Instead of putting the $4 and under stuff in lots, could you do better by importing them to another non-subscriber ebay account and then listing 100 free .99 auctions in April? I'm pretty sure you can import listings in turbo lister, not sure about other software packages. Of course, the first step would be creating another account. That's what I plan to do with all the really low end stuff in my store.
The 100 0.99 option is likely best for many items.....not 100% sure what I will do there.
Edit to add: You don't make your money on the sale most times, you make your money on the buy having the knowledge of where and how to flip it. So for a while, if a million extra say baseball cards are listed, there might be more bargins then in the normal eBay rough.
Collecting PSA graded Steve Young, Marcus Allen, Bret Saberhagen and 1980s Topps Cards. Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
Okay, to answer my question from earlier...I guess the photo manager thing now is going bye bye....I think that is the only auctions I have with extras....in catagories they are free.
Collecting PSA graded Steve Young, Marcus Allen, Bret Saberhagen and 1980s Topps Cards. Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
Collecting PSA graded Steve Young, Marcus Allen, Bret Saberhagen and 1980s Topps Cards. Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
The chart is the one referred to above. It is not mine and does not seem to fit if you sell in collectibles now Store and later as Premium. I think it is an auction comparison. I am not sure if it includes insert fees either as it does not appear to, which would make the $25 a lower look much better.
Collecting PSA graded Steve Young, Marcus Allen, Bret Saberhagen and 1980s Topps Cards. Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
Jury is still out on the changes for me. I have a small ebay store with about 40 items in it. I have about an 18 month turnover in my inventory so thats a factor in what will stay. Because of the changes I plan to maintain my basic store but sell off all of my items under $10 as it doesnt make sense to list them for .20 a month. My fees will go up but its like $8 a month so I can deal with it.
I do agree with the post that its going to cause a sell off of cheap cards as it doesnt make sense to keep cards up that will not sell. I think its a good idea in theory for buyers in that the more .99 auctions the better for me, I also hope it puts pressure on people with bins to price them more to sell.
I've only ever had one eBay account (I know, I'm a fossil). What do you need to set up a second selling account? Separate Paypal and Bank account?
<< <i>Instead of putting the $4 and under stuff in lots, could you do better by importing them to another non-subscriber ebay account and then listing 100 free .99 auctions in April? I'm pretty sure you can import listings in turbo lister, not sure about other software packages. Of course, the first step would be creating another account. That's what I plan to do with all the really low end stuff in my store. >>
Looks like i am going to try and sell my items before march 30th. a 50% FVF increase is insane. Ebay reminds me of my local school. They can never get enough money out of us.
"...What do you need to set up a second selling account? Separate Paypal and Bank account?..."
////////////////////////////
In the context of gaming the 99-cent scheme, it is a little more complicated.
Because the internet is now alive with chat about such gaming, it is possible/likely that EBAY will/may consider some such accounts as elements of "fee circumvention." At the very least, they may scrutinize such accounts closely.
.........
If one was inclined to have an additional account, a cooperative spouse/child is the simplest method.
They can just routinely set up the EBAY account and the PayPal account, and give you the PWs.
...................
Otherwise, to build an "unassociated" account:
You will need......
A new email addy.
A new gophone number.
A new mailing addy.
A new checking account.
A new prepaid debit card.
Optional: Second computer, proxy software.
...............
If EBAY does not play the fee-circumvention card, you can simply open a second account with
A new email addy.
A different credit card, or prepaid debit card, or checking account.
Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
The testing of store in search has begun. On one of my computers, everything shows up in core search. There used to be an option on the side to "include store inventory" that is now gone and in its place it has an option to "show only top rated sellers". If I do a search for practically any topps card from the 60's or 70's now there are at least 2 to 3 pages that show up for any given card, even commons. All the results, auctions, fixed price and inventory is grouped together. On my other computers, it is the normal serarch, where there may be just a half dozen or so of a given card showing up in core and the option to include the 40 - 80 items in store inventory.
I think this is going to be a disaster to those that sell raw cards. The big store sellers like a codyp2000 or a wheatstate are going to feel a $300 price increase and also have to deal with their inventory now mixed in with the guys that are happy to start an auction at .99 and are apparently ok if it also ends at .99. They will also have to contend with the best match and lowest price sorting that places at the top the even bigger sellers that sell with free shipping (apparently at a loss if they aren't using a plain white envelope)
The guys that go the auction route like a waverly82 are going to now to have their auction items lost in a sea of fixed price listings. Instead of just a few cards showing up at auction of say for instance a common from 1968 or 1964 or 1970, there are now 40 or more of them to weed through, plus in a few cases there are buy it nows of nice condition cards that are less than what the auction price would normally be.
I think the end result of this is going to be a sharp decline of raw card prices on ebay. The auctions are going to start going for dramatically less as they are lost in the search results and as some buyers that previously didn't expand their search to include store inventory will now see it all at their fingetips and may just forego the waiting to see if they win an auction. The fixed price sellers will have to lower prices to compete with the new lower prices that the auctions will be going for since they will always be popping up in search with .99 auctions. Searches of closed items will now show both auction and fixed price items and will further reflect the low prices putting more pressure on fixed price sellers to reduce prices. I think then it will trickle to the sellers of large lots or sets like a shaqfu1. As prices of single card sales fall and margins dissappear, there will be far fewer people willing or able to spend high amounts for sets and large lots.
This is all good news to the collector who will be able to snatch up nice conditon raw cards for cheaper prices than ever. Of course it is only good news until you want or need to sell...
I noticed the new search showing up on my computer today, but I would guess it began Tuesday or Monday. I had not used this computer for ebay in the last few days prior. There is one of the "single card set breaker" guys that I'm sure many are familiar with that had an auction end yesterday for a set from the 1960's. I know that he paid over $1500 for it and when he auctioned it off card by card yesterday, he grossed under $1000....how long do you think sellers will continue to operate under the new fee/search condtions if losses like that become regular
When I think of the new ebay fee structure, I think of it terms of sports cards or a couple of other hobby items that I use it for. I would highly doubt ebay is making these changes due to one or two specific hobbies.
However, I do wonder if this is in some way their response to those sellers who list thousands of items for $1 and make a slight profit on the shipping charges. Think about the guy who has 2000 items listed for $1 each in his store, with multiples of the majority of them. If he sells 500 per month and can restock his inventory, he might be happy with a .20 margin from his sale added to .80 from charging $3 for shipping while it only costs him $2.20 total. He makes $1 on each and every package he sends out. How many packages can you go through in an hour?
If Ebay does charge .20 per Fixed Item in your store EVERY month, then the above guy is done unless he has dozens or hundreds of each item for sale at any one time. Then the .20 doesn't matter for the listing that has 75 available. For the guy who has singles of each item, then he's definitely toast.
Having said that, I cannot see Ebay wanting to put anyone out of business. Why make the above person who creates $425 each month close up his store and stop selling? More listings = more sales which = more ebay and Paypal fees. They arrange things so that they profit whether you sell an item or not, which is the point of running a successful business!
And for those people who cry about ebay charging 9%, you're pretty naive. I'll guarantee that you're not the store owner who understands about overhead. But instead, you're the guy who is selling stuff out of his house that just sees a number and complains each and every time. You can buy and sell and NEVER even have to leave your house! And 9% isn't worth that? Start your own website and see how well that does.
If EBAY does not play the fee-circumvention card, you can simply open a second account with
A new email addy.
A different credit card, or prepaid debit card, or checking account.
I actually registered my accounts under the same cc. Just a different email account. Maybe times have changed? There used to be a page in the ebay help section (it may still be there) discussing the benefits of having more than one seller account.
<< <i>When I think of the new ebay fee structure, I think of it terms of sports cards or a couple of other hobby items that I use it for. I would highly doubt ebay is making these changes due to one or two specific hobbies.
However, I do wonder if this is in some way their response to those sellers who list thousands of items for $1 and make a slight profit on the shipping charges. Think about the guy who has 2000 items listed for $1 each in his store, with multiples of the majority of them. If he sells 500 per month and can restock his inventory, he might be happy with a .20 margin from his sale added to .80 from charging $3 for shipping while it only costs him $2.20 total. He makes $1 on each and every package he sends out. How many packages can you go through in an hour?
If Ebay does charge .20 per Fixed Item in your store EVERY month, then the above guy is done unless he has dozens or hundreds of each item for sale at any one time. Then the .20 doesn't matter for the listing that has 75 available. For the guy who has singles of each item, then he's definitely toast.
Having said that, I cannot see Ebay wanting to put anyone out of business. Why make the above person who creates $425 each month close up his store and stop selling? More listings = more sales which = more ebay and Paypal fees. They arrange things so that they profit whether you sell an item or not, which is the point of running a successful business!
And for those people who cry about ebay charging 9%, you're pretty naive. I'll guarantee that you're not the store owner who understands about overhead. But instead, you're the guy who is selling stuff out of his house that just sees a number and complains each and every time. You can buy and sell and NEVER even have to leave your house! And 9% isn't worth that? Start your own website and see how well that does. >>
Lot of great points here (and by tribeman as well). As for Ebay's intentions, I don't think they're trying to put anyone out of business. What they're trying to do is persuade people to price stuff more competitively. Guys like BAMcards, who move 32 cards out of 17000 listings every two weeks, are doing nobody any good. It's not only about the fees that a seller generates- it's about the fees that a seller generates compared to the seller that would replace him if the rules were changed. That $425 might look great, but what if these new rule changes force that guy out, and bring someone in to take his place that makes Ebay $700 a month? Or what if the guy who was generating $425 a month now reconfigures his business model, and brings Ebay $700 a month instead?
It seems to me that Ebay has basically decided that Ebay stores with crappy sell through rates need to be cut from the teat. Or, alternatively, that stores with crappy sell through rates need to pay more for the privilege of using Ebay. If it turns out that Ebay has cut out a bunch of sellers who were indispensable to Ebay's success, then the rules will change back quickly. If they don't change back, then everybody who was de-facto shut down by these changes can at least go to bed at night knowing that the Ebay community, in aggregate, doesn't miss them.
<< <i>I sell about 100 items at a time using BIN/BOs with quantities, with no store. How do these changes affect me and others like myself? >>
after the changes BIN/BOs will be .50 without a store, so $50 a month, for you it would be better to get a basic store and pay .20 per BIN/BOs, so that would be 10.00 plus the store price of 15.99= 25.99 And if you do around 250 or more per month then the upgrade store of 49.99 that will charge .05 for BIN/BOs would be better.
Looking for in PSA graded 1. 75-76 Topps Keith/Jamaal Wilkes in Psa 8+ 2. 1971-72 Trio stickers PSA 8+ 3. BSKB 1977-78 topps psa 10
Basketball Autos 1992 Courtside Flashback Action Packed HOF Autos(need elvin hayes,both bill bradley,and the 1st bill walton) 2001 and 2005 Greats of the Game UD=retro,epic,legends,legendary,generations and chronology 2006 Topps Style 1952 Fan Favorites Autos #/10 (Refractor Autos) Press Pass Legends
<< <i>I sell about 100 items at a time using BIN/BOs with quantities, with no store. How do these changes affect me and others like myself? >>
after the changes BIN/BOs will be .50 without a store, so $50 a month, for you it would be better to get a basic store and pay .20 per BIN/BOs, so that would be 10.00 plus the store price of 15.99= 25.99 And if you do around 250 or more per month then the upgrade store of 49.99 that will charge .05 for BIN/BOs would be better. >>
Wouldn't it be $20 plus the store? That would make it around almost the same as I'm paying now. I will definitely upgrade to the mid-store and list more if I can save money.
Edited to ask - Do you know if the $.20/$.05/$.03 is per listing per month, or a one-time per listing fee?
"..I actually registered my accounts under the same cc. Just a different email account. Maybe times have changed? There used to be a page in the ebay help section (it may still be there) discussing the benefits of having more than one seller account...."
////////////////////////
It may be so again - and it was so in the early days - but the last time I opened one (2009), they wanted a different CC.
Folks Who Bite Get Bitten. Folks Who Don't Bite Get Eaten.
I think what ebay really wants to do is force more sellers to pay a subscription.
And many sellers will once they realize they can avoid the flat 9% FVF for auctions just by having a basic store subscription (which can be easily cancelled/reopened for sellers who don't use fixed price listings). The percentage of sellers who are "store owners" is about to increase dramatically.
I think the sports collectibles seller is a very minor issue to ebay. Also, I don't think ebay owes anything to anybody other than to them selves and the shareholders. It is ebay's business to make as much money as possible, not to appease a certain hobby segment.
I would agree that most ebay sellers are naive about running a business in general and the traffic that ebay generates and the relatively cheap overhead in particular. Today, ebay has the vast majority of all the sports collectibles business. it may not always be that way, but it is now.
However, many of the card sellers on ebay are those with 1000's of single items under $4. Exactly those that you are talking about. It isn't ebay's responsibilty to make that person's business profitable. At the same time though, it may not be feasible to run such a business on ebay anymore.
For instance if the sellers that sell nice commons from the 60's and 70's for lets say $1.50/card can't make a go of it on ebay anymore, the answer may be to group them in lots and sell them that way. Except a lot of 25 is going to go for much less than $1.50/card. So then you have the sellers of high grade, inexpensive singles drying up. I just think the end result of that will be more groupings of cards in lots, going for less and less and it may result over time in a reduction of interest and buying activity of sports cards on ebay and that will result in downward price pressure on raw cards and sets and possibly eventually graded cards
I don't really care what ebay does in the quest for profit. That is their job, to run a profitable business. I look forward to being able to purchase high grade raw cards for less $. I don't look forward to damage done to the sports card hobby and I think the direction ebay is headed has the potential to do that if for no other reason than the current dependnecy on ebay that the hobby unfortunately has.
It is my opinion that the hobby will see a temporary and possibly long term decline in card prices and that a fair amount of card sellers will leave ebay. Hopefully some raw card sellers will find a way to either make ebay a profitable business model or come up with an alternative that works. It is a business with paper thin margins I think. Much like ebay put the local card shops and card shows out of business, they may inadvertantly be putting the ebay card seller out of business too.
I think with the new changes, the only way to approach it that could make sense is with one of the store options. I think the auction guys are gonna get slaughtered and the cards will sell for much less than usual. That's where both the buys and the better stuff will be. At least for the very short term until they figure it out.
<< <i>I sell about 100 items at a time using BIN/BOs with quantities, with no store. How do these changes affect me and others like myself? >>
after the changes BIN/BOs will be .50 without a store, so $50 a month, for you it would be better to get a basic store and pay .20 per BIN/BOs, so that would be 10.00 plus the store price of 15.99= 25.99 And if you do around 250 or more per month then the upgrade store of 49.99 that will charge .05 for BIN/BOs would be better. >>
Wouldn't it be $20 plus the store? That would make it around almost the same as I'm paying now. I will definitely upgrade to the mid-store and list more if I can save money.
Edited to ask - Do you know if the $.20/$.05/$.03 is per listing per month, or a one-time per listing fee? >>
Oh yeah 20+15.99=35.99 for the .50/.20/.05 I can't imagine it would be a one-time fee, ebay would be flooded even more
Looking for in PSA graded 1. 75-76 Topps Keith/Jamaal Wilkes in Psa 8+ 2. 1971-72 Trio stickers PSA 8+ 3. BSKB 1977-78 topps psa 10
Basketball Autos 1992 Courtside Flashback Action Packed HOF Autos(need elvin hayes,both bill bradley,and the 1st bill walton) 2001 and 2005 Greats of the Game UD=retro,epic,legends,legendary,generations and chronology 2006 Topps Style 1952 Fan Favorites Autos #/10 (Refractor Autos) Press Pass Legends
<< <i> Also, I don't think ebay owes anything to anybody other than to them selves and the shareholders. It is ebay's business to make as much money as possible, not to appease a certain hobby segment.
It isn't ebay's responsibilty to make that person's business profitable. >>
Form what I have read the only reason the ebay company is making money is because of paypal, so it seems the decisions that they continue to do with the ebay auction site, do not seem to be positive for the shareholders.
Looking for in PSA graded 1. 75-76 Topps Keith/Jamaal Wilkes in Psa 8+ 2. 1971-72 Trio stickers PSA 8+ 3. BSKB 1977-78 topps psa 10
Basketball Autos 1992 Courtside Flashback Action Packed HOF Autos(need elvin hayes,both bill bradley,and the 1st bill walton) 2001 and 2005 Greats of the Game UD=retro,epic,legends,legendary,generations and chronology 2006 Topps Style 1952 Fan Favorites Autos #/10 (Refractor Autos) Press Pass Legends
Ok, now I understand. Sometimes it's the little things . . .
My biggest concern was to be charged .20 on a monthly basis for unsold items in a store. So all people need to do is increase their amount of inventory for sale and upgrade to the Premium store($49.99 per month) and the insertion fee AND monthly fee for unsold items are the same - .05 per item.
So Ebay is doing nothing to encourage people to change their pricing at all. What they are doing is to simply make people decide to list under 100 items or over 250 items. Or for those who take advantage of cheap volume selling, now Ebay gets an extra $34 per month for a store upgrade.
If people don't price their items to sell, after a few months it catches up to them anyways. If the majority of their items are $50-$100 up, it'll take a while for them to care even at .20 per item. Wouldn't bother me any to be charged $2.40 IF my item sells for an extra $20 to the right buyer after sitting for 1 year. Not my idea of good business, but it would only hurt for the guy has a store with low inventory that doesn't sell.
IMO it seems the people at Ebay are getting smart, training people to start selling, then grow into a store, then to upgrade.
Am telling you, it's the Costco business model to make something on listings while making a TON every month from the monthly store fee
<< <i>Ok, now I understand. Sometimes it's the little things . . .
My biggest concern was to be charged .20 on a monthly basis for unsold items in a store. So all people need to do is increase their amount of inventory for sale and upgrade to the Premium store($49.99 per month) and the insertion fee AND monthly fee for unsold items are the same - .05 per item.
So Ebay is doing nothing to encourage people to change their pricing at all. What they are doing is to simply make people decide to list under 100 items or over 250 items. Or for those who take advantage of cheap volume selling, now Ebay gets an extra $34 per month for a store upgrade.
If people don't price their items to sell, after a few months it catches up to them anyways. If the majority of their items are $50-$100 up, it'll take a while for them to care even at .20 per item. Wouldn't bother me any to be charged $2.40 IF my item sells for an extra $20 to the right buyer after sitting for 1 year. Not my idea of good business, but it would only hurt for the guy has a store with low inventory that doesn't sell.
IMO it seems the people at Ebay are getting smart, training people to start selling, then grow into a store, then to upgrade.
Am telling you, it's the Costco business model to make something on listings while making a TON every month from the monthly store fee >>
I don't think it's exclusively a question of whether you're going to list <100 or >250-- it's also about the mean price of those items. Moving the store price up by $35 and raising listing fees by $.02 could eat up as much as 20% of the profit for these guys who are moving 45 items a month, all priced between $2-$10, and have 700 or so listings. And at least in the sportscard side there are a ton of guys who (roughly) fit that profile.
These price increases don't seem like much, and in fact they aren't a big deal for people already profiting $10000+ annually from their Ebay endeavors. But I think there are tons of guys who make at most $150 a month in white meat off Ebay (i.e., net not gross), despite the fact that they own a store, and for these guys the bell has apparently tolled.
<< <i>Uh, sportcardtheory, the new fee structure kicks in March 30, 2010. >>
I realize that, but they said if you sign up now you won't have to pay the subscription fee until April. So why sign up early if you have to pay what you were paying before for listing fees.
Great comments from many folks on this issue . . . a couple other potential side effects that I expect;
1) Folks that migrate their lower-priced store items to the .99c auction will likely increase their shipping rates to mitigate their risk. This cuts both ways for ebay -- less FVFs but less discounts because DSRs will fall.
2) I expect that we'll see more "Choose any 3" type listings. A seller with similar lower-priced items can easily do this to reduce fees. For example, if you have 100 $2 items in your store -- they can easily be bundled to "choose any 10 for $19.95" -- this already works for a lot of set-builder type sellers.
<< <i> 2) I expect that we'll see more "Choose any 3" type listings. A seller with similar lower-priced items can easily do this to reduce fees. For example, if you have 100 $2 items in your store -- they can easily be bundled to "choose any 10 for $19.95" -- this already works for a lot of set-builder type sellers.
Scott >>
I may try that. I have 300 raw 1971 Topps BB cards that I was going to list individually in my store, I am glad that I found out about the fee change before I did.
Has anyone here sold this way before and if so how did you do?
My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 2 (2003). My son was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was 17 on December 31, 2009. We were stunned that another child of ours had been diagnosed. Please, if you don't have a favorite charity, consider giving to the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
Comments
Edit to add: You don't make your money on the sale most times, you make your money on the buy having the knowledge of where and how to flip it. So for a while, if a million extra say baseball cards are listed, there might be more bargins then in the normal eBay rough.
Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/topic/1262010-Announcements-Discussion/Ebays-Giant-Price/510184943
Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
I do agree with the post that its going to cause a sell off of cheap cards as it doesnt make sense to keep cards up that will not sell. I think its a good idea in theory for buyers in that the more .99 auctions the better for me, I also hope it puts pressure on people with bins to price them more to sell.
<< <i>Instead of putting the $4 and under stuff in lots, could you do better by importing them to another non-subscriber ebay account and then listing 100 free .99 auctions in April? I'm pretty sure you can import listings in turbo lister, not sure about other software packages. Of course, the first step would be creating another account. That's what I plan to do with all the really low end stuff in my store. >>
<< <i>
Looks like i am going to try and sell my items before march 30th. a 50% FVF increase is insane. Ebay reminds me of my local school. They can never get enough money out of us.
"...What do you need to set up a second selling account? Separate Paypal and Bank account?..."
////////////////////////////
In the context of gaming the 99-cent scheme, it is a little more complicated.
Because the internet is now alive with chat about such gaming, it is
possible/likely that EBAY will/may consider some such accounts as
elements of "fee circumvention." At the very least, they may scrutinize
such accounts closely.
.........
If one was inclined to have an additional account, a cooperative spouse/child is the simplest method.
They can just routinely set up the EBAY account and the PayPal account, and give you the PWs.
...................
Otherwise, to build an "unassociated" account:
You will need......
A new email addy.
A new gophone number.
A new mailing addy.
A new checking account.
A new prepaid debit card.
Optional: Second computer, proxy software.
...............
If EBAY does not play the fee-circumvention card, you can simply open
a second account with
A new email addy.
A different credit card, or prepaid debit card, or checking account.
I think this is going to be a disaster to those that sell raw cards. The big store sellers like a codyp2000 or a wheatstate are going to feel a $300 price increase and also have to deal with their inventory now mixed in with the guys that are happy to start an auction at .99 and are apparently ok if it also ends at .99. They will also have to contend with the best match and lowest price sorting that places at the top the even bigger sellers that sell with free shipping (apparently at a loss if they aren't using a plain white envelope)
The guys that go the auction route like a waverly82 are going to now to have their auction items lost in a sea of fixed price listings. Instead of just a few cards showing up at auction of say for instance a common from 1968 or 1964 or 1970, there are now 40 or more of them to weed through, plus in a few cases there are buy it nows of nice condition cards that are less than what the auction price would normally be.
I think the end result of this is going to be a sharp decline of raw card prices on ebay. The auctions are going to start going for dramatically less as they are lost in the search results and as some buyers that previously didn't expand their search to include store inventory will now see it all at their fingetips and may just forego the waiting to see if they win an auction. The fixed price sellers will have to lower prices to compete with the new lower prices that the auctions will be going for since they will always be popping up in search with .99 auctions. Searches of closed items will now show both auction and fixed price items and will further reflect the low prices putting more pressure on fixed price sellers to reduce prices. I think then it will trickle to the sellers of large lots or sets like a shaqfu1. As prices of single card sales fall and margins dissappear, there will be far fewer people willing or able to spend high amounts for sets and large lots.
This is all good news to the collector who will be able to snatch up nice conditon raw cards for cheaper prices than ever. Of course it is only good news until you want or need to sell...
I noticed the new search showing up on my computer today, but I would guess it began Tuesday or Monday. I had not used this computer for ebay in the last few days prior. There is one of the "single card set breaker" guys that I'm sure many are familiar with that had an auction end yesterday for a set from the 1960's. I know that he paid over $1500 for it and when he auctioned it off card by card yesterday, he grossed under $1000....how long do you think sellers will continue to operate under the new fee/search condtions if losses like that become regular
However, I do wonder if this is in some way their response to those sellers who list thousands of items for $1 and make a slight profit on the shipping charges. Think about the guy who has 2000 items listed for $1 each in his store, with multiples of the majority of them. If he sells 500 per month and can restock his inventory, he might be happy with a .20 margin from his sale added to .80 from charging $3 for shipping while it only costs him $2.20 total. He makes $1 on each and every package he sends out. How many packages can you go through in an hour?
If Ebay does charge .20 per Fixed Item in your store EVERY month, then the above guy is done unless he has dozens or hundreds of each item for sale at any one time. Then the .20 doesn't matter for the listing that has 75 available. For the guy who has singles of each item, then he's definitely toast.
Having said that, I cannot see Ebay wanting to put anyone out of business. Why make the above person who creates $425 each month close up his store and stop selling? More listings = more sales which = more ebay and Paypal fees. They arrange things so that they profit whether you sell an item or not, which is the point of running a successful business!
And for those people who cry about ebay charging 9%, you're pretty naive. I'll guarantee that you're not the store owner who understands about overhead. But instead, you're the guy who is selling stuff out of his house that just sees a number and complains each and every time. You can buy and sell and NEVER even have to leave your house! And 9% isn't worth that? Start your own website and see how well that does.
a second account with
A new email addy.
A different credit card, or prepaid debit card, or checking account.
I actually registered my accounts under the same cc. Just a different email account. Maybe times have changed? There used to be a page in the ebay help section (it may still be there) discussing the benefits of having more than one seller account.
<< <i>When I think of the new ebay fee structure, I think of it terms of sports cards or a couple of other hobby items that I use it for. I would highly doubt ebay is making these changes due to one or two specific hobbies.
However, I do wonder if this is in some way their response to those sellers who list thousands of items for $1 and make a slight profit on the shipping charges. Think about the guy who has 2000 items listed for $1 each in his store, with multiples of the majority of them. If he sells 500 per month and can restock his inventory, he might be happy with a .20 margin from his sale added to .80 from charging $3 for shipping while it only costs him $2.20 total. He makes $1 on each and every package he sends out. How many packages can you go through in an hour?
If Ebay does charge .20 per Fixed Item in your store EVERY month, then the above guy is done unless he has dozens or hundreds of each item for sale at any one time. Then the .20 doesn't matter for the listing that has 75 available. For the guy who has singles of each item, then he's definitely toast.
Having said that, I cannot see Ebay wanting to put anyone out of business. Why make the above person who creates $425 each month close up his store and stop selling? More listings = more sales which = more ebay and Paypal fees. They arrange things so that they profit whether you sell an item or not, which is the point of running a successful business!
And for those people who cry about ebay charging 9%, you're pretty naive. I'll guarantee that you're not the store owner who understands about overhead. But instead, you're the guy who is selling stuff out of his house that just sees a number and complains each and every time. You can buy and sell and NEVER even have to leave your house! And 9% isn't worth that? Start your own website and see how well that does. >>
Lot of great points here (and by tribeman as well). As for Ebay's intentions, I don't think they're trying to put anyone out of business. What they're trying to do is persuade people to price stuff more competitively. Guys like BAMcards, who move 32 cards out of 17000 listings every two weeks, are doing nobody any good. It's not only about the fees that a seller generates- it's about the fees that a seller generates compared to the seller that would replace him if the rules were changed. That $425 might look great, but what if these new rule changes force that guy out, and bring someone in to take his place that makes Ebay $700 a month? Or what if the guy who was generating $425 a month now reconfigures his business model, and brings Ebay $700 a month instead?
It seems to me that Ebay has basically decided that Ebay stores with crappy sell through rates need to be cut from the teat. Or, alternatively, that stores with crappy sell through rates need to pay more for the privilege of using Ebay. If it turns out that Ebay has cut out a bunch of sellers who were indispensable to Ebay's success, then the rules will change back quickly. If they don't change back, then everybody who was de-facto shut down by these changes can at least go to bed at night knowing that the Ebay community, in aggregate, doesn't miss them.
<< <i>I sell about 100 items at a time using BIN/BOs with quantities, with no store. How do these changes affect me and others like myself? >>
after the changes BIN/BOs will be .50 without a store, so $50 a month, for you it would be better to get a basic store and pay .20 per BIN/BOs, so that would be 10.00 plus the store price of 15.99= 25.99
And if you do around 250 or more per month then the upgrade store of 49.99 that will charge .05 for BIN/BOs would be better.
1. 75-76 Topps Keith/Jamaal Wilkes in Psa 8+
2. 1971-72 Trio stickers PSA 8+
3. BSKB 1977-78 topps psa 10
Basketball Autos
1992 Courtside Flashback
Action Packed HOF Autos(need elvin hayes,both bill bradley,and the 1st bill walton)
2001 and 2005 Greats of the Game
UD=retro,epic,legends,legendary,generations and chronology
2006 Topps Style 1952 Fan Favorites Autos #/10 (Refractor Autos)
Press Pass Legends
<< <i>
<< <i>I sell about 100 items at a time using BIN/BOs with quantities, with no store. How do these changes affect me and others like myself? >>
after the changes BIN/BOs will be .50 without a store, so $50 a month, for you it would be better to get a basic store and pay .20 per BIN/BOs, so that would be 10.00 plus the store price of 15.99= 25.99
And if you do around 250 or more per month then the upgrade store of 49.99 that will charge .05 for BIN/BOs would be better. >>
Wouldn't it be $20 plus the store? That would make it around almost the same as I'm paying now. I will definitely upgrade to the mid-store and list more if I can save money.
Edited to ask - Do you know if the $.20/$.05/$.03 is per listing per month, or a one-time per listing fee?
"..I actually registered my accounts under the same cc. Just a different email account. Maybe times have changed? There used to be a page in the ebay help section (it may still be there) discussing the benefits of having more than one seller account...."
////////////////////////
It may be so again - and it was so in the early days - but the last time I opened
one (2009), they wanted a different CC.
And many sellers will once they realize they can avoid the flat 9% FVF for auctions just by having a basic store subscription (which can be easily cancelled/reopened for sellers who don't use fixed price listings). The percentage of sellers who are "store owners" is about to increase dramatically.
I think the sports collectibles seller is a very minor issue to ebay. Also, I don't think ebay owes anything to anybody other than to them selves and the shareholders. It is ebay's business to make as much money as possible, not to appease a certain hobby segment.
I would agree that most ebay sellers are naive about running a business in general and the traffic that ebay generates and the relatively cheap overhead in particular. Today, ebay has the vast majority of all the sports collectibles business. it may not always be that way, but it is now.
However, many of the card sellers on ebay are those with 1000's of single items under $4. Exactly those that you are talking about. It isn't ebay's responsibilty to make that person's business profitable. At the same time though, it may not be feasible to run such a business on ebay anymore.
For instance if the sellers that sell nice commons from the 60's and 70's for lets say $1.50/card can't make a go of it on ebay anymore, the answer may be to group them in lots and sell them that way. Except a lot of 25 is going to go for much less than $1.50/card. So then you have the sellers of high grade, inexpensive singles drying up. I just think the end result of that will be more groupings of cards in lots, going for less and less and it may result over time in a reduction of interest and buying activity of sports cards on ebay and that will result in downward price pressure on raw cards and sets and possibly eventually graded cards
I don't really care what ebay does in the quest for profit. That is their job, to run a profitable business. I look forward to being able to purchase high grade raw cards for less $. I don't look forward to damage done to the sports card hobby and I think the direction ebay is headed has the potential to do that if for no other reason than the current dependnecy on ebay that the hobby unfortunately has.
It is my opinion that the hobby will see a temporary and possibly long term decline in card prices and that a fair amount of card sellers will leave ebay. Hopefully some raw card sellers will find a way to either make ebay a profitable business model or come up with an alternative that works. It is a business with paper thin margins I think. Much like ebay put the local card shops and card shows out of business, they may inadvertantly be putting the ebay card seller out of business too.
I think with the new changes, the only way to approach it that could make sense is with one of the store options. I think the auction guys are gonna get slaughtered and the cards will sell for much less than usual. That's where both the buys and the better stuff will be. At least for the very short term until they figure it out.
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>I sell about 100 items at a time using BIN/BOs with quantities, with no store. How do these changes affect me and others like myself? >>
after the changes BIN/BOs will be .50 without a store, so $50 a month, for you it would be better to get a basic store and pay .20 per BIN/BOs, so that would be 10.00 plus the store price of 15.99= 25.99
And if you do around 250 or more per month then the upgrade store of 49.99 that will charge .05 for BIN/BOs would be better. >>
Wouldn't it be $20 plus the store? That would make it around almost the same as I'm paying now. I will definitely upgrade to the mid-store and list more if I can save money.
Edited to ask - Do you know if the $.20/$.05/$.03 is per listing per month, or a one-time per listing fee? >>
Oh yeah 20+15.99=35.99
for the .50/.20/.05 I can't imagine it would be a one-time fee, ebay would be flooded even more
1. 75-76 Topps Keith/Jamaal Wilkes in Psa 8+
2. 1971-72 Trio stickers PSA 8+
3. BSKB 1977-78 topps psa 10
Basketball Autos
1992 Courtside Flashback
Action Packed HOF Autos(need elvin hayes,both bill bradley,and the 1st bill walton)
2001 and 2005 Greats of the Game
UD=retro,epic,legends,legendary,generations and chronology
2006 Topps Style 1952 Fan Favorites Autos #/10 (Refractor Autos)
Press Pass Legends
<< <i> Also, I don't think ebay owes anything to anybody other than to them selves and the shareholders. It is ebay's business to make as much money as possible, not to appease a certain hobby segment.
It isn't ebay's responsibilty to make that person's business profitable. >>
Form what I have read the only reason the ebay company is making money is because of paypal, so it seems the decisions that they continue to do with the ebay auction site, do not seem to be positive for the shareholders.
1. 75-76 Topps Keith/Jamaal Wilkes in Psa 8+
2. 1971-72 Trio stickers PSA 8+
3. BSKB 1977-78 topps psa 10
Basketball Autos
1992 Courtside Flashback
Action Packed HOF Autos(need elvin hayes,both bill bradley,and the 1st bill walton)
2001 and 2005 Greats of the Game
UD=retro,epic,legends,legendary,generations and chronology
2006 Topps Style 1952 Fan Favorites Autos #/10 (Refractor Autos)
Press Pass Legends
My biggest concern was to be charged .20 on a monthly basis for unsold items in a store. So all people need to do is increase their amount of inventory for sale and upgrade to the Premium store($49.99 per month) and the insertion fee AND monthly fee for unsold items are the same - .05 per item.
So Ebay is doing nothing to encourage people to change their pricing at all. What they are doing is to simply make people decide to list under 100 items or over 250 items. Or for those who take advantage of cheap volume selling, now Ebay gets an extra $34 per month for a store upgrade.
If people don't price their items to sell, after a few months it catches up to them anyways. If the majority of their items are $50-$100 up, it'll take a while for them to care even at .20 per item. Wouldn't bother me any to be charged $2.40 IF my item sells for an extra $20 to the right buyer after sitting for 1 year. Not my idea of good business, but it would only hurt for the guy has a store with low inventory that doesn't sell.
IMO it seems the people at Ebay are getting smart, training people to start selling, then grow into a store, then to upgrade.
Am telling you, it's the Costco business model to make something on listings while making a TON every month from the monthly store fee
<< <i>Ok, now I understand. Sometimes it's the little things . . .
My biggest concern was to be charged .20 on a monthly basis for unsold items in a store. So all people need to do is increase their amount of inventory for sale and upgrade to the Premium store($49.99 per month) and the insertion fee AND monthly fee for unsold items are the same - .05 per item.
So Ebay is doing nothing to encourage people to change their pricing at all. What they are doing is to simply make people decide to list under 100 items or over 250 items. Or for those who take advantage of cheap volume selling, now Ebay gets an extra $34 per month for a store upgrade.
If people don't price their items to sell, after a few months it catches up to them anyways. If the majority of their items are $50-$100 up, it'll take a while for them to care even at .20 per item. Wouldn't bother me any to be charged $2.40 IF my item sells for an extra $20 to the right buyer after sitting for 1 year. Not my idea of good business, but it would only hurt for the guy has a store with low inventory that doesn't sell.
IMO it seems the people at Ebay are getting smart, training people to start selling, then grow into a store, then to upgrade.
Am telling you, it's the Costco business model to make something on listings while making a TON every month from the monthly store fee
I don't think it's exclusively a question of whether you're going to list <100 or >250-- it's also about the mean price of those items. Moving the store price up by $35 and raising listing fees by $.02 could eat up as much as 20% of the profit for these guys who are moving 45 items a month, all priced between $2-$10, and have 700 or so listings. And at least in the sportscard side there are a ton of guys who (roughly) fit that profile.
These price increases don't seem like much, and in fact they aren't a big deal for people already profiting $10000+ annually from their Ebay endeavors. But I think there are tons of guys who make at most $150 a month in white meat off Ebay (i.e., net not gross), despite the fact that they own a store, and for these guys the bell has apparently tolled.
<< <i>Uh, sportcardtheory, the new fee structure kicks in March 30, 2010. >>
I realize that, but they said if you sign up now you won't have to pay the subscription fee until April. So why sign up early if you have to pay what you were paying before for listing fees.
1) Folks that migrate their lower-priced store items to the .99c auction will likely increase their shipping rates to mitigate their risk. This cuts both ways for ebay -- less FVFs but less discounts because DSRs will fall.
2) I expect that we'll see more "Choose any 3" type listings. A seller with similar lower-priced items can easily do this to reduce fees. For example, if you have 100 $2 items in your store -- they can easily be bundled to "choose any 10 for $19.95" -- this already works for a lot of set-builder type sellers.
Scott
Always plenty of PSA-graded cards in my ebay store -- https://ebay.com/str/thelumbercompanysportscards
Go Phillies
<< <i>bye bye ebay >>
lol
Will never happen. This latest fee restructure is actually brilliant on their part.
<< <i>
2) I expect that we'll see more "Choose any 3" type listings. A seller with similar lower-priced items can easily do this to reduce fees. For example, if you have 100 $2 items in your store -- they can easily be bundled to "choose any 10 for $19.95" -- this already works for a lot of set-builder type sellers.
Scott >>
I may try that. I have 300 raw 1971 Topps BB cards that I was going to list individually in my store, I am glad that I found out about the fee change before I did.
Has anyone here sold this way before and if so how did you do?
My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 2 (2003). My son was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was 17 on December 31, 2009. We were stunned that another child of ours had been diagnosed. Please, if you don't have a favorite charity, consider giving to the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
JDRF Donation