Danna / January 26th, 2010 at 1:34 pm

I can only see how this can help with more sales because of the exposure force with store items now in the “core” area of eBay.

Plus with the upgrade options, where else can you get a great store front / website with all the additional pages AND have SEO included with your subscription?
Brilliant!!!

Glenn / January 26th, 2010 at 2:52 pm

I haven’t looked at all of the details of the price change in depth but from what I can see it isn’t going to be a good thing for a seller like me. If I choose to list without a subscription my final value fees will skyrocket. I didn’t like it when the 5 free listing thing started for the same reason. It is made to seem as if you are saving $$ because your listing fees are lower but in the end Ebay is collecting an extra 5+ percent on the sale amount over $25. In the long term they are making a lot more back than the .10 or .20 cents that you saved. To me it seems like a fee increase being masqueraded as a break for sellers. Guess we’ll have to wait to see what the long term effects of this will be but for right now it isn’t looking good from my point of view…

Amber / January 26th, 2010 at 3:05 pm

Okay…waded through Part 4 of the video w/ Dinesh.

My rebuttal Richard:

Amazon DOES allow you to add to the catalog depending on your subscription.

Biblio lets you add your own items whether they are in the catalog or not–without a subscription or fee.

As for ‘being able to differentiate your item from others’…

With media items, that’s not really true. We are limited both on content AND virtually forced to use the catalog information which pre-fills the plot, size, page count etc. And are forced to use eBay-defined item conditions.

So I fail to see why I should continue to pay .05 (.50!! w/o ISBN data) per listing for media items (and a 15% FVF) when I can pay zero insertion fees elsewhere.

Jon / January 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm

I am disappointed with Ebay’s site navigation. I personally find it difficult to find an option to speak to a “real person” or to find an email link. In looking in the customary places such as “contact us”, this option is lacking….

I am further disappointed by Ebay’s new policy that looks to assist customers with regard to disputes. It is only a way to REQUIRE sellers to utilize signature confirmation and tracking for all packages… It is not a means of helping the customers, it is a way of protecting Ebay… “Look what we are doing for you”… Marketing is an incredible tool… But even pig in pink dress is still just a pig…

Chris / January 27th, 2010 at 5:59 am

Somebody please explain how “sellers across the board will be able to experience lower up-front cost”.
Insertion fee increase: 66%
Subscription fee increase: 233%
I will have to sell 20% more to break even.

Dave / January 27th, 2010 at 10:14 am

Ebay just keeps raising fees. As a store operator with several thousand $10 items, these changes are going to increase my recuring costs by 67% which means I must sell about 10 more items a month just to cover the increase. Will the new search make up the difference? I doubt it.

I have been on ebay from the start and I am getting really tired of being taken advantage of as a seller. Ebay income is generated entirely from the fees paid by sellers yet we are continually asked to pay more!

JJH / January 27th, 2010 at 1:52 pm

It’s plain and simple. This is a huge fee increase for me. Anything that sells for $50 or more is a 35%++++ increase in fees depending on the final value. An increase of DOUBLE or more than what I would pay now on that occasional “lucky” item. This increase is obscene. Since when did eBay become a “subscription” service? Now I guess…

J / January 27th, 2010 at 3:24 pm

Small sellers are left out in the cold but in reality any size seller is getting a hefty fee increase at a time that will do nothing but hurt everyone involved. For many this is the last straw and the large fee increase will push them away from eBay altogether. It just seems eBay wants to rid itself of all but giant sellers with thousands of listings. Page after page of low priced items will do nothing but drive buyers and sellers to other venues. I wish eBay valued the small seller of unique items like they used to. Now it seems they are treated as a pariah.

I already pay 80% less in fees to eBay than I used to due to decreased volume. It seems now I will pay eBay even less.

mindelec / January 27th, 2010 at 5:23 pm

well once agin ebay raises fees while telling sellers that they are lowering them. i get a big laugh out of the “3 cents” ads all over that fail to mention that you have to pay $300 to get that rate. this is actually the most aggravating part of this increase, that ebay thinks no one will notice the increase.

i sell books, my current inventory has about 1400. i would actually see no increase with this change, except for the fact that for some reason ebay thinks that books without isbns should cost more to list and a third of my inventory lacks catalog info. thus forcing me into the premium and raising my costs $34 a month plus the extra pennies to list on the main site (which i would gladly pay if they did a nickel for all books).

AuctionWally / January 27th, 2010 at 8:46 pm

As I wrote in my Examiner column, these things get a bit complicated as fees slide different percentages, but I have to say, I’m impressed with eBay’s move here.

I think overall it is a fee decrease for most of the people using eBay to sell on.

As an auction seller, I’m very happy with the 100 free listing for items that start under a dollar, and NOT because of the money being saved on the free listings.
As an auctioneer with many years in the business, I know this move is going to bring a lot of the antique and unique items back to eBay.

I’ve been pretty critical of eBay changes in the past, and I have to say, I think this is a 180 degree move headed back in the right direction.

I’d go as far to say, this is somewhat of a game changer.

If there were such thing as a wish list here’s what I’d like to see next:

I’d like to see a portion of eBay’s huge advertising budget diverted to beefing up customer support, scraping sketchy listings and giving it’s customer relation people like Richard Brewer-Hay & eBay Andy a raise.

Nicely done eBay.

AW

Kawasaki ATV / January 28th, 2010 at 1:52 am

The CRA can therefore use this information to determine if the eBay sellers properly reported the income they earned from income prefabricated on eBay. If the CRA determines that an individual or a playing did not comply with the tax laws, the CRA module verify some necessary action. In addition to paying some outstanding taxes nonnegative interest, consequences haw include penalties, as well as jural actions that could result in fines and another imposed sanctions.

Jana / January 28th, 2010 at 5:35 am

Well Richard,

Seems to me that eBays plan would to get rid of the small guy. The working class that is trying to supplement their income and make it through this recession. It worked. eBay has been successful once again. Sites like Amazon and Bonazle are ready to accommodate these sellers. I have been just as much of a buyer as a seller. I have been with eBay for over 10 years now. I would have to say that you have lost my business on both ends. As well as the family and friends that I have brought to you.

Cut and Dry. The fees have been raised for the small guy! Good luck to all of you! Have a nice life eBay!

TheBrewsNews / January 28th, 2010 at 12:46 pm

Under your “Additional Resources” section of your post above, you have listed:

A dedicated website regarding the Seller Release.

However, the link you provide in that line is invalid.

Raymi Lynch / January 28th, 2010 at 5:22 pm

Richard I just first wanted to say that I really do appreciate this blog you have here and how you use it as a helpful tool where sellers can let out their questions or concerns.

I also especially like the way you have been responding to several eBay sellers that were upset, disheartened or that were going through a rough time.

As far as my analysis on the eBay fee changes. I look at the situation like this.

If you are a small seller that sells less than 100 items a month, I would say stick with the auction format unless you feel you need to sell with the fixed price format to get a higher price per sale.

If you look at it this way though, you will pay nothing for 100 auctions at under $1.00 and then around 12% fees (eBay + paypal) and Shipping.

Of course this is most likely an increase for most and it hurts, especially during a recession, but quality items such as antiques, collectibles or rare items should really do well with this new format. The fees compared to Amazon seem nearly the same but you have more work set out for you. There are marketplaces like Etsy but you don’t get the same traffic.

So for a medium sized seller that sells 50-150 items a month, a basic store is probably a good idea if you look to sell mostly fixed price items. Sure the fees are increasing from $.3 cents to $.20 cents an item but I know that for most sellers, the higher exposure will help pay for the extra listing fees because of increased sales.

For a Larger seller that sells 200+ fixed priced items a month, the Premium store is really a no brainer. Unless you sell $.1 cent items, the $49.99 a month is not that bad if you think about the listing fees of only 5 cents an item. I would guarantee that your sales will increase and make up for the extra fees and the monthly payment.

Anchor Store as some have already stated is only for the mega sellers, corporate sellers, etc that list in the thousands each month (12,000 + items)
While the listing fees look good, the store price of $299.99 a month is not good if you only sell a couple hundred items a month or less. Also the final value fees are higher. I am guessing they are higher so that large corporate sellers don’t have too much of an advantage over small and medium sized sellers.
I do feel that large sellers like Buy.com have way too many benefits and are destroying the integrity and feel of eBay. They should have to pay the same final value fees and listing fees as everyone else if not higher so that small and medium sized sellers have a chance. Remember two Amazon’s are not possible. Each Company has to have its competitive advantage and distinct product offering.

So there are the changes. I would say the main cons to the changes are:

-Increased Final Value Fees across the board during a recession! Fees should be 7% for all auctions instead of 9% plus paypal fees. Unlike Amazon which charges 15% fees to deal with buyers and transactions, sellers have to deal with all of the customer service and eBay changes and strict eBay and Paypal rules and it takes a 8-12 hour workday to please both eBay and the customers.

-To make things worse, Smaller sellers that sell less than 100 items a month cannot get into the Top Rated Seller program. I say go back to the POWER-SELLER rules and make it $3,000 a month sales for TRS even if its only 1 item sold for that amount. Also if you have feedback of 99.5% or above you should qualify for the TRS. Also, what about making DSR’s for international orders not count against the TRS and Powerseller status as customs and shipping and fraud are out of the sellers control.

-Another Problem I see are Increased fees for Smaller Basic Store and Auction Sellers if sales dont improve due to issues with Best Match or a flood of $.99 cent items.

-Sellers should have more control of blocking buyers. Now that you cannot leave negative feedback, its as simple as a fraudster buying or hacking into a trusted account that is not in use at the moment and bidding on or buying your items. All transactions where a buyer changes the original address to an address in Nigeria, India or Malaysia for example should be automatically canceled and FVF returned to the seller instantly.

- A HUGE PROBLEM is Increased competition for medium to larger sellers selling brand new products as now all BUY It Now items will show up and a flood of auctions from hong kong, china and the USA will also fill the marketplace. How will eBay filter this to make the increased listing fees and store fees worthwhile? All auctions that have 3 hours left or less should be put near the top for Best Match results.

- For Medium to Large Sellers, the Final Value Fees are quite high for nearly all products except for consumer electronics and computers. All Buy It Now products should have those same fees. It’s easier and makes selling a profitable experience. 12% plus 6% for most items is just too high when you include Paypal Fees and Shipping which eBay is pushing to be FREE FREE. If all sellers offered free shipping then how would they be able to compete? Also margins would be Bone thin. We don’t have Amazon’s Wholesale buying power, Fulfillment Warehouses across the nation or setups with Shipping Companies such as FEDEX and UPS that make it nearly 50-75% cheaper for them to ship making free shipping a reasonable cost they can add to the price.

There has to be a way to make it fair for Medium to Large sized Sellers to either offer Free Shipping (reduction in FVF fees, with higher listing fees to not flood the marketplace of free shipping) or a fair shipping expense.

A few small things I personally feel could change are:

FVF charged to Sellers after payment is received from paypal. Saves the hassle of opening disputes.

Fraud Protection needs to improve, as too many sellers deal with nonpaying buyers or scammers from Overseas and hacked accounts.

I am also tired of all of the imitations and replicas I find. If sellers from HK and China want to sell on eBay thats fine but selling a replica as authentic in my mind is illegal and just makes the quality of the eBay Marketplace drop. I could probably name 100 sellers right now that sell fakes. If I got a commission for it, I would probably deal with the issue myself.

Give Small Sellers 5 Free BUY it Now listings at any given price a month. Why not? Increase quality of items available.

Some Last Tips for Small and Medium Sized Sellers:

Try to sell $3,000+ a month for lower paypal fees. Also if you have good DSR’s try to call eBay about the TRS Status. I feel all sellers that seller $3,000+ a month deserve it and smaller sellers should get a ranking of their own if they give top notch service.

Operate two accounts, one Store account for Buy it Nows and one regular account for Auctions. You will save a lot of money this way. This is totally legal, stated by eBay employees themselves.

Use the eBay UPS shipping discounts if you are a powerseller, print all of your labels online or with a provider like Endicia, Stamps or Shiprush to save on shipping expenses.

Have packages picked up at your house when using USPS to save on gas.

List in unique categories to save on some of the over the top FVF fees. (probably not allowed but eBay needs to lower some of the fees)

Use the free Pictures if you are a medium seller to get more views and gain more confidence with buyers.

Use Selling Manager Pro to your advantage, create automated emails, focus on DSR’s and customer feedback, make sure to be honest and answer questions.

Use your Paypal debit card to purchase inventory to get 1% cashback on all business expenses including inventory and shipping if you use third party providers. If not you can find credit cards that give up to 1.5% cashback on all purchases.

Build your own Web Site (Magento, Zen Cart, Interspire or Prestashop are well known) and use eBay and other online Selling venues to bring your business to you overtime.

Jay in KC / January 29th, 2010 at 8:20 am

I have to agree with some of the other posters. It appears fees are going up instead of down. Under the present fee structure, if I list something at $24.99 and it sells for $40.00 eBay charges me $3.27 (total fees). Applying the same example using the new fees eBay would charge me $4.10. Yes, it’s only $0.83 but that’s an 25.4 percent increase in fees!!! Selling on eBay will be a better deal?

I have never commented on fee changes in the past but this is really a head scratcher. I have sold things on eBay for a long time but it might be time to look for another conduit.

Steve Kysor / January 29th, 2010 at 1:37 pm

New Strategy: Operate Lean and Mean – Don’t quit your day job.

Amber / January 29th, 2010 at 5:59 pm

@kitty

If you dislike Amazon’s buyer is always right policy, you’re in for a nasty surprise the first time a buyer files something against you here. eBay has copied (virtually verbatim) Amazon’s A-Z guarantee.

The new buyer protection policy is exactly the same as Amazon’s.

Which means that buyers can lie with impunity HERE in the feedback, get their money back for any little thing etc.

David / January 30th, 2010 at 5:05 am

EBAY SERFDOM
EBay Fee Changes 2010

The eBay marketplace is like the serf-based feudal system of medieval Europe. In medieval Europe there were rich land owners called lords. The lords had subjects called serfs that worked their land growing crops. The lords did not labor – except to occasionally whip the serfs to keep them working hard. The serfs were required to pay a large portion of the crops they grew to the lords as a form of rent. The big problem is that the serfs were trapped – they had no means of feeding themselves without the use the lord’s land. This problem led to abuses and near-slavery for the serfs.

EBay strives to create such a system today. EBay owns the marketplace – the eBay site. The marketplace is like the land in the feudal system. Because eBay is by-far the dominate marketplace on the Internet they can act like a lord. EBay can dictate any rules they want to the sellers. If the seller depend on eBay’s for their livelihood are required to comply or starve.

The new fee changes will cause most sellers to pay a lot more. Typical small to medium eBay store sellers will see listing fee increases from 70-150%.

EBay wants to help those sellers earn the money they need to pay the higher fees. Sellers now get all items in full search results. This should result in more sales. With the extra sales sellers will be able to pay eBay more.

These changes are like the feudal lord telling the serfs that he is generously increasing their farming area to 3 acres from 2 acres. At first this seems wonderful. It will help the serfs grow more food for their families, but it is not as it seems. Later it is revealed that the land rent has increased from the crops from just 1 acre to the crops from 2 acres. The serfs still keep the crops from 1 acre – same as before. Now the Lord gets double. The serfs just work harder – all for the lord. EBay is playing the same game.

As long as eBay is the dominate marketplace sellers should only expect the situation to get worse. Don’t allow eBay to turn you into a modern-day serf!

Glitzy / January 30th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

Down to the bare facts:

For a store inventory seller, the fee (just to list, now) for an item they want to sell for $24.99, jumped from three cents to twenty cents. That, right there, is a 666% increase in listing fee.

Thing is, it also changes from a 30-day three cents/twenty cents listing fee to a 7-day listing, thereby causing you to pay the 666% increase four times a month. The math comes out to a 2,664% (PERCENT) hike in fees just for listing the item.

Then you have to think about the fact that the final value fee (whatever the item actually sells for) and its new 9% cut.

Then you get to deal with PayPal, a subsidiary and their cut.

You want to tell me this is lowering fees? Read the fine print!

devere / January 30th, 2010 at 11:03 pm

Hello, I am a small seller and use E-bay for extra income and trying to work my way up, and at this type of increase it will shut me out , or I will have to increase my cost and pass it along to the consumer. Either way sales go down. When I could list cd’s for $.15 a piece and now they will go to $.50 on a fixed listing how does anyone at E-bay think this is better. My only conclusion is they don’t care. They sent me an email saying the best option for me is a store front. Well if the numbers crunched right I would have already had one and NOW THE BASIC STORE LISTING PRICE WENT FROM $.03 TO $.20. plus a monthly fee. How is that reducing the cost?????????? AND THE BASIC FIXED PRICE LISTING FROM $.35 TO $.50. I don’t care how you spin this, for the smaller seller it is not going to be good, for the seller or the consumer. People WILL choose to shop else where or not at all. Honestly I think this is an insult to the smaller sellers and you must feel we are idiots as to try to shove this spin on us and think we don’t see through the smoke. They must want to get rid of the small sellers, Hmmm, I thought that was what started E-bay and that was what it was about, A place where a small seller could work their way up. SAD TIMES COMING. Sorry to say it looks like they have taken lessons from our politicians on spin. Thanks

devere / January 31st, 2010 at 9:33 pm

Hmmm how about that Ebay took my post off. Figures, to many unhappy people about their new spin.

Michael Poukkula / February 3rd, 2010 at 6:51 pm

I am new to eBay, I have a store. I have been using mostly store inventory. With your new price structure it will be great for the Power Sellers. I will most likely close my store. I may sell a few things without a storefront. In the real world, most people will see right through your new lower rates structure. In reality, this is a huge price hike and anyone that takes five minutes of their time, will figure this out. Is this the new American way, squeeze the little guy out and call it a free market. Here’s a thought, let’s close all the little mom & pops and put in a Xxxmart……oh, that’s right they are doing that all ready! Economics 101, class is out.

RRR / February 5th, 2010 at 2:51 pm

Hey Richard!
I just thought I was going to close my Ebay store & avoid the dreaded extra $49.95 fee for a Premium store occurring on March 30.

WRONG!!

I just checked my Dec 15 to Jan 15 Ebay invoice and there in black & white is a $49.95 charge for Store (Premium): Subscription Fee dated Dec. 15.
Of course I am seeing RED, not black & white.

What gives?

NOT cheery,
RRR

Alice / February 10th, 2010 at 7:55 pm

Richard Brewer Hay,

“You’re correct we’ve repeatedly said we have no plans to eliminate Stores. With the changes that we announced, we are not eliminating Stores, we are converting Store Inventory Format into Fixed Price Format giving it more search exposure. This increases the value of having a Store significantly.”

How so? My items are getting more search exposure – but so are everyone else’s. So how is that advantageous for me?