eBay does it again - HUGE fee increase

hey, everyone, it's been awhile... hope everyone is doing well and had a nice holiday season!

now to the subject at hand.... FEEbay....


what a load of CRAP!!!! no wonder i hardly bother anymore. it is SOOOOOO not worth it!!!!

I was just coming to post the same info.

You beat me to it Jeff.

(waving hi to a QueenMab)

Best of luck everyone,
Donna

Good morning! so does anyone know of another selling website,that has reasonalbe rates and decent traffic? Im at a loss as to where else to go. Any help for us poor sellers? thank for any info. annie

I'm no longer going to sell. Just buy and leave negative fb for everyone kekekekekeke j/k

quote:

Originally posted by daes_venge:
I'm no longer going to sell. Just buy and leave negative fb for everyone

Basically, you could. The seller can now do nothing about it.

It's like you're paying for Gallery even though it's "free". I say this every year. I hate this f'ing company but I have to use them because I have to make the money. They just keep taking more and more and more of it for no good reason. They suck.

AMEN JeffS!!
If I didn't have a ton of stock to unload this summer I sure wouldn't be back..except maybe as an occasional buyer

quote:

decent traffic?

That is the biggest problem althougth effbay are making it easier for their competitors, they should mop up on this like political parties feeding like starving parahnas on each others misjudgements (had to pause for a few moments to find an alternative to swearing there )

Looking around recently some small sites are trying very hard and are very helpful but effbay is a global household name like Hoover, Kodak and Xerox to name a few.

More than 10x more listings than their nearest rivals (powersellersunite.com) also most other sites sell through rates are poor which puts up your costs and leaves stock sitting on shelves.

effbay knows this and are seeing how far they can stretch us, sooner or later the elastic will break but many sellers would go under before they do.

It is now even more blatantly obvious than before that sellers are the scum of effbay despite providing them with their money, no sellers, no customers no dollars, don't need to be a flyboy accountant to suss that one.

Hello everyone. I started my eBay business in June of last year. Mainly because it was faster than starting your own eCommerce site. So I accepted with all my heart all the fees that eBay had for their sellers. Yes, even PayPal. I figured when it was all said and done it would wash out and I'd still make a profit.

Well I just finished my taxes and yes.. I did make a profit. However... I looked at all the fees eBay/PayPal took and I have to say.. wow.. nice. I'm in the wrong business.

I guess the 5.25% to 8.75% FVF increase has me very concerened and with my eBay store going up from 10% to 12% and them getting rid of Fixed Price Listings in the .01-.99 range.. hmmmm a lot of stuff to be concerned about.

Buyers can only receive Positive Feedback. Well I knew this was coming. Didn't you all in the back of your mind? You see there is this thing in this country, and perhaps the world now.. it is a philosophy created by greed and the bottom line.. the philosophy states, "The Customer is ALWAYS Right". Perhaps the most asinine statement ever in my opinion. Well eBay is fully embracing it and gambling that the majority of its sellers will just bow to its power and go along with it and business as usual. They say its to protect the buyers and make them less afraid to buy stuff... MY GOD please. Stop treating buyers like they are babies and DEMAND that they act as professional as you are and you will raise the bar of communication and respect.

For one I will not bow to eBay and will not be intimidated by any buyer. I run my business my way. Respect your customers, give them the service they expect, but demand respect as well.

For one, I think I have decided that as of Feb. 20th, 2008, my company will no longer leave feedback to buyers...period. In protest to eBay. I will clearly state this in all my auctions at the top.

Hopefully, this will encourage the buyers to protest eBay with us. Surely they can not stand the wave of sellers and buyers complaining about it? or can they? Muwahahaha....

At any rate... I do hope an alternative to eBay comes... I'm looking for it.. and yes I know I can start my own eCommerce website.. but I'm not ready for that yet.

The one thing eBay will do with this new policy... you will see a lot less .99 cent listings of items with $24.99 S&H lmao.. those 'sellers' are going to have to rethink their business.

As for the rest of us.. we'll have to remain as smart as we are and kick in our creative side a bit.

I can' wait to share ideas.

What do you all think of my 'protest' idea listed above about feedback?

quote:

For one, I think I have decided that as of Feb. 20th, 2008, my company will no longer leave feedback to buyers...period. In protest to eBay. I will clearly state this in all my auctions at the top.

What do you all think of my 'protest' idea listed above about feedback?

I think you're leaving yourself open to the newbie buyer to leave you a neutral or negative stating "Refuses to leave me feedback".

And then what are you going to do about it?

If enough people leave it as a negative, you are automatically kicked off. Suspended.

Yea, great idea.

Better idea: Don't leave the feedback, just don't advertise it.

quote:

Originally posted by JeffS:

I think you're leaving yourself open to the newbie buyer to leave you a neutral or negative stating "Refuses to leave me feedback".

And then what are you going to do about it?

If enough people leave it as a negative, you are automatically kicked off. Suspended.

Yea, great idea.

Better idea: Don't leave the feedback, just don't advertise it.

I see your point Jeff. I guess I was just wanting a way to rally the 'buyer' base in the hopes they would send emails to eBay in some sort of protest for the sellers.. delusional? Perhaps. lol Of course, perhaps we are missing the bigger picture eBay has painted before us and we will see the light soon?

"I like to think there are always... possibilties". -Captain James T. Kirk

quote:

Originally posted by Rock Bottom Galaxy:

The one thing eBay will do with this new policy... you will see a lot less .99 cent listings of items with $24.99 S&H lmao.. those 'sellers' are going to have to rethink their business.

Why is that? Did I miss something? I though it would lower the fees for those types.

quote:

Originally posted by whatnot:

quote:

Originally posted by Rock Bottom Galaxy:

The one thing eBay will do with this new policy... you will see a lot less .99 cent listings of items with $24.99 S&H lmao.. those 'sellers' are going to have to rethink their business.

Why is that? Did I miss something? I though it would lower the fees for those types.

I should have been more clear. There are some sellers who will post an item for .01-.99 cents and inflate the S&H fee to displace the FVF eBay charges. Since eBay does not take the fee % from the S&H, just the final price. So instead of selling an item for $9.99 + $5.95 S&H, some sellers do .99cents + $14.95 (or whatever).

With these new eBay policies, the buyer has a lot more power to adversely affect the sellers overall rating and thus change where the sellers items appear in the eBay listing when searched for. The more negative marks the less exposure eBay will give to their listings.

quote:

just wanting a way to rally the 'buyer' base in the hopes they would send emails to eBay in some sort of protest for the sellers

Hi Timothy, what would be the incentive for a buyer to do this, they will only lose out when a large number of sellers walk out and the remaining hold them to ransom.

Meanwhile the buyers will have a deck of aces, effbay the bank and we (sellers) are open season for the minority group of auction vandals and thieves

quote:

some sellers do .99cents + $14.95

and get hammered on DSR, no they have that one covered.

Just came from the DB and Answer Center over there...Use this link people, and tell them what you think (some folks over there have sent 10 emails and are still sending!)

http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/suggest.html

It certainly can't hurt..we deserve better than this. Actually even tho the fees are bad enough, the more I read about the ramifications of FB, the more I think THAT is what will be Ebay's downfall...

Ebay got slammed hard this morning, down almost 3%. Good, maybe it will make them come to their senses. They did the exact opposite of what they should have done. They traded short term profits at the expense of long term customers. You don't boost business by increasing prices, you do it by lowering them and remaining competitive in an increasingly global marketplace.

Hi Ms M, posted my suggestion, all polite and logical regarding equal feedback rights for sellers and buyers.

Not point in blasting them with expletives they will just disperse the electrons even quicker.

quote:

Originally posted by member_8880:
Just came from the DB and Answer Center over there...Use this link people, and tell them what you think (some folks over there have sent 10 emails and are still sending!)

http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/suggest.html

It certainly can't hurt..we deserve better than this. Actually even tho the fees are bad enough, the more I read about the ramifications of FB, the more I think THAT is what will be Ebay's downfall...

I just sent mine in. I kept it simple and sweet. Let's hope we crash their mail server!! LOL well not really, but lets get it hot! Thanks Ms. M for the link.

I hope everyone takes 5 min to click on the link and send a very simple and professional protest.

What's the point? Do you think this is the first time there has been a rate increase or some other thing that upset sellers? I've been selling 11 years on eBay, and believe me, it isn't. There have been "boycotts" in the past (they worked real well), angry sellers, petitions, email campaigns, and so on. eBay doesn't care for your opinion - never did, never will. The emails will make no difference, not if there are a million of them or you crash the mail server. Decisions are made, and they ARE gonna stay. How would eBay look to investors if they backed down? Would you invest in them?

All these sellers who are posting in various comment boards, forums, etc, is just venting. nothing's going to change. "I'm leaving and never coming back!!!" yea, right. "This is the final straw". Sure, heard it before.

The ONLY fact is eBay is a greedy monopolistic bastard. There is no real competition. They can get away with anything, just like Microsoft did, until the Gov't pulled them down. But there's no competition here. Nobody to file. eBay does not care about you. They only care about Wall Street and their stockholders, just like any other public company. They exist to make money for their investors. Face it, the money comes from you, and they want more of it.

We should all buy some $.01 - $.99 items and leave negative feedback for sellers. Eventually eBay will have to do something about this problem. This is the worst idea eBay has had yet. Wow!! We the sellers are the people that keep them in business and make eBay what it is today. Now they're going to punish us for it?¿? I won't stand for it. I'll go elsewhere. Overstock.com is probably going to have a lot more sellers soon. Yeah Overstock sucks in some ways. And they don't have the support that eBay had at one time, but their fees sure are a lot cheaper. AND, you can't get suspended for poor feedback there. Worst that could happen is you lose sales due to people seeing your poor feedback. Man I'm so p.o.'d at eBay right now!!

My Ebay opinion.

Ebay is a smart company. They need to make money to be in business and they will do what that takes. In the meantime they have to assess what kinds of things they have done historically to bring the price of products sold to such low levels of pricing. I said it all along Ebay became Cheap Bay. You could buy some of my stuff cheaper there, than on my website.

I think Ebay is in the process of pricing foolish Ebay sellers out of the market. They do not want anymore .99 auctions. They do not want anymore items being sold at such cheap prices. Serves no one in the money making process. Example: Before the lastes round of news, with meg, and price changes, I looked at my business plan and decided to make changes. The number one change is I cannot keep selling my items for the same price. So I started raising them up here and there. The outcome is my gross is slowly increasing because of a number of factors. My competition cannot afford to maintain their inventory load and I'm still selling to new buyers that are buying from other sellers to get a higher feedback. One note though is this. Ebay is beginning to screen its sellers through all the new changes to give them preferential leads to making more money through increased exposure.

Many of you serious sellers should have started work on your websites when Ebay had made changes the last time. I still use Ebay to farm new customers to my website. My average sale on my website is 58.00 per invoice. On ebay its about 12.00 and my gross on Ebay is very low compared to what I used to make. Part of Ebays fee raising is also because many sellers did diversify just like I did and Ebay themselves did to keep up their income.

Learn to roll with the punches and not cast aspersions on any of your seller venues.

quote:

I still use Ebay to farm new customers to my website.

That is the way I am moving and treat reduced profit there as an advertising investment

not sure who said it but we as buyers need to work smarter. it is not going to change so we need to change with it and make it work for us as sellers! best of luck to all.

might give me the kick I need to get my own site up and running!

quote:

Originally posted by Daddyo:I think Ebay is in the process of pricing foolish Ebay sellers out of the market. They do not want anymore .99 auctions. They do not want anymore items being sold at such cheap prices. Serves no one in the money making process.

If that's their intention they aren't doing a very good job at it. Lower insertion fees and higher FVF are simply going to mean more garbage, and people will valuable items will go elsewhere. Instead they should have raised insertion fees and lowered FVF. That way they price all the cheap stuff out and keep the good.

quote:

Originally posted by JeffS:

quote:

For one, I think I have decided that as of Feb. 20th, 2008, my company will no longer leave feedback to buyers...period. In protest to eBay. I will clearly state this in all my auctions at the top.

What do you all think of my 'protest' idea listed above about feedback?

I think you're leaving yourself open to the newbie buyer to leave you a neutral or negative stating "Refuses to leave me feedback".

And then what are you going to do about it?

If enough people leave it as a negative, you are automatically kicked off. Suspended.

Yea, great idea.

Better idea: Don't leave the feedback, just don't advertise it.

Jeff. NOT a GREAT idea!! You would open yourself up to untold Neg.s, Which would leave yourself open to being suspended. All the while you could be having 100's of fair and even GREAT transactions and still be kicked off of E-Bay.
I think you should give this IDEA some more thought.

quote:

Originally posted by JeffS:
What's the point? Do you think this is the first time there has been a rate increase or some other thing that upset sellers? I've been selling 11 years on eBay, and believe me, it isn't.

I've been selling 11 also. 10 under this ID and 11 under another ID. I've been selling as long as Daddyo and you. (giving ya'll a nod)

Every year there are the same rants and threats from sellers. Sellers leave for a week or month or even past summer. But then the months go by and the fall and winter heavy selling period comes and sellers come back.

JeffS and DaddyO, I believe this is far different than any other year fee changes due to the addition of changes to FB and more.
The feedback is a major kicker to sellers.

My prediction is: Amazon is going to have migration this year in higher numbers.

My advice: Get your website up and running. Tie it to an ECrater Store or BISI Store or BluJay etc where listing is free. Divert your customers via link in your email signature to your website. Offer coupons to return customer purchases from your website.

On your own website you can at least accept Google Checkout which fee's are less than PP. Or you're own merchant account.

The rants will continue, the protests will happen and the cycle will continue next year when they do the same thing.

Gosh, I miss the old days of eBay when it was easy to sell everything. Sometimes even without pics. <sigh>

quote:

Originally posted by Mrrek:
Jeff. NOT a GREAT idea!! You would open yourself up to untold Neg.s,

MRREK:

Go back and re-read. It was NOT my idea. I was responding the the person whose idea it was basically telling him the same thing you're trying to tell me.

It is NOT a good idea.

If you want to protest, and not leave feedback, then just don't leave feedback. Just don't advertise it.

well.... Missy-M did give this striper a bit of a start with that tempting apple(!?). Yumm! [You're such a tease!]
So yes, I've been 'out' for several days (not exactly skeered-off!)....and there's no doubt I've missed a *bunch* of yer mischief !

But the truth is..I've been quite busy scrambling to re-think and resuscitate my (nearly dead) game plan for becoming a seller. Because of the radical changes in ebay's fb & fees etc.(muy bad idea!) -- I've been fervently studying all the backlash posts from others like ya'll (seasoned sellers)...on a variety of other sites and boards! This has *dramatically* affected the way I view and calculate any thoughts of selling. Sadly (very sadly!), I've been forced to conclude ebay would likely NOT make it on my short-list of venues to consider. Such an irony too, cuz I also feel quite fortunate to NOT be in a position (like many of you) of having to deal with a bunch of existing inventory (sorry M ). I even caught JeffS's 2-bits worth on the torrent of 'comments' over at auctionbytes. BTW Jeff..you also reminded me of another WHO favorite..."won't get fooled again!"

Just very depressed (because i'm new..and impressionable)... to witness all the veteran's ire out there on the web via their angry reactions. Sure gives us newbies something to think about! And so... I've been doing just that! -Thinking, and re-Thinking all my previous assumptions..about EVERYTHING related to ebay selling!). --Pretty bummed-out overall !!

As of today!... I'm not at all confident I'll press-on with my previous notions of try'n to become a seller on ebay. Probably will keep my 8yr-old userid...but only for occassional purchases (maybe!). But even then, there are plenty of other sources for the things I might sometimes look to buy. --- I just wonder how many other new folks there are out there (like me) who absolutely LOVE the Auctiva Tools and Community...but are now *seriously* reconsidering the whole idea of selling on ebay.

And AJ?..this recent turn of events must surely have at least some kind of bearing on Auctiva's interests as well ! Now obviously a "no-response" from Auctiva is quite understandable. But those with any awareness at all...can easily smell the scent in the air..ya' know? Of course you do! (((You see, the folks around here are pretty damned bright! But even some of the dimmer ones like myself..are nevertheless aware of how posts like this can ultimately serve to irritate you & your crew ))).

I gotta' tell ya'..how much I appreciate the opportunity to learn from everyone! My HEARTFELT thanks to Lusty-eyes, Shadeax, JeffS,Choo, 9thWave, and so many others here! Oh yeah and thank-You Taz! Couldn't forget you..could I? Just wish you (& JeffS) wouldn't keep sugar-coating your valuable opinions and input!

Try to keep 'em under control (if you can) missy-M !
-- How about ummm... maybe let's try.. an Orange! ?

Hi Zebra, actually effbay in my opinion would still be a good one to cut your teeth on despite it's significant annoyances, well up to May 2008 anyway with the tools and the like available here.

And with any luck Auctiva may get going independently in the near future so hopefully skills in using thier tools would have been acquried ready for that great event.

The problem with many other sites and effbay knows that, is that everyone knows effbay, few know any others and as a consequence the sell through rate, ie the quantity of items that sell when listed is low so you could end with stock sitting around for a long time with multple relists.

There is wide variety of approaches to charging by the many other sites and some have select range of wares e.g. antiques, art etc which could be advantageous.

A look at the powersellersunite site gives links to quite a few online sites and is worth a look, they also show stats for the qty of listings live on several sites. But be aware just because they have 1000's of listings just check out the profiles of sellers on those sites to get an idea of how much they have actually sold per month takng into account the quality of thier listings and prices.

Hope that helps a little, time for zzzzzz here in the UK.

Thanks for the nod again Southernjewel.
I had gotten my first computer in 98. I didn't know how to turn it on. So I pushed the big button. From there it was a process of learning about smart computer usage. I had every intention of turning it into a money generating machine the day I bought it. While most scramble around the net picking up fleas, I control a world of my making, just like a few others on here. Giving a nod to Southernjewel also.

Just like the world wide web (www.) is one big linking system. Your business world needs to be the same thing.

It doesn't really matter how outrageous Ebay gets, they will eventually price themselves out of the market. Maybe even make a few people happy with a crash out. But even though Ebay is currently my highest priced venue, it is still in second place behind my retail website. I have 2 retail websites and 1 wholesale website. I sell on amazon and my gross there went up substantially this year. I also sell on ecrater. some of the money dribbles in some comes in rapidly as in my retail website.

I recently as of last fall developed a new user identity on ebay. I come across a lot of collectible and antique items of interest and tried selling this kind of thing for a little over a month. Without much effort, I brought in about $300 per month easily.

In finality, I cannot fault Ebay because they taught me how to build a webpage and the realization that I can have linked webpages all over the internet. Currently I have about 700 pages on the www. advertising items for sale. These in turn generate hits that translate into sales and seller identity.

Hopefully everyone finds the workarounds they need to deal with Ebay and find some solace in their money making endevours.

Jeff, thanks so much for posting such clear information and showing us just what lies ahead. I am so disheartened right now. I'm not a power seller but I do sell a lot, and it's helping me to pay for my daughter's wedding. Thanks, I didn't think it would come down to this. Guess I am very naive

Isn't Ebay biting the hand that feeds them? I mean, nothing for sale... means no buyers. On the other hand, perhaps Ebay has done this to their sellers enough time to know that the only negative impact it is going to have on them is additional whining. Most of us seem to bear the increases and carry on regardless.

eCrater.com is free to list your items and you can accept Google Checkout as your payment option instead of PayPal which is owned by eBay. eCrater also posts your items in the shopping area of Google which is, again, free.

To accept Google Checkout payments, all you have to do is set up a merchant account. There's no monthly fee and their transaction fees are better than PayPal.

To be honest, I don't know why people refuse to pull lock, stock and barrel out of eBay. Every 6 months it's the same thing, higher fees, screwing the sellers, etc. when the sellers are the ones who pay those idiot executives' salaries.

Just stop complaining about it and do something about it. I quit selling on eBay 2 years ago and while I don't sell the same number of things, my profits are much higher because I don't have all those fees. And you also don't have all the whiny people complaining about every little nit-picky thing.

Tell ya what, anyone who wants to set up their own ecommerce store, let me know. All it takes is Google Checkout and a website capable of running osCommerce (you can get one of those for about $5 a month). I'll charge you $500 (one time setup fee) to set up the store and show you how to insert the items into it. Basically, if you know how to use Microsoft Word, you can write your descriptions, insert pictures, etc. How many of you folks are shelling out $500 a month to greedBay?

Or, like I said, have a look at eCrater.com. Free service, just a little more limited than osCommerce.

I really don't think it's in sellers best interests to dump ebay. Ecrater has 0.4% the traffic ebay does according to alexa. Ebay is the 21st most trafficked site in the world. It's a goliath. Overstock only does 1% the business ebay does (their CEO has said he would be happy with 2% over a couple years). Amazon? Forget about it, their fees are even higher than ebay's.

I agree with you on setting up an Ecommerce store, but most people who sell on ebay don't have the time or money to invest in that. I think it's important to diversify, not abandon altogether.

Geoff

quote:

Originally posted by ebay_sucks:
Tell ya what, anyone who wants to set up their own ecommerce store, let me know. All it takes is Google Checkout and a website capable of running osCommerce (you can get one of those for about $5 a month). I'll charge you $500 (one time setup fee) to set up the store and show you how to insert the items into it.

"Posts: 1 | Registered: February 04, 2008"

Seems like an awfully self-serving post, don'tcha think?

Especially since you just registered here and it's your first post, using an "interesting" user name.

There's no traffic at the other sites, and it all depends on WHAT you sell. My items would not work any other place than eBay and I don't have the time, patience, or energy to experiment elsewhere.

Ecrater has the ability to allow you the seller to continue using Paypal along with using Google Checkout.

Best of luck,
Donna

quote:

Originally posted by ebay_sucks:

Tell ya what, anyone who wants to set up their own ecommerce store, let me know. All it takes is Google Checkout and a website capable of running osCommerce (you can get one of those for about $5 a month). I'll charge you $500 (one time setup fee) to set up the store and show you how to insert the items into it.
osCommerce.

With a little bit of studying on our members part, a ecommerce store can be set up themselves.

There are message boards that will walk you thru step by step..inserting the shopping cart etc.

Please take the time to look these up and weigh the options before paying someone to do this for you.

quote:

Originally posted by Suthrnjewl:
With a little bit of studying on our members part, a ecommerce store can be set up themselves.

I do believe that message was a troll.

Oh yes indeed Jeff...can we say 'capitilize'

BtW I agree entirely with your first post..I too have items that can't really be sold anywhere other than Ebay (believe me I've looked).