Up to 100 auctions listed on 21st & 22nd September 2013 on ten day listings will qualify for free listing. Full details.

List up to 100 listing(s) (with a starting price of £1 or more) in an eligible category using the auction-style format and you won’t pay an insertion fee for each listing during the promotion period.

Feature fees and Final Value Fees will still apply. The number of listings eligible under this promotion is limited to a maximum of 100 listings for sellers without listing restrictions or less where seller restrictions apply

Don’t forget to check out my free eBay listing trick if you don’t have much time this weekend for listing.

I’m sure you’ve heard tales of disgruntled buyers on eBay (and let’s be honest, some scammers), causing a problem for good, honest sellers. Perhaps you’ve encountered them before, which puts you off selling now. If this is you, then don’t panic. I’m going to cover the most common eBay cases and give you some ideas for protecting yourself.

When you sell on eBay, eBay offers both buyers and sellers protection. It is important to remember this, and if you follow the correct procedures, as a seller, you will be protected. An example of this happened to me a few months ago. Money was extremely tight as I was just about to quit my job without another one to go to. I sold a pair of trousers on eBay for around £5. When the buyer received them, she was unhappy as they weren’t described as 3/4 length instead of full length. I disagreed with the buyer over this, but I agreed to give her a refund once I’d received the trousers back. She then told me that not only did she want me to pay the postage for her to return the trousers (which, by the way, as a private seller, you do not have to do), she wanted the refund before returning the trousers. I responded in a polite and professional manner, explaining that I didn’t have to offer her a refund in the first place, and I wouldn’t be paying for her to return the trousers – certainly not giving her a refund before I received them back. All of these messages were sent through the resolution center on eBay, and when I was getting nowhere, I escalated the case to customer service. A few moments later I received an email telling me that the buyer had received a refund. Great – I thought eBay had automatically sided with the buyer and that was that. Until I checked my paypal balance to find that I still had the money. Reading the email once again – eBay had refunded the buyer AND given me my money back. Result!

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One day only, up to 100 auctions listed on 15 August 2013 on ten day listings will qualify for free listing.

On Thursday 15 August 2013 (local UK time), eBay.co.uk registered Private Sellers (subject to the below mentioned seller restrictions) who list up to 100 listing(s) (with a starting price of £1 or more) in an eligible category using the 10-day auction-style listing format, starting on Thursday 15 August 2013 and ending on Sunday 25 August 2013 on eBay.co.uk, will not pay an Insertion Fee per listing.

Feature fees will still apply. The number of listings eligible under this promotion is limited to a maximum of 100 listings for sellers without listing restrictions or less where seller restrictions apply.

Items listed using professional tools, such as (but not limited to), Turbo Lister and Selling Manager Pro, are excluded. Items will only be eligible for this promotion if they are listed with the Quick Sell or Advanced Sell (Sell Your Item) forms, the new Quick Listing Tool or the eBay iPhone, eBay iPad, eBay Android, eBay Blackberry and eBay Windows Phone applications.

Don’t forget to check out my free eBay listing trick if you don’t have much time this weekend for listing.

Full details here.

I am mad. This happens a lot – but this time, it is about eBay. They have just announced changes to their final value fees. When you sell an item, eBay take 10% of the final sale price in fees. This has slowly been increasing over the past few years, and of course, we are due another rise.

Except this time, they have changed the final value fees to include not only the item’s selling price, but also the postage you charge. So, if you sell an item for £10 and charge £3 postage (which is what it costs to send a small parcel First Class), you’d pay £1 in eBay fees. Now, under the changes announced, you will pay £1.30 in eBay fees.

My issue with this is that eBay buyers can rate your postage costs, and if they deem them to be unfair, your seller rating can go down. A low seller rating (different to feedback) can implement listing restrictions on your account, as well as taking away your eligibility to take part in free listing promotions. I have received a lot of low ratings for my postage costs – which really frustrates me when I charge exactly what I have to pay. I cover envelopes, jiffy bags, bubble wrap, labels and parceling tape out of my own money, and I do not pass these costs on to my buyers. But now I am going to be another 30p (at least) down for every sale.

I am definitely going to rethink everything I list on eBay now. There are some great alternatives, and I certainly won’t be selling low value items. Currently, if I list something for 99p and charge £3 postage, this is how it breaks down:
Listing fee – FREE for 99p listing
Final value fee – 9p
Paypal fee – 34p
Profit – 56p

After these changes (coming 4th September):
Listing fee – FREE for 99p listing
Final value fee – 39p
Paypal fee – 34p
Profit – 26p

You can read the announcement here.