eBay Makes Major Fee and Feedback Changes in New Spring Release

by: frustrated

Anybody remember John Delson?

How 'bout the other guy who wrote towards the end of 2007? (cannot remember his name, I was too busy actually making MONEY and SALES at the end of 2007 to read all that junk. Then we all *YIKES* got our wish and MEG was gone. GULP. We said anything would beat her??? Didn't we?)

EVERY word of both of those letters is coming true. Ming re-posted them recently.

They figure if we are still stupid enough to set up auctions (which are 98% won with one bid) then they will make us PAY.

Once we figure out that it's 1/2 the price if we just list it for straight sale, then auctions are dead. You may still see them for rare/really HOT items, but for regular items? NO.

Plus you get the price you asked for, not 20% of what you felt it was worth.

Just an opinion.

by: JustTheFacts

I am beginning to wonder if it is better for most of us to go to Amazon.  With the price increases and less exposure with every whim of ebay, we would even be better off doing Amazon fulfillment.

Amazon actually makes the people return the item BEFORE a refund is given.  They do not try and bully you into giving the item for FREE and giving a refund.

It is a FLAT fee, I do not think Amazon plays hide the pickle games for search results like ebay.  And you sell a LOT more with Amazon.

Now that is nto to say Amazon is a walk in the park because they too have many issues but they do not make constant changes like ebay.

I would like to hear what people that sell on Amazon have to say.

The biggest down fall I see on Amazon is their very loose return policy.  From my understanding, EVERYTHING is returnable even things that should not be.

by: JustTheFacts

Here is what I am thinking.

I keep my premium store for $60.  List only 1500 fixed price items.  No more auctions,  Then open up Amazon for $40 and list my 2000 plus items there and see where I make the most money.  I will give it 3 months and if I am selling more or even the same on Amazon than I am on ebay now, I close ebay store for good.

Now I only spend $100 a month plus FVF.

I think I will actually sell much more on Amazon.  I cannot imagine it being any more difficult to deal with Amazon customers as it is ebay customers and all of the ebay rules.

by: Ina

eBay said it would continue to run promotions, however...it did not promise that they would be free listing promotions.  

by: Truk

Best I can figure my fee's will increase by about $1150.00 per month
I have an ebay premium store still this is a huge increase for us
Not at all a good thing the rest of the changes really sound good but have no impact on us
For some ebay will be their final resting place for me it just we will stay on ebay as we are but will invest for our future growth elsewhere

by: Massachusets Howler

"Lowest Fees Ever"!
MH
I am digesting this.

by: Ming the Merciless

It's only sellers like Ina and David's audience here who have to worry about the constant ebafia changes necessitating semi annual and occasionally quarterly changes in business plans.

Diamonds pay NO listing fees and have double secret agreements with ebafia regarding PayPal fees. They likely have no listing ceiling. They probably don't have to pay store fees, but if they do, you can bet it's a lot less than what we pay.

They have their own dedicated TSAMs with private phone numbers. Ebafia pays little or no attention to their feedback or DSRs.

Then there's all the dirty, anti competitive, anti American seller double secret deals ebafia has made with the Communist Chinese.

So does anyone here with the exception of ebafia enablers really believe ANY change ebafia makes has much of an impact on Diamonds? And do the ebafia enablers and apologists here really believe that these changes actually benefit MOST non big box American sellers?

All ebafia changes are designed to squeeze more and more profitability from non Diamond sellers so that John Donahoe and his overpaid team can acquire more and more millions.

They're utterly despicable.

by: nsc

I just ran my March invoice against the new fee structure. My ebay take rate (not counting Paypal fees) rose from 6.75% to 8%, an 18% increase, assuming I can maintain the TRS discount.

by: nsc

Does anybody know how the yearly subscription business will work? Will they make you pay for the whole year up front?

by: Ming the Merciless

Sellers won't have to pay the annual subscription up front. It's month by month so there's undoubtedly a penalty fee if you close your store before the year is up.

This is an indication of how desperate ebafia is to compel sellers to stick to the site.

Instead of making it a more seller friendly site by actually making sellers more profitable and improving customer service, they scheme and manipulate to make themselves more profitable with truly rotten customer service if you're assigned to the Philippines call center.

So Ho.

by: elpereles

Guys get focus. Companies want to see you like wackos. Run yours business based on math not feelings.

My case. I don't have a store. I use only the promotions. So I will pay more because FVF is going to be 10%. If eBay stop the ''free'' promos or not even offer the penny promo. I will not sell stuff in there.

Less sale in eBay = Less money = less stuff to buy in eBay

by: Marie

elpereles

With the amount of free listings Ebay will be offering on a regular basis, I think you will see other listing promotions being far and few between.

Looking at the math as you suggest is a wonderful recommendation.  For a basic store at $19.95 per month, you are only paying 13 cents per listing for your first 150 each month.  That is a good value.

by: coindealz

You are all missing a serious fee increase for big ticket items. Currently if you sell a $2500 item with no discounts on ebay buy it now it is $93 under the new price plan that same item will cost $250. I think the severity of this increase is being underreported!

by: PowerSeller2007

Stupid ebay morons are at it again.
No text on pictures?   Professors from Universities and Bosses from work all demanded to see anotation on pictures, graph and charts.   This is best way to communication using still photos.

I am sure ebay is seeding poison to create chaos and ruin small American sellers business and life.

It would take many months to modify photos just to satisfy ebay's whims.  

If ebay force this to sellers, I am sure any judge would penalze ebay in a class action lawsuit.   Call teachers from grade schools, high schools and professor and deans from University as experts witnesses  They will ALL tell the judge ebay is BEING STUPID again.

by: PowerSeller2007

   Ebay's communication is always so ambiguous and reckless  Of course, they would run promotions again and again.  But we all know ebay communication is as good as trash. If ebay don't clarify what kind of promotions they will run in the future, free listing or not, why bother say it at all.
   This is similar recklessness on their constantly changing rules.    

by: allstarjd74

Maybe I'm missing something but this should effectively raise my fixed costs by 40% and my overall monthly fees (fixed + variable) from $450 to $570.

Current plan:
Premium Store $50/mo
2000 FP listings @ .05 = $100/mo
=$150/mo fixed costs

7.5% FVF on $4k sales = ~ $300/mo

New plan:
Premium Store $60/mo
500 listings free
1500 listings @.10/each = $150
= $210/mo fixed costs

9% on $4k sales = $360

by: Tula

@Ed Gadfly:
"'Now the way Ebay does it may not be to our tastes, but the goal is not invalid because of that.''

So the end justifies the means?   "

No, not at all. I don't like how Ebay operates, but that doesn't mean their goal of making money is a bad thing. The way they go about it may be, but the end result of making money is not something I can criticize, since that's why I'm in business, too. I'm just saying that a company wanting to make money for its shareholders is not a bad thing, in and of itself.

As far as these latest fee changes, I'm still absorbing them. I think I need to borrow some of Ming's dramamine to handle all this spin, since there seems to be quite a lot in this round of changes. At the very least, it's only reinforcing my decisions not to sell high-priced items on Ebay. I may take a look at opening a store, if the numbers look good, but there's a lot to consider. I want to do some comparisons with Amazon, too, before investing more effort into Ebay. The analyses being posted here are quite interesting. It's helpful to see all these different perspectives, since we all have different business models and these changes look to have widely varying effects on our businesses.

by: Anonymous Annie

Ina reminds us: ''eBay said it would continue to run promotions, however...it did not promise that they would be free listing promotions.''

Wait, wait... don't tell me! Let me guess.

Is it...''FREE SUBTITLES''?

OMG! Yesss! That's it, isn't it?! --- Free subtitles!! Oh, JOY!

by: Filadelfos

The new FVF structure encourages lower priced items over higher priced items.  When playing with their new calculator I have determined the following:

Lower priced = more savings under new plan, higher priced = higher fee...

No Store:  Break-even is $75 item.  

Basic Store:  Break-even is $90 item.

Premium Store:  Break-even is $85 item.

Anchor Store:  Break-even is $84.50 item.

These figures represent stores without the 20% discount.  When re-calculated with the discount, it increases the break-even price an average of $3... big deal.

These calculations also assume that the sale is made through one of your 'free' listings.

I find 2 things about this curious:

1.  Why is eBay encouraging the site to be flooded with lower priced items?

2.  Why does the break-even price decrease as you go up in store size?!

Bill

Here is a link to the calculator, in case you are having trouble finding it:  

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/Feecalculat
or.html#

by: quirkyantiques

@paperboy
There is no emotion involved here. I sold a $1500 pair of sconces in my Ebay store last month. My FVF was around $72 with a basic store, After the update that would have been $150-over 100% more in *fees*
Last year I took $100,000 on Ruby Lane-my ENTIRE fees for the year were $1600....So will I be taking the ping pong ball I play with on Ebay and just relying on the basketball I have on Ruby Lane? You bet I will. I get get a 10% deal at my local auction house-with no work and no Paypal scammers. It is no longer viable or tenable to sell on Ebay any more. The *emotion* you refer to is the anger at the Ebay spin which, as usual, hides massive increases behind the guise of *cheaper fees!*.