EBay to make huge shake-up to payments in hours – and it'll boost your bank balance
The online marketplace is to start paying sellers more quickly from August 6.
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Currently, you have to wait two days after delivery confirmation to receive your funds.
But from Wednesday, sellers who have completed at least 10 sales totalling £150 or more in the past five years and have had no more than two unresolved cases in the preceding 12 months will be paid within 24 hours of sale.
An unresolved case can include a buyer dispute where you didn't resolve the issue or a case where eBay ruled in favour of the buyer.
EBay also made a huge change to its fees last month following backlash from customers.
The online selling platform reduced the fixed amount of its Buyer Protection fee from 75p to 10p on July 17.
It comes just months after eBay first introduced fees for buyers purchasing from private sellers, to the disappointment of customers.
The change is part of the platform's push to add additional buyer protection measures, and shifts the burden of paying the fees from sellers to shoppers.
The new lower fixed amount applies to all buys excluding cars, motorcycles and vehicles, classified ads and property.
The fees will be included in the item price.
Disgruntled customers criticised the charges as "rubbish" when they were first introduced in February.
This is how the new pricing structure works:
A flat fee of £0.10 per item
7% of the item price up to £20
4% of any portion of the item price from £20 to £300
2% of any portion of the item price from £300 to £4,000
No fee for the portion of the item price over £4,000
As an example, someone buying an item for £5 will pay a 45p fee on top, taking the total cost to £5.45 before postage.
This is based on the 10p flat charge plus 35p (7% of £5).
Someone buying an item for £1,500 will pay a £36.70 fee on top, taking the total cost to £1,536.70 before postage.
This is based on the 10p flat fee, 7% of £20, 4% of £280 plus 2% of £1,200.
Buyers purchasing more than one of the same item will only pay the 10p flat fee once.
Meanwhile, eBay is also launching a live calculator where shoppers will be able to enter the price of an item and find out what fees they'll be charged.
The platform is yet to confirm when the new tool will go live.
You can see how much the new fees will apply to you via www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/buyer-protection-fee?id=5594.
How to spot valuable items
COMMENTS by Consumer Editor, Alice Grahns:
It's easy to check if items in your attic are valuable.
As a first step, go on eBay to check what other similar pieces, if not the same, have sold for recently.
Simply search for your item, filter by 'sold listings' and toggle by the highest value.
This will give you an idea of how much others are willing to pay for it.
The method can be used for everything ranging from rare coins and notes to stamps, old toys, books and vinyl records - just to mention a few examples.
For coins, online tools from change experts like Coin Hunter are also helpful to see how much it could be worth.
Plus, you can refer to Change Checker's latest scarcity index update to see which coins are topping the charts.
For especially valuable items, you may want to enlist the help of experts or auction houses.
Do your research first though and be aware of any fees for evaluating your stuff.
As a rule of thumb, rarity and condition are key factors in determining the value of any item.
You're never guaranteed to make a mint, however.
How does eBay compare to other platforms
EBay is not the first online marketplace to move towards charging buyers fees instead of sellers.
Second-hand marketplace Vinted replaced seller fees with a buyer protection fee in 2016.
For orders under £500, this is a fixed fee of between 30p and 80p, plus between 3% and 8% of the sale price. Over £500 it is a flat fee of 3%.
Vinted sellers are paid within two working days of a "completed order".
Meanwhile, Depop introduced a buyer fee from April 15, 2024, of up to 5% of the purchase price, plus a fixed amount of up to £1 per item.
Depop sellers are paid within 10 working days of any sale date or within two to three working days after delivery.
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