eBay’s New Managed Payments Fee Raises Seller Outrage
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sellers on the eBay marketplace are dead set on leaving and selling on another marketplace, or even at a flea market, if eBay makes its new managed payments service mandatory by 2021.
They resorted to this decision after receiving an email from the eCommerce company last
Monday telling them that they will be charged a per listing transaction fee of $0.25 starting Oct 1st this year.
Some sellers, especially those who sell multiple items from various listings, took to eBay’s discussion boards to express their disappointment at the company and its lack of concern for them, particularly on the additional cost they will have to shoulder.
“As a seller who typically sells multiple different items on an order, this is going to be a huge increase in cost once eBay forces everyone onto managed payments. On a communication I received today from EBay, I learned they are going to charge a transaction fee of $0.25 for each different item on a customer order – where PayPal only charges me one $0.25 fee for the entire order. For example I had a $31.45 order yesterday, with 7 line items. My PayPal fees were $1.16 – with managed payments my fees would have been $2.60. Im just sick about this.” – eBay Seller
In response to that, another seller said they will shut down their eBay store for good in 2020 and sell their leftover inventory at a flea market if eBay forces to migrate all sellers on its eCommerce platform to managed payments.
Has eBay forgotten its promise of savings?
When eBay introduced managed payments last year, it said online sellers can expect to see savings compared to their current payments processing fees. However, it seems that sellers of small ticket items are bound to spend more money than save with the layers of fees that come with this new service.
Aside from charging a payment processing fee, which is 2.7% of the total order value, eBay has added a $0.25 per listing transaction fee.
“The per listing payments fee will be charged for each listing contained in an order. If an order contains more than one listing sold, the per listing payments fee will be charged more than once. If a single listing contains multiple items, or multiple quantities of the same item, the per listing payments fee will be charged once.” – eBay
The good news is that those sellers who signed up for managed payments before June 4 will not be subjected to the new fees.
What are your thoughts on eBay’s managed payments system? Let us know in the comments below or over in our Facebook Group.
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Dave Furness
Dave is a Co-Founder of eSeller365. For over 10 years he has been involved with eCommerce with a particular interest in the marketplaces and the huge opportunities available for sellers when utilizing a multi-channel strategy. After a year of being the UK’s youngest eCommerce consultant, he built an education platform called UnderstandingE that showed the world how to utilize Magento as the “Third Generation of Multi-Channel software”.
Dave has also created a YouTube channel dedicated to entrepreneurship and eCommerce as well as a podcast dedicated to mental health awareness. When Dave isn’t working his main interests include learning and playing Chess, researching the Crypto and NFT space, and trying to find the nearest beach.
Very concerned over this fee per item. This will definitely get passed on to the consumer and they will possibly no longer shop on eBay because prices will have to be higher with the new fees. Very very disappointed in the greedy behavior on eBay part. I mean geeze, how much could it cost to host a listing.
eBay needs reported to the better business bureau
eBay seems to be having money trouble and the only way to get out of it is to keep charging sellers. If a Buyer opens a return and is not honest it still counts against you. In return eBay will charge you 4% more on your fees. Now they are adding the $0.25 fee. They say sales tax is hurting sellers and causing sales to decrease on eBay. They can’t sell what a seller is not willing to put on eBay. We have cut our sales down by almost 50%, we are continuing to cut as they keep charging us more. I am paying almost the same fees to eBay now that I did when I had not cut my sales. They need to take a look at what they are doing and look in the mirror and put the blame where it needs to be! I have not talked to one person who is a seller who is happy with eBay in a very long time.
This is just plain gouging by eBay.
Ebay forcing sellers to opt into the managed payment system will kill my ability to get working capital loans. On top of that most people are already accustom to the way payments are made on ebay. Ebays reasoning for doing this makes no sense at all You can already check out without a paypal account! You can just use your credit card. What other payment method can you add? Ebay needs to stop killing small sellers or there will be no ebay. EBAY you are greedy and you know it! Shame on you!
Have been seller on ebay for 11 years and $1 million in sales, with ever increasing costs both from them and post office. With the advent of forced managed payments – they are taking our financial decision process away from us just so they can increase their bottom line. NO More! We are weaning away from them and look forward to the day when we Don’t do business with these leeches. And our regular customers will thank us for it!
After 17 years of eBay selling, now combining my inventory into lots, not buying anything new for weeks now. I’m selling out and getting out. Their business plan and mine are now so far apart that I’m actually looking forward to cutting that cord.
I’ve been selling on eBay for over 15 years and I’m sad to say that it is time to part ways. They seem to have forgotten that sellers are their bread and butter.
treating us like milk cows will no longer be tolerated. So many ecommerce sites will wecome our business and we will take our customers with us !
Ebay accidentally sent me a lengthy email today stating that on October 22nd you would be forced to join managed payments or else you wouldn’t be able to list any new items. This layed out alot of technical policy. They then sent another email a few hours later saying the previous email was sent in error and to disregard it. I just wanted to let people know be aware that this looks to be coming down anyday now!!! B.S
BEWARE!!! Heres the email EBAY accidentally sent me today and then sent another one saying it was sent in error!
To list items after October 22, 2019, you are required to register for managed payments eBay As a follow up to our previous email on August 22, 2019, your account is required to participate in managed payments. This is a reminder to sign up at ebay.com/paymentsregistration before October 22, 2019 so that you can continue to create new listings and avoid any interruption to your business. Based on our review of your account, the features and tools you use on eBay are fully compatible with this payments experience. Managed payments delivers a more streamlined experience for both buyers and sellers. Buyers have more ways to pay with credit, debit and gift cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and PayPal Credit. Sellers have one place to sell and get paid, with payouts automatically deposited to their bank account. Sellers who have already managed payments joined report high satisfaction and recommend it to other sellers1. Most sellers on managed payments can expect to see savings compared to their current payments processing fees. Further, the per listing payments fee is waived through September 30, 2019. Sellers can use our fee calculator to see what this means for their costs. To receive specialized payments support at sign up or for ongoing business needs, call us at 800-456-3229. Please register for managed payments by October 22, 2019 to continue listing as usual. Frequently Asked Questions: • What are the benefits of managed payments? Managed payments offers more ways for buyers to pay with credit, debit and gift cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and PayPal Credit. Payouts will be automatically deposited to your bank account. Sellers receive consolidated reports, simplified seller protections, one monthly bill for all fees, and access to dedicated customer support. Newest features provide sellers with a single unique number to reconcile from order to payout, and allow them to issue full or partial buyer refunds, directly on eBay or via a third-party platform. Sellers can now also issue more than one refund per order, up to the full order amount. Those who integrate using eBay APIs can update their integrations to view payout information. To learn more about managed payments, visit ebay.com/payments. • Why am I getting this notice? Our records indicate you have been previously invited to managed payments – eBay’s simplified seller experience to sell and get paid. Based on our review, the features and tools you use on eBay are fully compatible with managed payments and accordingly, you have been selected to participate in managed payments by October 22, 2019. • What happens on October 22, 2019? Starting October 22, 2019, you will be able to create new listings only after you have enrolled in managed payments. This message provides you advance notice of the upcoming change so you can choose the best time to join, prior to the effective date of October 22, 2019. • What happens to existing listings? Once you’ve signed up for managed payments, all of your existing listings and buyer feedback will be automatically updated and will reflect the different ways your buyers can pay. If you do not join, existing listings will still continue as is till they need to be renewed. • What is currently not supported in managed payments? We currently do not support the Global Shipping Program for sellers who are participating in managed payments. However, all non-US buyers can shop and pay on eBay.com as they do today. If they are buying from a seller who has opted into managed payments, the non-US buyer can pay using credit or debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, etc.) and the seller would ship internationally on their own. Charity and donations are not yet supported on managed payments. We will automatically revise listings with charity or donations to remove this option. Payouts will be paid directly to your bank account. Since payouts are no longer sent to PayPal, there’s no need to transfer funds between accounts. Depending on your bank, you can typically expect payouts to be sent to your bank account within 2-4 business days of an order confirmation. • How are refunds, chargeback, and claim obligations handled? As a managed payments seller, you will need to work only with eBay for support and service on claims, refunds, and returns. Any refunds, chargebacks, or claim obligations for transactions processed on eBay prior to October 22, 2019, or before you join managed payments, whichever is earlier, should be handled through PayPal. Learn more at Seller Center. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Facebook Pinterest
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I too just found the “forced to use managed payments”. Uh….NO. PERIOD. NON NEGOTIABLE. The simple reason is with PayPal payments money is 1. IN MY BANK the next day AND could be instant if I paid a small fee OR the funds are available via my PayPal debit card. EBay passes off “direct to your bank account in 2-4 days” as if it’s just so much better.
WHAT. ARE. YOU. SMOKING. EBAY??
2-4 days is NOT easier, better and definitely not faster than PayPal.
At J.B. so glad you posted that !!!
I got the same correspondence and read it very late last night. I decided that today I would opt-out of eBay’s Global Shipping Program today (check YouTube for easy instructions to opt out if you’re interested, anyone) and then see how it rolls out with eBay when I’m not self opted-into any international shipping of any kind.
If they force me to ship internationally or start charging fees significantly higher than what I’m paying now, I’ll definitely close down 100% my eBay business.
I live very far out in the country and it takes me 20 minutes to make the post office at the least. It’s already hard enough as it is and with their new screwed up shipping interface which takes more steps to complete each order, and is more annoying in several ways, eBay can go suck it if they think I’m going to do the song and dance with international shipping and significantly higher fees on domestic sales.
There are much more profitable and higher earning things for me to do in my life. I chose eBay to do because of it’s simplicity and because of how much fun it is to flip antiques. I love the antiques business, but not if it becomes something that’s not fun to do.
EBay seems to be getting stupid again like they were in 2006/2007 when there was a huge exodus of sellers, a good tranche of which never came back. It took years and years for eBay recover…… actually it could be argued that they never did completely recover and are now paying the price, which brings us around what they’re doing now, the same thing. it’s looking like a downward spiral.
Maybe it’s worth looking into taking a short position on their public stock, huh?
I’ve been selling on eBay for 17 years. I was forced to use managed pmts and sold an item 1 week ago and still haven’t seen this. My credit card gets charged the shipping fee instead of it being taken out of the pmt received.
These changes are awful.
I’m tired of eBay and its changes. There are other places to sell and Amazon may be easier and better
It took 1 day to receive the money with PayPal
WHY WHY WHY is eBay forcing sellers into their managed payment account? The current system using Paypal has worked flawlessly for me and my buyers for over 20 years. If I want money out of my Paypal account all I have to do is request a transfer into my bank account and it is there the next day, no fees. Or, I can use a Paypal debit card to make purchases or withdraw money from an ATM. PLEASE eBay..if it aint broke don’t fix it.
I called eBay today 9-23-19 and went through three people. The final person Josh said I could close my account but they would not opt me out of Managed payment. Does anyone have a current name or number to call to get out of managed payments program until they fix it? thanks!
I’ve gotten several Emails and phone calls from eBay telling me I have untill Oct 22nd to Opt In to managed Payments and if I don’t, then I won’t be allowed any new listings nor a renewal of existing listings. When i asked if this was absolutely required, they affirmed that is was. For some really strange reason, I’ve always thought that Opt or Opting was short for Option, which means there’s more then One Choice!
Obviously there are two choices. You can Opt in, or, not Opt in (Opt out). Like Duh! How’d you miss that?
Switched to Ebays managed payments in August 2019. Has been nothing but a headache. Takes days to get access to my money up to 7 days in some cases. I am expected to ship the item out with in 24 hours and I do not get the money for days. How can a company whom has had Paypal basically lay out a blueprint for them to follow screw things up this much. It has to be a bunch of idiots designing there systems. I have spent up to 2 hours a week just contacting them to solve problems. Now I noticed if I refund a buyer say for a shipping discount they are taking extra for the refund. A 13 dollar refund cost me 13.54. What the hell? Crooks and Idiots. That is what Ebay Headquarters is.
Ebay seller for 18 years +- This new policy is a load of Cr__P! They sold it has a “increase sales” and now they are holding funds for 2-4 day’s. Then my bank holds it now part of the time? When EBAY needs their Ebay fees – they take it out of your account instantly. I used to leave funds in paypal for this effort now they just take your money and when you have pending funds. They send you all these emails about payments – waste/time of payroll. F You EBAY!
Ebay doesn’t support seller. Total liars about they way they handle money and saying they are not a financial company. I sure my year end tax accounting will be a nightmare with these idiots – I sure i will have to do all their work – they should do on the reporting side. Who wants tax problems?
I have been a seller since 2003. Getting close to 2 million $ in gross sales over that time. I saw Ebays pressure note to opt in and save. I know from experience that I will be forced in later. I read many of the threads they post and the bugs seemed mostly out of it.
My first 2 days sales were NULL…NADA…NOTHING. Something that has not occured in years…I always, ALWAYS sell some little thing at least. Then next few days, a few things. So it did improve, but never recovered. Then I got an email from an international customer of mine. He could not find any of my listings. I asked couple more customers…hard because ebay bans communications outside of sales…another annoying inconvenience as I DON”T sell outside ebay, and sometimes talking to my customers is part of my business and I don’t like spending all day on back and forth emails when a few words will do.
OI find out that NONE of my listings are showing up international sites on EBAY.UK EBAY.CA etc. They only show up on EBAY.COM…which most international customers are not directed to and don’t use. This is apparently according to customer service because of a contract thing with PAYPAL…and paypal is not an international option at the moment or for a few moments…so POOF! there goes 10-15% of my most profitable business and there is no recovery from that until they get paypal aboard again on international sites. Customer service could not tell me when that will change.
My suggestion, if you do a lot of international business…hold out as long at you can…you might lose it.
Since I am sure managed payment sis here to stay…Ebay also needs to, and I’m sure they will create a faster payout system and a way for me to draw my money after a sale right away if I need it. Like Paypals Debit card and next day transfers. On a big ticket item, I sometimes don’t want that money tied up for 4-5 days or longer over a weekend or holiday
You would borrow against an ebay sale? What if you borrowed then got a not as described notice? You could dig a pretty big hole mighty fast.
And then you claim to have millions in sales. Something doesn’t add up.
I have pretty well decided not to “OPT” into any of ebay’s crap. In my opinion they should be taken to the cleaners by some high powered attorneys via a class action suit. I can see lots of criminal activities they engage in and I’m sure many others can as well.
First would be not allowing a seller to accept any payment they choose to. Does the term “legal tender for any debt, public or private, must be accepted.” mean anything to them? Any lawyer could bring them down with that one law which they violate on each and every transaction.
Theres plenty more examples too.
This is a load of crap, I’m going to spend so much time just making sure payments come through to my bank account which will be a nightmare for consistantly selling items on a day to day basis. And I will need a credit card to pay for shipping? I dont use them and only use paypal, shoot I dont even own one since it’s just more fees for my money. This is an absolute nightmare. What other platforms are people selling on?
{2}Posting: There really been no added value now that PayPal is not being used. Is Ebay keeping the approx 3% ? I need to watch my invoices closely now. I too agree with other poster about leaning away from Ebay.
Other crazy point 60 days ago. PayPal charged my CC a 14.25 for and item sold on Ebay. This is a credit card i had stored on PayPal {and I never use}. The charge was for an item purchased on Ebay. It’s was a item Ebay had no clue about and could not trace. The crazy part of this was it was marked “shipped” on my ebay site.
The charges were caught {thanks to my wife} and 14.25 credit applied. The point is Ebay’s site and PayPal site could get hacked right in front of them and they could explain of an item on my account and their web site could get marked has “shipped” and no record of the item. Again, Ebay is not support their seller and much less projecting them from maybe an inside thief or someone who is passing information outside their company – sounds crazy but I believe there will be future new about this.
I cannot work with the new program since we have 7 locations selling used power equipment and values are from $3000 to $35,000. Since we floor plan our inventory in most cases, if we sell and ship an item without payment in our account, we are legally out of trust and in breach of our legal obligations to our bank. Plus to ship a $25,000 piece of equipment without payment in full is not in line with good business practices. This presents a huge challenge to us.
This will be my last year selling on Ebay. Between the new managed payments system, and Ebay always siding with the buyer even if they are lying, or abusing the system. I’m going to blow out my excess inventory quickly, cancel my $50/month store subscription and focus on my brick and mortar store more.
What worries me the most about managed fees is the $20 fee for a dispute. I was going to sign on until I read that. The fee is charged immediately and may be hard to get it back when the dispute is in your favor. I very seldom have a dispute over an item, but am panicking over this extra fee.
The main reason for the change is for eBay to generate CASH by delaying the movement of monies from buyer to seller.
EXAMPLE: Paypal normally has a payment in your account the same or next day. In my case, when an item sells and I receive notification of a payment being received, if I look in my paypal accocunt, it is immediately there. I can access it right then with my PP Debit card, a purchase or send/ transfer immediately.
Enter ebay and their Pass Through scheme.
They take the payment from PayPal (and now any form of payment) and hold that amount. It goes immediately into a “general” Interest bearing account where they earn 3% ( or whatever it may be) for the 72 hours they hold it.
Simple math of adding all of the daily average balance on that account, containing MILLIONS of dollars on average daily balances until they transfer the sales total on your item to your account. It is a HUGE CASH COW for them and as far as I can tell a “legal” maneuver, but it deserves close scrutiny from the banking industry.
What other options are peopole considering, beyond eBay?
What else is there that is willing to go head to head with them?
I’ll drop out in a second with a viable option.
Amazon ain’t it, either. That is a total nightmare.
Making money on the float is completely legal and why would it need scrutiny from the banking industry since that is one of the many ways they make money? If you placed your money into an interest-bearing account and then send a check for payment from that account, you are technically making money on the float… As far as being a cash cow, in the fourth quarter 2019 earnings report, eBay reported $15 million in net income from interest. The company’s total revenue for that quarter was $2.8 billion. For the full 2019, the company actually showed a $114 million loss on that line item. They define this line item on their financial report as “Interest and other, net” which typically includes the cost of servicing interest-burdened liabilities. Yeah, it is making them some money, but in the big picture, I don’t think it’s a cash cow.
Richard
Lets make our own platform, Beeday or something with 5x smaller fees. Open funded project where participants are the owners. The business will thrive. I am absolutely sure that no platform in the world needs 10% fees on their 10 000 000 000 turnover. No way it is justified to give 1 billion for their hosting and automated resolution services. How are they out of money. They are just rich spoiled hogs rolling in their money as in dirt. And there is never enough.
Today, March 13, I called ebay and they told me I would be receiving and email message regarding Managed Payments. At that point I could opt out or in.
Now enter 2021 and Ebay aims to “recoup” any promised savings by implementing a system to collect millions in interest-earned profits. Yes, Ebay wants to bolster their gross profits by essentially holding funds form a “sale” in a figurative escrow status; Ebay will collect payment, for whatever you sale, and delay the actual seller’s payment for days. That means Ebay gets to sit on your money for a couple days before they actually pay out your share. And adding insult to injury, Ebay tries to explain this new process as a way that they are making things better for the seller. Goodbye Ebay for me.
Yes and it seems they are charging their 12% (or whatever) fee to not only the purchase price of the item, but also to the shpping charges and to the taxes. going through Paypal, you only paid Paypal fees on shipping and taxes. That coupled with thje per item fees, I dont see how this can be cheaper
As a buyer, I have noticed on many occasions that Ebay is committing a form of tax fraud, or embezzlement. They will assess a higher tax rate than the buyer’s actual county/city assesses. My city/country sales tax rate is at 7.25%, but Ebay has been assessing 7.5%. The only thing Ebay is achieving is racketeering. But ironically, I have seen that most states (and the Feds) do not have laws that make this a criminal act.
The new process is nearly criminal; Ebay now holds payments in relative escrow to earn daily interest on millions of transactions. In no way can I see that this has made the process better for any of the sellers. And to add insult to the process, while Ebay is “processing” the payments, they immediately send notice to sellers that they must ship the item right away because they received payment on your behalf. Does this mean Ebay has now entered the banking business?
eBay is about to become MySpace.
Pretty much every small seller I know is leaving. Maybe that’s what they want!
I’ll be deleting my items and closing up shop soon too.
My wife is a very casual seller, usually has 5 to10 items on eBay. Last week she sold a vintage makeup compact for $12.95 with 4 bucks shipping.
As usual she left the item for me to pack and ship. So I log into her PayPal to print the label and there’s no money in there?
So I tell her and she looks at her email and it says she can’t get paid until she signs up for payments. But make sure to ship that item right away… GFY eBay!
My Wife has zero interest in signing up for eBay payments. So she contacts the buyer and politely explains she’s unable to fulfill the order as eBay won’t release the funds.
And to please contact them for a refund.
Then the person contacts my wife and says eBay won’t refund and she has to sign up for payments so they can get their refund.
Now my wife is pissed. She doesn’t care if she gets bad feedback because she’s done with eBay. What do the people do that don’t have a checking account?
She does, but she’s not giving that info to eBay so they can play god with her money auto returns, late shipment fees or whatever they please.
Then eBay sent her a some kind of pushy email to set up your payments now or we’ll suspend your account BS.
well that sealed the deal for her, she’s not gonna be bullied into eBays BS.
And I’m jumping ship also! I actually do some decent business on my personal account. I’d also like to point our here that I have a Guitar business on eBay that does about 600K a year. I’m not ready to break those chains yet. But that business has dwindled the last few years due to Facebook marketplace, reverb.com and other selling platforms popping up.
And now that they”re charging sales tax we’re selling a lot more stuff locally because people can’t get a deal by not paying sales tax for buying online so they figure they might as well buy local.
which is great if you have an actual store like us.
For our personal stuff we’ve turned to craigslist, selling apps, Facebook marketplace & groups.
Most people just come and pick the stuff up off our front steps and put the money in the mailbox… CASH!!!
But the best thing I’ve found is Facebook groups. Especially if you are selling a lot of the same items, postcards, beanie babies or in my case guitar picks.
Just join a group that allows you to sell the stuff You’re trying to move. I’ve sold 5K in guitar picks in the last 2 months and you know what… not one single fee!!!
All payments are made by PayPal friends and family. And I get a few bucks to ship them. Bada bing, bada boom, done!
Everyone’s happy!
My biggest problem is giving my checking account information to Ebay. They are constantly hacked already be fake sellers. What happens when someone hacks my account and get access to my bank account. Simply not going to happen. I’m not a big seller but I have sold over $50,000 over the years. Now I’m done. Goodbye Ebay.
I dislike the managed payment process, and I do not like the fact that they have access to my checking account. Through out the years, eBay has made billing errors. When the fees were charged to my credit card, I was able to have those fees reversed with the assistance of my credit care company. Problems were resolved quickly.
eBay is outsourcing their Customer Service calls. This causes a lack of communication due to the people that eBay hires are not fluent in the English language. There is nothing more aggravating than to have to repeat yourself two of three times due to the lack of comprehension.
I found it to be a huge joke when eBay staged that you’ll be saving or paying equal with this payment plan. We should be saving period. No more Paypal fees, right???
I have been with eBay since 2001, and it has become quite evident to terminate my relationship with eBay. eBay is not the only Market Place on earth. There are competitors to consider. Plus I do not do business with a company that does not support people here in the United States.
Ebay does 10 billion dollars a year in revenue, imagine how much they will make by holding your payments for 2-3 days while they “process” your order.
You would think you would not be paying the old paypal 2.9% + .30 cent fees under managed payments right? Wrong. Ebay will be charging that fee to you now.
Think what 10 billion times the paypal fees will amount to. Do you see why Ebay wants to change to MPs Nothing but greed and the seller gets the shaft again.
I have till April 6th, after that I’ll sell local on FB MP without any fees.
Screw you ebay!
I was a small seller of shavers on eBay but when they told me they’d have access to my bank account (including reversing charges to disgruntled customers) I decided to sell privately without eBay. The tax issues are not worth dealing with either for a small seller like me. Too bad as it was a good system with PayPal.