New Ebay fees, 50% higher, will it drive up prices or drive away sellers?

[Aumakua]

So I finally read over my "spring changes" on Ebay. I would consider myself a casual seller, I don't usually buy and sell for profit. 90% of what I do is moving old stuff out to make room for new items, 10% is buying stuff on clearance, holding for 6 months and selling for a profit. But almost all my initial purchases are for my collection and not with resale in mind. Given that I still sell a bunch on ebay because like I said I need to make room for new stuff. Most people selling on Ebay know that anything over $100 its better to do BIN listings because the fees were only 6% (over $50) that way compared to 9% auction style (no matter the price).

well now Ebay's new fees are flat 10%, no matter what format, and even if you have a store, "collectibles" are 9%, no matter what format.

So we can all do the math, 10/6=67% increase in fees. The most outragious ever. So now with paypal fees you will be paying 13% of the total final listing price to Ebay, plus shipping (if you list as free shipping like I do).

Basically if you bought a figure for $200 and down the road wanted to sell it (for whatever reason) you would need to get ~$240 (including domestic shipping) just to "break even". Just makes you think twice before pulling the trigger on an item just because "if I change my mind I can sell it later" which was always my mentality in the past, but with the increase in Hot Toys and Enterbay prices plus Ebay crazy fee increase, that mentality is going to change.

 

[CollectorNC]

Why don't you sell on here? This forum seems better in some respects than ebay and you'd only have to deal with Paypal fees.

 

[EVILFACE]

Will drive up prices. Not much else you can do. No other auction site come within a fraction of Ebays traffic.

Why don't you sell on here? This forum seems better in some respects than ebay and you'd only have to deal with Paypal fees.

Sometimes you have something like Jack Joker to pawn off but everyone here has it so the only option is to dump it off on the 'bay.

 

[galactiboy]

Just have to grin and bear it I guess... eBay is funny in that they can't have a business without sellers, yet continually their decisions and changes penalize sellers.

 

[EVILFACE]

Just have to grin and bear it I guess... eBay is funny in that they can't have a business without sellers, yet continually their decisions and changes penalize sellers.

I agree. Ebay fee and PayPal fees. Maybe start having buyers pay some percent of those fees.

 

[galactiboy]

Oh no, wouldn't want to upset buyers... maybe the buyer is being extorted through feedback; well no more negative feedback for buyers. You can only leave positive feedback, or not feedback at all

 

[jimmie_dimmick]

Costs just get passed on to the buyers.

It's a lose/lose for sellers and buyers. Only eBay wins.

 

[karamazov80]

I really wish a genuine competitor to the EBay/Paypal monopoly machine would step up. Been hoping for that for years. But like EF and GB say--we assume the position, grin, and bear it, because it's the only game in town. You really can't make the same profits selling here that you can on EBay, so I usually only sell here now when I'm ready to take a major loss anyway and figure I'll run into fewer problems with boardies than anonymous EBay buyers.

 

[CeeemOr]

Just have to grin and bear it I guess... eBay is funny in that they can't have a business without sellers, yet continually their decisions and changes penalize sellers.

Yeah,they SUCK!

 

[karamazov80]

Yeah,they SUCK!

Word. They do suck.

 

[Aumakua]

trust me I have been through it all with Ebay, used to be a decent place to sell, but the second they took away the ability to leave buyers feedback is the second the scammers flooded Ebay.

For years now Ebay has given way too much power to buyers, and as a buyer myself I am glad for it (received too many items that were not as described, like displayed in a smokers house without it being mentioned in auction, seller says "screw you, no refund" Ebay says "here you go") but then at the same time I have been screwed by the scammers saying they never received the item (happened once, when they started the whole confirmation thing and then almost happened because I sent an item through UPS without signature confirmation).

So to get 20% off I have to have perfect feedback, and ship an item out within 24 hours (not always that easy when you have a full time job that isn't selling on ebay), I also have to take all returns for 14 days no questions asked and eat the original shipping. On top of that even with a 20% discount, I am still paying 11.2% of the final value between ebay and paypal. GREAT service,

And how do they justify it "compare to amazon fees"

The only reason I am still on Ebay is I only sent items domestically, only send through USPS now (UPS won't honor insurance claims, had a $800 Jordan autographed poster ruined and they said not their fault, had it fully insured), filed several claims with USPS and never had an issue, and twice got to keep the damaged item on top of the full value refund! Basically if a seller claims item damage I just send to USPS (happens about twice a year) if they change their minds I fully encourage returns as I would gladly eat original shipping to get my item back as I sent it and not damaged on purpose so they could file "not as described" (had that happen once). And as others have said where else can you sell it with the same traffic as Ebay gets?

I guess the only bright side is hopefully increased fees will stop scalpers, but I think the increase in figure prices has greatly reduced them already and the fact that "Exclusives" are never true exclusives anymore (will always show up again somewhere in some form). But as I mentioned in the original post, if you need to get $240 shipped to break even on a figure you bought for $200, it makes you think twice before purchasing figures you are not absolutly in love with.

 

[Apone]

Haha. F ebay

 

[Tesio]

Oh no, wouldn't want to upset buyers... maybe the buyer is being extorted through feedback; well no more negative feedback for buyers. You can only leave positive feedback, or not feedback at all

Speaking as mostly a 100% Buyer on ebay I was REALLY happy with this change. It simply wasn't fair before that if I paid as soon as the auction ended, got a terrible product, and the seller didn't want to do anything to fix it, I was penalized because if I left negative feedback, I would get negative feedback despite doing everything I could and paying for the item, which is my ONE JOB as a buyer. So while this may sound silly to YOU, it really helped ME a lot to be able to finally leave honest feedback about how a seller was doing.

 

[DeltaForceChung]

eBay is geared towards buyers than sellers, but at the same token with the rampant/unchecked unfairness to sellers over the years by eBay . . . the selection & variety of what's to be found (depending on what one is looking for) has decreased not necessarily to supply & demand, but very likely sellers choosing not to sell on eBay or sell at all.

 

[Chainsaw]

The biggest problem I have as a seller is how do I compete and offer products that grow my business when the markets are shrinking, more foreign markets are going to a direct from manufacturer model (notice all the hot toys from china on Ebay), and the fees are going up by 67%. How am I supposed to increase my profits to get more products to list? It's just like raising taxes to fill the gap from less taxpayers due to less jobs, seems like it's just a temporary way keep the money coming in, future growth be damned. It's being rolled out as a 'free to list' campaign and I was not aware of the drastic increase in fees until I wandered across this forum.

I did a lot of sales in March and am thankful for them, but this will limit my growth and will hurt Ebay in the long run. I can tell you, the sellers are not going to eat the charge, the market will have to correct and the consumer will pay more in the end, probably blaming the sellers instead of Ebay. In the end, we are all paying; Ebay (less revenue), the sellers (less sales, fewer products) and the buyers (higher prices, less products).

 

[smiles_hope]

I think it may drive people to sell other places; amazon, CL, forums, etc. wonder if we'll ever see a decrease in the fees, like oops, they've become too high.

 

[kl241]

Still don't know why there aren't any really good alternatives to compete with ebay.

 

[Hydeous]

Yeah, its bout time google or microsoft or facebook step up and offer us alternative instead. Ebay kinda sucks nowadays for sellers. I prefer the old system better.

 

[karamazov80]

Speaking as mostly a 100% Buyer on ebay I was REALLY happy with this change. It simply wasn't fair before that if I paid as soon as the auction ended, got a terrible product, and the seller didn't want to do anything to fix it, I was penalized because if I left negative feedback, I would get negative feedback despite doing everything I could and paying for the item, which is my ONE JOB as a buyer. So while this may sound silly to YOU, it really helped ME a lot to be able to finally leave honest feedback about how a seller was doing.

Yeah, once you step into a seller's shoes you would understand how really lopsided the feedback change was. Of course the new system works better for buyers who can flake out, hassle a seller to no end, etc., and the seller has to do everything he/she can to appease the buyer to avoid negative or neutral feedback. I'm sure some sellers would reciprocate for feedback, and that sucks, but at least sellers and buyers were on an even footing. Fortunately *knock on wood* I've had no real problems on eBay for several months, but you never know when that's gonna change.

 

[SwedishHeat]

To answer the OP, it will just drive prices higher on eBay. I already add 15% to my items. I've had a hard time selling some stuff, but I'd rather keep it then let it go for peanuts.

The really messed up thing I see on eBay right now, is all the Chinese sellers offering all this sixth scale stuff, and being able to offer lower prices than US sellers. I'd much rather give my money to a US seller, but for the most part it looks to me like most US stores don't bother carrying products because THEY know that the Chinese sellers will offer lower prices AND lower shipping rates, AND have lower overhead costs, so the only way to obtain the item is directly from China. That just bugs me on general principle.

The thing that blows my mind is that Chinese sellers can offer a USPS trackable service (ePacket or something like that) for a nominal amount, but as a US seller to have a trackable package sent overseas, I have to send it Priority International which is at least $40. How can China use the USPS to send a package from China to the US for less than I can use USPS to send a package from the US to China?? Makes no sense.