Personally, I haven’t made any new listings since it was implemented. I’ve let all my ads expire for the last two weeks for the latest one online. I’ve been under the 50 limit for about 2 months now, and it’s still not possible to list a new one without paying €3.99 or subscribing to a plan that is absolutely not profitable for me. As they told me in the rather unclear message I posted earlier, I think the 50 count is for eternity… So, goodbye from me too. We should find a site that is willing to take our commissions, if not them ^^
hello - So the 50-ad rule is just for pros. As a private individual, I have hundreds and no information about this.
Yes, but until when?
If you exceed a certain number of sales or an annual amount, they will force your hand to switch to pro or delete your account. It also depends on what you sell, but you could be reported by a « competitor »…
The question that remains unanswered is the number 50 (and not 25 or 100…), given that we already paid for the service through the commission we give them on each sale for years, and especially the reset of this counter to 0.
Even if, according to the answer I received and published, I don’t think it ever resets to 0, but with such unclear answers, it’s hard to say…
If I’m asked to go pro, I’ll simply close my account. I do house clear-outs and I feel I’ve already paid enough when buying (VAT), and when transmitting during successions (the state taxes heavily).
I don’t understand the purpose of this move. It risks driving away many individuals. Perhaps they want to get rid of it in favor of professionals??
In the business, we call that « doing a Rakuten » 
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Personally, as a professional seller, I used to pay a tax (might as well speak in the past tense…) at the time of purchase, when selling with the Leboncoin fees on the seller’s side (knowing that the buyer also pays them), and then at the URSSAF declaration, so I don’t see how adding a €3.99 listing fee per ad on ads selling for €7/10 doesn’t mean: « please stop your activity, we don’t want you anymore, » even for a professional ^^
The only difference with Rakuten in the past is that Leboncoin remains in a near-monopoly situation in its niche and does pretty much what it wants, so the day it asks you to go pro, if you want to stay, you don’t have much choice… (other than leaving indeed).
We would need to know the details of Le Bon Coin’s revenue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of their revenue from listings (I’m specifying this because of the ads which must also bring them money) comes from real estate and car listings.
LeBonCoin is the leading generalist private-to-private sales site in France, a leader in the real estate and automotive markets, and a key player in employment and vacation rentals. The platform has over 58 million listings at any given time (28 million before the first lockdown), across 75 categories. Nearly 800,000 new listings are posted every day. With an average of nearly 28.8 million unique monthly visitors, LeBonCoin is the top French e-commerce site and the second most visited e-commerce site in France. In 2022, nearly 20 million French people bought and/or sold at least one item on LeBonCoin. The site counts 500,000 professionals and 15% of French companies use it.
Originally, Le Bon Coin’s business was classified ads between individuals; it killed the newspapers we used to receive in our mailboxes. It still is. If you want to buy a used item nearby, like a stove or an air conditioner, it’s on Le Bon Coin.
Besides that, it has established itself in the real estate and automotive markets: professionals in these sectors are now forced to go through it, so now that it has a monopoly, it charges for its services. In any case, these professionals have no choice but to accept Le Bon Coin’s new pricing conditions, since it is their only marketplace.
Now, this new pricing structure eliminates small professional sellers in other areas, but Le Bon Coin doesn’t care; it wasn’t bringing them any revenue.
Other platforms do the same. For example, it is said that in some countries, Amazon offered free shipping for cultural products until it killed local bookstores, and once it had a monopoly, it started charging for shipping again and raised its prices.
Yes, but I’ve already read all that and it doesn’t answer my question. I’m talking about specifics, basically the dough how much does it bring in and, above all, what is the breakdown of revenue. It’s like in many areas, indicators like the number of visitors can be interpreted however you want.
AI announces these figures…
It is mainly Real Estate Agencies, car dealerships, and travel/holiday comparison sites that would be the most profitable sectors.
Leboncoin benefits from a powerful network effect:
- Individuals post for free, which fuels a very abundant supply;
- this audience attracts buyers;
- professionals pay to access this audience;
- some individuals pay to speed up the sale of their goods.
It is this virtuous cycle that explains why the monetization of professionals remains, by far, the main economic driver of the platform, while revenues from transactions are growing rapidly with the development of secure payments.
The Norwegians do not seem willing to reveal the details of the financial reports. This is only speculation.
Thanks
Intuitively, this is what I expected.
So the changes are rather « logical » on their side and clearly show that the concepts of sales between individuals are good for launching a platform, but that they also represent a significant glass ceiling once the platform has taken off, and that the shift towards something more professional is a development necessity. Which we had already seen with eBay or Price Minister/Rakuten.
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The principle is that the platform acquires a dominant position by investing, and once it has acquired it, it makes a profit by increasing your prices.
Le Bon Coin is essential in real estate, automotive, employment, and rentals. Now that this is done, they can squeeze the professional sellers in these categories; they will be forced to pay up, as there is no alternative for them.
Incidentally, those of us who cannot afford to keep up with the bidding war will be out. But it is possible that one day Le Bon Coin will refine its conditions according to categories and make us a suitable offer then.
We are being Uberized.
In the beginning, Uber offered very attractive conditions to encourage people to become drivers, and once they were well established, it makes cash by exploiting the drivers as much as possible, who are trapped: they have no rights, no protection, and they have to repay their car.
We are facing the same thing: we are dependent on Vinted, which has acquired a monopolistic position in second-hand clothing. If they want to make a profit, they can tax professionals, who will have no choice but to pay or stop.
Mohamed, 50, a driver since 2019, is one of the plaintiffs. He describes a system from which he has been a « prisoner » for years. « I can’t get out of it because when you earn little, you get into debt. It’s a vicious cycle, you’re always running after payments and you work more, » he regrets. The man cites his earnings last week as an example: 640 euros for 47 hours and 6 minutes of connection time. A sum from which the cost of insurance, gasoline, taxes, URSSAF… must be deducted. « We have no control over anything, we are completely at the mercy of the platform. Initially, they sold us great conditions to recruit us, and now that they have enough drivers, they do what they want with us. It’s a new form of slavery, » denounces the driver, who was previously an ambulance driver, delivery driver, and photographer.
https://www.liberation.fr/societe/on-peut-se-poser-legitimement-la-question-de-lesclavage-cinq-chauffeurs-vtc-deposent-plainte-pour-traite-detres-humains-contre-uber-20260701_B7ZPVC7KGZAW3O5KBPQQQ6HYMY/?poppConnect=true&redirected=3160
That’s one of the reasons why you should never rest on your laurels and diversify your business as much as possible, or even look to other horizons.
As soon as you use only one structure for yours, you are not only dependent on it but you also take the risk of everything collapsing.
It’s exactly the same for Uber drivers.
They bet everything on an American platform, which, like the others, has no scruples, nor even humanity. Only money matters.
After that, it’s up to everyone not to fall into this individualistic mold, and sometimes to train… Everyone forgets one thing:
On the other hand, if there are tools provided like on eBay and a minimum of protection (already only blocking after verification and normal visibility), I am willing to pay a subscription without any worries since as soon as Vinted leaves me alone, I sell very well. On eBay, paying a subscription and commissions does not pose any problems for me; it is profitable in the end. On LBC, I am very skeptical about what I do.
and it’s the same with suppliers. I have a recent example where I feel like a lot of competitors are suffering because the deliveries have been very poor lately
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You need to call them, they make you believe it’s a bug!!! (if you are indeed within the limit of 50 « annual » ads)
When I dealt with an advisor to get the terms of the new operating procedure, and in particular the date for resetting the counter for these 50 ads, they were unable to give it to me: monthly, annual, bi-millennial? I think even they are flying by the seat of their pants and adjusting according to the wind…
But if you saw the information somewhere, I’d love a screenshot!