Ebay going to Free Listings?
Leiascards
Posts: 3,233
Looking more and more like Amazon to me.. This would be a move to require all sellers to accept Paypal only.
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from the link:
"Some are already expecting eBay to go to free-listings in the media category with a higher Final Value Fee - possibly as high as 12 percent. Add in PayPal payment-processing fees, and it looks a lot like Amazon.com fees. If eBay went to free listings site-wide (excluding eBay Motors, which is implementing a quasi free-listing model next month), it might have different Final Value Fees (FVFs) for different categories, just as Amazon.com does. It could also impose a monthly subscription fee, with exceptions for certain sellers.
Another benefit to eBay of a boost in listings would be the resulting increase in ad revenue. With more listings, there would be more opportunities to display contextual ads.
Because sellers would no longer be paying for listings, eBay could also be more free with its ad placement - even putting ads in the sacred Item page, if it so chose. Yahoo saw this potential in 2005 when it made its auction site completely fee-free and began placing ads within the item description pages. Yahoo's Rob Solomon explained at the time that Yahoo monetized the auction platform with its core graphical media (banner advertising) and search-based services.
How would free listings affect sellers? Sellers like low listing fees, but also know they lead to more competition and lower sell-through rates. And single-channel, eBay-only sellers might be shocked at the prospect of double-digit FVFs. But free listings would likely prove irresistible to most sellers.
Many sellers have complained of their exposure in search results with the new Best Match algorithm, and they would likely fear that an influx of new sellers and new listings would reduce their exposure in search results.
For eBay, which individual seller successfully sells an item is less important than the quality of that seller. It believes it has figured out how to measure the quality of sellers - through DSRs - and how to expose buyers to the best quality sellers - through Best Match. "
eBay is expected to change its Accepted Payments policy very soon, requiring sellers to accept only electronic payments and banning checks, money orders and postal orders. This would give eBay more control in a free-listings environment.
If there is another site coming they better do it quick, this is expected to roll out around October if it does.
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Got any clues about when, where, who?
I sure don't.
I see NOTHING that looks anywhere near EVEN "potentially viable."
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On the conservative side.......
This would allow EBAY, if they wished, to prohibit MOST non-payers from leaving FB.
ONLY an NPB's reply to a claim that stated:
"The seller changed the terms after the sale closed,"
or
"The item was found to be counterfeit after the sale,"
would allow FB from the NPB.
AND, the NPB would have to support his claim with some kind of documentation.
..........................
On the more liberal side..........
Reading between the lines of Norriington's comments in Chicago,
she might even go for "no FB from NPBs," IF she had "a foolproof
way to tell who actually paid and who did not." Obviously the PP
only scheme, would deliver that. (As I keep repeating, eCrater
has had the no-FB from NPBs scheme for years.)
Beckett would be in the best position to pull it off.
They've already got an established hobby name and a marketplace that apparently attracts a large number of buyers (or these large stores wouldn't list on their site).
Advertising wouldn't be a problem.
Unlike ebay, they'd have the expertise to police their site for obvious counterfeits.
If ebay eventually makes listings free but greatly increases FVF in every category, they'll basically become a fixed price listing site. I think that would turn off a lot of card collectors, and sportscard/mem. sellers who want to turn stuff over fast would start to look for other alternatives.
I could see it working if they set up a functional and organized site (my advice would be to copy ebay's format as much as legally possible).
I know I would list more, espcecially LOW END stuff...
still a little cheaper then trying to put something in a local auction where I live. Most auction places around here
charge 25-35% of sale.