eBay Grows Seller Fees but Not Seller Sales: Execs Explain

by: Marie

@Ding Dong

"...eBay are growing seller fees - but it's the interest they make off of holding onto the sellers money for 30, 90 or plus days."

Where did it say that on the financial information released?  Ebay doesn't handle the money in MP, Adyen does.  So Ebay does not earn interest on money they don't have.  

If the number of buyers declined by 5% due to sellers leaving Ebay that are also buyers, then why wouldn't the number of active sellers reflect this as well?

by: RightbrainWoman

Judging by the latest flUPdate, I think ebay's focus is obvious, as other readers have pointed out. A seller who has 1000 individual items on ebay, each unique in some way from each other (postcards for example), has a monumental task to accomplish now. He/she has to pull every item from inventory to match it with the required item specifics, which takes time away from listing new items. BUT a seller who has 1000 identical items for sale need only take a minute or two out of a day to update all at once. To me, it's a clear signal that ebay wants to eliminate the sellers who offer a "broken laser pointer" and other one-of-a-kind, collectible or rare items for sale and, well, I don't know, maybe become just another place for sellers of cheap import items like phone cases.

by: Donkey

My sales are down 25%.
They just rearranged my ebay store and it is such a mess now that sales we likely fall again.
They removed the store categories.  Anyone know how to get them to all show on the front page again.  I need them all to show.  Not just one.

by: pace306

"Where did it say that on the financial information released? Ebay doesn't handle the money in MP, Adyen does. So Ebay does not earn interest on money they don't have. "

To quote the famous movie line ... "but does it have to" ?

"Hi police!? I have drugs, guns and a women tied up in the basement here, and while we are on the phone - do you have the mail for the PAL - I want to donate $25!"

Geez

eBay wanted MP to assert %100 (or as close to it as possible) over sellers, PERIOD.

eBay is a money transmitter - Adyen does the cc processing and if you read the early MP info (which had more details) it explained that Adyen batch processed the cc info and dumped all the funds back into eBays account(s) for disbursements. THAT WAY, eBay had control over who got what.

How could eBay control you - if you did something they didnt like (like a return) if it was Adyen who sent the money out directly???????? Why wold there EVER be a delay? Why need a foreign bank to begin with? Are you telling me that you think Adyen gets a better rate (to offer eBay) then Chase or Western Union? They were doing CCs before Adyen was even created,

Adyen goes along with the game because it can charge eBay fee X, eBay says they get charged Y and keep a 1/2 percent or so themselves.

Its ALL a game at sellers detriment.

eBay keeps the float aka the interest and more and they are under NO obligation to tell anyone that they do. They can do as they please "because you agreed to it IN THE TOS".

by: Mazdaman

Yes, sales have dropped, and contrary to Marie's opinion, so have the number of VERIFIABLE, PRODUCTIVE sellers.  Little onesy-twosy sellers are joining now, along with the Chinese - but little value is being added by small sellers.

Ebay's recent push for advertising and its fees is where a lot of the money is being made, and Ina has had articles questioning whether sellers are getting their money's worth from that advertising.  In short, THEY'RE NOT getting a good return on it.

Our sales are down 50-60% from two years ago, coinciding with the start of MP.  However, our other venues have more than made up for that, and an increase in sale on our own website, where we not only sell the items for 15-20% less but offer better return options, has actually helped us grow.

But one other issue has caused problems, relating to the pandemic: we're having a hard time finding WORKERS now - as are the fast-food places and other small businesses.  Why work when the government will pay you not to?  Europe is having the same problem, from what we've heard from our European site's staff.

Meanwhile, eBay, who is known for juggling things to impress Wall Street, is running out of options.

Ebay DOES get interest from holding you rmoney - you should remember how you got paid immediately via PayPal - and if you think eBay will let Adyen hold THEIR money, you're quite wrong.  Ebay gets it right away, and THEY hold it, not Adyen; eBay is big enough to demand that.  PayPal did it for everyone, so it IS possible.

I'd love to have been a fly on the boardroom wall when Ianone and others were kicking around these ideas, JUST TO KNOW WHAT DIDN'T STICK TO THE WALL!

by: mjr55

Let me cut through the corporate speak for most of you.

As mentioned, sellers are paying more now for less sales due to promoted listings.

GMV is up because Ebay has invested heavily in cars, watches, sneakers and trading cards....all of which have exploded in value over the last 1-2 years.

I would bet if you took those categories out....GMV wouldn't be up, at all.

by: DingDong

@Marie
"
"...eBay are growing seller fees - but it's the interest they make off of holding onto the sellers money for 30, 90 or plus days."

Where did it say that on the financial information released?  Ebay doesn't handle the money in MP, Adyen does.  So Ebay does not earn interest on money they don't have"

Yes, Ayden process the payment and it is dumped into eBay's account.  Then eBay is suppose to deposit the money in a timely manner. But . .  eBay decides - oh, you have sold something risky and need to put money on hold, - oh you are a new seller and you can't have your money deposited for ?? days.  (Esty has started this, too)

Why is it that Stripe can process credit card payments and I can receive payment the same day or the following day. Stripe is a processor like Ayden.  You know that eBay is getting "our/sellers" money dumped into their account where eBay is using  it for interest revenue until they finally, when good and ready, transfer it to the seller's accounts.

by: iheartjacksparrow

I noticed something new today. When I would purchase an item on eBay, the default for my account has always been to pay with PayPal. Today, the default was paying with a credit card (which expired years ago). Could it be that eBay is trying to cut out PayPal from all transactions?

And since Facebook is changing its name to Meta, maybe eBay could remake itself with a new name.  

by: Rexford

"And since Facebook is changing its name to Meta, maybe eBay could remake itself with a new name"

Corruptbay?   Stealbay?   Shadybay?  Stalkerbay?  Theftbay?  Fleecebay?  Unethicalbay?   Greedbay?

So many possibilities.  

by: toolguy

@mazdaman

" Little onesy-twosy sellers are joining now, along with the Chinese - but little value is being added by small sellers."

I got into Leatherman tools this year, they are a high quality American made tool. (good value)

eBay & Mercari are a gold mine for older collectable Leatherman tools.

I've bought 14 on eBay & 8 on Mercari

My collection is growing nicely with great selection of product to choose from.

PS: The best deals have come from Mercari. . . . . .

by: Nothingnewecrater

So glad I'm not contributing to their bottom line rip offs anymore

by: Geetar

I will never, ever sell any of my items that are $80 or more on ebay. It's just too much of a risk. I would think there are a lot of other sellers like me. So high $$ items with ebay being too quick to give back the cash to scam sellers??? Thats their plan to raise sales??

by: Vigilant Eye On eBay

@Nothingnewecrater

+1

by: plcombs

More sellers, fewer sales in dollars, higher fees is by default a downward spiral.

Too many people competing for fewer dollars and paying higher fees is unsustainable.  eBay knows this, lipstick on the pig comes to mind.  

by: Snapped

“.. lipstick on the pig comes to mind.”

More like the pig muscling a larger place setting at the feed trough and justifying it by claiming the extra methane it produces as a byproduct of it’s glut and internal decomposition is a good thing.  

The lipstick is to disguise the orifice.  

by: Silver Ice King

@Marie

""...eBay are growing seller fees - but it's the interest they make off of holding onto the sellers money for 30, 90 or plus days."

Where did it say that on the financial information released?  Ebay doesn't handle the money in MP, Adyen does.  So Ebay does not earn interest on money they don't have. "

I am not sure if somebody already responded to this comment of yours but Adyen is not holding the money that Ebay processes with them.  That money is processed and forwarded to Ebay the next day or whatever number of days their agreement states and as money hungry as Ebay is there is no way they are allowing Adyen to hold their money on them.

So it is Ebay that is holding onto the money and also earns interest on the funds that are in transit just as all companies do. I guess if you want to count the 5% ownership stake that Ebay has in Adyen due to allowing them the pleasure of processing all of Ebays transactions, Adyen does in some way hold onto Ebays money I suppose.

I completely understand that Ebay exists for the sole purpose of earning revenue  for its shareholders as do almost all businesses, even the small ones that are still selling on Ebay.  However the one big difference between Ebay and most other Ecommerce companies is that they now focus on increasing Seller Fees without the Seller even making a sale.  For the last few years Ebay has been focused on generating fees through increases in fees for Stores,  keeping more and more Sellers fees when a return is classified as a SNAD return.  Then Promoted Listings came along and as is the same with returns as many of the fees charged by Ebay on SNAD returns the money paid for the Promoted Listings, which could very well be around 15% depending on the category and the suggested amounts Ebay provides to sellers, is also not returned on a return sale.  Now Ebay invents Pay for Click on its site which is just another way to dig deeper into Sellers pockets without a sale ever being made which also tends to get those items shown to the buyers well above those not using Pay for Clicks.  They also started charging their FVF on Sales Tax which the Seller never even sees, bit the shareholders must be taken care of and since Ebay has continued to show they have no idea how to improve sales on an Ecommerce site every new idea no longer relys on any Seller ever selling anything.  Ebay will continue to need to create new spins every quarter going forward as more and more buyers as well as Sellers leave for other sites where prices are now cheaper, at least the ones that are actually shown without going through all the overpriced ones that Ebay shows in an attempt to increase their revenues.

by: Jeff Smith

Absolutely true. Until 2017, we had an average of $80,000 in sales per month on eBay. Then eBay changed to more aggressively advertisements and sales declined year after year until we are currently at average $25,000 per month, while we grew on Amazon (FBM, not FBA) month after month without advertisements.