Al Padrino

For anyone with an eBay store, you probably already have read the email from Bill Cobb. For those who don't know, sellers with an eBay store have always had the option of creating a store listing. What this basically meant was a listing for 30 days would cost two cents. The catch was your listing didn't appear in the regular search results; only if you specifically searched store listings.

Earlier this year, eBay made a rare wise move and mixed the auction listings with the store listings. This mean that a regular search would provide both types of listings. Personally, sales were at an all-time high for me. Of course, it was too good to be true. Mere months after, eBay announced they were making "enhancements," which included riverting things back to the old way. Once again, the store listings were tucked away from the bulk of eBayers who didn't understand what the difference was.

Today's email was the final straw for a lot of store owners. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but as it stands, it's going to cost at the very least an extra 30 bucks a month just for what I've got in there right now.

Here's the portion of the email that discusses the changes. Try not to laugh:

For those of you who operate an eBay Store, we're making changes to Store Inventory listing fees, as well as to the on-site exposure we provide for this listing format.

We'll begin charging variable insertion fees for Store Inventory listings, as we do for core listings. Beginning Aug. 22, eBay.com Store Inventory format insertion fees will be tiered with an item's starting price.

* These Store Inventory format insertion fees take effect Aug. 22, 2006:

Starting Price New Insertion Fee Current Fee
$0.01 -- 24.99 5¢ 2¢
$25.00 and higher 10¢ 2¢

* Some Store Inventory format final value fees also will also increase, effective Aug. 22, 2006:

Selling Price New Final Value Fee Current Fee
$0.01 -- 25.00 10% 8%
$25.01 -- 100.00 7% 5%
$100.01 -- 1,000.00 5% (no change) 5%
$1,000.01 and higher 3% (no change) 3%

Please note that for current listings, the new final value fees will apply only after these listings are renewed.

So for anyone with high-end items, the fee per item has been increased by FIVE times. It's clear they're trying to kill off stores because the auction format is what brings in the most money for them. Never mind the auction format is a dying one, since most people don't want to wait around for an auction to end these days. God, I get tired of these "enhancements."

ChiTownAbs, Inc

I don't get it, why are they trying to kill the stores? Are they going back to people that sell a few things a month??

I definately like the stores -- It's a very cheap and easy way to find some simple things like battery chargers, cables, etc ...

DVD Polizei

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/announcem...view/fees.html

I wish Google would start a GoogleBay or something.

DVD Polizei

I think eBay is taking advantage of the fact the eBay stores have a high tolerance for raising fees. What are you gonna do? Close your store and get a job? Yeah, right.

elperdido

They would do the same shit as soon as they got some clients on board

Doeman

Why do you think they call it FeeBay? Ebay really is terrible these days, I have not actually bid on anything for quite some time. If I see a Buy It Now for something I want I go for it. Then there's no bidding war crap...

tonyc3742

* Buyers don't pay fees [to ebay].
* So the issue is that 'insertion' fees went from 2 cents to 10 cents? So if you have 1,000 items on your store of the qualifying price, it now costs you 100.00 instead of 20.00? Hmm...80 bucks more. Why, for that price, you could...um...pay for 3 minutes of B&M store ownership...take out 4 newspaper ads....buy 2 seconds of a commercial at 2 am on a local network. Yeah, ebay's such a scam. How dare they give you worldwide exposure to billions of people for a miniscule fraction of what any other venue would cost. And, of course, they're simply trying to make money--just like everyone else on ebay. At least they're honest and upfront about it, rather than charging 12.00 for shipping a dvd.

Doeman

There seems to be alot of sellers on Ebay selling things, including dvd's for .99 cents and then charging $12 for shipping. Seems to be a easy way around Ebay fees. How on earth Ebay let's this happen is beyond me..

Al Padrino

They're allegedly taking care of the problem, although they're taking their sweet time in doing so.

mather

Hahaha, shipping gouge, I'm sure it can't be that hard for Ebay to keep this in check, but they won't. I never used Half but didn't it have something built-in for shipping on books or something? Or was it another site?

tonyc3742

Both Half.com and Amazon.com marketplace charge the buyer a flat shipping charge [based on desired ship method] for most products.
You want to talk about fees--look no further than Amazon.com Marketplace. No commission until it sells, but:
For the 'average person' to sell a dvd or videogame [ie, those people who don't make their living selling stuff on these sites and so don't have a 'store' or vendor account], there's a listing fee of 99 cents, a commission of 15%, and a "variable closing fee" of .65 or 1.23 respectively. The good news is, the stuff I have sold, I have sold for much more than I think I would have gotten anywhere else, even after commission and shipping. So I'd rather pay 20% of 100$ than 10% of 50.

old-boo-radley

Maybe if sellers would be fair with their shipping, they wouldn't have to jack up fees. With all the people wanting $7 (it costs $3 including a padded envelope) to ship a PS2 game or DVD to Canada, I really have no sympathy. I guess it'll be $12 to ship to Canada now to combat ebay's massive increase.

BKenn01

Wow dvd, I guess if we avoid politics, you and I can agree on some things. You are right on the money and Google could be the one to humble them. In fact they are probably the only one.

BKenn01

tonyc3742

My point was that Amazon.com marketplace charges a higher commission than Half.com or Ebay. But, comparing it to Half.com since they're more alike, I sell more stuff at a higher price. 20% of 100$ means I make 80, whereas 10% of 50 means I make 45. The higher prices, and the more stuff I sell, makes a higher commission worth it.