eBay fees going up again!

Aethelred

I got the following e-mail today:

Dear aethelred.ii,

We are writing to let you know that effective midnight PST, February 18, 2005 eBay.com and eBay Motors will be making changes to the fee structure.

The fee changes are as follows:

Gallery
Gallery fees will be raised from $0.25 to $0.35 per listing. We will also be increasing the size of the Gallery image on search and listings pages by 56%. This will make it easier for buyers to see details of the item before clicking into the listing.

Buy It Now
Buy It Now fees will no longer be charged at a flat rate, and will instead be determined based on the Buy It Now price. Fees will be charged as follows:

Buy It Now Price Fee
$0.01 - 9.99 $0.05
$10 - 24.99 $0.10
$25 - 49.99 $0.20
$50+ $0.25

10-Day Duration
The fee for 10-day duration listings will be raised from $0.20 to $0.40 per listing.

eBay Stores
The fee for the Basic eBay Store subscription will be raised from $9.95 to $15.95 per month. The subscription fee for Featured and Anchor Stores will be unchanged.

eBay Store Inventory format listing insertion fees will remain unchanged. The Final Value Fee for Store Inventory items will change as follows:

$0.01 - $25 8% of the closing price
$25.01 - $1,000 8% of the initial $25, plus 5% of the remaining closing value balance ($25.01 - $1000)
Over $1,000 8% of the initial $25, plus 5% of the next $25.01 - $1000, plus 3% of the remaining closing value balance ($1,000.01 - closing value).

Store sellers will continue to be eligible to receive 50% off of the Store Inventory listing final value fees for Store Referral credit. Please click here for details.

Insertion and Final Value Fees
The insertion and Final Value Fees will be changing for items listed in certain Business & Industrial categories. More details about the changes for these categories are provided below. The insertion and Final Value Fees in other categories will not be changing.

Business & Industrial Listings in Certain Categories
The Reserve, insertion and Final Value Fees will be changing for select high item price capital equipment categories in Business & Industrial. Please click here to view the capital equipment categories affected by the pricing change.

The fee changes for these capital equipment categories are as follows:

* Reserve fee: Lowered to $5, refundable if the item sells
* Insertion fee: Raised to $20, regardless of starting price
* Final Value Fee: Lowered to a 1% flat fee, with a $250 maximum charge

Additional listing upgrade fees will remain the same as for eBay.com. Pricing for all other Business & Industrial listings outside the specified capital equipment categories will remain the same as for eBay.com.

eBay will also introduce Buyer Protection covering up to $20,000 per item in these capital equipment categories this spring. eBay will offer this Buyer Protection at no cost to the buyer or seller.

The following fee changes will apply to vehicle listings on eBay Motors.

Fee Changes for eBay Motors Vehicles Listings

Reserve
Reserve will be charged a $5 flat fee for all eBay Motors vehicles categories except Pocket Bikes. This fee will still be refundable if your item sells.

10-Day Listings
The fee for 10-day listings will be changed to $8 for all eBay Motors vehicles categories except Pocket Bikes.

Pocket Bikes Category
The insertion fee and Transaction Services Fee will be lowered from $30 to $3 each.
The following fees will remain the same: Reserve ($2 flat fee, refundable if item sells), Gallery (free), Listing Designer ($5) and Highlight ($5). Motors HomePage Featured fee will be lowered to $24.95 and Vehicle Picture Pack fee will be lowered to $1.50. All other fees will be lowered to become the same as those for eBay Motors Parts & Accessories categories.

For more information about these fee changes, please see our Frequently Asked Questions.

Some international eBay sites have also changed their fee structures. To learn more, please check Announcements for the eBay site of interest.

We understand that fees directly impact our members, and take care to ensure that any decisions to change fees are made only after careful consideration of this impact. These changes will help us continue to sustain and develop a thriving global marketplace, while balancing the needs of our buyers and sellers around the world.

Regards,

eBay

AndyBruce

Hi Aethelred - here's another thread begun earlier today:

eBay fees raised

Cheers

Andy

AuldFartte

I got the same thing this morning. Bummer

ccrdragon

Re-read the e-mail - most, if not all of those increases apply to the ebay-stores and not the run-of-the-mill sellers.

wybrit

There goes my thought about opening an ebay store.

1960NYGiants

Guess I'll be closing my store.

Sales weren't covering the $9.95, now they want to bump it to $15.95 ... NOT!

Gene

AndyBruce

<< <i>There goes my thought about opening an ebay store. >>



Well Tom....you know where I am!! Seriously, if you have any more questions with regards to being a Guest Dealer on OnlineCoins just drop me another PM.

Cheers

Andy

Aethelred

CNN is covering the eBay fee increase!

wybrit

There are now over 10,000 signatures on the petition.

I've noticed that a number of the seemingly legitimate, "mature" signers have realized lower final values for their items than seen in previous years. That is the key point IMO. The rest is just emotion and noise, like many of the petition comments understandably are.

By definition, ebay/PayPal will make no money if they charge 0% fees or 100% fees. Therefore, at some point in between, a maximum revenue point can be found, given time. With the steep rate hike they are planning, what will the accompanying drop in gross seller's take (before fees) be, if any? If the drop is more than compensated by the fee hike, then they will hike their fees again soon afterwards until they identify a maximum in their revenue curve.

The only way to force a shift of the position of that maximum revenue point to the left is to have some viable and weighty competition. I don't see anyone waiting in the wings to provide that in as many avenues as ebay has over the next two years. After that point, something ought to be in place. It will have to be very ebay-like, though, to cut into ebay's revenue. Something like BarnesandNoble.com is to Amazon. I see no point in getting the government involved, since I think the market will ultimately punish these fee hikes.

In the meantime, where do small time coin sellers go to get their items needed exposure?

Aethelred

<< <i>

The only way to force a shift of the position of that maximum revenue point to the left is to have some viable and weighty competition. I don't see anyone waiting in the wings to provide that in as many avenues as ebay has over the next two years. After that point, something ought to be in place. It will have to be very ebay-like, though, to cut into ebay's revenue. Something like BarnesandNoble.com is to Amazon. I see no point in getting the government involved, since I think the market will ultimately punish these fee hikes.
>>



I agree that eBay has had a monopoly on internet auctions for far too long. If something new comes along and looks viable I will give it a try.

wybrit

My concern is that we will have to endure the rise and fall of dozens of second rate auction houses before a real competitor consolidates them into a single entity. The longer a time period that takes, the more time ebay has to solidify its position. Again, I don't see a viable competitive alternative today for a lot of different selling interests to rally behind.