The email "eBay for Business" I received this morning contains veiled threats if you don't register. Key points in it are:
"your account, waddingtonfirstaid, will be activated for managed payments at the end of July"
So that now comes across as we don't have a choice.
"by registering now you will ensure that your business does not experience any disruptions after it is activated in late July 2020."
So that means we'll suffer some way if we do not register.
"If you complete registration for managed payments before 31st May we’ll waive your insertion fees1 enabling you to list all of your inventory on eBay without being charged to list."
Well, we don't pay any insertion fees anyway, but does this mean all that resets so eBay can specifically engineer policy changes for insertion fees and dishonour previous policy conditions we already listed under?
"More ways for buyers to pay: Buyers can pay with credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Afterpay."
No, this is going to reduce payment options - particularly fee-free payment options so customers do not pay loaded prices hiding payment fees. There will be a lack of transparency if fee-free PayID and Direct Bank Deposit Transfer options are not included.
"Payouts are regularly deposited to your bank account weekly or as soon as funds are available....
Regardless of how the buyer pays, payouts are consistently available within two business days of an order confirmation"
Could take days to actually receive lump sums. This will also drive sellers not to provide Tax Invoices because it will become much too difficult trying to reconcile individual payments against invoices which have to be dispatched quickly during the time it takes eBay to actually forward money to our business bank account, most likely in lump sums along with other paymets across multiple days. What a nightmare! What about businesses who already have payment and reconciliation software in place?
"one final value fee consisting of a category-based percentage of the total amount of the sale plus a fixed fee per order with no third-party payments processing fees"
Might make it easier for eBay but how will sellers claim third-party merchant fees or sell goods that are not loaded price-wise by third-party processing fees? It makes a mockery of ACCC and federal government laws relating to merchant fees and consumers being able to avoid paying them. It also makes a mockery of businesses who sell goods at real low prices, not loaded by hidden payment fees.
Footnote states, "2. Savings based on annual total sales volumes, and comparisons of (a) prior eBay final value fees plus typical 3rd party payment provider fees, with (b) new eBay final value fees (with no 3rd party processing fees)."
But this conveniently leaves out current sales paid with fee-free payment methods such as cash, PayID and Direct Bank Deposit. Therefore, any premise of savings made by eBay is not only considered by me to be a lie, in my opionion, suggesting that this will be a good thing for buyers is a breach of the Consumer Act for misleading and deceptive conduct when in fact it has the potential to actually cost buyers more. This will not be a good deal at all for buyers going into the future.
Looking at https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/ebay-stores-selling-fees?id=4809 shows many stores will pay FVF 10.4% according to the Tier 2 category or 11.9% for Tier 4 + a .30c fee for every order - ALL EXCLUDING GST! So, now we're looking at about FVF 11.5% + .33c (not including the monthly shop rent) which is a definite increase in fees compared to our current 10.6% (based on last month's sales) because buyers will not have the option to pay with PayID or Direct Bank Deposit. There will be no transparency to payment fees or for customers to have a real choice in buying product that should be cheaper when fee-free payment methods like PayID or Direct Bank Deposit are used. More money going out of Australia to entities which sometimes register themselves in low tax havens and make their business activities more opaque and more costly to the average consumer. This is NOT A GOOD DEAL FOR BUYERS!
But the fees do not end here. Check out the additional fees for:
International sales fee
If your registered address is in Australia, you pay an international sales fee when either the buyer's registered address or delivery location is outside Australia.
Dispute fees
When you are found responsible for a chargeback or other disputed amount as per eBay's policies, we charge a dispute fee of $22 (excl. GST) for each dispute.
Charges for supplemental services
Multiple service fees https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/ebay-stores-selling-fees?id=4809
Additional terms and conditions for eBay fees
https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/ebay-stores-selling-fees?id=4809
HOWEVER, not accounting for the above 4 addional fee measures, could the overall change to one FVF including payment options actually be beneficial to sellers? Does this mean we no longer see eBay payments go through Paypal, whereby the previous Paypal fees are saved as part of the above equation? This is not made clear.
If Paypal is no longer part of the equation, current sales which cost us 10.6% eBay fees and 2.6-3.6% + .30c Paypal fees, making a fee total of around 14%, compared to the new eBay FVF including all payment fees 11.3% + .33c might appear on the surface to be attractive enough to apply for the new payment service (although I still can't get my head around efficiently reconciling individual payments against invoices). But why can't eBay confirm this? Why can't eBay use an average seller, like us, to confirm the new payment arrangement will be a real benefit to sellers and quite possibly an overall benefit to buyers? Although, as stated above, without a fee-free payment option, buyers will be railroaded into always paying higher prices.
