Topic: eBay fees reduced my butt...

[fmctm1sw]

Insertion fees are going down but final value fees up by 3.5%?!  That's almost 9%!  Discounts only for powersellers?  It's clear they want high volume guys on there and "nickel and dimers" like me don't matter...

[ekim98]

That's the way all big business does it, just look at the U.S. government. The little guy always pay more. Well there are probably guys on here that don't pay more but there in the know. 

[BobbyR]

Insertion fees are going down but final value fees up by 3.5%?!  That's almost 9%!  Discounts only for powersellers?  It's clear they want high volume guys on there and "nickel and dimers" like me don't matter...

Nice catch. They must be having a problem, have you noticed the advertising blitz. They usually did a few ads around Xmas, now they are like shiit in a blanket.   

[heffay]

"adjusting"... hmmmph!   

[DammitDan]

Makes me wanna use Craigslist more and more every day...

[Steve F]

Just be like me...don't sell anything and keep hoarding stuff

[scondon]

At first glance I thought the title suggested you had stumbled upon a new weight loss program

[olds-cool]

I haven't really had a chance to read about the fee changes, just glanced through it all today.  My question about all of the changes was the line about buyers will only be able to receive positive feedback.  Does this mean that if someone never pays me or takes 3+ weeks to do so, I can't leave them poor feedback?  What about the hecklers that start emailing you 2 days after paying complaining that their item is not there yet?  I rarely ever leave negative for buyers, maybe 1 in over 200 transactions, but I'd like the ability if the need arises.

[Gordon]

Does this mean that if someone never pays me or takes 3+ weeks to do so, I can't leave them poor feedback? 

Yep, that's exactly what it means.  They've done away with the ability of a seller to leave their true opinion of a transaction. 

[Larry33319]

I liked it when they his the bidders names from everyone but the seller. How easy is it to shill bid now? That was when I slowed down a bunch on buying there. Now it is only out of necessity.

[Gordon]

When you take a step back and look at the big picture, it becomes apparent that ebay is trying to do away with the small, independent sellers, and catering only to the high-volume "power sellers" that make them the most money.  Essentially they want to be the next Amazon.

[BobbyR]

When you take a step back and look at the big picture, it becomes apparent that ebay is trying to do away with the small, independent sellers, and catering only to the high-volume "power sellers" that make them the most money.  Essentially they want to be the next Amazon.

That was their plan all along. They just used the little guys to get started.

[dustyc]

So what's the new ebay?  I can't imagine some entrepreneur will pass up the opportunity to make millions with ebays castaways.

[Gordon]

So what's the new ebay?  I can't imagine some entrepreneur will pass up the opportunity to make millions with ebays castaways.

My money's on google.  Yahoo already has it's own auction site, but google has proven before that they can do what yahoo does, and do it better.

[techy5025]

I do think that their feedback system needed to be overhauled. If you read their writeup of the changes, sellers left negative feedback 8 times more then buyers and leaving negative feedback was almost guaranteed to get negative feedback from the seller...even if deserved. Therefore, most people wouldn't leave negative feedback.

They seem to be evolving a system for protecting sellers from unwarranted negative feedback by other means...like total removal of negatives if non-payment occurs.

As others have set, E-bay is big business. I would love to see Google have a run at them.

Jim

[Uncle Ernie]

There is talk of a boycott from Feb 18 to 24.  Anyone up for it?
Has anyone told ebay what they think?

[BobbyR]

I just saw a PayPal update, I wonder what advantages they are offering us now.

[GNXFan]

I had previously figured that as a seller E-Bay was getting about 20% of my final selling price on anything I sold there. I thought that was a hefty commission even then. I guess I'll have to see what it's going to cost me now. Before E-Bay I always used motorcycleshopper.com. They had a printed magazine like Walneck's as well as a website. The website is still there but virtually useless. The magazine was bought out by Walneck's I think and Cycletrader. com owns them all.

[okie]

It looks like Microsoft is going to buy Yahoo.  If that happens, maybe they will develop Yahoo Auctions into what eBay should have been.  Competition is good. 

eBay's new user interface is a major step backward for me.  All of my searches are useless and it seems to refuse to show me the new listings first.  I have been planning to sell three bikes on eBay at the end of March, but with all of their changes, maybe not. 

[BobbyR]

It looks like Microsoft is going to buy Yahoo.  If that happens, maybe they will develop Yahoo Auctions into what eBay should have been.  Competition is good. 

One can only hope that happens.

[Tom in Newcastle......Ontario]

did a search for yahoo auctions this what I found,maybe Microsoft will bring it back

Yahoo! US Auction sites are retiring.
Read more details here
• Yahoo! US Auction sites will no longer be accepting listings as of June 3, 2007.

• Listings will not auto re-submit after June 3, 2007. (This could mean that your listings may not be submitted 5 times)

• As of May 4th, Auctions Scheduler and Auto Resubmit features are no longer available
Looking for other Yahoo! Auctions sites?
Hong Kong  |  Singapore  |  Taiwan
 

[Tom in Newcastle......Ontario]

There is talk of a boycott from Feb 18 to 24.  Anyone up for it?
Has anyone told ebay what they think?

Uncle ernie ,I thought that was a good idea,may not do anything  ,but,  I just sent E-bay a polite #$%* about their fees

[mark]

I sold literally tons of all sorts of stuff from mid-1999 on... haven't listed a damn thing for a solid year now.

IMO, the problems began when ebay went from being a cool website to being a corporation. There were a couple of fee increases in the early years - explained by the need to upgrade servers and add functionality. There have been fee increases in recent years - explained not by the need to upgrade the system, but by the need to pay dividends to shareholders.
Small-time sellers seem to be getting handed the $hit end of the stick.

The feedback changes are interesting. The remaining sellers may behave better if they can get crummy f/b without being able to retaliate. or not.


If they had stopped making 'improvements' and adding 'features' after early 2000 or so, it wouldn't really bother me.

I still buy stuff if the price is right.