So who's the David that's gonna kick Ebay's ass?

[chaska]

As you may have heard, Ebay is raising their fees. I'm barely making any money on ebay lately. I can't take anymore fees. Which auction site is second best? I must confess, I'm totally ignorant of alternatives.

Edit: I can't hang around long. I'll have to check in later.

[ohio_liberal]

1. There are no others

Yahoo, bidville, the big O all stink. No traffic, nothing but counterfeit handbags. :(

[Book Lover]

2. But Dick Cheney *loves* eBay!

How can you possibly not be making any money? Dick says eBay is a great economic engine!

[ohio_liberal]

3. Is David the guy creating

Waggle Pop Auctions? I've been reading about it but haven't seen anyone's name attached to it yet.

[chaska]

4. We should jump on this. This is one of our issues.

Monopoly, Corporatism, etc.

[ohio_liberal]

6. Yeah it is

The thing is that people complain for a week or two but keep using eBay because there's nowhere else to go.

[amazona]

5. auction sites are dead for the little guy

I'm back to selling through the classifieds, local sales, garage sales, swapping, bartering, etc.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[ohio_liberal]

7. It sure seems that way

eBay went downhill when they let big businesses use the site.

[Speck Tater]

8. Any one of the competitors.

All it takes to make any functioning auction site successfull is traffic. If enough traffic moves to Yahoo then Yahoo will become THE auction site. If enough traffic goes somewhere else, then that other site will become THE auction site.

All it takes to move the traffic is enough dissatisfaction with the current top site. eBay suffers from the mistaken impression that they are so big and so dominant that nobody can every unseat them as undisputed king of the hill. When will these fool humans learn that no company, no nation, no empire, no planet is ever so big and so powerful that it is immune to sudden disaster?

One millimeter past the tipping point and the balance could shift overnight to another site like Yahoo and eBay would be bankrupt in a matter of days. The once mighty and invulnerable king of the hill would be relegated to the scrap heap of history.

[Barad Simith]

9. I'm in the same position -- a razor-thin profit margin

Often lately I've had to console myself with the fact that a small sale helped pay outstanding listing/selling fees.

And that email (announcing the rate hikes) arrived just as I was wondering if it's even worth it to continue using eBay.

Up until the eBay email, it was no one's fault -- just a case of too many sellers chasing too few buyers.

But these fee hikes are going to be substantial. It's not even going to be a boycott on my part -- really there's just no reason to spend the money on listing/selling fees anymore.

[CatWoman]

10. I only buy off Ebay

but they keep sending me email after email trying to encourage me to be a seller.

What are the rates, anywaY?

[Barad Simith]

11. here are the old and new rates

We are writing to let you know that effective midnight PST, February 18, 2005 eBay.com and eBay Motors will be making changes to the fee structure.

The fee changes are as follows:

Gallery
Gallery fees will be raised from $0.25 to $0.35 per listing. We will also be increasing the size of the Gallery image on search and listings pages by 56%. This will make it easier for buyers to see details of the item before clicking into the listing.

Buy It Now
Buy It Now fees will no longer be charged at a flat rate, and will instead be determined based on the Buy It Now price. Fees will be charged as follows:

Buy It Now Price Fee
$0.01 - 9.99 $0.05
$10 - 24.99 $0.10
$25 - 49.99 $0.20
$50+ $0.25


10-Day Duration
The fee for 10-day duration listings will be raised from $0.20 to $0.40 per listing.

eBay Stores
The fee for the Basic eBay Store subscription will be raised from $9.95 to $15.95 per month. The subscription fee for Featured and Anchor Stores will be unchanged.

eBay Store Inventory format listing insertion fees will remain unchanged. The Final Value Fee for Store Inventory items will change as follows:

Closing Price Old Price New Price
$0.01 - $25 5.25% of the closing value 8% of the closing price
$25.01 - $1,000 5.25% of the initial $25, plus 2.75% of the remaining closing value balance. 8% of the initial $25, plus 5% of the remaining closing value balance ($25.01 - $1000)
Over $1,000 5.25% of the initial $25, plus 2.75% of the next $25.01-$1000, plus 1.50% of the remaining closing value balance ($1,000.01 - closing value). 8% of the initial $25, plus 5% of the next $25.01 - $1000, plus 3% of the remaining closing value balance ($1,000.01 - closing value).

Store sellers will continue to be eligible to receive 50% off of the Store Inventory listing final value fees for Store Referral credit. Please click here for details.

Insertion and Final Value Fees
The insertion and Final Value Fees will be changing for items listed in certain Business & Industrial categories. More details about the changes for these categories are provided below. The insertion and Final Value Fees in other categories will not be changing.

Business & Industrial Listings in Certain Categories
The Reserve, insertion and Final Value Fees will be changing for select high item price capital equipment categories in Business & Industrial. Please click here to view the capital equipment categories affected by the pricing change.

The fee changes for these capital equipment categories are as follows:

Reserve fee: Lowered to $5, refundable if the item sells
Insertion fee: Raised to $20, regardless of starting price
Final Value Fee: Lowered to a 1% flat fee, with a $250 maximum charge

Additional listing upgrade fees will remain the same as for eBay.com. Pricing for all other Business & Industrial listings outside the specified capital equipment categories will remain the same as for eBay.com.

eBay will also introduce Buyer Protection covering up to $20,000 per item in these capital equipment categories this spring. eBay will offer this Buyer Protection at no cost to the buyer or seller.

The following fee changes will apply to vehicle listings on eBay Motors.

Fee Changes for eBay Motors Vehicles Listings

Reserve
Reserve will be charged a $5 flat fee for all eBay Motors vehicles categories except Pocket Bikes. This fee will still be refundable if your item sells.

10-Day Listings
The fee for 10-day listings will be changed to $8 for all eBay Motors vehicles categories except Pocket Bikes.

Pocket Bikes Category
The insertion fee and Transaction Services Fee will be lowered from $30 to $3 each.
The following fees will remain the same: Reserve ($2 flat fee, refundable if item sells), Gallery (free), Listing Designer ($5) and Highlight ($5). Motors HomePage Featured fee will be lowered to $24.95 and Vehicle Picture Pack fee will be lowered to $1.50. All other fees will be lowered to become the same as those for eBay Motors Parts & Accessories categories.

For more information about these fee changes, please see our Frequently Asked Questions.

Some international eBay sites have also changed their fee structures. To learn more, please check Announcements for the eBay site of interest.

We understand that fees directly impact our members, and take care to ensure that any decisions to change fees are made only after careful consideration of this impact. These changes will help us continue to sustain and develop a thriving global marketplace, while balancing the needs of our buyers and sellers around the world.

[Maddy McCall]

12. I get those, too.

I tried selling once. I lost more money than I made. I didn't know that shipping is so expensive, and I didn't charge the buyer enough.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

20. The fees escalate with the value of your item and any "extras"

For auctions, there's a listing fee based on your starting bid. Items under a dollar list for 30 cents...items starting at 1.00-9.99 are charged 35 cents, and so on up the line.

Then there are the bells & whistles - a gallery picture which is almost mandatory to make a sale in some categories like jewelry, but unnecessary in others like books; extra photos in your auction - only the first one is free unless you host your pix on another site; listings in bold, or featured auctions, which they claim increase sales; fancy graphics for your auction page, totally dumb; and other stuff.

But then they charge you 5.25% of the actual price your item sells for (Final Value Fee). And if you offer bidders PayPal, PayPal eats up another percentage - I'm not sure, maybe 2.5%?

For stores you can list your item for just pennies. But then there is a monthly charge for running a store. And they just raised the Final Value Fee for store sales, so unless you are a professional dealer or shoplifter you're unlikely to stock or sell enough items to make a store profitable.

I'm done selling on eBay. This current increase is for store rates and special features, but last year they raised auction listing fees. Next year it'll be something else. For the little guy, the only things worth selling are collectibles, and then only if you're willing to ship internationally.

[ohio_liberal]

21. Paypal is 2.9%

if you don't have a business membership. I think it's 2.2% if you have a premier/business account.

I think people will do away with gallery pics to save fees. There was a time when it wasn't necessary. Hell, I remember when you could have a listing with no images and have multiple bids. lol

[chaska]

24. My thoughts exactly.

Often lately I've had to console myself with the fact that a small sale helped pay outstanding listing/selling fees.

And that email (announcing the rate hikes) arrived just as I was wondering if it's even worth it to continue using eBay.

The stuff I sell (vintage musical instrument catalogs) is about as profitable as it gets. Still between the fees (that must be paid regardless of whether the item sells - it often doesn't) and the shipping, it's getting to be a serious issue. And that doesn't even take into account the time spent composing ads, answering questions about items (my god, the email I get), packaging stuff (major hassle with some items - but not with my catalogs) and trips to the post office.

This is bread and butter for a lot of Bush's unemployed, myself included.

...guess I should start practicing my lines. "Would you like fries with that, sir or madam?"

[Deja Q]

13. If ebay is number one, do they think they will stay that way by playing

the role of local embezzeling bully?

There are alternatives.

Once more people see how ebay is out of touch, they'll move on.

let ebay kill itself.

[mtnsnake]

14. Ebay sucks more & more, yet they're doubling their sellers fees #!X%@#!

Greedy bastards. They're eventually going to ruin a good thing. I won't feel a bit sorry for them when someone figures out how to successfully compete with their monopoly.

[MissB]

15. I prefer Craigslist

which doesn't exactly fit the definition of an auction site, but it does help move stuff out of my house that I would otherwise put on Ebay. Except that I don't pay any fees or shipping charges.

I have a standard line that I put in on any ad on Craigslist- "cash only, first come first serve, pickup only". Saves me lots of hassles and headaches.

[Beaverhausen]

16. Uh oh. I assume since you sold my amp and guitar they gouged you on them

I'm really sorry about that!!!

[chaska]

23. No, Beaverhausen, this doesn't go into effect till next month.

[Dave Reynolds]

17. Question regarding some sellers.

I have noticed some sellers charging a ridiculously small price for items, but exhorbitant shipping (I assume they are making their profit that way). Does this somehow bypass the fee schedule?

Specifically, I was looking at desktop PC cases.

[barackmyworld]

18. you don't pay fees on shipping

I think it's kind of an ebay agreement between buyers and sellers to screw the fee system

[ohio_liberal]

19. Yep....

That's called fee avoidance.

[mitchum]

22. That's what I do on a number of offerings...

and the buyer still gets the item for a fair price

[ariesgem]

25. Yes it does

I sell designer clothes and shoes on Ebay and I usually charge about $2 over the actual shipping costs(which averages out to a total of $5.85 via Priority Mail). The customer still gets the item at a bargin and that extra couple of dollars helps in paying Ebay's fees.

I've seen some folks selling clothes that charge up to $15 for shipping a single blouse. As a seller, I wouldn't do it. I get plenty of repeat business because I keep the shipping costs low.