eBay Raises Fees Again. Insertion fees this time.

I was just comin here to post the link.
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200701.shtml#2007-01-03144839

I agree wholeheartedly with your statement to Bill.

Yep Donna, they take more if you don't sell the item, and take even more if you do. Crafty.

Maybe we should rephrase Bill's statement as follows:

"Let me say that, while we believe these changes are modest, we consider any changes that may impact our sellers with great care. These adjustments are the result of careful analysis, and we believe they're the right thing to do to keep the STOCK strong for our eBay and eBay Motors INVESTERS."

I also want to know what "unhealthy dynamics in the eBay marketplace" are exactly? Some kind of eBay double talk or what?

Let me tell Bill Cobb that the "dynamics" in my eBay Store and auctions are severely "unhealthy", almost to the point where I'm gonna need to call paramedics or the nearest funeral home!

Bonnie.
My Etsy Store
My eBay Store
My Blog

eBay Buyers and eBay Sellers
I know that most of my friends in the e-commerce had received the following letter but I still wanted to share it with all of you anyways because this will eventually affect the buyer;

From: eBay Seller Central

Date: 01/04/07 03:52:13

Subject: A Message from Bill Cobb: eBay.com and eBay Motors Fee Adjustments



Dear (Seller's ID)

An important part of any business strategy is the regular evaluation of pricing structure. From time to time, we make pricing changes to correct unhealthy dynamics in the eBay marketplace, as was the case last July. Typically, however, we make changes on an annual basis at the beginning of the year.

Today, I'm here to tell you about fee adjustments for eBay.com and eBay Motors which go into effect on January 30, 2007.

Let me say that, while we believe these changes are modest, we consider any changes that may impact our sellers with great care. These adjustments are the result of careful analysis and we believe they're the right thing to do to keep the marketplace strong for our eBay.com and eBay Motors sellers.





A Successful Online Holiday Shopping Season
As I've said many times, one of our most important jobs here at eBay is ensuring that we're driving buyers to the site. This online holiday shopping season was a big success, and I want to acknowledge the outstanding efforts this last quarter from our marketing team led by Gary Briggs. Our integrated "IT" campaign performed well for the second year in a row, reaching our targeted shoppers an average of 13 times per person.

Of course, our shelves need to be well-stocked when the buyers arrive, so these results are testament to the partnership we have with our dedicated sellers. We can all be proud of our joint success in pleasing shoppers with whatever "IT" was this season.

I think you'll find we're taking a surprisingly fresh look at some of the old challenges, and I'm excited about the road ahead.

On behalf of everyone at eBay, I wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Bill Cobb
President, eBay North America



Please lets review carefully this letter:

-They review pricing every year but yet mentioned that last July they had raised the fees to the sellers. How is this going to impact the sellers with "great care"?

-Very successful campaign on TV adds and everywhere on the internet about the "it" and where to find it. We the sellers have to reimburse the money they spent on the campaign?That is what it looks like when fees are being raised again in a period of six months.

-And yet they expect our shelves to be fully stocked.



I am not a marketing analyst but I can put one and one together. I am not the smartest woman or I would had owned ebay by now but this affects everyone. The sellers finds a product, bring it to eBay for the consumer and the seller NOT always makes a profit , depending on the product. The consumer wants a bargain and of course goes to get "it" on eBay. If sellers are paying more to market the product on eBay and pay a final value fee in order to make a profit, the seller has to bring the price up.

That was not hard, was it?

Ok, what will be next in line...?

You are the consumer, see that I am selling a product that "it" is not a bargain, you will not buy "it".

Last July a movement started on eBay which it has been kept in the dark by many. I am letting you in. More and more eBay sellers are going away to other venues. Many had had to open their own websites, sell on Yahoo, Overstock.com, eCrater.com and many others due to the high costs to try to make a living offering products to you, the consumer.

But yet, Tv advertisement will send you to eBay to get "it" and we are going to go to eBay for that bargain. Then here it goes, it is affecting the eBay seller as well as the eBay consumer.

I will leave it up to all of you but please do some searches. many have pages on myspace and are friends of friends of friends to all of us. We are here for you and will try our best too give you a better price on your product. None of us want to raise our prices.

Check my friends and their friends and you will find your favorite sellers right here!

This might be the wrong place to ask but I want to know is there any benefit to listing via ebay stores? I think the final value fee for the regular listings 5.25% up to 25.00 and 3% on the rest over 25.00. The listing fees are a bit less my average is about 1.00 a listing give or take. But the fees add up quickly that is for sure. It just seems that to pay a monthly fee pay a higher final sale fee for the sake of being able to have "inventory" and 30 listings might not work for what I have been selling. Having said that I am a tad freaked out by my 534.00 invoice I just got for my december fees! (but I did sell a lot) Any input would be appreciated.

This simply goes to show that we are nothing more than eBay's trained monkeys. We work hard to list and sell our items, and eBay siphons more and more each year. The profit is marginal already, why must they keep taking more? It's not at all about securing the seller's market; all that matters is maintaining the stock. They get richer with each item we sell to just get by, and now we have to sell even more to just get by. The service eBay provides is excellent, but they are still a corporation now, and the individual consumer is of little concern.

It's all about securing the INVESTERS. Sellers mean nothing.

eBay sucks. They are greedy bastards.

quote:

eBay sucks. They are greedy bastards.

http://www.omidyar.net

quote:

We believe every individual
has the power to make a difference.

We exist for one single purpose:
So that more and more people discover their own
power to make good things happen.

We are actively building a network of participants,
because we know we can't do this alone.

We invite you to learn more about us
and some of the people we're working with.

Do you believe?

quote:

Originally posted by RedBatRecords:
This simply goes to show that we are nothing more than eBay's trained monkeys.

Speak for yourself! When eBay no longer serves my needs I'll no longer sell there.

ebay no longer serves my need, I no longer sell there

The only reason I can come out with a nice profit on ebay is because the items I'm currently selling I acquired for very little or nothing, and sell for a lot. If I was selling items that had a low profit margin in the first place...well, it would be a no-profit margin.

Just get your own website and spend the money you normally would pay eBay for their consumer base and advertise your website. Basically, for those whose profit margins are very tight, this is about the only alternative. Of course, there's Amazon with their .99 and up to 15% fee. There's eCrator, they're free but slow.

Or get a real life brick and mortar site. Pay some landlord rent, then the utilities and whatever insurance that's required and yadda, yadda. That's real life watching for sales. Yep, sitting in the store week in and week out. Yippie.....................

Aside from creating and advertising the heck out of your own website there are limited 'real' options. That's just the way it is. eBay IS greedy. No surprise, most corporations are. It's the nature of the beast, the American way. Sad but true.

A merchant has to tap dance to the ever changing landscape known as eBay or move on. For sellers with slim profit margins, eBay I imagine would be scary. If this is the case, depending on the inventory, it might be time to sell something new. Something to consider.

In my mind, the worst thing eBay did to sellers in a long time was raising the gallery fee. Now that my friends was sticking it to us but good! The .35 gallery charge is outrageous! Of course, everyone uses it. It really is too bad we couldn't get a huge percentage of sellers to refuse to use gallery until it was lowered to a reasonable fee. This is the evil let out of the eBay box that is costing everyone A LOT of bank.

The .05 doesn't really affect me. I list all BIN/BO listing over $9.99. I rarely do auctions anymore. I've learned they're inferior for what I'm selling. My average sale is under $50.00. So, I lucked out on this last hike. I'm thinking a store increase is coming this summer. If one does come, they had better offer AMAZING options for me to stay. As it is now, I plan on getting a website. I have to build a customer base first, and so on.

All I know is this, I buy most of my items for .99 cents and I sell them on average for $20 or so. I know of no place else to do it with the same coverage other than, eBay. For all their BS, it is still the place for me.

My 2 cents.

quote:

Originally posted by Magie Noire:

Aside from creating and advertising the heck out of your own website there are limited 'real' options.

That's just the way it is. eBay IS greedy. No surprise, most corporations are. It's the nature of the beast, the American way. Sad but true.

A merchant has to tap dance to the ever changing landscape known as eBay or move on.

In my mind, the worst thing eBay did to sellers in a long time was raising the gallery fee. Now that my friends was sticking it to us but good! The .35 gallery charge is outrageous! Of course, everyone uses it. It really is too bad we couldn't get a huge percentage of sellers to refuse to use gallery until it was lowered to a reasonable fee. This is the evil let out of the eBay box that is costing everyone A LOT of bank.

The .05 doesn't really affect me. I list all BIN/BO listing over $9.99. I rarely do auctions anymore. I've learned they're inferior for what I'm selling. My average sale is under $50.00. So, I lucked out on this last hike. I'm thinking a store increase is coming this summer.

If one does come, they had better offer AMAZING options for me to stay. As it is now, I plan on getting a website. I have to build a customer base first, and so on.

All I know is this, I buy most of my items for .99 cents and I sell them on average for $20 or so. I know of no place else to do it with the same coverage other than, eBay. For all their BS, it is still the place for me.

My 2 cents.

Good to see you Mags. I was thinking of dropping you a Happy New Year Good Luck email...but time got away from me.

I'm in complete agreeance. Most of the items I sell are a pennance and the closing price well covers the cost of my sales and store. The nickel doesn't hurt but the dadgum gallery fee is bending us over and they know it.

HOWEVER...the summer will bring store rate increases and you know it, doncha? eBay=LSOSBs.

Mags...get that Googlecheckout account up and running. Free for the year 2007 to accept payments. AND Google has now set up searches first with sales that accept Googlecheckout.

So if you build your own website...you're Gucci Suit blah blah blah will come up first due to your acceptance of Googlecheck as versus your eBay auction for the same item.

In the meantime, make an html page with your Googlecheckout so you can personalize each invoice. AND if your customer needs to be invoiced...ahhhhhhhhhhhh....send em a Googlecheckout. Save the Paypal fees and line your pocket.

The checkout process with eBay whose to know how you invoice your customers, right? You just can't advertize that you accept it..noway, nohow as you know.

Thanks for the two cents and nice to see you.

Someone on ASM was looking for a GPS system and was sent Mike's/SPOs way..hope he got the sale.

My Best,
Donna

quote:

We believe every individual
has the power to make a difference.

Do you believe?

Jeff: NO, I don't believe. I've heard that mantra for almost ten years now that we sellers have the power to bring eBay down. BS. You can't break this monopoly. You have to live with it, and be angry with it. There is no cure for it other than to stop selling. I unfortunately need ebay to make the extra dollars I make. I get annoyed when they penny pinch me and take more when it is totally un-necessary for them to do so.

quote:

In my mind, the worst thing eBay did to sellers in a long time was raising the gallery fee. Now that my friends was sticking it to us but good! The .35 gallery charge is outrageous! Of course, everyone uses it.

Bravo for that. It is outrageous, and eBay is laughing all the way to the bank! Look at listings. I'd say 90% of the listings I see have the gallery image. Apparently people don't care that their listing costs 70 cents. I like the sellers who list something for $10 and have 8 eBay hosted images, and each image also has the supersize option! These people obviously have no idea what this is costing them. I can hear eBay laughing.
Gallery is something that should just be standard, as in free.

I'm looking into the Google Checkout and just noticed they have finally begun something similar to an ebay competition, in their Google Base. I'm creating an account there right now. I'm curious, has anyone had luck with this program yet? Similar to the Google Checkout, the advertising appears to be free for the basic services. I'm not sure, would you be able to link directly back to your Auctiva Store with Google Base? Would there be much of an advantage to that other than giving Auctiva worthy exposure? The use of "attributes" and the general look of the program is a bit confusing but shows promise. Lastly, for those who may be using the service, have you noticed Google sharing "too much" personal information?

An interesting take on the new eBay fee hike...

eBay Fee Increase: Do Something About It

Bonnie.Website: JustBon Crochet Designs