Sell privately on eBay.de for free – What does that mean?
Selling on eBay.de has been free for private sellers since March 1, 2023. With the elimination of the selling fee, the biggest hurdle to selling privately on eBay.de disappears. This strengthens eBay Germany’s private online trading and makes it even more attractive for private sellers in economically challenging times to bring in some extra cash for the household through their sales on eBay.de.
But what impact does this change have on commercial sellers on eBay? How do they and the marketplace benefit, and what about so-called pseudo-private sellers? Jenny Schmaler, responsible for private trading at eBay, and Andreas Häntsch, who represents the commercial side of eBay, answer these and many other questions in conversation with podcast hosts Isabell Butterwegge and David Philippe.
**Important links**
- eBay-Durchstarter
- eBay Deine Stadt (ebay-deine-stadt.de)
- Programs & initiatives | Seller portal (ebay.de)
**Chapter markers**
- 00:02:02 to 00:07:17: Private selling on eBay.de is now free – what does that mean for commercial sellers?
- 00:07:17 to 00:12:21: More offers for commercial sellers on eBay
- 00:12:21 to 00:13:30: Safety in private selling on eBay
Isabell: In your view, what impact will this change have on our commercial sellers?
Andreas: It will have massive effects, namely massively positive ones. So, with what Jenny just announced, we’re investing in our ecosystem, and that can only be positive for our sellers.
Isabell: Hello, dear listeners, and welcome to our new episode of the eBay Podcast for our sellers and, of course, for everyone who wants to become one. I’m Isabell Butterwegge and today I’m here with my co-host David Philippe in the podcast studio in Dreilinden. David and I are both part of the Seller Engagement Team here at eBay Germany.
David: Hi Isabell! Great to be here with you. Today we’re talking about measures eBay is taking to make selling on eBay even more successful. A prominent example of this is certainly free selling for private individuals and why that’s also good for commercial sellers – we’ll talk about that with Jenny Schmaler and Andreas Häntsch.
Isabell: Jenny Schmaler is responsible at eBay Germany for everything related to private trading. She started at eBay as Category Lead Consumer Electronics and today, as Director Consumer to Consumer, or C2C, as we’ll also call it a few times in this episode, she drives private trading forward. Andreas Häntsch is probably already familiar to some of you. He’s a true eBay veteran, and I hope he doesn’t mind me calling him that. He’s been with eBay for over 15 years. At the core of what he does is commercial trading, that is, our commercial sellers. Part of what he and his team work on are consulting programs such as eBay-Durchstarter or Pro-Trader and all our seller community activities, such as this podcast, the community boards, webinars, or eBay events like eBay Open. This also includes the initiative "eBay Deine Stadt" and much, much more. We’ll talk to him in detail about that in a moment, but first a warm welcome to the eBay Podcast, dear Jenny and dear Andreas!
Jenny: Hi, great to be here!
Andreas: Yes, hi, and thanks for inviting me again.
David: We’ve just announced a change for private selling on eBay. Jenny, what exactly is changing on eBay.de?
Jenny: Simply put, selling for private sellers has been free since March 1st.
David: So there are no selling commissions, no listing fees for private selling?
Jenny: Exactly. Until now there was a selling commission that had to be paid whenever an item sold successfully, and that used to be 11 percent plus 35 cents in transaction fees, which were fixed, and both of those are now gone.
David: Just to make sure I understand that correctly: does that mean selling for private sellers on eBay is now completely free, including everything? So they don’t pay anything anymore? Or are there situations, for example if they use certain options, where they might still have to pay something?
Jenny: Exactly, there are still options, for example to show greater visibility for the listings/offers. You can, in a sense, buy additional reach, even if you want to sell internationally. Because all of these were fees that already existed before and are meant to enable additional sales as well.
David: So the additional fees remain, but I’d say the basic model is free, and if you want to and say, okay, I want to add subtitles, add another category, and so on, basically just have more visibility, then you still have to pay the fees as before. Right?
Jenny: Exactly, but all of these fees are much lower than the 11 percent that everyone had to pay before. Yes, so this is definitely a major renewal.
Isabell: Well, we are a podcast for commercial sellers, and Andreas, that’s exactly why we invited you today. In your view, what impact will this change have on our commercial sellers?
Andreas: It will have massive effects, namely massively positive ones. So, with what Jenny just announced, we’re investing in our ecosystem, and that’s only positive for our sellers.
Isabell: Yes Jenny, and that is probably exactly the reason why you decided to reduce the fees for private selling, right?
Jenny: Yes, exactly, the fees were actually the biggest hurdle preventing private sellers from selling privately on eBay. And we’ve now eliminated these fees, these 11 percent, and with that this hurdle is gone. Of course, we hope this will bring a whole lot of new, great listings to the site, massively improve our assortment, and simply make us an even more attractive marketplace. In the difficult times we’re currently facing, especially for private households, it’s of course also good that a bit more money can be brought into the household budget through private selling, and it has just as positive an effect on commercial online trading.
Andreas: Yes, what Jenny just described is actually exactly the reason why I just said this will have massively positive effects for our commercial sellers. No fees means more private trading, which means more offers. From that we get greater variety, and the marketplace overall is simply more attractive for our buyers, and therefore also for our sellers, who will simply have more demand.
Jenny: Maybe I can explain that briefly: private sellers are naturally on the site more often, they keep checking their listings, spend more time on the site, and are therefore much more connected to eBay and then also prefer to buy on eBay rather than elsewhere.
David: And of course private sellers don’t only buy from other private sellers.
Isabell: For commercial sellers, the question is certainly: what about all the "pseudo-private" sellers, as they’re commonly called? So, people who are registered as private users but are still trading commercially in that sense. Doesn’t that create even more incentives to encourage this group, so to speak?
Andreas: Yes, we obviously monitor our marketplace all the time anyway. Yes, we already do that now and step in when we see abuse happening. What will certainly play into our hands now is something we usually tend to complain about, namely all the bureaucracy out there. And there is a nice, cumbersome law. It’s called, well, a clumsily named law. It’s called the Platform Tax Transparency Act, or DAC-7, as it’s known. And it simply means they have higher reporting obligations, for us but also for other online platforms, when it comes to tax matters, and in that respect these things will stand out even more, and both the authorities and ultimately us will step in accordingly.
Jenny: Maybe to briefly touch on the Tax Transparency Act again, there are certain thresholds that have to be met. That’s 2,000 euros per year and up to 30 transactions. And only then does this reporting take place. Most private users don’t fall anywhere near that. And the tax office then looks at whether someone actually had a profit-making intention. And most private sellers don’t. So for private users it’s not relevant, but for the "pseudo-private" sellers it actually is.
David: Andreas, your actual focus is commercial sellers. What exactly are you and your team planning for this year, 2023, to further improve selling on eBay for our commercial sellers?
Andreas: The question now is, how much time did you bring with you? I’d be very happy to talk about that in great detail. No, essentially what we do is make life easier for sellers through a wide variety of seller programs, seller programs, I’d say. Then yes, we address different segments, for example new sellers. We have the Durchstarter program, for instance, which has already been running for quite some time now. I’ve already had the chance to talk about it here once. I’ll still mention it again, though. Um, because it may simply not be known to everyone yet and because I think it’s a very, very exciting project in which we basically support every new seller, every new commercial seller of course, for six months. There’s also a financial aspect, but ultimately it supports sellers for long-term success on eBay.
David: Just a quick note here: there’s a podcast episode about this, and we’ll link it below as well. And every new seller can apply for this program. The link can also be found in the description.
Andreas: Otherwise, of course, there’s also a program for existing sellers. We call it the Pro-Trader Program. It may not be quite as well known yet because we only recently made it public. It’s also a consulting program where we support sellers for six months. I always call it the consulting program, ultimately. It’s about scaling the business, and for six months, three to six months depending on the case, we want to work very closely with the seller. And we really look at all aspects of selling, from listing optimization, that is, what does a good, good offer on eBay look like, to the use of certain promotional tools, such as our deals program, coupons program, etc. All the way to expanding the assortment, everything you can imagine.
David: And do you have to have been on eBay for a certain amount of time, or can it simply be that, okay, I already have a fair amount of experience. Maybe I no longer fit into this Durchstarter program, maybe I’ve been on eBay for too long already?
Andreas: Not at all. I think it’s really tailored individually to each seller. Anyone can apply. I’d say maybe we should mention again that we have a landing page where we basically have the entire offer for sellers. We’ve just launched that, which I think sums things up very well. Maybe we should also include that in the show notes.
David: We’ll add it, yes.
Andreas: Exactly, and beyond that there are a whole range of other offers, from financing offers to logistics programs, etc., etc.
Isabell: Andreas, we’ve also talked here on the podcast about some other things initiated by your team. Among other things, we once spoke about "eBay Deine Stadt." Could you briefly summarize what that is again?
Andreas: Yes, of course, "eBay Deine Stadt" is primarily our offering for local retail, these are local marketplaces that we now operate in 36 cities and regions. More are being added, and new cities and regions will also be added this year. We do this together with the German Retail Federation, and it’s basically our offering for brick-and-mortar retail.
David: In a way, this enables brick-and-mortar retailers to sell beyond their own store and find their way into online commerce?
Andreas: Exactly, we’ve brought thousands of new sellers onto the platform through that as well. We also support them, for example, with the Durchstarter program I mentioned earlier, and basically enable a new footing in brick-and-mortar retail. Exactly!
David: And for everyone who doesn’t get into the Durchstarter program, we still created a way to learn more about the best way to sell on eBay with the Academy. Could you say a bit more about that?
Andreas: Yes, gladly, eBay Academy is a self-learning platform. We launched it last year. New content is constantly being added there as well, and ultimately it’s about how to sell best on eBay? From the first steps to offers for advanced sellers as well. And all of this is integrated into Seller Cockpit Pro.
Isabell: In addition, of course, we’re always working to further improve the marketplace itself for our existing sellers. We also had the latest seller news in February. There were a few changes there as well. Maybe you could briefly touch on what’s currently new for our existing sellers on the market.
Andreas: Yes, to be honest, it wasn’t really a huge update we made there. It was a few smaller things we announced. But I think one thing really stands out, where we also responded directly to seller feedback. And that’s the topic of partial refunds. It was a major, yes, I’d say "pain point" is what people always call it, for our sellers. I got a lot of feedback about that. What happens if items are returned defective, used, dirty, or whatever? Until now, it wasn’t easy for us to make partial refunds. And we’ve changed that now, and we’ve effectively introduced it as of February 1st.
David: So, Jenny, maybe from your area. What are you doing there to make the marketplace attractive? What else does your team cover, beyond the changes now for private sellers?
Jenny: Yes, so we’re of course continuously working to improve and simplify the listing process on eBay. Especially in registration, quite a bit is still to come, but actually also in the listing flow itself, I’d say, meaning the listing process. And in general, of course, we also look at making sure that selling on eBay is safe for sellers, too. There are many things that are simply, let’s say, part of our DNA. For example, every seller has to go through a registration process on eBay, and of course we can assess whether a buyer is trustworthy or not. And that actually distinguishes us from other classifieds platforms, where there’s much more back and forth and so on. So, we look at the safety issue. We want to make selling as stress-free as possible, actually as stress-free as possible for our sellers, and yes, and now you can also earn even more money, and it will be more profitable.
David: Andreas and Jenny, thank you for giving us an overview of this exciting change for both private sellers, but especially for our commercial sellers on eBay. And I think we learned a lot about why it’s definitely important that we support private sellers and what positive effects that will have on our commercial sellers. So once again, thank you very much for your time and all the knowledge you shared with us. 00:13:59 Isabell: Yes, it was definitely super exciting to get an insight into our marketplace ecosystem, also from the perspective of private sellers. Jenny, as you know, there’s one last question. Of course, it can’t be missed today either: what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Jenny: I actually bought and sold Playmobil. The princess castle, to be exact.
Isabell: I’m guessing not for yourself.
Jenny: No.
Isabell: And Andreas, what about you?
Andreas: Lately, everything for me has revolved around skiing. My family and I are enthusiastic skiers. I also just sold something. In fact, I sold a few ski lessons, and I bought a back protector for my daughter.
David: Very nice! Then I hope the snow sticks around a little longer so you can go skiing again. And that brings us to the end of our eBay Podcast on the topic of free private sales on eBay.de. Once again, dear Jenny, dear Andreas, thank you so much for being here, and I hope we can invite you back again soon.
Jenny: Very happy to, thanks.
David: Thank you, dear listeners. We always appreciate your feedback. You help us keep improving eBay as a marketplace and our podcast. Feel free to write to us in the community about how this episode helped you or which new feature you’re especially looking forward to this year.
Isabell: We’d also be happy if you leave us a subscription or a like wherever you’re listening to us, if possible. Bye, and until next time!
David: Until next time!
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10 comments
rolfi_007
·1 year ago@trading-and-moreI cannot and do not want to judge whether the buyer in question is one of the bad apples. What was clear, however, was that situations like this would arise. When eBay indirectly banned me from making further sales back then on May 4, 2021 at 11:31 a.m. by forcing me to use the (new) payment processing system, I immediately stopped my selling activities (private seller). But fewer private sellers also means fewer serious customers for commercial sellers. I have repeatedly pointed out that situations like this will arise for both private and commercial sellers, regardless of whether they are justified or not. This also led to some incomprehension from other users, but I was right. eBay should remember what they really can do and what their responsibilities are. Playing judge is certainly not one of them.
trading-and-more
·1 year agoFirst of all, good morning!!
After 27 years on eBay, I now have to sum things up and ask a few questions and give a few explanations.
First of all, I thought the superbrains, the highly intelligent people like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, had passed away, but it seems there has been a reincarnation / rebirth of the same kind, as decision-makers at eBay.
It must be so, because the development, the commercial behavior of eBay cannot be understood by any ordinary mortal; you probably need an IQ of at least 200 to mathematically put this formula eBay=commercial vs private + eBay for private sellers against all commercial rules / in self-destruct mode in short (eBay +3456 squared x 4 :2 to the power of 14 squared x a -b-c = exitus) joking aside, now seriously and honestly.
First and foremost, the cardinal question:
Who pays eBay, who pays for everything on eBay?? Not the PRIVATE sellers and not the tens of thousands of PRIVATE COMMERCIAL sellers
Right, the commercial ones and advertising and listings that also have to be paid for.
Now a quick rundown of what it means to be active on eBay as a commercial seller.
Commission increases for commercial sellers, to 11% plus VAT, a fixed commission of €0.35, 11% commission on shipping costs, commissions on every euro paid by a buyer - so for international sales also a little surprise package, which taxes and customs duties and fees will be incurred in Papua New Guinea become commission-bearing, plus an additional international commission there, shop fees were increased (and paradoxically also demanded one month in advance - earlier everything (shop fees and commissions) was calculated and collected in the following month, i.e. about 5 weeks later, you are forced to take part in payment processing via eBay (no bank transfer possible for oldschool buyers, many purchase cancellations because of that)
without placing expensive ads, visibility restricted, the compulsion to add item specifics - mandatory - very, very labor-intensive, participation and registration in/with the packaging register, mandatory returns (also in case of false statements by the buyer, defect and/or does not match the description, then immediately the request to the seller to send a return label?? Buyer lies!! Seller pays shipping costs twice, anything but fair)
imprint requirement, provide tax numbers, business registration, provide terms and conditions, cancellation policy, and now as of 13/12/2024 comply with a new regulation that cannot be implemented, moreover every seller is exposed to a rating system that is anything but honest and fair, because a SELLER can only give positive feedback when they leave feedback?? Hello, what is that about?? If a buyer is bad, pays late and/or not at all, makes unfair demands, does not behave appropriately, you should practically be able, even have to, give a red dot, as a sport, so to speak, to inform other sellers visually and make it easier for them to decide whether to accept this buyer or not.
There are buyers on eBay who have had 100% positive feedback for years, but they have been gaming the eBay system in their favor for years; reports are confirmed by email, taken by phone and supposedly forwarded to the relevant department, but nothing happens. For these people, constant cheating and lying has already become a sport, a hobby to their advantage.
You have to look more closely at the feedback, and most importantly at the feedback the buyer left for others.
I will give a truly outrageous example here of something that happened to me, for which I wrote about 4 A4 pages to eBay, as well as reported it and called about 10 times.
There is a prime example of brazen cheek: he buys a watch from me that was listed as a project/repair item, sold several times on eBay for €140, from me for €80 with a price suggestion, the buyer in question submits a suggestion of €70, shipping DHL 120x60x60cm, he claims it is defective lol and eBay initiates a return, the further behavior would blow any time frame, just this much: I received a parcel back that was 60x50x60cm and also empty, it was opened on photos in the presence of the DHL delivery driver. And this guy is still active on eBay.
He allegedly had 40 x items not received, about 20 x empty shipments received, and about 40 x defective goods, which he documented with the feedback he gave to sellers, namely with negative feedback and the comments refund from eBay, or refund from the seller, so like with me he mostly got the goods for free.
A total of nearly 100 such claims, I have been on eBay for 27 years and until this return I had never once received an empty parcel, you?? probably the ratio is realistically 1 in 10,000, but with him 1 in 10, unbelievable that eBay does not sanction, block or take other measures to protect eBay and its users.
Here is an example item from that guy,
click it or search for it and take a calm look at the feedback he has left and then write briefly what you think.
I'm going to take a break for today, and I will definitely end eBay for good on 31/10/2024 and sell off all my tens of thousands of items for very little money
Until the next post and stay healthy
mmstore74
·1 year agoHello @podcast@ebay
By allowing free selling for private sellers, Ebay is hoping for more new listings, meaning more private sellers listing their items, thereby expanding the range and forcing the commercial seller to spend a lot on ads just to be seen at all and to gain visibility!!
Massive positive effect on commercial sellers ??
Then there will be even more private sellers on Ebay again, but where will private buyers buy then, if they can get item xy from a private seller for 30-50 euros cheaper than from a commercial seller? I think the answer to that question can be worked out for yourself.
As far as reports and pursuing fake private sellers are concerned, Ebay does absolutely nothing.
I would be interested to know where Ms. Jenny Schmaler bought her princess castle, whether from a private seller or a commercial seller, because why spend over 100 euros with a commercial seller if I could get the same used from a private seller for more than half that?
Best regards
selikum
·3 years agoApparently not as bad as you. Regards
rolfi_007
·3 years ago@selikumwhat’s up with you?
rolfi_007
·3 years ago@troedelhugo1I don't think the payment processing via ebay was introduced to report sales to the tax office, because that only came at the beginning of 2023. I rather think that ebay entered into unnecessary contracts with a payment service provider and can no longer get out of them now. But anyway, I'm not going along with this patronizing behavior either and I no longer offer anything on ebay. What's more, I keep my buying activity to a minimum. As soon as this unnecessary payment processing is rolled back, I'll get going again. As for the reporting to the tax office, that was not introduced by ebay, but by law, and the rules on the taxation of private sales haven't changed anyway. That leaves the question of whether all parties involved understand sales in the same way as taxable or non-taxable.
selikum
·3 years agoWhat are all these comments from supposedly private providers with several hundred or thousand offers and reviews.
troedelhugo1
·3 years agoThe payment processing through eBay really annoyed me and led to a long break from selling, until I then, because of too much clutter from an estate that had accumulated over decades, could neither renovate nor move into a smaller apartment. Now there’s also the report to the tax office, which, with the annual payment statement, belongs in the hands of the eBay seller setting it up and is a matter between the tax office and the "sellers"; therefore I would very much welcome it if eBay could free itself from the "legal situation" thanks to its in-house lawyers and selling on eBay could once again continue without the patronizing payment processing. I really no longer enjoy eBay, see it as patronizing, and will not agree to the new payment processing, where eBay may distribute my money to others; it’s a shame that it can come to this and that eBay is now not squandering the partly forced trust. Yes, there do seem to be legal constraints, but they surely should not really be enforced/shouldn't be enforced; then I’ll bow out and also find new, freer, self-determined ways to sell things I no longer need and that others will be happy about... Where there’s a will, there’s a way...for us sellers and for eBay 😉
22sep06
·3 years agoIf someone who has been employed at eBay for 15 years is supposed to be a true “old hand,” then what am I with almost 25 years of membership (!!!) and more than 20,000 transactions with my various accounts? ...
It’s absolutely essential to mention that private selling is by NO means completely free of charge. And fees don’t start only with “gallery views” or other nonsense, but already when selling outside Germany. It’s only free if you ship EXCLUSIVELY within Germany. From Bottrop to Reutlingen. From Hannover to Herzogenaurach. But if a buyer lives in France, Poland, or Italy, that’s where it starts. I think this is exactly the kind of thing you should make crystal clear in your opening wording - and not just mention in passing as extra info along with whatever design options for your individual auctions. Personally, I can’t see any sense in making the opening of auctions to international or European bidders an immediate fee-bearing feature.
If a buyer wants something decked out and embellished on their listings - okay. Then that can cost extra for all I care! Fair enough! It’s like with the kebab guy: extra feta, extra euros! But opening shipping beyond Germany’s borders as an immediate cost factor? ...Nah, come on! How ridiculous! I thought it was dumb ...
rolfi_007
·3 years agoI see it differently. The biggest hurdle for private online commerce is the requirement to have to use eBay for payment processing. Especially for pickup, that makes absolutely no sense. It is also rather counterproductive for low-price listings. In most C2C transactions, everything works out fine anyway. In the few cases where problems do arise, it should be possible for adults to reach an agreement, i.e. eBay is not needed here. Then there are, unfortunately, very rare cases in which an agreement is not possible. In Germany, jurisdiction lies with the courts, under no circumstances with eBay.
Conclusion: bring back payment processing through eBay. Then I will also start selling on eBay again, and buying there too.
Everyone makes a mistake sometimes. Then it is a sign of greatness to take responsibility and correct one's mistake.