eBay yesterday announced a major shake up in its fee structure in an attempt to revitalize their core auction business.
Amazon surpassed eBay in US traffic in December for the first time according to Nielsen, and growth rates on eBay have been either static or minimal over the last two to three years.
Under the changes, eBay will slash listing fees by up to 50%, but in turn will increase its commission on items that do sell. Extras such as including photos with listing will now be offered for free. eBay will also increase fees on specific items, including goods sold for less that $25 to 8.75%, a 67% increase according to AP.
An example of the new price structure:
selling a purse at auction for $25 would have cost the seller $1.91, including 60 cents for listing the item plus eBay’s commission of $1.31. Under the new structure, the seller would pay $2.74, including 55 cents to list the item plus a higher commission of $2.19.
Another AP report suggests that eBay sellers are not happy about the changes, with one eBay user saying that “It looks like what they are trying to do with the fees is make it more difficult and expensive to sell low-end items. The people that are selling low-end items are going to feel this fee increase the most.”
comScore stats show that eBay still retains a lead of Amazon (graph right) but the gap is closing. Amazon has continued to build a non-auction based alternative to eBay, complete with independent sellers and a used items marketplace that has seen solid growth at Amazon at a rate eBay simply hasn’t matched. With new leadership at eBay after the announcement of long term CEO Meg Whitman’s retirement this announcement will likely be the first of more to come as eBay looks to find growth from what is still one of the leading Ecommerce providers on the planet.
Where are the alternatives for the low-end sellers, particularly for those us who live in countries without the presence of Craigslist or equivalent? No one has reach quite like eBay. I’d love to have more than one place to offload my junk to someone else but at the moment I’m pretty much stuck with eBay.
The “slashed” listing fees are actually reduced about 15% on average. The only listing fee that is being discounted 50% is for $25 items listed in a store, and you’re saving a whole 5 cents.
Sellers are not happy. Like always, eBay is raising fees while offsetting it with a small discount elsewhere. There are also other anti-seller changes coming, like the removal of a sellers ability to leave negative feedback for a buyer. They’re basically taking more money while poking us with a stick.
I’m sure that sellers will return in droves.
I don’t understand what they’re trying to do. Anyway, ebay just sucks anyhow
I’d be happy to see sellers bail from eBay. Maybe there are just too many now?
Over the last few months, I’ve looked for products on eBay a number of times and wound up going elsewhere because many buyers seem to be trying to make more money with very hefty S&H charges. Seeing many $15-$25 S&H charges for lightweight, smaller products is a real turn-off for me. These are products where many brick & mortar or catalog companies would charge $6-$10 S&H!
What a joke. 11% of your sales will now be just in ebay fees. Take paypal? Oh crud another 4%! 15% of a $25 sale will go TOWARDS FEES. Good job Meg on jumping ship with a golden parachute, eBay SUCKS.
I’ve always found Facebook Marketplace to be an excellent alternative for individuals looking to sell small, low-cost items. In many cases delivery would be free, and you get the attention of those who know you (and can thus make a direct appeal to them). Plus, it’s free.
eBay’s move is just going to hurt small sellers and discourage individuals from listing items there. It is deceptive marketing.
It sucks when you’re dependant on a service and suddenly the provider decides to change the rules without any consideration to it’s partners and customers.
Who knows, this might be an opportunity for an alternative auction site to grab some of eBay’s market share .. or even for new tools to help sellers run their own auctions without depending on a centralised service provider.
Ebay does realize that , it does not have the monopoly advantage any more.
http://www.jhatak.com
Blazing Fast Internet Web Meetings : Free
I think I am going to use Ebay listings to send people to my Robomower reviews. At the bottom of the page I am going to offer a 5% discount if they buy it directly from my website.
Ebay makes money off the listing fees and my customer save the final sales fees.
Ultimately the profit is to be made to keep the business alive.
http://tekno-wo...ld.blogspot.com
I think the worse part of the whole ebay thing is sellers will only be allowed to leave buyers positive feed back. I don’t know where they thought that was a good idea…or any of the changes for that matter.
Ebay is smart because there are appearing to help sellers but in actuality it’s making them more money. Higher final values fees? Whats with the free gallery pics, like thats going to make a difference! It actually keeps the ebay listings alot cleaner and more appealing for ebay. It’s all about having leverage and ebay can do whatever they want because they have leverage!
For buyers, I guess it doesn’t matter. There are tools out there to help you get cheap auctions.
I recently used typobuy (http://www.typobuy.com) and was able to score a pretty cheap misspelled car speaker. CHECK IT OUT!
@12 – That was the most shameless plug ever. At least try to be more slick about it.
eBay is setting themselves up to be disrupted. They can only go down from here.
Actually for people selling things under a dollar, it will actually save them money assuming they paid for the gallery feature before. $1.00-$9.99 break even. I work out the numbers on my blog -> http://www.russ...-mixed-results/
The fact of the matter is Amazon provides a much better shopping experience which would explain their growth surge past eBay.
I use/d both ebay and amazon for online sales. I have around 15k in sales a month. Amazon accounts for 75% of my sales and half/ebay accounted for 15%.
I actually stopped selling on ebay because I had sales of 300$ in one period and Ebay charged me 90$. That is 30 frickin %.
Amazon has no insertion fee, while ebay has an insertion fee fper item, and it expires in 30 days, so you have to pay a new insertion fee after that period. Amazon charges 40$ a month and so does ebay.
Granted Amazon screws you on the other side with a 15% commission, while ebay is less. Nevertheless Amazon is finding me customers in Germany, Switzerland, Idaho, etc… Ebay wasn’t getting me the same customers.
Not sure about them revamping it like this; I quit doing ebay because by the time I found what I wanted for the price I wanted; postage ended up putting the price over what Icould buy it for somewhere else NEW. So, until shipping gets better I won’t be going back no matter what they do.
Count me among those who think Amazon is the new eBay. Prices aren’t that competitive, service is inconsistent, and the shipping wild card… Just for fun, I thought I ’d revisit eBay and see what kind of deals I skipped out on by searching for the last few items I ordered on Amazon:
http://www.tech...till-no-amazon/
Guys, ebay is trying to drive away some sellers — the annoying ones who get in stupid fights with buyers. Sells who charge too much for “handling.” Sellers who refuse to leave feedback unless they get positive feedback. Sellers who don’t take dispute resolution seriously. Ebay is better off without those people.
Otherwise, it’s much ado about nothing. Every time ebay changes it fees, there’s a small army of self-important sellers who announce they’re leaving ebay. Ebay manages without them, and most of them come crawling back.
The problem is –
– They could have made a huge splash, 20x larger than this one – if they would have reduced rates across the board.
– They have been stuck in this ‘false’ bait and switch style for the last 10 years.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the bump in pricing… not that I care for it, but sometimes it has to happen. What I don’t like about the seller leaving negative feedback change is that it really hurts the used goods market on ebay. The problem is that you can’t force a buyer to read a description. Even if something is described perfectly, if they don’t read it before they buy, then complain to the seller, the seller is forced to eat part of the transaction or else risk a negative with no penalty for the buyer for not doing their part in the first place. A buyer who doesn’t read first is a bad buyer and should be noted as such. I think feedback should be left by both parties before either feedback is visible or counted. The only way to grow your positive feedback is to leave feedback and hope the other person does too. That gives everyone incentive to leave feedback, and eliminates retaliatory negatives.
If eBay runs off all the used sellers with this new feedback system, then it becomes nothing but a stagnant puddle breeding mosquitos of cheap knock off items sold in massive quantities for more than they’re worth AND with stoopid shipping and handling fees. (stoopid S&H is going to rise anyway with the new pricing) I hardly ever use ebay to look for items any more because I have to wade through pages of new knock offs to find a few instances of the actual item I’m hoping to find used.
While it is important to improve the seller’s experience, it is doubly important to improve it for the buyers. When you have a population of confident buyers, knowing they will not be ripped off, ready to spend their hard earned bucks, the sellers will be there.
I buy and sell small stuff on ebay, and I got burned several times by buyers not understanding that an item is AS IS, and they wait 20 days after delivery to say they want $ back.
No way to give neg feedback by a seller?
Higher fees, and feedback over 12 months not counting towards %?
It was bad as it was someone gave me retaliation bad feedback two months ago and I was put on the “red list” after I bought a knock off MP3 player that clearly did not work.
So much for my over seven years with ebay and 530+ 99.4% feedback.
As with any fee/tax increase, this is just going to drive up prices to the end consumers, even if those additional charges are masked as S&H. Trying to maximize profits like this at the ultimate expense of market share is a clear sign that eBay is in trouble.
If Amazon is making inroads, they should be playing aggressively, not taking this defensive “make the most out of what’s left” stance.
it is cheaper to loose the small items + send some staff away AND at the same time earn much more on the valuable items
@johns – sellers charge higher prices for shipping to offset the fees that they would have to pay eBay in commissions. So rather than selling something for $60 with $10 shipping, they’ll sell it for $40 with $20 shipping. You’re still paying the same amount, just less of it is going to eBay via commission.
I fucking hate ebay! I havent used them in 5 years.
thanks god!
One need only read the Feedback Discussion Forum on eBay to gauge the reaction to eBay’s changes. Sellers are outraged. eBay has imposed strict rules on sellers that demand they accept PayPal if their FB is under 100. Additionally, any seller deemed to sell “risky” items, could have their PayPal payments withheld for up to 21 days if they don’t leave positive feedback for the buyer. In fact, Sellers can’t leave anyting but positive feedback for sellers anymore putting sellers at the mercy of buyers who may feel they were overcharged for shipping and handling, might have buyer’s remorse, or for any reason. Sellers who leave no FB risk having their funds held up to 21 days. I invite any news agency to visit the Feedback Board, and judge for themselves who stands to benefit here. PayPal and eBay will make millions on the 21 days of interest for held funds. Supply will outpace demand as more sellers stop selling thus driving up prices of goods and, increasing the final value fees that ebay has raised. The slashing of fees mentioned applies to insertion (listing) fees only. Final value fees are being raised. The eBay discussion forum is here:
http://forums.e...spa?forumID=113
we’ve had a discussion or two about this lately.
a pair of $125 jeans sold on ebay now costs the seller $7.69 (in comparison to the old fee of $6.56)
This news just makes Web services like Boxaroo look really attractive for sellers — flat fee and cheap shipping.
boxaroo has 29 feedbacks dude. man, that looks like a successful business.
eBay has become a horrible snake pit that ensures sellers close deals so they can collect their fees. I highly recommend people take a look at sites like http://tfieds.com for FREE listings of collectibles and such.
eBay is raising final value fees? Hmm. As an eBay affiliate, does that mean that my commissions will be higher?
I sold on Amazon, and got to pay a heft fee in the end. I sold a book that I brought from them, and they took 15%.
I am not sure Amazon is a better alternative, infact I am more afraid of Amazon as it is not fixed fee, but a proration.
I sold some stuff on ebay, their search sucks. But I did get some some good bargains due to the auction format.
Honestly who sells eBay items for under a dollar? Even if you have everything automated, it still can’t be profitable. eBay is a dreadful site, dreadful shopping experience, and really pretty worthless. But it’s the only place out there.
For people that complain about high shipping costs, realize that sellers jac up their shipping costs because eBay doesn’t charge a commission off those. So rather than sell something for $20 with a $5 shipping charge, the seller marks it down to $10 with a $15 shipping charge. Then the seller only pays commission on the $10.
I invite any news agency to visit the Feedback Board, and judge for themselves who stands to benefit here.
@26 weeeee – That would be OK with me if the $40 price was a better deal than buying from a store (known entity). But too often on ebay, the prices aren’t any better than I can find elsewhere. If I can buy that item for $40 or $45 elsewhere with $10 S&H, I will because in the end, I am never sure that I will be able to find the eBay person if something goes wrong.
Sellers just have to adjust their sale price/shipping ratio and they can pay the same fee’s as before!
I think that eBay is trying to play the “lower listing fees” as a way to hide the much higher final value fees. Even the higher priced items still pay quite a bit more than they would have before.
Adjusting the sale price/shipping ratio, as Matt suggests, is a very bad idea. Besides the fact that it’s against the eBay TOS, it also is a good way to get a poor Detailed Seller Rating and get your auctions exposure in search reduced. Do it repeatedly and they’ll suspend your account rather quickly.
I’m now looking for a good alternative to ebay such as ebid etc.
I found out more info at ukebid.com
There is a misconception that this policy was created to filter out dishonest sellers. It was made to filter out sellers who do not make a huge profit for Ebay, sellers like me. I have 100 percent positive feedback, have 5 star rating in every DSR as well. I am beign driven out because it will no longer be worth the risk of selling due not only to the increased rates, but to the fact that Paypal can now hold your money at their discretion. Sellers will be forced to ship out of their own pockets, so, if that buyer reversese charges or turns out to be a scammer, then not only are you out the product, you are out of shipping charges too. They make it seem that it will only affect the “bad” sellers, but it will affect ALL of us at some point. they can hold payment if your item is in a high risk category to be determined by them.
As far as the comment about sellers waiting to leave feedback until a buyer leaves it. A buyer’s obligation to a seller is not over with just a payment. That buyer’s conduct after the fact is critical to how I will rate them. I once had a woman write me verbally abusive e-mails because her neighbor’s dog ate the package that I mailed to her. (She threatened me with negative feedbacks.) Had I left her a positive feedback immediately upon payment, I would not have been able to gove her that neutral that stated “paid but would not do business with again.” Or consider the person who reverses charges after feedback is given? As a buyer, I always leave feedback first. Always.
Feedback is crucial for both sides and sellers should be warned about whom they are dealing with.
I will no longer sell or buy on Ebay. Check out the discussion boards. There are thousands upon thousands of sellers (most of which are buyers too!) that are leaving. Adios Ebay. And smell you later!
When are these new e-bay policies set to begin?
Melanie, the new fee structure starts Feb 20th. The feedback policy May1st.
For those who haven’t found it yet I recommend reading the entries on the rather ‘funny’ spoof of “The Secret Diary of Meg Whitman” ( http://fauxmeg.blogspot.com/ )
You can read my take on recent changes on What happens when you annoy eBay sellers
I too am a small seller who had 100% feedback until confronted with a dishonest buyer who took advantage of my good nature and of Paypal’s willingness to refund payments with no regard to the facts of the dispute. Most people use their credit card via Paypal and Paypal does not wish to absorb the inevitable chargebacks (even though they tell sellers that they are part of doing business). To avoid this they automatically refund the buyer NO QUESTIONS ASKED-so much for seller protection. The feedback changes, mandatory Paypal acceptance, and 21 day hold will only enable the bad buyers to do more damage. Not all bad buyers are dishonest, but many just fail to read the terms of the listing. Ebay policy says your bid is a contract to buy the item at the terms specified in the listing. They do not enforce this and it has affected me on more than one occassion. I have made my listings more and more clear & precise and it makes no difference, people don’t read and Ebay does not make them abide by the “contract” policy. I am also going to investigate the legalities of what they are doing. Some of the requirements appear to me to be pushing the envelope in regard to anti-trust and banking laws. Paypal holding your money and making money off its interest would make them a “financial institution” (or so it seems to me). At any rate, my store is on vacation and will close by the end of the month. I will check out other sites such as onlineauctions.com, ecrater, and craigslist. Ebay is sure to fall hard if they go through with this, as the only sellers that they have will be large volume sellers of cheap imported garbage or counterfeit knockoffs. Anyone looking for collectibles, antiques, one-of-a-kind items, and handmade goods will have to look elsewhere.
Why do we all want to just use e-bay… We can use elfingo.. http://www.elfingo.com.. It is a new ebay alternative online auction site for sellers who are tired of paying huge fees. They only charge 15cents per listing and no closing fees. The site is unique custom built website is unlike any other auction site.
I would like to see a similar “sister” web site which is more tailored to the little guy; geez, isn’t Ebay making millions per day (or even minutes??)…I’ve been selling on Ebay for over 6 years, have over 2400 positive feedbacks with no negatives. I sell little things and sometimes a large item. The new feedback system is sellers CAN NOT GIVE NEGATIVE TO BUYERS, BUT BUYERS CAN NEG SELLER. PAYPAL CAN ALSO PUT A HOLD ON THE MONIES. I felt some time ago Ebay was getting “too big for its britches” and I think they have hit the wall. I’ve made alot of email friends and we have had fun sending pictures, jokes, etc. Way to go EBAY, ruin a fun & profitable site (probably no more thanks to your changes).
A multi-billion dollar company and they are crying. Raise the fees, BS. I’m an ebay drop off location and spend on the average of $2500/month just listing items for my clients. Now with the fees going up, who’s going to eat that cost? My clients. The constant continium of passing the buck. You know Amazon and other marketplaces are just eating this stuff up. They are surpassing ebay as it is and now with the fee increases… It won’t be long until we see ebay being auctioned off on Amazon. Starting bid .99 cents with no Reserve!
Now on to the feedback. Total BS. I’m so sick and tired of walking on pins and needles from buyers who threaten you with a negative because something just isn’t quite right. Basically 98% of my buyers are fine but that 2% really chap my butt. Had these buyers read the entire descriptions which I don’t think anybody does, they would find out more than enough about what the auction has to offer and what they’re bidding on. We as sellers should be held accountable for our items but at the same time, the buyers should be accountable for their actions on ebay as well. Here’s my opninion, before any buyer is allowed to make a bid they need to accept the terms and conditions of each and every auction. Stating they understand the content of the auction and the item being described. Just like any software agreement you come across, you have to check the box before you get it. And then if a buyer descides to leave you a negative feedback for something not quite right then you have that checked box to fall back on to. This should also open up a mediation page which forces ebay to intervene. People often mention fraudulant sellers but there are also fraudulant buyers as well. I personally call it extortion. Refunding a portion of the sale to buy their positive feedback. Hush Money!!
My ultimate opinion is that the feedback should be left alone. I believe this is infringing on our constitutional rights for freedom of speach. Some people complain that sellers should leave a feedback first and I feel that’s crap. Sure the buyer may have paid for the item but will he handle himself in a professional manner to complete the transaction? I consider a transaction complete when a buyer pays for the item, I’ve shipped it to them, the buyer accepts the item and is satisfied. If there are problems I want to know about it before a negative is left. I’m always willing to work with people if I screwed up. Which is not very often! Just because a seller leaves feedback second doesn’t mean they are reserving it for a retalitory purpose. It’s just assurance that the transaction goes well and the seller was given every opportunity to correct any problems that may have occured.
Let me tell you, I’m not getting rich doing this kind of work. I enjoy it, I like the unique items people bring to me to sell on a daily basis, but if this keeps up I’ll stop selling and just go golfing.
Meg, when I spoke with you in Las vegas almost two years ago now I was very impressed with you and ebay. It seemed as though everything was running smooth and great changes were on the horizon. What happened? Why is ebay getting so greedy?
Millions of auctions each day and they still need more money?
B_ _ _ S_ _ _ !
Ebay, get your act together or you’re going to sink like the unsinkable Titanic.
A highly recommended site is elfingo.com for online auctions. They are the new ebay. Many smaller sites like this offer buyers far better deals than ebay ever could. Buyser also save a ton because this site charges little or nothing depending on the day. One more reaso I like elfingo.com is because they don’t take a part of the sale at all. No commissions or final value fees. A+++ http://www.elfingo.com
Has anyone tried http://www.ioffer.com for buying, selling and trading – no bidding – but the site is well populated with items – the rules are dead simple. I found exactly what I was looking for – no listing fees.