the roll out of ebay managed payments

[lm-entertainment]

i'm sure a lot or most of you probably received the managed payments email this morning. in case you didn't, or missed here - ebay is rolling out managed payments later in the year with pre-registration opening shortly.

more info is located at https://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/managed-payments

[oz-e-seller]

The biggest winners are Featured Store owners with items > $11 each. The biggest losers are Anchor Store owners with many transactions of low cost <$10 items, closely followed by Basic Store owners with the same business model on a smaller scale.

[needsome12vbasics]

If you are not GST registered, all levels will be down - current PayPal charge is 2.6% + 0.30c. Ebay will be basically 2.4% + 0.30 + GST = 2.64% + 0.33, so all transactions, regardless how big or small, will have extra 0.04% fee and 0.03c per transaction.

[4476.iveco]

This new management fee is sounding a lot like Amazon Marketplace which we gave away after Christmas when they re-introduced their monthly fees.  Payment was every 2 weeks provided that you applied for it.  At least sales happen at Ebay on the current system, whereas it only takes 1 or 2 days to equal 12 months sales on Amazon, so what will happen with the changes ?  We also have our own systems in place & have been very happy with Paypal.  A sale is not a sale until paid for.  We have 2 Ebay stores & could do quite a bit of private advertising with the Ebay fees for our own website, possibly risky, but worth considering.

[digital*ghost]

Spoke with ebay re: managed payments (they've got a "have us call you" option for customer assistance specifically for managed payments). (Edit - I got the have us call you option provided through eBay chat from the link I pasted, but it isn't giving that option now). 

My question was just in regards to what I need to select when registering, since I am a sole trader, not a company or parntership (legally), but do have a registered business name etc. Apparently I need to register under the company business type.

I'm a little concerned over the dispute fees. I only scanned the info briefly earlier today, and though it was just for chargebacks, but it says "or other disputed amount". I wish I'd picked up on that before I spoke to them, because I want to know exactly when / how this fee will apply. If it wasn't eBay we're talking about, I'd think it would only apply if a seller has a case closed against them after being escalated (i.e. the "if found responsible" suggests that), but I don't take anything for granted with them anymore lol. If that is the case, though, it's still unadulterated robbery and blackmail. If a seller wants to defend themselves against an INAD dispute, for example, they now risk account sanctions and a fee if eBay decides against them. These sorts of initiatives almost never weed out the bad sellers, and definitely not the scammers, those types just find workarounds and other methods to deal with it. Genuine sellers who encounter a bad buyer, or even one who just disagrees with a buyer shoud be able to defend against claims without fear of what eBay will do if they lose 😞 

I'm slightly confused as to which scenario they're talking about re: the currency conversion - not that it applies to me as I only sell within Aus here, but I do want to be able to provide the correct info in the future. 

Just to copy from the info:

If your registered address is in Australia, when a buyer purchases your item in a currency other than your payout currency, eBay will convert the value to your payout currency using a transaction exchange rate we set for the relevant currency exchange.

I am presuming this is actually in relation to sellers in AU who list on international sites, making their listings in other currencies. That is, if i list in AUD, an international buyer pays AUD to purchase, not for example USD, and the currency conversion (plus fees) should happen on their end. But if I list on eBay US and buyers are paying USD when they buy, it then has to be converted by eBay into AUD in order to pay out the funds to my account (this is exactly what happens on Et*y). But, their wording is ambiguous, as per usual, and again, it's eBay, so nothing being taken for granted. o_O

[everard6920]

As usual, the "answers" just create more questions. Like this:

"If you're a business customer and you provided your tax registration number (ABN) to eBay as part of registering for managed payments, we won't add GST to your eBay fees."

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/store-selling-fees?id=4809

This makes it sound like, as long as you have an ABN, you don't have to pay GST on your fees - even if you're under the $75k threshold and not registered for GST. But you do have to pay GST on your fees if you have an ABN but are not registered for GST ... do you not?

[digital*ghost]

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@everard6920 wrote:

But you do have to pay GST on your fees if you have an ABN but are not registered for GST ... do you not?

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Sure do. I couldn't say if eBay actually verify the GST status of a business when the ABN's been provided, though. I just know I provided mine after registering and don't currently pay GST on my fees.

I also know another site didn't verify the ABN status, resulting in people getting ABNs, obliviously (apparently) uploading it, and not paying GST on charges there. 😕 

Then, when I tried to explain to them they shouldn't have given the ABN and should be paying GST, there was always a distinct unwillingness to understand / agree. I suspect part of it was wilful ignorance, but a big part of it was also the site wording things very similarly to how eBay have in that phrase. 

[jfmgray]

I have a featured store selling in the media category.  I am not GST registered so need to pay GST on eBay fees (but not on current paypal fees). Maths is not my strong suit so I would appreciate feedback if my maths is correct.

Currently my FVF is 8.55% plus GST which equates to 9.4%. Paypal fee is 2.6%. so totals 12% + 30 cents per order

Managed payments fee will be 10.7% plus GST is 11.77% + 33 cents per order.

So if I sell an item for $10 including postage, my FVF & Paypal fees totals $1.50

So if I sell an item for $10 including postage under managed payment fee also is $1.50.

Feedback welcome as my head hurts.

[digital*ghost]

I didn't check your work, but looks about right to me 

There will probably be discrepancies here and there (eg with 11.77% of $10 being 1.177, they'll round up to $1.18 for sure), plus it won't match the PayPal figures on payments under or over $10.

If you sell a $20 item, 11.77% plus 33c is going to be $2.68 ($2.35 + 33c).

Current costs at that 12% rate would be $2.70 ($2.40 + 30c). 

Conversely, on a $5 item at those rates, managed payments would cost 92c, current system would cost 90c

Whether you're better off overall will depend on average order values, whether they are above or below the threshold that makes eBay's managed payments cheaper. 

[jfmgray]

Thanks for that digi. My average sale is $14 so it will work out at $1.98 either way.  So it looks like there is 1-2 cents in it for sales between $5 and $20 and a bit more in my favour for the sales over $20.  The free listings is sort of a bonus for me as I currently manage within my 1500 free listings by ending some of my GTC listings with zero stock (I have the out of stock feature enabled) to ensure I stay within the 1500.  No need to worry about that any more. 

In summary no real issues (that I can identify) for me. 

[davewil1964]

I have a Featured store because of the included listing limits.

When my sales go back to normal (soon, the UK dropshippers are back up and running), my volumes would enable me to go back to a Basic store. Given the 250k listing limits they will give us, I shouldn't need a Featured store, and the extra cost on my sales wouldn't be the $33 per month I'm currently paying for the higher level store.