New Ebay Fee Structure

[Peckris]

Well yes - that's essentially bankruptcy. If that's what was meant, I'd have understood straight away.

No its ceasing trading.

You can't trade and cease trading all at the same time.

Technically you cease trading and go into voluntary liquidation. There used to be a very good company north of the river who could arrange this for you, if you'd pissed it all up against a wall.

Peter, umbrellas (aka managed service companies (these days)) are not the answer for IT contractors. You will fall under the IR35 regs whether or not you plan on being there for two years or less). You need to buy an off the shelf ltd company, with two shares issued (£30 + £2). Register for VAT and flat rate vat and run your own payee scheme and file to do company tax returns all via your Government Accoiunt. This will take you no more than 30 minutes online. Pay yourself £968 per month and take dividends for yourself and company secretary. Run a spread sheet to keep a track of incoming and out goings and pay your NI, payee and act each month using the HMRC website. You dont need an acct. You are doing all the work anyway so why give it to a firm of accounts for doing nothing. Don't feed the beast. Aardhawk, IBM mainframe contract AP (retd) for the last 30 years.

I had an accountant even before IR35 came in - I never regretted it, and I'd have needed one even more in the IR35 world. I just thank my lucky stars that most of my contracting was done in the pre-IR35 days so being a one man limited company was more of a 'nice little earner' back then, when you could pay yourself very little, and most of what you declared was dividend.

[AardHawk]

I had an accountant even before IR35 came in

He must have loved you!!!!

[Peckris]

I had an accountant even before IR35 came in

He must have loved you!!!!

Well, it was kind of a corporate arrangement - the agency sorted out an accountancy firm who specialised in computer contractor limited companies, and there were supporting videos on how to do invoices and the ins and outs of the tax law etc, so it was all fixed-fee stuff where we did some of the work ourselves.

[Peter]

I did have my Ltd company for 4 years on flat rate VAT.

My accountant was superb and gave me great back up.(james smith)...cracking bloke.

I've got all my spreadsheets (via my accountant).

VAT basically paid his fees.(flat rate)

The company I will be freelancing for have said they would prefer permanent.

I'm not chasing the £ so much now and maybe a nice car /pension/health insurance will see me through.

A company (unnamed) who I recently worked for (2 years) have gone into admin.

I had to chase my fees for the latter 6 months...maybe perm is the way forward again.

[Peckris]

I did have my Ltd company for 4 years on flat rate VAT.

My accountant was superb and gave me great back up.(james smith)...cracking bloke.

I've got all my spreadsheets (via my accountant).

VAT basically paid his fees.(flat rate)

The company I will be freelancing for have said they would prefer permanent.

I'm not chasing the £ so much now and maybe a nice car /pension/health insurance will see me through.

A company (unnamed) who I recently worked for (2 years) have gone into admin.

I had to chase my fees for the latter 6 months...maybe perm is the way forward again.

Interesting - my accountancy firm was JSA : James Smith Accountancy? Probably not, but coincidence of initials. (Actually, I think mine was JOHN Smith?)

I never had a problem with VAT except to 0-rate anything I bought specifically for the company - which as a computer consultant, isn't much!

If the company you're freelancing for have said they prefer permanent, you can ignore that to some extent as they wouldn't hire a freelance if they didn't need that extra body. Once you're there and proving your worth to them (at much better rates than the permanents get ), you could test the air, and if it looks like they might just do away with freelancers in the future, you could ask about a permanent position... but negotiate the best you can!!

[AardHawk]

I never had a problem with VAT except to 0-rate anything I bought specifically for the company - which as a computer consultant, isn't much!

I suppose it depends on your rate!

As for agents saying the client really wants permanent people. Well that just their way of pushing down your cut. Dont ever go back being permanent. It doesnt work. Trust me on this!

Just as an aside, I had a call the other day from a lady from the sub continent inquiring if I would be interested if a gig in Glasgow. Apparently the client really wanted a permie so the rate would be £40k pa for a two year fixed contract. Seeing as how I am only one of about a dozen grunts in the UK with the skill set, I said I thought that £800 per day would be more like it. The phone went dead. Whats that all about? Anyway, I didnt want to be stuck in Glasgow when the border went up!

[bagerap]

From Martin Lewis, moneysavingexpert.com

Seller fees are hiked this week - list now to beat the higher charges

Unfortunately eBay's about to increase the fees it charges sellers, particularly for premium listings which include sales-boosting bells and whistles like bigger pictures and subtitles. Yet list items now and you'll only be charged the old fees.

Increase in premium listing charges

The first of two price hikes comes in on Thu 14 Aug. It'll substantially increase the cost of premium listings, which include optional upgrades such as 'gallery plus' (which improves the size and quality of pics), subtitles, a listing designer and a 'buy it now' option for auction sales.

For auctions and 3-10 day 'buy it now' listings, the price of 'gallery plus' will increase from 95p to £2.50, adding a subtitle from 35p to £1 and the listing designer from 7p to 30p.

The cost of adding 'buy it now' to an auction is currently tiered according to the price set. For items between 99p and £4.99 it's 10p, for £5 to £14.99 it's 20p, for £15 to £24.99 it's 30p and anything £25 or more is 50p. This'll become a flat rate fee of 50p, regardless of listing price.

The fee for setting a reserve price for an auction will rise from 3.5% to 4% of the sale price.

For 30-day 'buy it now' listings, the cost of the listing designer will increase from 21p to 30p. However the 'gallery plus' fee will drop from £2.85 to £2.50 and adding a subtitle will cost £1, down from £1.05.

Final value fee cap to increase to £250

The second price change comes in on Mon 1 Sept - it affects the final value fee paid on both basic and premium listings and will mean a big hike for higher value items.

The cap on the final value fee (the 10% cut you give eBay of the final sale price, including p&p) will rise from £75 to £250. So anyone selling an item worth more than £750 will pay a lot more.

[Peckris]

Brilliant. So eBay are positioning themselves even more as the "home for dross", as anything of quality will be too expensive to sell after fees.

[Gary1000]

Brilliant. So eBay are positioning themselves even more as the "home for dross", as anything of quality will be too expensive to sell after fees.

And we are to get the wonderful Global Shipping Program.

[bagerap]

It seems that you can opt out of the Global Shipping Program, but ebay will probably have a way of turning you into a 2nd tier seller if you do.

[Peckris]

It seems that you can opt out of the Global Shipping Program, but ebay will probably have a way of turning you into a 2nd tier seller if you do.

aka "British".

[bagerap]

Ain't that the truth!

[azda]

From Martin Lewis,

The cap on the final value fee (the 10% cut you give eBay of the final sale price, including p&p) will rise from £75 to £250. So anyone selling an item worth more than £750 will pay a lot more.

Ha, well this basically tells me that ebay is losing custom hand over fist and are making those that are left pay for those who have left. These price hikes will only be another nail in their coffin. Lets be honest here, who the hell is gonna pay or will want to pay a quarter of a coins value just in fees? £250 fee for a £750 coin, sorry but its never going to happen, dealers will be pulling out of there in quick Fashion just shortly. Edited August 13, 2014 by azda

[bagerap]

I've just looked through my payments received from Paypal since 2010. Works out to just over 1,000. That's 1000+ email addresses of coin buyers. Take out 30-35% for repeat customers, that's still around 650 potential buyers.

Now I'm a lazy bugger, but once I've worked out an easy way to harvest the addresses from Outlook, I can feel some bulk mailings about to happen.

[Rob]

Ebay still gives a limited number of free listings per month, so you can always find 20 pieces of rubbish to stick on. You don't have to bust a gut selling quality for OTT amounts as the margins are much better for items of negligible value. Just don't expect to make too much money.

[azda]

Just don't expect to make too much money.[/quote

Any money

[numismatist]

Ebay / Paypal ( real name mafia ) needs a good alternative, as bleeding sellers dry.

Latest user agreement appears to say, if you dont give a long money back guarantee

with a full postage refund, Ebay can ( and will ) let the buyer keep the item for free and

Ebay will then take the full money from your Paypal Account

Then the new Paypal agreement is a SIX MONTHS money back guarantee, so anyone

can claim " Item not received or not as described " for up to six months. How can you

prove delivery even with items sent Special Delivery after six months because Royal

Mail wont have the details and in any case wont allow a claim after that time .

[Gary1000]

The only way it will change is if people stop using ebay in big numbers. The average man in the street who only sell the odd bits and peices will be happy just to shilft it for a small return, better than throwing it away. It's the traders that can really hurt ebay if they start leaving in droves.

[Nick]

I haven't used eBay in months. I used to spend at least a £1000 each year, but eBay's wilful refusal to do anything about fakes etc means that I save my money to spend with the more responsible auction houses instead.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Nick

[Peckris]

I think we're probably forgetting that eBay is a market for generally low-value (or low-cost) items under many headings, so many traders won't really be affected very much. What we need is a coins-only alternative to eBay where the hobby is understood and the minority of high-value sellers are treated as fairly as everyone else.

[azda]

I think we're probably forgetting that eBay is a market for generally low-value (or low-cost) items under many headings, so many traders won't really be affected very much. What we need is a coins-only alternative to eBay where the hobby is understood and the minority of high-value sellers are treated as fairly as everyone else.

Low cost/low value, surely you mean fakes Peck

[azda]

Personally now i'll never sell Amy coins on there anymore. If i sell anything it will be an odd here and there item. I really really hope that this next round of price increases Coupled with this paypal BS of 6 month return of items will Drive reputable sellers away from ebay for good

[Peter]

It is a shame.

I have over 1000 positives on my buying account and 300+ on my selling account.

I'm sure I will still use it.

ebay isn't just for coins and I have bought Hi Fi camera's etc

little things like batteries which get posted you can't beat ebay.

I've had very few problems.Every thing over £15 goes recorded and over £50 special delivery.

I've had chancers and just blocked them.

Many pro and cons

[PWA 1967]

As someone who used to buy frequently on ebay the whole bidding scenario has now become a joke.Its either a bin or i cant be bothered with all the hassle anymore.Shill bidding everyone up just annoys me and wastes everyones time .

[azda]

They've gave the buyers far to much power and seem to have forgotten who it is exactly that pays their wags (the sellers)

As i said above, i hope the next rounds price increases Pisses enough sellers off that if they leave, they'll leave in enough droves that will hurt ebay financially just like they're doing to reputable sellers

Edited August 15, 2014 by azda