Ebay Seller Update = FU to Small Sellers
ndleo
Posts: 4,146 ✭✭✭✭✭
Ebay doesn't want to do business with smaller sellers anymore. No more free fixed priced listings for Sportscards. I do not have enough sales to warrant an ebay store.
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Sellers: Updates to fees in select categories could mean more free listings* for you!
Millions of buyers come to eBay every day, in search of great deals available only on eBay. And for many sellers—like those without an eBay Stores subscription—auction-style listings are the best way to sell in popular categories like Fashion and Collectibles & Art. To keep our buyers engaged, and to help ensure that new sellers and those who sell occasionally have the best opportunity to succeed, we will be making some updates to the standard fee structure (fees for sellers without an eBay Stores subscription). The following changes will take effect on May 15, 2014 at 00:01 AM PT:
If you do not subscribe to an eBay Store, you’ll enjoy up to 100 FREE listings*—pay no insertion fees—every month.
50 of these will be dedicated auction-style listings, which can be used only in the categories listed below. There will no longer be an allotment of free fixed price listings for items listed in these 14 categories, unless you subscribe to an eBay Store.
You’ll also receive 50 free listings* which can either be additional auction-style listings in the categories listed below, or auction-style or fixed price listings in most other categories.
The standard insertion fee for fixed price listings in the categories listed below will be 30¢ per listing. Note: This 30¢ per listing charge will apply to Good ‘Til Cancelled listings that renew on or after May 15, 2014.
As before, you’ll be able to add Buy It Now FREE to your free auction-style listings, or Best Offer for FREE to your free fixed price listings.
The current fee structure for eBay Stores sellers is NOT changing—eBay Stores subscribers will still get the same number of free auction-style or fixed price listings they get today in any category, including the categories listed below.
The following categories are affected by this update, and will no longer be eligible for free fixed price listings* to sellers without an eBay Stores subscription:
Antiques
Art
Baby
Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
Coins & Paper Money
Collectibles
Dolls & Bears
Entertainment Memorabilia
Health & Beauty
Jewelry & Watches
Pottery & Glass
Sports Memorabilia, Cards & Fan Shop
Stamps
Toys & Hobbies
If you prefer to list in the fixed price format in the categories listed, you can still do so for the 30¢ insertion fee mentioned above. Or you can consider a Basic eBay Stores subscription for just $19.95 a month, or $15.95 a month with a yearly commitment. With a Basic eBay Stores subscription, you’ll get 150 free listings*—auction-style or fixed price—every month, final value fees of 9% or less in the categories listed above, and access to a wealth of marketing tools to help supercharge your sales. Learn more.
We believe that this update will make selling on eBay even more profitable for you. And—as always—thank you for being a part of the eBay community.
- See more at: http://announcements.ebay.com/2014/04/sellers-updates-to-fees-in-select-categories-could-mean-more-free-listings-for-you/#sthash.TGkldVr0.dpuf
Mike
0
Comments
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>Well, this is one way to reduce all those BIN auctions.. >>
+1 YAY! All of my "saved searches" only look at auction format. BIN is clutter to me.
This is what bothers me about ebay's management. They raise the fees and trade it off by offering 50 free auction or fixed priced listings. As a seller, I moved to a fixed price format in order to pay for their higher fees and still make a small profit. Now they take away the fixed price option and drive everything to auctions. While they say this is done to drive more sales, this is really a hidden fee increase since I will no longer get 30 days of exposure, just one week.
As a small seller the fixed priced model worked for me since my sales were spaced out and I could handle the packaging volume. I had a tough time keeping up when all of my auctions ended at the same time.
Again this is a complete FU to the small sellers.
Now your searches will get cluttered with overpriced auctions.
Looking to BUY n332 1889 SF Hess cards and high grade cards from 19th century especially. "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy" Dan Gable
<< <i>Could you list sports cards in the wrong category and get the free listings that way? >>
That would eventually get you in trouble with ebay for avoiding fees and listing in the wrong category.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>The truth is that ebay hasn't cared for small sellers for quite a while now. I'm actually surprised they even still offer as many free listings they do as I remember years ago paying an insertion fee for every auction, though FVF were also lower then, too. >>
Yep I remember that. So now I guess we get higher FVF and an insertion fee
<< <i>Good, I'll be glad to see Ebay return to an auction site instead of a "please don't subscribe to VCP and simply over pay for my stuff" site. >>
It will never be the pure auction site it was a long time ago. Even the ebay store FVF are much higher than they were when auctions ruled ebay. At least under the current scenario, you can filter out the BINs rather easily so you don't get offended. Now you will see high priced auctions running every week.
I read the email today and basically after digesting it and sorting out the ebay BS fluff, realized that since 99% of my listings are in the sportcard category, that I am being told I have purdy lips and being asked to squeal like a piggie.
Edited to add: I do think ebay needs to clean up some of the garbage being listed, but honestly, the crap listings of BIN are now just going to be crap listings for auctions. It really isnt going to remove the garbage (ie 1987 Topps Mike Smithson - $1.00 BIN), all its going to do is make it (1987 Topps Mike Smithson .99 minimum bid)
<< <i>The truth is that ebay hasn't cared for small sellers for quite a while now. I'm actually surprised they even still offer as many free listings they do as I remember years ago paying an insertion fee for every auction, though FVF were also lower then, too. >>
+1. To put it in terms of one of my favorite fables, eBay is a scorpion.
<< <i>Also this isn't about reducing the BIN clutter for buyers, this is about selling ebay store subscriptions. >>
+1. In their latest earnings, their "marketplace" segment (core business - Paypal) had moderate growth, especially compared to recent earnings. While Paypal's margins are still good, Facebook is expected to enter the space and present a viable challenge to Paypal's (essentially) monopoly in the space.
Store fees are predictable, recurring revenue independent of traffic or transactions with essentially no overhead for eBay.
For some time now as growth slowed / margins eroded, they've continued to bleed small sellers to help their revenue/profit shortfalls... and they will continue to do so unfortunately.
Snorto~
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>They force us to use Paypal. They take a cut of our shipping . They favor the buyer. Now this. The only card sellers left here will be the big boys. The truth is Ebay profits are dropping, the stock is in trouble so they will bled us dry to make up for it. And I love the way they spin it, like they are giving us a deal. >>
You can only bleed so much though. It's getting to the point like if the government said we're going to tax certain people at 99%. Eventually that group throws up their arms and walks away. They better come up with a new model. I wonder if they can sustain themselves by having 2 or 3 large consigners per category running eBay.
The message made it clear about what the rules were for the fixed price listings that are automatically free for everyone at the beginning of each month (soon to be known as listing nos. 51-100 I suppose). The point it did not clarify was that when we receive our random periodic specials where they do a several thousand free listings for a few days by invitation only, will the category restriction apply for the invitational free promos the same way as the standard free ones, or are the restrictions only applicable to the free monthly ones?
Completely separate of that, are they working towards making the check box for multiple rounds of automatic relisting for unsold auction items offer available for everyone or is that option invite only? I've had Top Rated & Power Seller status for quite a while now but still don't seem to have the automatic free auction renewal available when creating a new listing.
<< <i>Dors anyone really even use ebay anymore as a regular option? >>
As a very small seller of small dollar cards... Yes! You can't beat the exposure. I have about 60 cards fixed price mostly between $4 and $10. Most of these are my 75 Topps that I have upgraded. This new policy kills me! F'ing EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1975 Topps Registry Set "Scott's 75 Topps Set"
<< <i>
<< <i>Dors anyone really even use ebay anymore as a regular option? >>
As a very small seller of small dollar cards... Yes! You can't beat the exposure. I have about 60 cards fixed price mostly between $4 and $10. Most of these are my 75 Topps that I have upgraded. This new policy kills me! F'ing EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>
And yes my BIN are real prices not fictitious BS that would never sell. I usually sell about 1-2 cards a week.
1975 Topps Registry Set "Scott's 75 Topps Set"
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Dors anyone really even use ebay anymore as a regular option? >>
As a very small seller of small dollar cards... Yes! You can't beat the exposure. I have about 60 cards fixed price mostly between $4 and $10. Most of these are my 75 Topps that I have upgraded. This new policy kills me! F'ing EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>
And yes my BIN are real prices not fictitious BS that would never sell. I usually sell about 1-2 cards a week. >>
I can understand what Tim is saying. Ebay just does not get the everyday or even every week traffic it used to get for at least cards. In the old days, you could list some auctions for .99 cents or $9.99
for a seven day period and almost for certain have a lot of action and most stuff selling at ok prices or better. Maybe people's interests have changed. There is too much risk for small sellers like me to
go the auction route and then get clobbered.
I also use the fixed price route to sell about 20-40 cards that are between $5 and $50. This policy hurts me as well. I'm not willing to give this kind of stuff to Rick or Brent. They don't want that anyhow.
My prices are decent too. I had plans to stop my selling at the end of May and start back up in September. I might try auctions then until I get tired of relisting. We will see.
aconte
<< <i>I don't really agree that it's an FU to small sellers. If you're a small seller than you probably are only listing 50-100 cards a month anyway. Just don't start your auctions at .99 cents and you're fine. True you can't have a 30 day auction, but as many have said in this thread, a lot of people filter out buy it now anyway. So truly as a small seller you are getting 50 more free listings. We will have to wait and see what the policy on the specials they run at the end of every fiscal quarter (to make more profit so they can make earnings) will allow. >>
The problem is that with true auctions, you miss out on the OBO feature that is available with BINs. Unless you want to pay an insertion fee for a BIN/OBO listing, and if you're a small seller, that fee starts making a noticeable dent in profits.
Also as pointed out by others, those that filtered out BIN auctions will probably now see a lot of auctions with high starting bids.
<< <i>I don't really agree that it's an FU to small sellers. If you're a small seller than you probably are only listing 50-100 cards a month anyway. Just don't start your auctions at .99 cents and you're fine. True you can't have a 30 day auction, but as many have said in this thread, a lot of people filter out buy it now anyway. So truly as a small seller you are getting 50 more free listings. We will have to wait and see what the policy on the specials they run at the end of every fiscal quarter (to make more profit so they can make earnings) will allow. >>
The 50 free fixed price listings was originally offered in conjunction with a fee increase, so ebay is taking away something the small sellers got and kept the fee increase. Like others have said, the free fixed price listings worked great for low dollar cards. These cards don't get heavily searched on ebay and if someone needed a refractor to finish a set, the could find it over a 30 day period. If I still want to offer those cards under the same scenario (offer for 30 days), ebay basically cut the free listings from 50 to 12. That is a big FU.
Plus I do love the spin that they are doing this for the sellers. Thanks a lot. I hope Carl Icahn succeeds in making ebay spin off Paypal. The Paypal profits are masking the weak management of the Marketplace.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>Let's face it, despite all the shafts and all the complaints, we continue to use ebay and these changes in the end won't change that either. A year from now when all free listings are eliminated or cut, another thread about that will be started >>
I don't buy that. Look at Time Warner Cable. They have grown to be an overbloated bull. They can't see the legions of cable cutters that are getting rid of cable every day. People are looking at new ways to view shows. Blockbuster though the same thing about little upstart Red Box. "They will never get off the ground!" "People love coming in here and paying $5+ dollars to rent a DVD!". Now you will be hard pressed to find a BlockBuster while Red Boxes are everywhere. If these big companies don't adapt and adjust, they will falter. The question is whether they really care if they falter or not. I am sure the golden parachutes are in place, and all the big wigs have a pretty good idea when the music is going to stop, and they best grab a chair!
<< <i>For an ebay store I would have to sell $1600/month with the 150 free listings in order to break even on the additional cost. >>
You would have to sell $1600 a month to make up a $19.95 store fee?
<< <i>
<< <i>Well, this is one way to reduce all those BIN auctions.. >>
+1 YAY! All of my "saved searches" only look at auction format. BIN is clutter to me. >>
100% agree!
<< <i>Good, I'll be glad to see Ebay return to an auction site instead of a "please don't subscribe to VCP and simply over pay for my stuff" site. >>
+1
<< <i>
<< <i>Let's face it, despite all the shafts and all the complaints, we continue to use ebay and these changes in the end won't change that either. A year from now when all free listings are eliminated or cut, another thread about that will be started >>
I don't buy that. Look at Time Warner Cable. They have grown to be an overbloated bull. They can't see the legions of cable cutters that are getting rid of cable every day. People are looking at new ways to view shows. Blockbuster though the same thing about little upstart Red Box. "They will never get off the ground!" "People love coming in here and paying $5+ dollars to rent a DVD!". Now you will be hard pressed to find a BlockBuster while Red Boxes are everywhere. If these big companies don't adapt and adjust, they will falter. The question is whether they really care if they falter or not. I am sure the golden parachutes are in place, and all the big wigs have a pretty good idea when the music is going to stop, and they best grab a chair! >>
You are overlooking a huge difference. In the case of cable tv and movie rental options, a viable alternative presented itself. What is the alternative to selling $10 cards on ebay with same buyer pool and exposure?
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Lou Gehrig Master Set
Non-Registry Collection
Game Used Cards Collection
<< <i>
The only difference in fees between the first level ebay store and not having a store is 1% less FVF (9% vs 10%). So to make up the additional $15.95 (the 12 month rate), you have to sell $1600 to make up the cost difference. >>
Or if you used the store tools and sold one more $20 item you would break even.
<< <i>
If the $20 was free.....unfortunately the stuff I sell isn't free to me. >>
Okay, semantics, you get the point. If the tools that come with an eBay store help you net $20, you're good.
I disagree with a lot of ebay's decisions, but pushing the smallest sellers to become bigger sellers is not one of them. There should be significant advantages to being a better customer.
Lee
<< <i>The stuff may not be free to you but what's it worth if you try selling it right now to somebody who will buy it from you. Would any dealer, flipper, or wholesaler even pay you 40% on what you think is a $20 card. It may be a $20 card but that's waiting a long time for a retail buyer to pick your card from among all the others. You want to hold out trying to get that $20 but you don't want to pay any listing fees for the months it will take. The stores give you more free listings, which means more opportunities to reach that $20 customer. Without him you'll be just as hard pressed finding somebody to bail you out for $5. Then what does that 15.95 store fee really cost you. >>
I think you are mixing up two issues. I'm not complaining about the prices I'm getting from ebay sales. The issue I have is that ebay is pushing small sellers into opening an ebay store. They were calling me several times a month to open one up. I told them I was OK with the current set-up and passed. I should have kept my mouth shut.
As a small seller I do not need an ebay store. By taking away the free fixed listings, only for hobby categories basically, ebay is trying to push me into opening a store. All I am trying to say that it doesn't make sense for me. I do not want to run 150 listings per month. I probably don't have enough cards I can sell to hit the 150 free listings unless I start breaking out commons.
<< <i>By and large, ebay fees have not increased that significantly over the last decade. What you are paying for relative to the audience you receive presents a pretty good value. I don't know what businesses you guys are in, but every model I'm familiar with rewards the best customers and gives significant incentives for the least profitable customers to become better customers.
I disagree with a lot of ebay's decisions, but pushing the smallest sellers to become bigger sellers is not one of them. There should be significant advantages to being a better customer.
Lee >>
+1 MBA 101.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
1. Since it's just a hobby for him (me too), it is much more preferred as a seller to list something for 30 days in the BIN format versus having it list for just 7 days via auction. You can list it for longer but then probably incur more fees.
2. Buyers that look specifically for auctions probably want true auctions, with a low starting bid. They likely don't want to see a bunch of auctions with high starting bids, which from a buyer's point of view are more like a BINs.
Even if it made economic sense for me to open an eBay store, I wouldn't do it. I simply do not have that much time to devote to selling.
Oh well, at least a dead horse feels no pain.
<< <i>At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm with ndleo, and I think a couple of points are being overlooked or under-emphasized:
1. Since it's just a hobby for him (me too), it is much more preferred as a seller to list something for 30 days in the BIN format versus having it list for just 7 days via auction. You can list it for longer but then probably incur more fees.
2. Buyers that look specifically for auctions probably want true auctions, with a low starting bid. They likely don't want to see a bunch of auctions with high starting bids, which from a buyer's point of view are more like a BINs.
Even if it made economic sense for me to open an eBay store, I wouldn't do it. I simply do not have that much time to devote to selling.
Oh well, at least a dead horse feels no pain. >>
You have some good points and I can't say I disagree with any of those points. I guess I'm just jaded to the point now where all of these "ebay is screwing the small sellers" threads just don't affect me anymore. Most of us have been on ebay for a decade or more. And as was mentioned previously, for most of us this is still a hobby, selling on ebay, not our livelihood. We all know what to expect from ebay by now so these changes should never be shocking. Bottom line is that if ebay still offers a viable option to sell items you wouldn't otherwise be selling, people are going to keep using ebay even if it costs 30 cents or 50 cents or whatever to list a card. If the option were no longer viable or of no benefit, we wouldn't be reading these threads because no one would be selling on ebay anymore.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>
<< <i>At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm with ndleo, and I think a couple of points are being overlooked or under-emphasized:
1. Since it's just a hobby for him (me too), it is much more preferred as a seller to list something for 30 days in the BIN format versus having it list for just 7 days via auction. You can list it for longer but then probably incur more fees.
2. Buyers that look specifically for auctions probably want true auctions, with a low starting bid. They likely don't want to see a bunch of auctions with high starting bids, which from a buyer's point of view are more like a BINs.
Even if it made economic sense for me to open an eBay store, I wouldn't do it. I simply do not have that much time to devote to selling.
Oh well, at least a dead horse feels no pain. >>
You have some good points and I can't say I disagree with any of those points. I guess I'm just jaded to the point now where all of these "ebay is screwing the small sellers" threads just don't affect me anymore. Most of us have been on ebay for a decade or more. And as was mentioned previously, for most of us this is still a hobby, selling on ebay, not our livelihood. We all know what to expect from ebay by now so these changes should never be shocking. Bottom line is that if ebay still offers a viable option to sell items you wouldn't otherwise be selling, people are going to keep using ebay even if it costs 30 cents or 50 cents or whatever to list a card. If the option were no longer viable or of no benefit, we wouldn't be reading these threads because no one would be selling on ebay anymore. >>
What Grote said. Now if you want to find fault with ebay, let's talk about their stupid new add to cart system.
I think I'm not making my point clear. Let's throw out an example:
I am a high volume seller with an anchor store. I get a certain amount of free listings as part of that monthly subscription. Let's say the market is perfect and a 1986 Topps Nolan Ryan in PSA 9 sells for $10 every single time, no more and no less. Shouldn't I, an anchor seller with a monthly subscription, have the benefit of paying less than you, a small time seller that pays no monthly subscription, to list this card as a BIN for $10 assuming that we will end up getting the same visibility? Shouldn't the $150/month that I pay give me some sort of advantage over you in terms of listing fees? If your answer is no, please explain why you don't think that's fair. Because the way I see it, if they let you list $10 cards for free, I'm the one being treated unfairly since the $150/month I pay isn't giving me any sort of competitive advantage.
They are not discouraging fixed price listings, they are catering more to the customers that bring them the bulk of the revenue and giving incentive for more people to become that type of customer. That's what any responsible business would and should do. Ebay does want fixed price listings, but they want them from well-run businesses that have a system in place. Not house fraus shuffling through their junk drawers looking for crap to sell. In that sense ebay is becoming very much like Amazon.
Lee