The odd 20p here and there doesn’t sound like too much of a loss does it, but what if you had to pay an extra 20p in fees for each and every PayPal payment? Well, this is potentially an unfortunate situation for some eBay shop owners who sell smaller, low cost items. Fees could literally run into thousands of pounds.
You know how it is, buyers browse and might decide to buy a few items from an eBay store. They don’t always realise that they can wrap all of their purchases up into a single payment. As they peruse the goods, and buy multiple items over the course of a couple of hours or so. Each time the buyer checks out with PayPal, the shop owner pays 20p.
Compulsory immediate payment: the upside and downside
During its latest seller release, eBay announced that it was testing compulsory immediate payment. This means that the buyers taking part in the test are taken straight to the checkout, bypassing the “Commit to Buy” button. So, the item will only be considered sold once it’s been paid for.
This has one huge advantage for eBay shop owners. Buyers pay immediately for fixed price items: no more unpaid items loitering around! This is great, but there is also a downside. Each time a buyer pays, it means that each time a buyer decides to pay, PayPal payment comes at a price – 20p on top of your merchant discount! However, if a buyer can condense all of their purchases into a single payment, you would only have to pay 20p.
This isn’t much of an issue for people selling one off, big ticket items such as major kitchen appliances, but sellers in certain categories have noticed a definite strain as the 20p’s add up.
All those 20p’s can add up into thousands of £££s
In fact, one owner of a darts shop on eBay worked out that all of these 20p fees added up to £7,000 per year! He said that it’s quite common for buyers to make as many as ten separate purchases from him over the course of half an hour to an hour. Previously, they would have paid all at once or requested an invoice total. Unfortunately, a buyer could inadvertently end up costing him £2.00.
So, if you’re in a similar position, what does eBay have to say on the matter? Well, it suggests updating listings with instructions for buyers on how to get multiple purchase discounts. Some people aren’t exactly satisfied with this solution and have argued that their item descriptions should be just that: item descriptions. Ensuring that buyers know how to use the site falls under eBay’s jurisdiction surely?
We can sympathise with sellers who don’t want to turn their listings into a detailed instruction manual on how to shop on eBay. In any case, would buyers actually bother reading it in the first place? We’re not too sure!
One thing’s for sure, all these 20ps quickly add up. If you’ve suddenly seen a sudden increase in multiple single orders from buyers who have previously bought items in one multiple order, this could be why! There are loads of savvy shoppers on eBay who’ll add all the items to their basket before paying for them in a single transaction. Nevertheless, there are a lot of people who don’t!
eBay isn’t out to milk sellers, but compulsory immediate payment needs tweaking
We don’t think this issue is a case of eBay milking sellers for every 20p it can get its hands on. It’s far more likely to be an unforeseen consequence, as eBay is testing the compulsory immediate payment to make sure that buyers do get paid. Possible solutions to this problem could involve PayPal charging 20p for the first payment when a buyer makes multiple purchases from a store, perhaps with a 2 hour window?
Has this been a problem for you? Shops in categories such as DIY, auto parts and cosmetics could find themselves affected. We want to hear your views.
