More ways to lose money

[callmemadam]

I've just had mail from eBay telling me about changes to shops inventories and fees. Now, a few months ago we were given the exciting news that items in shops' inventories would have increased visibility. This new message tells me that they have decided to decrease visibility. As if the things weren't hard enough to find already. Then fees will change. The heat may have fuddled my brain but I think they are saying that insertion fees will stay the same but the selling fees will go up quite a lot, especially for higher value items. Then they thank us for choosing eBay (rather than Amazon, I suppose).

This makes me quite cross. They are already making a lot of money, especially out of Paypal. Won't these changes make sellers put up prices? I'm sure the high selling fees are the reason for the generally higher prices on Amazon Marketplace. Most of the stuff in my shop is books I am gradually clearing out, not business items.

I'd be really interested in other people's comments on this, especially as I may have got it all wrong.

Comments

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

You are wrong, but only in that the listing fees are also going up, proportionately to the listing price.

I'm absolutely furious about this, I have spent a lot of time building up my ebay shop, but now it hardly seems worth going on, if they're going to take most of the money I make - I'm working for me, not ebay, which is a point they seem to have missed.

When I get home I'm going to work out exactly how much it will cost me to list, and then compare with abe - I used to list on there, but it was too expensive. They may look more worthwhile now. Or even go back to Amazon, but that's only good for some of my stock, the expensive Chalets for example are hopeless on there.

The alternative is to give up and get a full time job, but I like working part time (since I have to work at all) and what would I do with a wall full of books?

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

It's hard to see what the alternatives are and what other sellers might do. One could close the shop, wait for free listings days and sell in four or so intensive sessions a year. Do what a lot of people do and charge exorbitant postage fees: not an option for me, I think it's mean. Refuse Paypal to UK customers: lose customers but have the satisfaction of not giving eBay any more money. I just don't know: I'm quite depressed.

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

I've just done some jiggerypokery with a spreadsheet, and worked out the old and new final value fees up to £100, and actually it's not so bad as I first thought - even on £100, the difference is only 66p. But I think that the increased listing fees will be a killer, I may have to reduce the number of listing I have on at once, or put them on a rolling cycle of relisting. But that will require organisational skills - I wonder if I can buy those on ebay?

Up the workers!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Update. Just seen this on eBay.

Re: Up the workers!

[minniemoll.livejournal.com]

I've been following the boards all day, I certainly won't list on that day, but given that I'm only listing about once a fortnight at most at the moment, I doubt that ebay will notice :(

I have emailed ebay to tell them what I think about the increases in the fees.

You can use the contact us button on this page to tell them what you think.

Re: Up the workers!

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I have done so.

[cybersofa.livejournal.com]

Apparently eBay thinks its shops are for professionals while the auctions are for home sellers. eBay's CEO says the shift in emphasis from home-based to professional retailers is hitting its profits.

Among eBay alternatives Etsy looks interesting, offering an RSS feed so that people can subscribe to your shop and get the latest additions to your stock.

EBay

[sallyodgers.livejournal.com]

I am permanently confused by eBay, 'specially by people who bid (say) $30.00 for an item with $10.00 postage when there are Buy It Now identical items for $25.00 with the same postage...

I wish, as with our BAS and other esoteric things, that people would STOP TINKERING and leave things alone.

Sallyo

Re: EBay

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Yes, and it's annoying when you see someone pay more for an item at auction than you are charging in your shop. This makes the 'less visibility' changes even more annoying. When they come in I shall try searching for my items and if they're impossible to find I shall give up. OTOH after a while you establish a customer base which it's a shame to lose. According to the UK message boards, the Australian eBay sellers are particularly incensed by the changes and well organised in their response.