eBay fees are going up -- AGAIN!

[Guest]

[kbmum]

eBay announced today that it's changing its fees.  This is the same ruse as last time -- lower the listing fees and increase the final value fees.

http://announcements.ebay.com/...ull-search-exposure/

1) Up to 100 auction listings per month per seller can be listed with no fee, if the starting bid is less than $1.00.

2) Lower listing fees for all other auctions (fees not released yet).

3) The final value fee is a whopping, straight-across-the-boards, 9 percent.

4) Fixed price (Buy It Now) fees will go up to 50 cents (instead of the current 35 cents). These listings will have a final value fee similar to the current fees.

It's the final value fee for auctions that's the killer here. Currently, items with an ending price up to $25 have a FVF of 8.75 percent. From $25.01 to $1,000, the fee is 3.5 percent. For items with a higher ending price, the remainder has a fee of 1.5 percent.

Let's say you sell an item for $50. Under today's fee structure, the final value fee would be $3.07. Under the upcoming fee structure, the final value fee would be $4.50. It really is time for one of the other auction sites to go to bat, ramp up its site and advertising, and try to give eBay some real competition.

[Scifi Cards]

You know, this does not bother me that much.

eBay has the marketplace where people come to buy stuff.  You pay a price to sell your items to those people all over the world.  It's a cost of doing business.  No different from rent on the building if you had a store, or (like me) the cost of driving to shows and paying the table fees.

Face it, if you're selling on eBay you are a dealer and dealers have overhead.

I've been doing some figuring, and many shows my overhead (gas, hotel, table fees) is over 25% of my sales.  Makes eBay look pretty damn nice.  And, if you have a bad week (like a bad show) you don't pay as much because the fees are based on your sales, not fixed.

I'm not saying I like to pay eBay fees, but for the marketplace exposure they bring your items, it's still a pretty good deal.

Ed

[Roz]

I agree - dealers do have overhead, and it does give you great exposure, but the eBay fees have crept up and crept up and crept up. I do find that by selling base sets I'm really not making anything, breaking even probably by the time you have their listing fees for months on end, but I always remember the two base sets I bought when I was about 12 or so and how delighted I was with them... so I rather hope that someone else does the same and really treasures the base sets...

[kbmum]

What's a GTC?

I've been running regular auctions with a promotion eBay started last month. From September 28, 2010 to January 7, 2011, the first 100 auction listings each month have no listing fee, regardless of start price.  I don't have a ton of inventory, so it works for me.

[rns91294]

I am getting the free 100 listings too....and I agree, what is a GTC?

[kbmum]

I found it in the eBay help pages.  It means Good 'Til Cancelled.  If you have an eBay store, you can list a BIN that will automatically renew every 30 days until someone buys the item or the seller ends the listing.

[rns91294]

Ah, I get it now. Thanks!