Money Saving Expert urges eBay sellers to act ahead of fee hike next month

eBay sellers have been issued a warning in the wake of fee increases next month.

Consumer champion site MoneySavingExpert (MSE) warned that the popular second-hand selling website will rack up its sales fees from April 8. The company confirmed it will push the current 12.8 per cent fee to 13.22 per cent - with an additional 30p to boot.

According to eBay, the fee hike is being introduced because of "rising regulatory operating costs". MSE's team said people who sell an item for £20 with £5 postage will need to pay £3.60 in fees - this is up from the £3.50 they currently pay with that example.

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In order to manouvre around the changes, sellers are being urged to sell everything they can before the changes are brought into effect. It's important to note that if an item is placed on sale before April 8, but doesn't get sold until after the deadline passes, it will be subjected to the new fees.

Writing on X, formerly twitter, MSE said: "More fee hikes - this time it's eBay. From Monday 8 April, selling charges go up, so sell what you can sooner to beat it. After the hike, if you flog an item for £20 with £5 postage, you'll pay £3.60 in fees instead of £3.50 now."

Seller on eBay can list up to 1,000 items free of charge each month. However, once they pass this limit, they have to pay a 35p listing charge for each item.

While the final value fee will be 13.22 per cent plus postage from April, the final seller fee will be reduced alongside it to 3 per cent - but only if the sale for a single item is over £5,000. Typically, eBay deducts fees automatically from a person's sales before a payment is received.

Therefore, most sellers only get the