Is anyone going to defer their fees?

[musicyouneed]

I got an email that I could defer my fees and am considering it.  I am not someone who sells a lot but when you add in the store fee then it is over what I am selling.  What you you doing?  Are you considering deferring your fees?

[ricarmic]

This is all my opinion so one will have to keep/forget what they like.

Defer to me simply means to push the problem until later.

As I understand it the deferral means that 50% of this month is added to next month and the other 50% is added to the month after that.

It would make sense to defer in the scenario where one assumes things are back to normal and one can moreso afford to pay the additional (deferred) then.

Based on what I see, with the "flatten the curve" scenario, if we manage to achieve that, which is good, it means the duration is longer but less severe.

What does this mean for us sellers?

Does it mean in a month things will be much better and we can better afford the delayed costs? (I am not sure about this).

Does it mean in 2 months things will be much better and we can better afford the delayed costs? (I am more hopeful about this).

I'm fortunate because for a number of reasons I've built up a business operating principle that I have enough reserves to survive a while with no sales (remember I take a month off each summer in a normal year) and enough to survive the "largest" sale being returned. I've been selling for 42 years now so I've accomplished this over time. If I was just starting, or had started a couple years ago, that very likely wouldn't be possible and the severity of the deferral decision making would be a lot more critical. (so for the patient readers my answer is "no" I won't be deferring)

I think it is important to reflect on what you believe most likely to happen for you in the future sales wise and balance that risk against the pay now or later approach. The answer will be different for each of us and is going to be really really hard to accurately predict given the current rate of change around us.

[silverpinups]

I won't be deferring my fees. There is no sense prolonging the inevitable. I'm starting to get offers again, no sales yet but once people settle down with this new pandemic reality things should somewhat stabilize as the weeks go on. 

Sales, Ecommerce and the Stock Market will recover, but the one thing I will say is, what we once took for granted is now gone... There is definitely going to be a shift in human behavior going forward. 

[mcrlmn]

If you have the money, pay your bill.
The fees will not go away regardless of your sales being lower than your eBay fees.

If your personal finances don't permit, then defer or close your account.
Unlike Hydro, banks, credit card vendors, etc, it doesn't appear the arrears accrue interest.

[femmefan1946]

No.

As others have said, it is just deferring the inevitable.

If your sales are at least covering your expenses, keeping out of debt is always a good idea.

If they are not, it's time to reconsider whether the expenses are worthwhile.

This may mean ending a Store subscription.

Or cutting back to only X listings a month.

Or if you have reached your "free" maximum for listings, adding the same number, still "free", on dotCOM.

Or moving from tracked parcel service to untracked letter rates, with Cookie Jar Insurance as your seller protection against unwarranted INRs.

[needsmorerobots]

No. I won't be deferring mine. It's only pushing it aside for a time. If you have the fees, think about paying your bill now instead of putting it off.

If you aren't making enough to cover your bill, then perhaps you should reconsider some options. scale back on a few things, or try a different approach in selling on Ebay.

[recped]

I won't be deferring my eBay fees because they are relatively small.

I will be deferring (for a few weeks) my property tax bill (60 days given by Toronto) because I had some  unusual expenses in March and shut down for most of February (not related to COVID-19) and I'm a little tight for cash. I could shift things around a bit and pay as usual but I'll take advantage of that deferment to make things a bit easier.

Surprisingly I've had some good sales this week so it looks like things will work out fine cash flow wise.

[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

No. Budget, budget, budget. 2 of our 3 stores are closed. Subscriptions cancelled. <--- cost saving measure. Do the Math.

Though @femmefan1946 re switching to Cookie Jar Insurance: ATM there is some parcel mayhem being reported. This is one area where switching to insured and tracked may take precedence, then switching to Cookie Jar when things settle down?

[Again, do the math re Cookie Jar, if you don't get a lot of unwarranted INRs and don't sell high priced items it is typically the more cost effective measure all around.]

Also anyone on eBay running a business that made over $5,000 in the last year and is seeing a 30% decrease will likely qualify for the Feds CERB. An option for those who may be in need of some assistance.

[mrdutch1001]

Be aware that there are potential issues with this deferral thing. I am not a store owner here on eBay but the DotCOM boards are a-buzz with discontent from some sellers who opted for the deferral plan and were unpleasantly surprised to see eBay took way more/ALL of invoice amount.

Apparently the payment action depends on billing cycle and date application is approved.

For any store sellers who are even considering using the deferral program may want to check further and dig deep into this deferral program before deciding to proceed.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@mrdutch1001 @musicyouneed 

tyler@ebay 

Is it possible to reverse the deferral of fees if someone wanted to change their mind after applying? There does not appear to be any notes on this in the link details clarifying if this is a possibility.

-Lotz

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies - no, that's not something that would be possible as far as I'm aware. 

One could, in theory, make one time payments in the amount of the deferred invoice, which would zero things out and prevent the deferral from having an impact. 

Thanks!

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

tyler@ebay 

Thanks. Just an FYI for anyone whose situation may have changed after accepting.

-Lotz

[rosscd57]

It's fairly simple:

If you have eBay fees then you have enough money in your PayPal account to pay them.

Just don't remove that amount from your PayPal account.

[brettjet38]

...no, I will go month by month and see how all this plays out.

But, I do understand those think the whole "deferred" thing is the wrong approach...

in the meantime, I send you all ...

and as for the rest of you outside...

[katlover1952]

I see no point in deferring the fees. I am going to try to continue to sell & hopefully get enough sales to pay my store fees. Have sold a few items the last 2 weeks. Just hoping deliveries don’t start to go sideways as I mostly use non tracked small packet which for the most part has been pretty good.