eBay says it’s simplifying its selling experience and making it virtually free to list items for auction or sale but sellers are likely to pay more once the auction is over. The moves are being made to stave off competition from Amazon.com and eliminate confusion, according to eBay.
Sellers who now pay between 10 cents and $2 per listing, depending on the starting price, won’t have to worry about listing fees at all, provided they don’t list more than 50 items per month.
The company is giving consumer type sellers 50 free listings per month–either auction style or fixed price with each additional listing priced at 30 cents. Instead of a final value fee of around nine percent, however, sellers will pay ten percent of the item’s selling price.
Sellers who list 25 items per month and sell 20 of those at an average price of $20 for a total of $400 will give back $40 of that to eBay.
If you list more than 50 items per month, creating a store may be the better option. You’ll pay no insertion fees on up to 150 total free listings per month with a Basic Store subscription at a cost of $15.95 per month with a yearly commitment or $19.95 for a monthly subscription. Final value fees will be calculated at five flat rates—as low as four percent and never more than nine percent of the total amount of the sale—with a maximum fee of $250. What category you sell in also makes a difference. In Collectibles, the rate will be nine percent. Whatever you’re selling, final value fees will always be lower with an eBay Stores subscription.
The company has created this page to provide an overview and help sellers determine what they can expect when the changes take place April 16. You can use your own selling stats to determine what you’ll pay.