The Yak Shack Forum

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. :o :o :o

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.

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 >:D

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...

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.

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

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.

Ah, I get it now. Thanks!  :D