Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
quote:Beginning August 22, insertion and final value fees for Store Inventory listings will be increased and will follow a tiered structure based on price--as they do for core listings. For complete details of these changes, please see my Announcement Board post and our Fee Changes Overview.
Just saw it... So much for an ebay store.
an increase in store insertion fees that ranges from a 150% increase to a 400% increase.
upping of FVF for store items to 10%
and changing express to where auction format with BIN are shown before a store listing.
What a load!
upping of FVF for store items to 10%
and changing express to where auction format with BIN are shown before a store listing.
What a load!
Ok, my first response to this, "Are you kidding me???"
Then I tried to calm down and see the larger picture that once again, Ebay is trying to do away with the stores format or at the very least weed out the smaller priced items that they make little money on. I feel like I am in a big cycle of, if you want your items seen, then pay core listings or else they don't get seen. NOW it is like okay, your listings are not going to be seen and we are raising the price of them not being seen, WHAT?????
And okay, Bill Cobb says that this should only increase our overall fees by 6%. That is a lot especially for those with a lot of items in their stores. I know I am just a small time seller as a stay at home mom but every penny counts and again 6% is a lot. Is it still a better deal than opening up a Brick and Mortar, sure it is. But I am not sure that is the point here to sellers anymore who feel like they are not getting their money's worth in services and are being squeezed for whatever Ebay can get from them.
I normally am an optimist and normally just roll with the punches but this punch really got my goat, pardon the expression. Nice how they institute this too just in time for the fall and Christmas seasons so they are assured lots more moolah.
So I do not know what I am going to do. I will probably keep going with up and work on my own site until I just have to use Ebay for advertising basically. I don't know, I really do not know....
Marcia
Then I tried to calm down and see the larger picture that once again, Ebay is trying to do away with the stores format or at the very least weed out the smaller priced items that they make little money on. I feel like I am in a big cycle of, if you want your items seen, then pay core listings or else they don't get seen. NOW it is like okay, your listings are not going to be seen and we are raising the price of them not being seen, WHAT?????
And okay, Bill Cobb says that this should only increase our overall fees by 6%. That is a lot especially for those with a lot of items in their stores. I know I am just a small time seller as a stay at home mom but every penny counts and again 6% is a lot. Is it still a better deal than opening up a Brick and Mortar, sure it is. But I am not sure that is the point here to sellers anymore who feel like they are not getting their money's worth in services and are being squeezed for whatever Ebay can get from them.
I normally am an optimist and normally just roll with the punches but this punch really got my goat, pardon the expression. Nice how they institute this too just in time for the fall and Christmas seasons so they are assured lots more moolah.
So I do not know what I am going to do. I will probably keep going with up and work on my own site until I just have to use Ebay for advertising basically. I don't know, I really do not know....
Marcia
quote:Originally posted by marciay96:
And okay, Bill Cobb says that this should only increase our overall fees by 6%.
Okay so I am not very good at math (that is why I married a banker) but HOW IN THE WORLD do you get only an increase of 6% with the amount they are raising fees? Like they are saying on the store boards, this must be the new math we keeping hearing about.
Marcia
just... big lies from a monopoply that sees a competitor froogle taking the store business away....froogle soon clearly will be THE PLACE to search online for store items... ebay knows this... they did not want to be seen losing to a competitor.. instead they get away from the stores and go in the area where froogle will have a harder time....ebay has shown with the auction format that people when putting in a search for an interest want to see different items on the first 5 pages and not the same items over and over.... how can froogle do this???? i sure hope froogle finds a way for this also.....this is what alot of people like to do.... if froogle has the first 5 pages the same cause of high page rank without changing when someone puts asearch in.... soon buyers will lose some interest... but buyers who want a particular item then search and name .. this system will work great with froogle and all the webstores in their search...
They offered that a question could be sent to the town hall. My question to Bill Cobb.......................................................What makes you think you can keep raising fees and have a viable position in the market place amongst competitors?
And another thing, Bill Cobb in his anouncement says this..
"In addition -- to help eBay Stores sellers make informed decisions about any changes to their selling strategies -- we're making eBay Marketplace Research Basic available to them at no cost for eight weeks, starting today. Through September 19, eBay Stores sellers can use this data to compare selling formats or determine how best to price inventory on eBay. You can access eBay Marketplace Research here."
But what is not said until you dig deep into the murky pit is this...
"How will I receive the two free months?
eBay will credit any Marketplace Research Basic fees you have incurred between July 19 and September 19, 2006. The two free months will not be immediately reflected. You will see a credit to your seller's account approximately 3 weeks after you're billed for your Marketplace Research charges."
Are you trying to make us feel WORSE by getting us to sign up for yet another ebay seller service by waiving a carrot and then pulling the rug out by providing a catch to your way
" to help eBay Stores sellers make informed decisions about any changes to their selling strategies".
Okay enough for now...I need to go eat some dinner, enjoy my family and try to forget about this mess for a while. Sorry about all the posts but this kind of stuff just erks me.
Marcia
"In addition -- to help eBay Stores sellers make informed decisions about any changes to their selling strategies -- we're making eBay Marketplace Research Basic available to them at no cost for eight weeks, starting today. Through September 19, eBay Stores sellers can use this data to compare selling formats or determine how best to price inventory on eBay. You can access eBay Marketplace Research here."
But what is not said until you dig deep into the murky pit is this...
"How will I receive the two free months?
eBay will credit any Marketplace Research Basic fees you have incurred between July 19 and September 19, 2006. The two free months will not be immediately reflected. You will see a credit to your seller's account approximately 3 weeks after you're billed for your Marketplace Research charges."
Are you trying to make us feel WORSE by getting us to sign up for yet another ebay seller service by waiving a carrot and then pulling the rug out by providing a catch to your way
" to help eBay Stores sellers make informed decisions about any changes to their selling strategies".
Okay enough for now...I need to go eat some dinner, enjoy my family and try to forget about this mess for a while. Sorry about all the posts but this kind of stuff just erks me.
Marcia
Ah, many saw this coming. Any time eBay has a Town Hall scheduled with no topic announced it's a fee increase.
I guess eBay sees this as a remedy to sagging auction counts:
http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?ESHAall
From the looks of that chart auction counts are down a little more than their normal summerly lows.
I guess eBay sees this as a remedy to sagging auction counts:
http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?ESHAall
From the looks of that chart auction counts are down a little more than their normal summerly lows.
Face if folks, we are in the middle of the mega search engine website wars. I saw this coming a year ago. So what is next....Google does not have any actual auctions going, so ebay is safe there and they worded it that way. What they do have is a lot of ebay stores that are like mini websites being picked up by froogle and others. So ebay is going to raise new money knowing this. B.....u.....t.....what if google goes into the auction business? Maybe they are just staging themselves for this. Why is google doing this, because ebay was becoming the walmart of the internet with one giant product search engine that could go against google. Thats why yahoo and msn are teaming up with ebay to size themselves against google growth and recognition.
My advise is you must build websites if you rely on the internet for income. I have been making a living on the net now for 3 years since I quite my 25 year career. My internet marketing is paying off. Yes I rely on ebay stores and will pay the upcharge by raising my prices, but in the long run I will eventually wean myself of auctions and an ebay store.
My advise is you must build websites if you rely on the internet for income. I have been making a living on the net now for 3 years since I quite my 25 year career. My internet marketing is paying off. Yes I rely on ebay stores and will pay the upcharge by raising my prices, but in the long run I will eventually wean myself of auctions and an ebay store.
I expected something out of ebay with google/froogle on their tail but this wasn't it. After thinking about it I'm convinced they would rather do away with the store and not compete in this way. Also they want people to use BIN in the core listings to push Express.
Just my thoughts
Quote:
And, when you compare our operations costs for an average Store Inventory listing and an average core listing – factoring in the duration of each – our cost to host a Store Inventory listing is more than 50% higher than for a core listing. In fact, current Store Inventory insertion fees don't cover eBay's costs for hosting them.
Bye bye ebay - time to really get back to my plan of getting away from them completely
Just my thoughts
Quote:
And, when you compare our operations costs for an average Store Inventory listing and an average core listing – factoring in the duration of each – our cost to host a Store Inventory listing is more than 50% higher than for a core listing. In fact, current Store Inventory insertion fees don't cover eBay's costs for hosting them.
Bye bye ebay - time to really get back to my plan of getting away from them completely
You don't even want to know my thoughts. Jeff doesn't allow that kind of talk here. Have a job interview in the morning. Wish me luck.
I do want to thank all the "seasoned" veterans from whom I have learned so much. Looking forward to more learning.
Later
Rosemary
I do want to thank all the "seasoned" veterans from whom I have learned so much. Looking forward to more learning.
Later
Rosemary
Who would have thought that the result of the many days they spent on the Ebay Store board soliticing ideas from store owners about how to give them more exposure, and facilitate positve changes to improve sales would boil down to this kind of exposure - the big moon!
Doesn't help Auctiva I wouldn't think either.
Later
Rosemary
Doesn't help Auctiva I wouldn't think either.
Later
Rosemary
This is the time of the year I reopen at least one other store with eBay and start reselling from at least 2 more IDs.
They can kiss that other store good-bye and at least 2 of my other IDs.
My hopes are that Auctiva comes up with a simple solution for we to have our stores via Auctiva that would enable us to accept GBuy.
It's the way to go.
It's in the works..so kick start it into first gear.
I don't have time to visit the Store Boards..I bet they are just a "barrel of laughs" over there.
Rosemary...My best to you in your interview tomorrow. Let us know how it goes.
My Best,
Donna
They can kiss that other store good-bye and at least 2 of my other IDs.
My hopes are that Auctiva comes up with a simple solution for we to have our stores via Auctiva that would enable us to accept GBuy.
It's the way to go.
It's in the works..so kick start it into first gear.
I don't have time to visit the Store Boards..I bet they are just a "barrel of laughs" over there.
Rosemary...My best to you in your interview tomorrow. Let us know how it goes.
My Best,
Donna
Well, I don't visit those boards very often, but I started watching when Ebay went through the "brainstorming" to help store owners. I refrain from contrbuting as they appear to have more than one loose cannon with a vengeful agenda.
I can't imagine how bad I would feel right now if you guys hadn't given me the push to stick my nose out there on ECrater and Blujay. Working on the website is tough for me, but by God, I'll get it done yet. I have to - most of my store will be gone before the 22nd deadline.
It's just not worth it. You know, I actually cut my Ebay bill in half this month.
Good luck to all and thanks for the safety net.
Rosemary
Website and more marketing techniques - that's all I need.
I can't imagine how bad I would feel right now if you guys hadn't given me the push to stick my nose out there on ECrater and Blujay. Working on the website is tough for me, but by God, I'll get it done yet. I have to - most of my store will be gone before the 22nd deadline.
It's just not worth it. You know, I actually cut my Ebay bill in half this month.
Good luck to all and thanks for the safety net.
Rosemary
Website and more marketing techniques - that's all I need.
Well, there you have it Maggie! The 20 cent special. That helps.
Rosemary
Rosemary
eBay is so greedy. with the setup they have now... sometimes they end up getting 25% (eBay+PayPal). the only unbalance of power isn't caused by stores; it's caused by eBay's constant rise in prices. i don't really think it has anything to do with google. i think it has to do with their stock going from $40 to $26 in 3 months... they got to recoup that money somewhere. go back 6 months and it's from $47 to $26... laugh... as if this will help.
Ha ha ha, I'll make an exception for this thread.quote:Jeff doesn't allow that kind of talk here.
Venting is good.
Did you catch the part about Half.com being included in the search from now on???? As if we needed more competition!. Auctiva - hurry. You can do this!
Thanks again,
Rosemary
Thanks again,
Rosemary
quote:Auctiva - hurry. You can do this!
Interestingly enough when I first started Auctiva in April 98 I already knew I couldn't beat eBay even if I built a site 5x as good. They already had the grip on sellers and buyers that was too quickly feeding on itself. And that was with only around 300,000 items on eBay. Now there is 14 million auction items and something like 60+ million store items.
eBay wasn't really all that feature rich then. There was no photo hosting, no help at all for sellers to list a lot of items, no eBay software, no templates, no scheduling, no counters, no HTML editor, no spell check, nothing. That of course is why my product was so successful almost instantly and where we are today. There was a big need for that. Originally I thought that could give me a way to get a lot of sellers using it. Then I could hope those users may give a site I built a try. Then Amazon got into the game, and Yahoo, and Microsoft, and everyone and their mother. At that point I really didnt want to try and compete with any of them and their fat pockets. I figured sellers would have enough choices and competition between those sites to keep eBay honest. So what I did was a deal with Amazon to build support into Auctiva for listing to Amazon and we were the first site to support listing to multiple sites I think. A little while after that we added Yahoo.
I suppose I was just before my time. People didn't see the value in multi channel sales back then, things were just fine on eBay they thought. There weren't as many professional businesses on eBay then, people doing it full time and bringing a real business side to it. eBay was growing very fast then, sales were good profits were good, and so on.
There aren't any plans here to compete with eBay, no AuctivaPop, or thigns along those lines. What I have put a lot of thought into are ways to help drive more traffic to our sellers listings. I have many ideas and I'd love to be doing them all now but time and budgets are a reality I have to deal with. After we complete phase 2 I'll have a lot of engineers here with free time and you can expect to see some innovation and new ideas. Some will bomb I'm sure but hopefully I come up with a few keepers. That's how it's worked out in the past 8+ years.
I want to help sellers make more money. Because in doing that I believe it will lead to growth for Auctiva along with those sellers we're helping. Hopefully then you feel like we're making money with you, not from you. Right now on eBay it feels a little more like taking than helping you to make it. Not every eBay seller feels that way perhaps, and it wasn't always like that, but more and more it's heading that way.