The End of High-Volume, Low-Cost Sellers on eBay?

by: That Guy

I never understood folks that list things such as '$1.00 postcards'. Why would you go through all the hassle of photographing, listing & shipping an item just to make a profit of $.15?

by: Ric

I highly doubt that eBay cares about the loss of high-volume, low cost sellers who will see their business decimated due to the lack of a reasonable and affordable payment/fee schedule under mangled payments.

eBay wants 1125% of the money they get their hands on which is why they came up with the mangled payments scheme after PayPal was spun off to appease Wall Street.

by: Silver Ice King

I asked Ebay about Micropayments many times in the past and they always responded with crickets, which to me said they wanted nothing to do with it.  But they seem to be making a major push to increase their trading card sales and Sellers but fail to realize that many of the cards sell for under $12 and that is the breakeven point between the regular rates and Micropayments.  This has been discussed many times in some of the trading card groups I am in on Facebook and most have just started to look for new sites to sell on, including a new one called Harpoon.  Not sure how this is all going to finally work out, but if Ebay once again ignores what the Sellers want or need, once again their site will take another loss of sales and Sellers who also have higher end items that they sell also but dont't want to have to deal with 2 different sites to do so.

by: Snapped

“”We will continually monitor feedback as we strive to best meet seller needs."”

Uh huh. eBay has recently made it abundantly clear how they feel about ‘feedback’, it’s import, and the nature of it’s veracity.

They have received plenty of it about this particular subject since they begat their MP abomination too. Accordingly, they’ve ignored it.

It’s not rocket science. It’s a simple matter of setting some automatic limits on fee percentages when payments are below a given threshold. eBay has plenty of experience manipulating numbers and inserting their fat algorithmic fingers into everything else so this should be a piece of cake, albeit a smaller slice, which is most likely the real hold up.

Then again, OP should count their blessings. eBay not getting their manipulated payment act together until now for coins and currency didn’t stop sellers of such from selling such - at least no more than anything else eBay does to impede - which should be the real detriment worthy of wary.

Besides, they’ll have a whole kettle full of ‘high volume low cost’ sellers left even if all the postcards go over the edge. Perhaps you’ve noticed - they all speak Mandarin.

by: zeek6228

How is it even possible to sell something like this on eBay without getting dinged for "Tracking uploaded on time and validated".

I was under the assumption that only Chinese sellers were allowed to sell high volume/low cost items on eBay.  

by: Shanna

Guys, eBay only had 5 years to plan for Mangled Payments, to think questions like this would come up in those hurried discussions is absurd. Imagine having such a small time frame and having to worry about accepting Paypal, having all of the products currently listed on eBay allowed to be sold using the new system, and thinking about sellers of low cost items, specifically those not from their masters in Communist China, all at the same time? Who could possible accomplish that and run a covert spying and harassment campaign at the same time?

by: Junk in the Woods

No one cares about those sellers.  Very small niche market that has no profit,  Honestly, find somewhere else to sell.  

by: Silver Ice King

@Junk in the Woods

You might be surprised at the profits that can be had in some of the smaller niche markets.  When you buy trading cards at wholesale prices and then open them and sell off what you do not want or need there are a lot of cards that wind up selling for around $10 or under where it is almost pure profit because the other cards that were sold more than paid for the entire purchase.  I have had many occasions where I purchased around $2K of cards and sold only one for more than that and then everything else that is sold is pure profit and why would I want to give more of it to Ebay because they have decided that they cannot offer the same or competing products with one of their competitors.  I worked in the credit card processing industry for many years and truthfully Ebay is the first processor where they have not had some type of product for the lower cost items which in the real world would include that daily coffee that people buy at Starbucks or many times even the lunches they purchase as the breakeven point for Micropayments was $12.  So there was plenty of money to be had by all parties in those types of sales and Ebay has once again made the idiotic decision to exclude another entire category of sellers where it does not cost them nearly as much as they are going to lose as these sellers start listing their products on other sites where these type of accounts are welcomed.  As I said above this will also cost them more and more sellers of sports cards which is a category they are trying to expand in by creating the PWE tracking for $1 or under.  No use having it is you are going to chase that exact type of business away to a competitor who will also be able to offer that same exact mailing option.

by: RKTOYS

"We will continually monitor feedback as we strive to best meet seller needs."

Just like executive weasels everywhere, despite their hateful malevolence towards the very people that make "their" success possible, they don't have the guts to say "no and shut up about it."  Frightened little weasels.

by: RKTOYS

I've seen this attitude for feedback at work too.  When IT doesn't want to hear complaints about poor service, they set up a ticketing system that makes it impossible to file complaints.  After that, they announce what a success the latest screw up has been since they did not hear any complaints about it.

by: toolguy

The savings on lower shipping cost for light inexpensive items will be offset by the increase of being in managed payments.

eBay gives on one hand and takes with the other. . . . . .

PS: I just signed up for Social Security, Uncle Sam can start giving back some of "MY" money

by: I Must be Crazy

@Tool: congrats on getting your Social Security set up. That should allow you to breath a little easier every month. Any reduction in one's reliance on eBay, whatever it looks like, is necessary and a good thing.

As for the article, think this is just the continuation of the end point for a lot of things being sold on eBay.

Many sellers, myself included, already avoid valuable items to be sold on eBay because of the inherent risks of losing the item and the money through the site. Very heavy items are out too. Too much return risk with associated costs. International sales pose delivery risks.

The lack of setting up a micro payments solution is another irresponsible oversight on the part of inept eBay managers. Too much time focused on their own needs; not enough time focused on solutions for their seller base. Wrong headed priorities which continue to drive their company further into the ditch.

As I enter this new year, I go through the "where are things headed for me" routine. I told my better half yesterday that eBay is not part of my 10 year plan, simply because I don't expect them to survive another 10 years.

by: I Must be Crazy

@Silver Ice King:

"I worked in the credit card processing industry for many years and truthfully Ebay is the first processor where they have not had some type of product for the lower cost items which in the real world would include that daily coffee that people buy at Starbucks or many times even the lunches they purchase as the breakeven point for Micropayments was $12. "

You are correct. But it is important to remember that eBay is NOT a payment processor. Adyen is the payment processor. Ebay has merely inserted itself into the flow of cash between Adyen and sellers so they can skim a piece of the action as it passes through. This is the reason there will likely never be a micro payments solution. Ebay would need to give up their cut.

by: Silver Ice King

@I Must be Crazy

I understand and agree completely that Ebay will be stupid and cut off their nose to spite their face on this issue.  The management at Ebay does not seem to truly understand business as a whole which is why they will never get their hands on any of my money through Mangled Payments.  They would rather lose the business than not take a small discount on what they take from the sellers.  In their minds no business is better than not getting close to the same amount that the seller does on every transaction. This has been their philosophy since Wenig took over and decided that Sellers were making to large of profits on their sales and that Ebay should be the partner in this relationship that makes the majority of the money, even though they own no inventory and take no risk of losses on their inventory.  Even though he is now departed with a ridiculous amount of the shareholders money considering how Ebay operated under his control, that philosophy seems to have carried forward with Iannone.

by: pace306

This topic REALLY isnt about baseball cards or post cards. While Im am not in either business (I do sell some sports cards but only in boxes not individually) - the issue IS (as said so well by RIC and SIK) "micro payments" ie small sales.

Putting those two items aside - what if you wanted to sell bottles of soda or candy or even shampoo?

There are MILLIONS of those items on Amazon and they do QUITE well with them - so why is it ALWAYS an issue when it comes to eBay?

THATS part #2 of the issue - when something goes wrong - its always eBay with its hand in the cookie jar.

The problem of course is being forced into MP. MP is a disaster for sellers all around - and being FORCED into it - is RICO and coercive and does warrant a class action suit against eBay. ANYBODY who wants to use "their own" CC should be allowed. Just because eBay and Paypal have/had an issue - isnt "our problem".

Wheres a good lawyer when you need one?