Ebay sticking their mitts into sellers pockets again

iggyman · #1 01-28-2010, 09:08 AM

Am I living in some sort of bizzaro world??? Is this the sorry state of current U.S. journalism?

From the Wall Street Journal:

"EBay To Cut Listing Fees In Bid To Lure Sellers"
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...atestheadlines

My favorite quote in the article: "The new fee structure appeared to be designed to appease the site's smaller sellers, who have grown increasingly frustrated by changes the company has made to attract larger retailers and merchants."

From Forbes.com

"It's Cheaper To Sell on eBay"
http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/26/eba...ties-fees.html

Favorite quote: �Free--and practically free--is great news for anyone wanting to earn extra cash or build a business on eBay ( EBAY - news - people ),� said Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay Marketplaces.

From CNN Money...
EBay shakeup brings $0 listing fee
http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/27/smal...y_fee_changes/

Favorite by far: "For example, a $200 electronics sale with a 99-cent starting price would currently rack up fees of $8.47. Under the new model, fees would rise to $18. But if the item didn't sell, eBay would collect nothing."

Not even Hugo Chavez could have spinned it so well. Great job by these writers!

-Lovely Day...

D. Bergin · #2 01-28-2010, 09:30 AM

Maybe they're just preparing us for the day when Ebay starts to charge us Final Value Fees on items that DON'T sell.

...........or the fact we should list a $200 item for 99 cents and cheer for ourselves when it goes unsold and we don't get charged any fees. I don't know.

Rich Klein · #3 01-28-2010, 09:50 AM

Sounds like good advertising for Leon and Matt's nibble at EBay. Don't be suprised if there are not more attacks at EBay by nibbles in other collectible and non-collectible fields.

Rich

egbeachley · #4 01-28-2010, 10:51 AM

Every one of those articles mentions the no listing fee if the starting price is under $1.00. So if you have a bunch of poor T206's or whatever that you expect to sell for around $10, it's good.

If you expect it to go over $30, then just start the listing at $1.00.

iggyman · #5 01-28-2010, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by egbeachley

Every one of those articles mentions the no listing fee if the starting price is under $1.00. So if you have a bunch of poor T206's or whatever that you expect to sell for around $10, it's good.

If you expect it to go over $30, then just start the listing at $1.00.

I have to disagree completely. That is NOT going to help you! You will incurr an additional expense with an insertion fee plus the same 9% FVF with the $10 start price. If your item sells for under $26.50 your fees are a little better. That part is fact. Starting something at $10 will not help you with the fees.

Lovely Day...

steve B · #6 01-28-2010, 11:32 AM

Yep, the new auction venue should get some decent action.

There's also bidstart.com, an offshoot of stampwants.com which has taken a decent bite out of ebay in the stamps category and is now branching out to other collectibles.

Steve

D. Bergin · #7 01-28-2010, 11:37 AM

I start almost all my items at $9.95 and it has always worked for me and I have a very good sell through rate. The whole starting something under a buck and hoping I get 6 bids just to push it up to $9.95 to save 35 cents in listing fees seems pretty self defeating and risky to me.

Either way, 9% is 9%.

I suppose I can purchase a store which I've never had a need for because I already have a website that doesn't charge me a separate fee every month for every single item I have in it.

That will probably save some money, but I will have to pay the store fee every month despite not using it, and the rates are still higher then they are right now..........and right now, the rates are much higher then they were just a year ago.

These aren't cost of living increases. They are taking a percentage of our sales which should not be influenced by cost of living, inflation or anything else.

These constant bumps in percentages while touting "well we haven't raised your rates in a year" is ridiculous. This isn't the Post Office. A constant raising of percentage fees indicates someday hypothetically they will be taking 100% of all you sell and then charging you for insertion rates and demanding you ship everything for free..............and pay to insure everything out of your own pocket.

Of course I've gone to the extreme but that's the logic.

I also don't understand this fascination with lowering your up front costs while raising final value fees. I keep running across people who love this. "It keeps my listing costs down in case my item doesn't sell".

That's ridiculous! I actually prefer to sell my stuff and don't understand constantly getting penalized for doing so.

My rant for today I guess.

Just a little discouraged at all of this.

tinkereversandme · #8 01-28-2010, 12:14 PM

Whenever eBay makes an annoucement of any sort, it usually means one thing, that the sellers will get screwed over. It doesn't effect me as I don't sell, but I know many who do. They always try and spin it like they are saving the consumer, but nothing ever goes down anymore. I bought ice cream the other day and noticed that the price is the same, but you don't get as much. Everyone openly complains but the truth of the matter is that we will always find a way to use the site after the initial shock leaves. Donohoe (is that the new CEO?) has done nothing but bad and it's just a matter of time before they start pricing out the sellers and begin going after the buyers...maye 3% at first, then 5% and so on.

Regards,
Larry

egbeachley · #9 01-28-2010, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iggyman

I have to disagree completely. That is NOT going to help you! You will incurr an additional expense with an insertion fee plus the same 9% FVF with the $10 start price. If your item sells for under $26.50 your fees are a little better. That part is fact. Starting something at $10 will not help you with the fees.

Lovely Day...

If you don't qualify for the free listing, the FVF is NOT 9%, it's the regular 8.75% then 3.00% over $25.

iggyman · #10 01-28-2010, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by egbeachley

If you don't qualify for the free listing, the FVF is NOT 9%, it's the regular 8.75% then 3.00% over $25.

I'm sorry but you are wrong. It's 9% across the board with a $50 cap. Only store sellers get a little bit of a discount and it is not so great for them either. Store sellers will have insertion fees, no cap, and of course the monthly store fees.

Lovely Day...

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