main reason is that the British government has not been able to make sure that all business in Europe are kept on an equal level, British consumers have to pay 9% to buy a product from British companies in the UK, than if they purchased the same product from any country within EU or the rest of the world!
Under the article 101, all agreements between undertakings, decisions by association of undertaking and concerted practices are considered as anti competitive practices.
Under the article 102, any abuse of a dominant position in the internal market is considered as anti-competitive practice. Please note that it is the abuse which is sanctioned and not the sole dominant position.
“Such abuse may, in particular, consist in:
(a) directly or indirectly imposing unfair purchase or selling prices or other unfair trading conditions;
(b) limiting production, markets or technical development to the prejudice of consumers;
(c) applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage;
(d) making the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts.”
Thanks for the rant, however this is also to help you save money, as I feel there is a deep injustice, when UK business and British consumers, get targeted to pay more than the rest of Europe, where I was lead to believe the whole point was creating en equal and level playing field, evidently us in the UK are being taken for a ride by the giants of eBay!
If you follow my advice, the savings will at least be of 10%, I would encourage people to stop using eBay.co.uk, until eBay decides to put UK and Ireland back in line with the rest of their divisions within the EU, end of the day, the sellers have to increase their prices to facilitate such fee increases!
The main point is when buying on eBay, searching and shopping, to get the best price for UK based products, YOU MUST MAKE ADVANCED SEARCH, AND SEARCH FOR ITEMS LOCATED IN THE UK OR SEARCH ON EBAY.COM AND NOT EBAY.CO.UK, BECAUSE BUYING FROM BRITISH SELLERS ON EBAY.CO.UK WILL COST YOU MORE MONEY, BECAUSE OF EBAY.CO.UK SELLER FEES ARE NEARLY 10% HIGHER THEN THE REST OF THE WORLD!
But unless you do this Advanced eBay search or use eBay.com, eBay.co.uk will block you from being able to see these products located and sold in the UK.
Last May 2011, eBay.co.uk and ebay Irleand decided to put up the final value fee (sales fee) on eBay for business sellers.
The reason for this was according to eBay was:
Simpler, flat final value fees (hereafter FVF) will make it easier to predict and calculate your eBay fees when you successfully sell an item.
Benefits of the simpler final value fee structure include:
Flat final value fees
Simpler price structuring
More transparent fees
Easier to manage your business
With few exceptions the FVF was increased from an average of around 3 -4% on products at certain values to 10 - 12% on most products with few exceptions. This meant on an item valued at £500, the increase would be from £15 to £60
(in addition comes Paypal fees if you used Paypal to pay)
If the item you purchased cost £1500, the fee increase would be £45 to £180, last example to illustrate this, item purchased at £3000 would go from £90 to £360 in fees. We are looking at fee increases of 300 - 400% in these cases, in addition add approx. 3% for Paypal fees, which means every sale on eBay from a British or Irish business seller will have their prices increased with at least 15% compared to the normal market value, to be able to cover these NEW increased fees!
However you might say that the trader should adapt, source cheaper products etc., end of the day, only solution is to increase the prices on the products.
Now this would be ok if ALL eBay sellers would get the same fee structure, at least within Europe, as part of the EU is supposed to be that we are competing on level terms. However here eBay have made an exception, eBay UK and eBay Ireland have set these extremely high prices exclusively for eBay.co.uk business sellers.
USA, have an approx. fee structure on average of around 3% (scaled depending on value of products sold)
All European countries, except UK and Ireland have the same, this means sellers in Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain etc. only pay fees on average of approx. 3 % on higher priced products.
eBay have an option where sellers can list on the eBay USA platform, called eBay.com, if I advertise on this part of their platform, my product will be visible in the USA and parts of Europe, with exception of the United Kingdom. Because eBay UK wants that if product is located in the UK, that it is advertised/listed on eBay.co.uk, this way you will be charged the higher fixed flat fee of 10 or 12% when product is sold.
So eBay BLOCKS UK business sellers from advertising on their eBay.com (USA) site, for selling in the UK (if sold from eBay.com site, we would only need to pay 3% in fees) , but not good as UK potential buyers will not find our products on eBay in the UK when searching, due to eBay's blockage of this.
This means we are forced to list on eBay.co.uk, if we are going to be able to attract UK customers, and they are going to be able to find our products when searching on eBay platform.
Now ANYBODY from Europe, does NOT have this restriction when listing on eBay.com, or in the case they list on their own national eBay site in Europe, they can select international sales, and the advert will show up in the UK amongst all the UK sellers who is advertising on eBay.co.UK.
However the major issue is that these sellers, from outside the UK, or only paying on average 3% in sales fees, while we have to pay 12%! This clearly makes it an uneven playing field for us British business vs European business.
I seriously believe there must be a breach of European Law with eBay, as they are putting ALL British based business in a serious disadvantage! We are NOT competing on a level playing field with our EU neighbours, why are sellers from outside UK getting special treatment? It clearly seems eBay has an agenda against UK business, and are misusing their power.
They would never dare to do this Europe, because eBay's position there is not as strong as in the UK, this for me seems to be entrapment, they make business adapt and create a business model that works, and with 3 months notice they change their fee structure, which example for me, would mean 300 - 500% increase in Final Sales Fees to the eBay.
Now the British government must actively work to assist to help protect British business, and they have not with regards to eBay, eBay have been allowed to bully thousands of British business, brought us to our knees, sent plenty out of business, with these unfair and uneven conditions.
I understand if they had done it the same all over the world or Europe, however fact is that they only did this for UK and Ireland!
Another year like this, and my business will be finish, that's the way it is heading, and the main reason is that the British government has not been able to make sure that all business in Europe are kept on an equal level, British consumers have to pay 9% to buy a product from British companies in the UK, than if they purchased the same product from any country within EU or the rest of the world!
Under the article 101, all agreements between undertakings, decisions by association of undertaking and concerted practices are considered as anti competitive practices.
Under the article 102, any abuse of a dominant position in the internal market is considered as anti-competitive practice. Please note that it is the abuse which is sanctioned and not the sole dominant position.
“Such abuse may, in particular, consist in:
(a) directly or indirectly imposing unfair purchase or selling prices or other unfair trading conditions;
(b) limiting production, markets or technical development to the prejudice of consumers;
(c) applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage;
(d) making the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts.”
Thanks for the rant, however this is also to help you save money, as I feel there is a deep injustice, when UK business and British consumers, get targeted to pay more than the rest of Europe, where I was lead to believe the whole point was creating en equal and level playing field, evidently us in the UK are being taken for a ride by the giants of eBay!
If you follow my advice, the savings will at least be of 10%, I would encourage people to stop using eBay.co.uk, until eBay decides to put UK and Ireland back in line with the rest of their divisions within the EU, end of the day, the sellers have to increase their prices to facilitate such fee increases!
