eBay charges several fees for listing on its marketplace:
- Insertion fee
- Final Value (FVF) fee
- Payment processing fee
- Listing upgrades
Note: Fees vary across eBay territories. What may be free in one territory may not be free in another.
Insertion fee
The insertion fee is the fee to list an item on the eBay marketplace. Listing items is free for individual up to a certain limit (currently 1000 items). Business sellers also get a free listing allowance depending the shop subscription level
Final Value fees
The final value fee is a commission charged on the sale price of an item, including shipping. This varies by category for business sellers.
Payment processing
On top of eBay fees, seller used to pay a PayPal payment processing fee. Since eBay no longer owns PayPal, eBay has been migrating sellers onto their ‘managed payment’ system. Under this new arrangement, instead of paying fees to eBay and PayPal, the payment fee is included in a higher FVF.
Discounts
Top Rated sellers are eligible for a 10% discount on their ‘Premium’ listings. These are listing which fulfil the following criteria:
- Offer a free domestic delivery option within three working days.
- Offer an express delivery option within two working days for no more than £10.
- For items over £20, all of the delivery services must be tracked services and valid tracking must be uploaded within the dispatch time.
In eCommerce, margins are low, and so every discount is worth getting.
Listing upgrades
eBay offers sellers several options for upgrading their listing. When using these upgrades, bear in mind that eBay offers features that it considers different to the conversion rate for free. For example, eBay charges for reserve price because it reduces the sell-through rate.
- Reserve Price. Setting a reserve price (minimum £50) means your item will not be sold if bids do not reach that amount. This is charged at 4% of the reserve price (max. £150 per item), whether or not the item sells.
- Buy it now price. Give your buyers the option to purchase before an auction-style listing ends for a set price. A Buy it now price gives you the possibility of a quick sale for the right money.
- Subtitle. Make your item stand out from the crowd with a line of additional text that appears beneath your listing title in search results.
- Gallery Plus. Catch a buyer’s eye with larger pictures from your listing in search results when buyers move their mouse over your listing’s thumbnail picture
- International Site Visibility. Increase your item’s visibility in search results on eBay.com and eBay.ca.
eBay Payment and invoices
When you create a seller account, you’ll need to add a payment method to pay for any eBay selling fees or charges. You can choose direct debit, credit card, or PayPal.
eBay charges fees on a monthly basis and will issue an invoice with a detailed fee breakdown.
