I read that ebay was changing their fees again, in response to the anger from seller over the raising of fees that was announced last month. So much anger, that I heard that many seller were threatening to leave ebay. Anyone know what they are changing this time?
Regardless of the fee increases and feedback changes ebay is still the best there is for getting your item visible to the greatest number of potential buyers. IMO, The boycotting sellers will soon realize that even though they may list cheaper somewhere else, the realized prices are probably going to be lower. Actually this may be a blessing in disguise. The sellers that are fleeing are the ones with the most to hide since most say they are leaving because of the feedback changes more than the fee increase. The black sheep of the family more or less are heading for the hills.
it will be interesting to see where Ebay goes from here. I do hope they stick around, but i dont much care who leaves due to supposed high fees! I, like everyone else, would love to seel my items high, pay little fees, and pocket a nice profit. If items i sell are selling for less that what i put into it, fees included, then either set a reserve or dont sell it. I can see how super high volumne sellers might see there profits drop, but i certainly dont see any of them going to the poor house. They sell 40,000 items a month, so if they make a masley $1 on each, they make a HEFTY income in a year. I prefer to cater to the smaller sellers, like alot of the folks here on CT. they dont make a living of Ebay, and suffer more with higher fees. But in the end, the fees Ebay charges IS part of the business. I do wonder though, the above article said Amazon does NTO charge a listing fee .. but how does their final value fee fit in with ebays fees? Is it alot higher making Amazon very similar over all, or is it lowerr making Amazon an attractive place for selling items?
You know I've thought about that, and after someone else pointed it out, I started to wonder... why do buyers even have feedback? I mean sellers can already make complaints about non-paying bidders and if eBay gets enough of those, the buyer can get NARU'd. Sellers can also block individual buyers if they so choose. The way one person put it, have you ever heard of Wal-Mart filling out comment cards evaluationg their customers? Yes, a seller would be taking a chance on a buyer actually paying, but they already do anyway. Just as Wal-Mart takes the chance that people who walk into their store might shoplift. I've come to the conclusion that buyers' feedback is pretty much meaningless anyway, and they may as well just get rid of it entirely if they're going to make this change. I'm a lot less concerned with it than I used to be, after thinking about it carefully. There's not really a point in buyers having feedback anyway... it is the sellers who need to maintain a reputation, not the buyers, so logically only they should have feedback anyway. Reminds me how Scott Adams (Dilbert cartoonist) always thought there was something weird about having to prove to a bank that you're trustworthy, when it's you that's giving the bank money. I think same thing applies here... it's the buyers who are giving the sellers money, why do the buyers need to prove that they can be trusted?
Troodon, I agree with you about buyer ratings. Ebay should be careful. They are creating conditions that might lead to the establishment of some real competition from another auction site. Just because they seem all-powerful now doesn't mean they can do anything and still remain on top if they make enough business mistakes.
Yup, eBay fees will be going down on 2/20. Might have something to do with the CEO, Meg Whitman, stepping down and the new one coming up. They just label it as goodwill to the community.
ebay isnt going anywhere, a few sellers will grumble and leave, they probably wont find a better venue but if they do, thats great. As it is I think it is still the best deal online with the most exposure to buyers. I think sellers will only hurt themselves if they leave. The complaints about feedback are a non-issue...like said above, buyers dont need feedback...thats not how business works, its the business that needs feedbacks...I have never given a business a feedback card to rate me as a buyer...and I have never cared if a seller gives me feedback...I dont need it, I know I am a good customer Sellers never needed to give feedback save to retaliate and bully a buyer.
Boycott Yes there is a planned boycott starting the week of Feb. 18th. I for one will boycott selling. For what it's worth I saw somewhere that the "power sellers" are getting a 15% discount off the new rates. That leaves us little guys footing the bulk of rate increases. Agreed that there is no other place for the sheer exposure of your items. And no other place for the volume of buyers. So some coin dealers are just saying suck it up and keep going. Cripes didn't eBay just raise their fees less than a year ago? I guess they think they are an oil company or electric company. Monopoly-
I read somewhere on the ebay forums that many buyers are going to also boycott the sellers that are boycotting ebay.
Seems to me that eBay is cutting fees in areas where they're most vulnerable to Amazon.com... books, videos, music... hmm... Coins? Nah.
They're also the areas where many of the high volume sellers are. It's sort of a PowerSellers' rebate. We small time sellers don't get the benefits.
Even if the listing fees are going down a small amount, look at what the final value fees are going to. Way too high.
