As eBay announced major fee and policy changes to its eBay.com site on Tuesday, it also made changes to international sites, including the UK and Australia. In the UK, eBay lowered insertion fees and raised Final Value Fees but left Store (Shop) fees the same. It will also apparently continue to charge sellers for the optional Gallery photo feature (http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200801291505072.html).
In the UK - unlike the U.S. - eBay is introducing a volume discount plan for auction and fixed-price sales (http://web.ebay.co.uk/businesshub/index.php?page=price_changes_uk_discounts). All sellers who are registered as a business on eBay and sell on average a minimum of 750 pounds or 100 items per month for three consecutive months, and maintain a Detailed Seller Rating of 4.6, will automatically receive a 20 percent discount on Final Value Fees (FVF). Sellers enrolled in eBay's PowerSeller program who meet the same performance requirements will receive FVF discounts of between 20 and 40 percent. UK sellers reacted on the Tamebay blog (http://www.tamebay.com/2008/01/ebay-announce-uk-fee-changes.html).
eBay UK also told sellers they would no longer be allowed to add VAT (value added tax) charges to an item after a sale. Sellers who are VAT registered, must display prices inclusive of VAT. Currently, eBay UK leaves it to sellers to decide whether they include VAT in the selling price or add it after the sale at the checkout. The policy goes into effect on February 20, 2008 (http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200801301815062.html).
In Australia, the only announcement posted on the board was one regarding changes to feedback, similar to changes coming to the US and UK (http://www2.ebay.com/aw/au/200801300918252.html).
eBay made changes on other international sites, see those sites for details.
