Comments on: Ebay hikes their fees. Again.

By: Ebay sellers plan a weeklong strike to protest changes to the site's fee, search and feedback policies.

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:37:58 +0000

[...] ought to be interesting. Recently we blogged about Ebay’s new fee changes which sparked lots of comments from our readers, many of whom buy and sell designer jeans on Ebay. [...]

By: lauriebell

lauriebell — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:35:12 +0000

guest – i definitely agree with you, ebay provides a service…so their cost of goods sold is naturally lower than those companies that provide tangible goods (i.e. – nordstrom or best buy). Consequently, ebay is able to realize a higher margin on their product (service). Increasing the fees is, indeed, making their margins even greater, but then again, it is a business and they are in it to make money. oh well. i’m not thrilled with the changes, but my reasons for being unhappy have more to do with the feedback issue than the listing/FVF costs.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:38:22 +0000

good point guest2634, i wonder that as well. here is their stock prices as of late

By: guest2634

guest2634 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:34:52 +0000

Umm….I’m curious but what are ebay’s REAL hard costs as a company? All they do is host a site really….even paypal does most of their disputes for them….Sure, they have people who work for them doing the security and a little VERO, but I think ebay makes TONS of money….how are they losing money like someone else mentioned?? I would think they could lower their fees by an overall 50% and STILL make TONS of money. I mean Yahoo had a 100% FREE auction site for a while….how can one company offer a free service and another be so expensive?? I think ebay is a monopoly company now…

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:07:50 +0000

wcnfl- easy man. you pm’d me at 10.30 at night. i read your pm at 2.15 am. and responded this morning at 6.45am.

we should revisit this post in a few months and see what the response is. it would be interesting to see more people using the lower entry fee to unload stuff, and eBay befitting because of the higher fee in the end.

By: Infinite42

Infinite42 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:04:57 +0000

I thought you just typed SUPER fast! Oops. Perhaps it’s time to call it a night.

Nah, I think I’ll keep trying to convince people that the effect of these changes will have results directly OPPOSITE to what they think will happen.

And a final note to Our Editor – I know you have a vested interest in seeing HF/HM prosper (and we all should like that to happen as well, I suppose), but let’s try to be realistic. It’s not a viable option for sellers to flock to en masse.

I truly believe you’re underestimating the quantitative value of what such a wide audience brings. The HM is a very specialized market – what of the other sellers? Is everyone going to opt for fragmented smaller message boards on which to sell?

Then what happens BECAUSE OF the smaller audience? The sellers have even more fierce competition than they already do on ebay since there are more of them in a tinier spot! Talk about a real way to drive sellers out of business…

By: secretangel

secretangel — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:19:08 +0000

Infinite, take a look at the times of our posts. My response was not in defense to yours, if you notice, it was an agreement.

By: jillybean

jillybean — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:14:28 +0000

As much as change sucks when you’ve accepted things one way, Infinite is right. Think of how many items don’t sell through. The costs associated with those items are lower, with the free gallery and reduced cost. I would like to hear more about the reduced PowerSeller fees also. I think that’s a very wise move.

By: Infinite42

Infinite42 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:33:59 +0000

secretangel, I was actually responding to Dave’s one-word response to you.

At any rate, I think my point has been reinforced quite well by wcnfl and by the apparent ebay employee on the HF thread on this topic. You’re really giving yourself an incomplete picture of the pricing changes if you’re looking solely at the increase in FVFs and ignoring what is actually the effect of all the changes taken together.

By: wcnfl

wcnfl — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:44:09 +0000

Here is how my math worked out on a $70 sale.

Old New
Insert $2.40 $2.00
Gallery .35 N/C

FVF $1.31 $2.18
$1.46 $1.57

Total $5.52 $5.75

Fixed or Auction Type Sale Fees Increased 4%. I’m not happy about that at ALL, but in todays world I think it’s par for the course. I would love to only have had 4% increase in gas prices lately. Here in FL our Home Owners Insurance has skyrocketed and a 4% increase doesnt sound that bad.

If your business cant withstand a 4% increase, you might want to look at your buying price or selling price….

The part that will help the powersellers is the 5% or 15% FVF Discount based on CSI (the star rating). The discount would bring it down to where it was before.

If you take advantage of the referral program you can save a few dollars as well.

I think ebay is trying to ease the pain on unsold items. Granted they are going to find a way to raise the prices and make more money. (I thought thats what we are in business for…)

I like most business people do not want all my eggs in one basket and would love to find a site that could produce a good buyers for designer jeans and I was hoping this site would be the site but the mall has been unfriendly to me…

I see Dave commenting on all sorts of threads but not in mine or answer my PM. He nor his voluntary mods have been able to help me list in the mall. By the way I think this is great site Dave, I just wish it was easier for me to use.

Bottom Line is until someone builds a better mouse trap than Ebay we are stuck with Ebay like it or not.