eBay UK fee changes : goodbye SIF and Gallery fees
20/08/2008 at 11:40
It’s the news everyone has been asking for: Gallery on eBay UK, which has been free for the summer, will remain free forever instead of returning to the 15p per listing of the past. But that’s the least of the changes eBay UK are announcing this morning.
SIF replaced with 30 BIN
Shop Inventory Format is to be retired and replaced with a 30 day Buy It Now listing format. There will also be an option for Good Til Canceled self-renewing 30 day BINs.
Fixed price insertion fees fixed at 40p
Pricing is changing yet again. From September 24th all fixed price listings, regardless of quantity or value, will have an insertion fee of 40p (previously varied up to £1.90). This might not sound great news when compared with SIF insertion prices (previously varied from 3p – 11p) but there are discounts available, 30 day BIN will appear as standard in search results and of course it includes free gallery.
FVFs increase
| Selling price | Old FVF | New FVF for auctions | New FVF for BINs |
|---|---|---|---|
| No sale | no fee | ||
| £0.01 – £29.99 | 7.5% | 8.75% | 9.9% |
| £30.00 – £49.99 | 4.5% | 5.25% | |
| £50.00 – £599.99 | 5.9% | ||
| £600.00 or more | 1.9% | 1.5% | 1.9% |
Despite this increase, most sellers of fixed price listings will be better off or at least fee-neutral under the changes. The big opportunity is of course to increase the number of product lines offered for sale taking advantage of lower fees.
FVFs are only payable when a product sells, so fixed price sellers will be able to budget for this up front in their pricing. The sellers most likely to be disadvantaged will be those who run auctions with low start prices as their insertion fees are already low but FVFs will increase.
Shops subscriptions increase, but offer discount on BIN insertion fees
For professional sellers, eBay shops now have a real tangible benefit. The price of a basic eBay shop rises to £14.95 but fixed price insertion fees are then halved to just 20p. A featured shop will cost £49.95 and benefit from fixed price insertion fees of just 5p, and an Anchor shop will cost £349.95 with 1p insertion fees for BINs.
DSR requirements for Shop owners
This is exactly what sellers have been asking eBay for – less up front risk enabling them to place more inventory on eBay. Only sellers who reach certain standards will be entitle to Featured (DSRs above 4.4) or Anchor shops (DSRs above 4.6), ensuring that those placing large quantities of listings on eBay maintain high standards.
Changes to search
One significant change is that listings with sales will be promoted in search. This means for the future, listing strategy should be to place your entire inventory of a product line onto a single listing, rather than use multiple listings to ensure exposure under ending soonest.
International visibility will not be available for Buy It Now
That’s not going to be very popular.
Featured First : the new “featured plus”
There will be a new feature to bump listings to the top of search results for the first 7 days, or first 30 days. Fees are £44.95 for up to ten days, and £134.95 (ouch!) for up to 30 days. Although the cost for this appears high, if you have sufficient inventory to justify the costs it’s a great way to jump start sales which will then cause your listing to be promoted. You’ll still be able to add more inventory to the listing without losing the search advantage gained so for a 30 day GTC BIN the benefit could conceivably run for months if not years making the initial investment worth while.
Tech and Media Categories
Good news for Tech and Media categories – final value fees are not changing but Insertion fees are – that means it’ll cost you less to list but you won’t pay more when you sell.
Irish Fee Changes
There are similar changes for eBay Ireland, see the new Irish fee schedule for details
The changes fulfill the promise made by Mark Lewis earlier this year “to get to the point where there is no reason you wouldn’t put all of your inventory on eBay“. For those sellers with sufficient product lines, the 1p insertion fees with unlimited multiple items lowers the risk of listing a full range of products in unlimited quantities.
This set of changes will benefit many sellers, and should encourage sellers who have previously listed a limited range on eBay to offer a much larger inventory to buyers.
John says
11:59 am on 20/08/2008
Initial reaction is bad news for me. I sell low value items with relatively low sell through rates.
If I upgrade my shop from standard to featured (+£44) my 3 months with gallery lisings will cost me 5p x 3 = 15p. I pay 12p inc gallery for 90 day SIF at moment. Then there is the extra FVF – actually not checked that yet.
So it comes down to extra sales derived from having more items per listing and all items in main search. Latter not likely to be that good as all ex SIF items will now ‘flood’ search.
I will give it a go but clearly I have some trepidation.
Anybody else?
Whirly says
12:04 pm on 20/08/2008
1st thoughts are good ones, will have a read later and see what comes out in the wash.
J R says
12:08 pm on 20/08/2008
pleased overall and the changes are not before time,
one very big disappointment is the removal of the International visibility option
Sean Mewse says
12:10 pm on 20/08/2008
I see it as good news. personally I will be looking at upgrading from a standard shop to a featured shop, as there could be some savings to be made.
seanie2288
northumbrian says
12:10 pm on 20/08/2008
If I have read it right international visibilty feature is
removed for buy it now
so the shops shut and its auction only for us
fees are not a big problem to us its the exposure that matters
US Seller on UK says
12:13 pm on 20/08/2008
WIll all of our shop inventory listings automatically change over to 30 day listings, or do sellers have to re-code the listings? I have nearly 1,000 items in my shop and dread the thought of editing each listing!
Gill says
12:13 pm on 20/08/2008
Interesting.
I wonder if the new BIN will have the option to list multiple items priced below 99p? That isn’t possible with BIN at present, it is with SIF.
This may seem insignificant, but if it isn’t possible it will have a major impact on craft sellers – also a detrimental effect on the buyer experience if they no longer have the option of buying these items on ebay.
If it is the case, it will be a barrier to me listing the whole of my inventory on ebay.
Chris Dawson says
12:15 pm on 20/08/2008
#7 I believe that the answer is yes – the 30 day BIN should have most of the attributes that SIF used to have
Doug says
12:16 pm on 20/08/2008
International visibility will not be available for BIN because it will now be defaulted to show automatically…(That came came from the horse’s mouth!)
Chris Dawson says
12:20 pm on 20/08/2008
#9 Ah, now that would be welcome news
Gill says
12:21 pm on 20/08/2008
Thanks Chris – it would be good to know for sure though – it is quite an important point to some of us!
Gill says
12:21 pm on 20/08/2008
Oh, and in case it sways the decision one way or the other, Amazon don’t have any minimum listing price
northumbrian says
12:27 pm on 20/08/2008
“International visibility will not be available for BIN because it will now be defaulted to show automatically”
so why not state ISV as free on BIN if thats the case?
georgejungle says
12:28 pm on 20/08/2008
Well its back to auction format for us and might as well halt my BIN sales now.
northumbrian says
12:37 pm on 20/08/2008
plus there will be many who do not want their buy it nows to default to ISV
so I think my first take will be the correct one
Bunchy says
12:50 pm on 20/08/2008
So, let me get this right.
Core BINs are 40p a pop
Shop BINs are 20p a pop
Both have same visibility?
Chris Dawson says
12:53 pm on 20/08/2008
#16 No that’s not quite right.
All BINs (1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 30 days) will be 40p a pop.
However if you have a basic shop the cost will be reduced for all BINs (regardless of start price or quantity) to 20p a pop. Down to 5p for a Featured shop and down to 1p for a Anchor shop.
the_cd_collector says
12:58 pm on 20/08/2008
I’ll probably close my shop altogether. I normally do auctions anyway so see no real need keeping it to be honest.
Seems good news for me if the FVFs for media categories aren’t going to change!
It’s a shame that international site visibility will not be available for BIN. I thought that if I closed my shop, I could still use the BIN feature when I do want to run a fixed price format. It kind of takes away alot of prospective customers!
Hereford United fan says
12:59 pm on 20/08/2008
What about visibility. I have not got a shop due to the listings not appearing with all the others. Will shop items now appear with everything else?
Bunchy says
1:02 pm on 20/08/2008
17# Thanks for clarification Chris, it’s a lot to get my poor head around!
Chris Dawson says
1:08 pm on 20/08/2008
#19 From 24th September (on eBay.co.uk) all future listings will appear on the core site. There’ll be no such thing as “Shop Inventory Format” any more.
That means the new 30 day listings will appear on the main site with your other listings. It also means to get a discount on the insertion fees you’ll still need a shop.
Kate says
1:10 pm on 20/08/2008
This is just terrible for people like me with low priced items. Shop goes from £6 to £14.95 and all my insertion fees are doubled. Sometimes it can take a year or more for a shop item to sell, 12 x 3p is 36p but 12 x 10p (for media) is £1.20 which can be more than the item is worth. I will have to seriously consider whether it is worth carrying on with this
northumbrian says
1:10 pm on 20/08/2008
here ya go straight from a pink over on Q& A
“I’ll start with the international visibility fee questions.
The fee will still exist but will only be available for auctions. As with today, the fee applies to US and Canada.
Outside of North America, UK fixed price items will have the same visibility they do today: they’ll appear in search results if they’re located in that country, or if the buyer chooses to search all of Europe or Worldwide.
Cheers,
Emily
Kate says
1:18 pm on 20/08/2008
My second thought is – Never mind “to get to the point where there is no reason you wouldn’t put all of your inventory on eBay“, I will have to severely reduce my inventory on ebay, if I decide to carry on. If sales don’t increase I’ll be spending a LOT more to list – and even if they do, I will have to take down the slow moving items.
I’m just feeling really depressed about it right now as I tried Amazon and that doesn’t really work for me either, and I’ve never sold a thing from my website.
Bunchy says
1:21 pm on 20/08/2008
Will shop features remain the same (i.e. SMP is free with Featured shop, extra personalised shop pages etc)?
It might be worth upgrading ……
Joe says
1:23 pm on 20/08/2008
very very pleased FOR ONCE with a change ebay have made,
recently we had lost interest in Ebay and been selling on websites with decent results however these changes will make Ebay a very very important part of our business again,
however we will have to keep working very hard on our websites because for all we are know Ebay could reverse all this as they did before with shop items in search
Kate says
1:26 pm on 20/08/2008
Why on earth are people seeing this as good news? Listing fees up, FVFs the same or increased – it can only advantage large sellers. I’ve never really used gallery for CDs as people know what they are getting anyway, so that doesn’t help much.
It’s becoming obvious that ebay don’t want small sellers any more.
Bunchy says
1:31 pm on 20/08/2008
27#
It’s good news for ebay shop owners. You are right, not good for those who don’t have shops.
Swan says
1:32 pm on 20/08/2008
Kate, the difference is search.
Your shop listings were only findable by people in your shop now they will be in the mix, so for your listing fees you get onto page 1 at least 12 times a year, your old listing never got there.
This should increase sales and cover the costs.
p.s. nice picture in the Guardian, Chris
Liz says
1:35 pm on 20/08/2008
It does suck big time for me – I sell low value craft items and struggle as it is ANY FEE INCREASE will put me out of business – I knew Ebay didn’t want us little sellers and this just proves it
John says
1:41 pm on 20/08/2008
No……based on best match your listings don’t necessarily get on the first page ever. Matter of fact, it sounds as if they will weigh these types of listings less than auctions. Not only this….but when I see an item with 24 days left of bidding….I am not bidding.
Auctions force buyers to buy.
This is not even to mention the fact that everyone putting up lots of inventory will clutter the UK site and lower ending prices and bids.
People seem to think selling items is based solely on visibility….it’s not. There is a trick to the game.
Kate says
1:47 pm on 20/08/2008
#28 I already have a shop and now if I want to keep it I will have to pay more for it. As well as higher listing fees and FVFs. It certainly wouldn’t be worth my upgrading to a featured shop, £50 a month is more than I usually pay in total fees!
I already had good visibility as a lot of my CDs are fairly rare so they would show up anyway. And for one-off items like that I wouldn’t have items already sold to boost visibility.
I just can’t see that any of these changes will help me in any way whatsoever. I really feel like this is a kick in the teeth for small sellers.
It’s just the final nail in the coffin for smaller sellers of low value items. It will get to the point where you won’t be able to find certain things on ebay any more – like beads for example (which I buy but don’t sell).
Ebay is just becoming a place for large sellers of mass produced goods.
vzaar Jamie says
1:48 pm on 20/08/2008
As an outsider looking in, what interests me is how people think items will appear in search?
So you list an item at Fixed Price on 30 days on the 1st of the month in a reasonably busy category.
- At what point does it reach page 1 of search results (day 30?)
- If an item sells how, when and for how long does it feature higher up the search results page?
- Will people list at the start of the month to target people who are paid towards the end of the month and (to some degree) have disposable income to hand?
- Will sellers start to see peaks and troughs to their sales in a given month as their listing moves higher up the search results page?
Will you sellers be listing for 30 days or will you seek faster, higher coverage on the search results page by running 5 or 7 day listings and try to spread purchases through the month?
Seems that the keywords in your title are more important than ever.
Chris Dawson says
1:51 pm on 20/08/2008
#33 From what I’ve been reading you’ll be MUCH better running a 30 day bin than several 5 or 7 day bins. The recent sales should more than out balance a number of listings.
Bunchy says
1:57 pm on 20/08/2008
32#
I can see where you are coming from as today’s shop selling cost is tiny compared to Sep 24th onwards.
Josordoni says
1:58 pm on 20/08/2008
I can’t see that this will be fee-neutral for me
I want to keep the shop for the branding and shop template I think. I like to have the various boxes and pages that are available, which let me add extra info compared to the standard Items from this Seller page.
But I use my shop to “park” items that haven’t sold at auction rather than to actively promote them. I sell some items from time to time, which makes the cost worth while, and pays for the visibility of the items that don’t sell. But even 20p per pop is rather gulp making just for the pleasure of having the items sitting on an eBay shelf.
Think time I reckon for all of us.
John says
2:09 pm on 20/08/2008
#23 north
So if I read that right as a UK based seller, I should list on .com and have a .com shop.
All my BINS will then get double exposure at no extra cost?
I would like that confirmed !!
KeithS says
2:11 pm on 20/08/2008
#37 Unless the criteria has changed in the last 12 months you need to be registered/living in the US to get a .com shop
northumbrian says
2:24 pm on 20/08/2008
37
its Auctions only and no shop or BIN for us at all anywhere until the dust settles, or we find out different.
this is one for the listing strategy gurus and experts,
we just list and hope
northumbrian says
2:29 pm on 20/08/2008
jamie we have no strategy
other than to get the bugger in the shop window and worry about where it is or who is watching it after, so to speak
Des says
2:42 pm on 20/08/2008
Great News for high volume sellers.
But disappointed at the loss of ISV as it accounts for about 10 – 15% of my current sales (although International sales account for 99% of my nightmare buyers and lost parcels!)
Liz says
2:43 pm on 20/08/2008
Not being a “listing strategy guru/expert” myself am I to understand that if I list in auction format on .com I will get automatic ISV in the UK without being charged?
Whirly says
3:02 pm on 20/08/2008
With Norf, list and hope strategy at whirly towers.
In the future hope will cost less, I like.
Bunchy says
3:08 pm on 20/08/2008
Do we still get our powerseller discounts?
Kate says
3:19 pm on 20/08/2008
Will there still be listing fee refunds for BIN items than don’t sell first time but do sell second time around?
If so then you wouldn’t want to use GTC as it would be better to list then relist then start agin if you know what I mean, as only the first re-list would get the refund.
Des says
3:31 pm on 20/08/2008
From a pink:
“Today:
As a UK Shop owner you must choose whether your listing will be a normal Fixed Price (BIN) item or a Shop Inventory (SIF) item. If you pay the international visibility fee for a BIN item, it is available on North American sites. You cannot pay the international visibility fee for a SIF item.
On other overseas sites outside of North America, buyers can see your BIN items if they choose to search for Worldwide items, but they cannot see your SIF items unless they choose both Worldwide and Shop Inventory.
After the September changes:
As a UK Shop owner you will have one Fixed Price format rather than both SIF and BIN. The international visibility fee is not available for that format, so your listing will not appear on North American sites. You can, however, pay the international visibility fee for an auction.
On other overseas sites where the new version of Fixed Price does not exist, buyers cannot see your Fixed Price items unless they choose to search for both Worldwide and Shop Inventory.”
So as well as losing North American visibility, a buyer in say France has to choose Worldwide items and then Shop Inventory just to find a BIN listed item.
Can’t really see the logic in this or how it helps us sellers.
faculty-x says
3:48 pm on 20/08/2008
i hope i understand this international visibilty correctly.
the fees are going to be better for us, if it means unless the buyer wants to search internationally they only get up UK listing then thats double hooray.
my cats are 3-1 hong kong listings that have killed it for us, along with the fees.
this is all our prayers at once (cough) apart from the postage price being added to the item price and shown as a whole like the old ebay express system
Kiss-and-Make-up says
4:16 pm on 20/08/2008
My fees to list will be double (at present a lot of my listings are SIF), I looked at upgrading to a Featured shop as the BINs are cheaper per pop but that will cost me almost same, just that the money will be spent on the shop fee rather than the listing fee. Will visibility be any better for my items? Not sure to be honest, the cats I list in are pretty full. Sales would have to go up a lot for me to recoup the extra it is going to cost me, I will give it a go but doubt my sense more and more every day on ebay now.
I’m glad it appears to be good news for so many other sellers though.
northumbrian says
4:17 pm on 20/08/2008
from the same pink
and this will put the cat amongst the pigeons
In September, UK sellers will be able to pay the international visibility fee for Auctions only, while North American sellers can still pay the international visibility fee for either Fixed Price (BIN) or Auction items. There is a disconnect due to the fact that the US and Canada will still be using the old version of Fixed Price while UK sellers will be using the new one, and we won’t be able to remedy that disconnect by September. We’ll look to bring back ISV for UK Fixed Price in the future, but at this point I don’t know the timing on that.
Des says
4:23 pm on 20/08/2008
That looks like the cat’s just had a knee jerk reaction!!
northumbrian says
4:27 pm on 20/08/2008
USA can be seen here, but we cant be seen there
my goodness that sounds a little unfair
think I will go and kick the Cat
TP says
4:35 pm on 20/08/2008
listing strategy aside, a big change like this could have problematic technical implications for anyone already listing a large product inventory… has there been any mention of how a large inventory currently in SIF will transfer into the new BIN format? Will it all have to be relisted?
Sue Bailey says
4:47 pm on 20/08/2008
http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?start=4&threadID=1200238806
Existing SIF GTC listings will migrate over and become BIN GTC listings.
Yes, SIF listings for 90 days listed prior to 24th Sept will be allowed to expire naturally
the_cd_collector says
4:49 pm on 20/08/2008
I think ‘Finding a Bargain on eBay’ will be virtually gone as alot of people are gonna have to put their prices up!
It is going to affect smaller sellers but i’m sorry! that’s not going to stop me from trying to make it work.
Board_Surfer says
4:54 pm on 20/08/2008
Looking at the chart, it looks like a plain old fee hike if you list by auction.
Again.
Bunchy says
5:09 pm on 20/08/2008
52# What about regular 30 day SIFs?
northumbrian says
5:11 pm on 20/08/2008
nothing announced today that really worries us , overall its probably a plus for us because we wont waste our time on shops now,
we will list very much as normal,
we have dabbled with shops though they dont work well for us,
so even the yanks having an unfair advantage with fixed price,
wont worry us unduly,
Steve says
5:16 pm on 20/08/2008
I cannot believe it. I am just absolutely devastated. With 1200+ low-price media items my upfront fees will more than double from around £50 a month to about £110, even with a featured shop. My shop is currently £6 a month most of my items are 3p per month to list, this will jump to 5p per month even if I pay the £50 for a featured shop. That’s it. Game over. I could weep.
FenLex says
5:42 pm on 20/08/2008
The art of taxation is supposed to be that of removing the maximum number of feathers from the goose for the minimum amount of squawking (or something like that anyway).
Well, here’s a little squawk from an attic seller who prefers sitting in to striking:
8.75% + 3.9% = 13.65% vigorish for eBay/PayPal
Sue Bailey says
5:55 pm on 20/08/2008
FenLex, I’m sure I remember a quote from Yes Minister about extracting the maximum milk for the minimum moo…
Mark Classic says
6:25 pm on 20/08/2008
These are good changes for us
Mark
Owen says
7:25 pm on 20/08/2008
It’s a no brainer for me.
Time to shut up the shop and just do a few bins
the knickermafia says
8:00 pm on 20/08/2008
As much as I am undecided with the changes (or just not bothered anymore) I do feel for the small low cost sellers….. its not good news for them at all.
Although looks like good news for those with an anchor shop and list for 1p….. a bargain really…. would have been ideal for us this time last year when fees were well over £600 pm – dont really have the inclination to get back to that stage on ebay now days though….Ebay dolphins aren’t very loyal you see
Savvy Paul says
8:17 pm on 20/08/2008
Some initial (random) thoughts:
If you just list on auctions, it’s a straightforward (FVF) fees hike. Free gallery sounds good for us but it’s value is only a fraction of the increased FVFs.
The ‘fee illustrator’ would be much more useful if it included a comparison with existing fees. Could then make a judgement about value of improved visibility for ex SIF listings (is site being flooded with similar items really an improvement?). It was not so long ago that eBay insisted that SIF listings had to be withdrawn from core for this very reason. Maybe they’re going to have them displayed seperately – wouldn’t want our auctions lost among a load of samey BINS.
Going back through my records for July, I reckon that the same listings & sales after 24/09 will cost about £80 more in fees (an increase of 15%).
The 9.9% FVF up to £49.99 is a potential showstopper for many items we might consider selling.
We sell one-off vintage items – why would we spend £1.05 on a 30 day BIN subtitle (or bold / highlight etc) when the item might sell after a few days?
Up to now we’ve run a strategy where our complete inventory was on eBay with ‘just the posh stuff’ on our website. We will consider reversing that.
One big price rise dressed up in smoke and mirrors.
Cory MacRae says
8:34 pm on 20/08/2008
This is actually very interesting. The changes are not as bad as I thought and I will have to get the old calculator out to see if it is worth my while going to Featured Shop.
What really gets me going is the fact that the UK site is refusing to implement the Choice Policy change that the US site has given its sellers. I sell footwear and the change to that Policy would greatly benefit me. I simply don’t get why they wont except to force fees up. There is some technical explanation but if it can be done in the US then it can be done here.
All the changes are probably revenue neutral for me but the Choice change would make me a happy boy!
david says
8:45 pm on 20/08/2008
agree with kate – and have just shut the shop – took about 2 mins from reading the email of proposed charges for basic shop. just not worth it. Ebay is gearing to the big seller and dont give a toss about the bedrock of small sellers that it was built upon.
Board_Surfer says
8:50 pm on 20/08/2008
I have to agree with #63, not changing the choice policy is a very strange decision.
Tony says
9:03 pm on 20/08/2008
It’s another kick in the gonads for the small seller but the writing has been on the wall for a while.
Some of these changes could be positive, if they’d get rid of the ridiculous and inaccurate DSR benchmarks as a measure this would seem a lot more positive.
david says
9:58 pm on 20/08/2008
once the small sellers have all shutup shop then the big guys can simply have all the exposure and sell for full high street retail prices. So no bargains = less buyers. Wont take long for Ebay to have only a select few big sellers on the site. And it wont be Ebay calling the shots when that happens.
David T says
10:03 pm on 20/08/2008
I am proud to hold 100% positive feedback (again). and I passionately believe in providing an honest and trustworthy shop (with auctions for exposure) within ebay although I doubt that is going to earn me a fortune One of my cherished recent feedbacks is ‘Wonderful Product, Superfast Transaction, EBay at it’s very Best.’
Perhaps I am naive to think that such aspirations this would be as important to ebay, clearly money is their only true motivation and if they can’t get it out of the buyers they sure seem hell bent on screwing it out of the sellers. If I sell an item at its retail of £35, £5 goes to tax (vat) and almost £5 goes in ebay/PP fees!
It is becoming almost impossible to see the wood from the trees through all the smokescreens, the repeated outcome seems to be more for them and less for me. I too think it maybe time for me to spend more time on my own website more seriously and waste less time trying to understand and calculate the implications of yet more ebay machinations.
Are there any better auction sites out there?
Chris Dawson says
10:23 pm on 20/08/2008
Are there any better auction sites out there?
Not that I’m aware of for general sales – a few like etsy, for niches but otherwise eBay is top of the heap
John123 says
10:30 pm on 20/08/2008
I make my living on ebay. Now I’m scared what is about to happen. I don’t have a clue whether my turnover will double or half when the changes come in.
I have an eBay store and BIN listings. I don’t use auctions. I put links in my BIN listings into my eBay store and that means I can sell about 50% of my sales from the store and the rest from the BIN listings.
How will the auction listings, (displayed in time to end order ), be mixed with the BIN listings (displayed in some different order)? I can’t make any sense of this.
I imagine I will have to start using auctions with embeded links to my shop listings. I’m sure that will end up costing me more than I currently spend.
Only good news is my competitors are in the same boat as me.
Good point about other auction sites. Maybe now some viable competition to eBay will emerge.
I’m now looking at alternatives including google and Amazon.
Super Max says
10:43 pm on 20/08/2008
#72 – It sounds like this will only be good for you, all your listings will show, in Best Match order in searches, you will not have to use auctions to drive traffic to your shop at all.
John123 says
11:08 pm on 20/08/2008
#73 – I hope you are right. But I just can’t figure it out at the moment.
So much is changing in one go!
Just been reading the ebay message boards and the general feeling is very negative about the changes.
I’ll wait for the acount manager to ring me and see what he has to say!
John says
11:19 pm on 20/08/2008
#73 – Unless you need International Sales, with the pound not so strong (time eBay retired the tips) they should be on the up.
So auctions are the only route to International Exposure.
Stewart says
7:36 am on 21/08/2008
Will unsold listings still be eligible for a relist credit and will Powerseller discounted FVF still be available?
Chris Dawson says
9:02 am on 21/08/2008
#76 PS Discounts haven’t changed – you’ll still get them. Unsold listings I’m not sure about. I can’t imagine they’ll change for auctions or existing BIN formats, although they may differ for the new 30 day format.
Stewart says
9:03 am on 21/08/2008
Thanks Chris, do you know if the Featured First option applies to all your listings or just one?
Savvy Paul says
9:26 am on 21/08/2008
My reading is that these changes are all about attracting big volume sellers. eBay has been soul-searching for some time about how to move to the next level of business performance (hence a few years of experimentation and mixed messages).
Amongst medium & small sellers there’ll be winners & losers depending on your business model / average transaction value / category you list in, etc.
eBay is moving on from it’s original business model (and as a listed company it’s inevitable that they should want to). Small & medium independent sellers need to ensure that they are developing and marketing their own websites and other offline channels. This will enable those sellers to then use eBay as an advertising medium rather than their sole / majority source of income. Those sellers who invest time & money in developing and growing their own brand (rather than the eBay brand) will benefit most, in the long term.
Overall, it’s a necessary development – but there will be some pain along the way.
just john says
9:42 am on 21/08/2008
These changes effect people in different ways and also effect ebay in different ways.
Anyone intending to stay in this game needs too look at the bigger picture.
1. some users will increase inventory
2. some users will bail
3. some users will just manage.
Theses all have an effect on ebay. Each will have there pitfalls.
I fall into number 1 above , my only danger is SNP(double the inventory double the bad ebayers)
There will be a gap in the market for the larger seller too take up the slack from user 2 above.
Ebayer 3 will just have too manage just like any other line of work.
THIS IS A FEE/WORK INCREASE, BUT JUST WHAT ARE YOU GETTING FOR YOUR MONEY/DOUBLE INVENTORY ?
you WILL be paying more money or YOU will be working harder. But just what are ebay giving you ????
Irish Seller says
10:49 am on 21/08/2008
FVF’s on Vatable sales for VAT registered business on Ebay….
When will the Bay recognised that the FVF’s are a fee on VAT paid over to the governement. The seller does not benefit, just the Bay and the governement.
Eg an item sells for €121.00 which includes 21% Irish VAT. Value to the seller is €100.00
FVF on €121 is about €10.80
FVF on €100 is about €9.90
Government receives €21.00 in VAT and Ebay receives €0.90 and the seller receives €99.20.
Then there is the Paypal fees on top !!!
DR Johns says
10:55 am on 21/08/2008
As observed my many others, Ebay have thrown the kitchen sink into this latest announcement-result indigestion, likely mistakes as a result of the confused picture created. I am no fan of the Ebay UK CEO following his deliberate, calculated misleading comments when fees last changed on BBC Working Lunch.And thi puts it mildly. Doubtess he is a pawn only to Ebay USA ivory tower residents.Quickly scanning the 72 contributions different interpretations, are obvious and some will take time to decide the best way for them to ‘USE’ Ebay. Ebay hate being ‘used’ objectively they want to USE their customers. Classic arrogance enabled by being a monoply and I would echo a few contributers Ebay need a major competitor now to shake them up. They are in big trouble due to the French court upholding an injuction demand made by LVMH this has immediately resulted in French Ebayers prevented from by /selling a range of products that are owned by LMVH. Ebay can be fine E50K per day if they transgress. LVMH action has potential ruinous implications wordwide if they happen to win as many to brands will seek the same restriction and it would be worldwide.Personally doubt that they will succeed with the ultimate objective as implications re free trade,personal choice, different individual Country law variations etc etc and the sheer impact on trade generally, enormous.
Ebay are appealing as they obviously must and USA for sure would unlikely endorse what France(EC) might decide.The cost to LVMH and Ebay however will be huge-thus one can see why Ebay seek now to be cash rich-even more than in recent past. The whole brillant business concept it was-is not coming off the rails and these continually changes reflect desperation to secure bottom line success-share holders need to be kept happy-remember the recent past CEO of EBAY USA a lady resigned-bright lady ! Sorry for the long winded blog but it may just help many to understand why Ebay are so motivated to introduce yet another lot of changes-the feedback debacle was unbelievably ill thought through also.Lets hope these fee changes et al do not end up the same way-some I guess will! Dennis
Absolute parties says
11:01 am on 21/08/2008
I’m still trying to get my head around all these changes.
I’d like some sort of confirmation on just how the 30 day listings will work.
Will they only be visable (On pages 1-4) of the search for all the 30 day’s or just the last few days.
Once I know the answer to that I can better work out just how these price rises will affect me.
This is the second price rise this year.
Two each year will very soon make no room for the smaller value item sellers. But maybe that’s e-bay’s long term plan?
To make it more like a shopping centre rather than a bargain hunters playground?
DR Johns says
11:04 am on 21/08/2008
Oops- sorry,Correction to mine-should read is NOW coming off the rails (not as stated is “not coming off” Would also add that the LVMH action if successful would stop individuals listing unwated personal gifts of their brarnds-that shows the extent of this law suit and you can bet your last $ that many similar top brands will be watching this case’s progress-likely take years of course given the implications.Dr J
woodworkprojects says
11:36 am on 21/08/2008
I agree 100% with David T (#70). I too have 100% positive feedback but only just enough business to justify the £6 monthly shop fee. To get my listings at the same price I need to upgrade to a featured shop costing how much? £50 per month! And they have the nerve to say that the majority of fees are paid only when you successfully sell an item. As others have said, eBay clearly has absolutely no consideration for the small sellers who have contributed greatly to its vast wealth. Let’s hope sellers defect in droves and hurt them in the pocket.
Chris says
12:07 pm on 21/08/2008
I don’t know if I’m asking the obvious here, but I’ll ask anyway! The requirements for the featured shop include to maintain 12 month DSRs at 4.4 or above. How long for? If it’s the full 12 months then that is going to restrict any new businesses from taking advantage of the reduced listing fees.
Gerry007 says
1:31 pm on 21/08/2008
To put SIF in BIN on the front page of the site seems like a good thing to me.
Obviously each seller will look at it in a different way, some will loose & others gain.
To gain exposure over a full 30 day period, if a seller has many listings, the way we will do it is list, say 30 items every 3 days, hence we have exposure of the whole 30 day period.
Hopefully when buyers search, they will see our items at least every 3 days. This will continue indefinately if the BIN listings are Good to sold as in SIF.
Keeping a shop open still has it’s benifits as for clumping all the listings in one place for buyers to see all in your categorys with links to the shop in each listing.
If SIF automatically becomes BIN, how will a sellers shops categories fall in line with ebay’s categorys, Particularly if they are not compatable.
My real concern is that with so many shops with large inventories, suddenly becoming BIN, the main auction site will be bogged down with so many listings & buyers will get tired (and sore eyed) just searching….
Warren says
3:15 pm on 21/08/2008
Winners and losers just like most things in life. Ebay has many different types of sellers and these changes show the type of seller who ebay want and the sort who they coudnt care less about. Somewhat ironic that the latter is the sort of seller that has made ebay so succesful.So I now have to pay £14.95 instead of £8.00?? plus BIN 40p/30 day instead of 0.5p/30 day
Ebay has just killed off many small stores in favour of larger ones.Of course larger ones have more money,time,etc so they will pay whatever it takes to keep their listings prominent and even wipe out middle rate shops.There are lots of small/medium real business’ who like ourselves are happy to spend £10 a month just for advertisng exposure on ebay because whether or not you actually make a profit selling goods is irrelevant but when you suddenly find a 50% increase its like yellow pages saying last years £200 add is now £300 and you sort of think why you greedy &%%&&.
Personally I feel ebay is commiting suicide.
Gerry007 says
3:58 pm on 21/08/2008
#85
Lots of old saying come to mind;
” putting all your eggs in one basket” etc, etc.
One of the problems that is happening today is the demise of the small businesses/shop, that specialize in the odds & sods of everyday life. we all have to go to the likes of B&Q, PC world, Tesco, MFI, etc, etc.
Corporate businesses have taken over & indoing so, tell us what to buy not what we want to buy…
Ebay is on that path, with the way it is pushing out the small guys.. It may be all well & good being able to see the bigger picture, but believe me, when the big boys get a BIG foot in, ebay will regret the moves it is making now, It will be the BIG sellers that ‘dictate’ to ebay what they want to pay & how they’ll play the game, NOT the other way round.
‘Variety is the spice of life’ this is true, but when the big sellers tell you what the variety is, it’s hardly the spice of life.
From the point of view of a small player in to days ‘global ecomony’ & in the Uk in particular, we have all seen the demise of small businesses. Most were lost (when the rot set in) in the great reccession of the late 80′s/early 90′s. From that time on, only the big survive & get the full backing of the UK banks.
For all other business minded people, that have agreat idea, they have to go to venture capitolists that want a large chunk of the business for any investments (see; dragons den).
Ebay fee structure is a similar thing.
A little story, which is very much how it works nowadays;
A shop lease in the Thurrock & bluewater shopping centres @ M25 Dartford crossing (or for that matter all the BIG shopping centres in the UK now). At one time a lease was signed for a period @ a fixed rent with reviews (or similar). NOW the landlords want to see your financual figures & if you make a good profit, the lease give them the right to slice a bit more off for themselves.
If you supply Tesco or the likes, THEY WILL TELL YOU how much profit % you can make. Gone are the days of natural profit machines as the big boys want it all.
Buy to let house mortgages are all geared up % wise, to give the owner ‘invester’ a small % over the rent they receive. Hence here again, the lenders make all the real dosh.
Regretfully all you can do, is sort of stay under their Radar & keep making a living, doing it personnally.
Bunchy says
3:59 pm on 21/08/2008
With all the threads on the ps and Q&A boards I can’t find the answer to a question:
I know that all live SIFs will automatically mutate into the new BINS, but what about items in SMP inventory that are not currently live on 24th September?
Do I have to manually change them?
or
When I relist, will they mutate automatically?
ta
Kate says
5:57 pm on 21/08/2008
However I look at it my fees will treble. Shop listings for CDs will go from 3p to 10p a month. (I never bothered with gallery for CDs unless it was free – people know what they want and it sells just the same with or without so long as there is a pic in the listing).
Jewellery (with gallery) will go from 20p for 90 days to 20p for 30 days. And this is only as long as I keep the shop – which goes from £6 to £14.95.
And don’t give me that carp about increased visibility, the site will be flooded with all the SIFs converted to BINs, and with the new search and best match nobody can find your stuff anyway.
And no international visibility is just twisting the knife in the wound.
I suppose I will carry on for a while, with reduced inventory, because I have way too much stock that I need to get rid of. I can only see how it goes. But it may be just a case of getting rid of what I have and not investing in any more
Kate says
7:45 pm on 21/08/2008
And I forgot to add – the listing fees will treble, but the FVFs will also go up, because apparently, it’s now cheaper to list!
I’m sorry but I just don’t get it.
For anyone like me who has a full time job and cannot therefore cope with selling more than a certain amount each week, this is very bad news indeed.
It is really going to drive smaller sellers away.
zoltan says
8:54 pm on 21/08/2008
I think I might move over to ebid.net
I sell items at low cost, and the increase in shop fees is ridiculous, at least on ebid you can list things with no fees and only a small percentage of sale fees if the item sells.
ebid doesn’t have the customer size that ebay has but with all the small shops suffering I can see buyers looking for other places as well to find a bargain.
Tony says
1:35 am on 22/08/2008
“It will be the BIG sellers that ‘dictate’ to ebay what they want to pay & how they’ll play the game, NOT the other way round.”
Agreed, there’s no way big sellers will put up with the rubbish ebay throw the way of sellers.
DSR ratings have to be above a certain level? Really? You want big business money (and it will generate money) you can’t dictate ridiculous terms like that to them, the second word will be “off” and big business have loyalty to nobody.
Michelle Waterman says
7:31 am on 22/08/2008
I don’t think I will leave eBay. However, I have closed my shop this morning. So i’ll still pay the £4.99 a month for SMP and any freebies that come with the shops subscription.
I’m very much in the same situation as Kate here. I have a full time job and would find it very difficult to list enough items to justify a featured shop. Shame really. I paid good money to have my shop front redesigned and looking attractive to buyers.
Will have to see how things pan out I think but I know the higher fees are going to eat into my profits.
It’s such a shame that eBay are pushing the smaller sellers away. it was the then smaller sellers back when it started that made eBay the place that it is today.
northumbrian says
8:32 am on 22/08/2008
I dont care how much money ebay make, good luck to them, its how much money we make that concerns us
ebay fees are a tool to make money , we dont worry about them at all as long as they provide us with profit
Gerry007 says
4:06 pm on 22/08/2008
#96 northumbrian
I do not disagree with your attitude, however when the % divide starts to move away from your pot, you will start to worry…Believe me!!.
northumbrian says
4:52 pm on 22/08/2008
gerry
too right and we also understand your worry
though if ebay stopped working fo us,
we would go other places, and do other things, I would not flog a dead horse
Horst says
5:20 pm on 22/08/2008
#95 Michelle similar here.I used to live fulltime on ebay now I am looking for a day-job. Will have to do calculations but most likely will close my shop.Will have to give attention to sign of from all the freebies which came with the shop as otherwise ebay will charge me for them.Only I will wait till 24th of September.And now everything makes sence.Due to the new search all my sales dropped about 90% beginning of July when it was new only. This due to before I made my sales by nearly all my listings being featured.In new search they don`t appear anymore top of page one.But now as from 24/09 on ebay introduces the new feature top of category or so which will bring back this advantage but now instead of £10 (9.95) it shall cost £ 45 for 10 days. Well I always relied on this feature but now that seems too expensive for me.
Horst says
6:48 pm on 22/08/2008
Its all just another hidden price rise.
Remember the problems with new search?Featured listings didn`t appear any more on top of page 1 if browsing category.it was explained by pinks:
It is a really bad experience for a buyer who does browse in to be confronted with pages and pages of Featured listings which may not be completely relevant to their search Anna-uk 24/06 http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1200224783&start=816 Now the new prices already removed from http://pages.ebay.co.uk/pricechange08/ but still in google cache
just offer this.
Only instead of £9.95 Ebay charges £44.90.So if Ebay gets £45 instead of £10 its no bad buyer experience?No!!! It was just another trick of ebay to discribe nicely a price hike.This time 350%!!!!!
Featured First (new)
All categories
Media *
N/A
N/A
£44.95
£11.95
£134.95
£35.95
John pemberton says
10:54 pm on 22/08/2008
its fantastic news – it removes upfront business risk.
TIralion says
11:24 am on 23/08/2008
I too have a small shop and whatever I sell a month in fees, always comes in aroung the £12 – 18 mark. It’s just not viable fror me to carry on as ann ebay shop. I sell badges etc which are low value items and i have started making my own website.
I may just put a few things on ebay and then direct them over to my site.
It sertainly isn’t fait to us loyal ebayer who have a 100% feedback record.
I just wonder how much they will lose by small shops going but no doubt with the featured shops with mid to high price items the loss of us will be more than covered.
There is no loyalty in business. Money seems to go to money, no matter how hard you work at it.
I might try the new structure for a month or two but its highly unlikely that’ll the shop will stay after the first invoice comes through.
Thanks Ebay – for nothing
hanafi_h says
7:36 pm on 23/08/2008
Closed shop today. Low volumes/high ticket – will trade as non-shop. I can’t see how driving me out of my shop will make money for Ebay. Feels like executive decision making that’s lost sight of where the ball is.
Hey Ho,
Super Max says
8:14 pm on 23/08/2008
I have a question for all those closing their shops. Which for the record I really don’t understand if your doing it before the next billing period.
Under the old pricing your shop wasn’t showing up in search anyway, and you still paid a monthly fee, the only benefit was the cheap SIF listings.
With the new pricing, even without a shop, you will get 30 day BINS and exposure under search, ok you don’t have a shop, but why do you care if you now have full search exposure?
Those people who had a shop and only used SIF should surely make up the extra fees in extra sales through the increased exposure?
Sure you lose a bit of branding but you can do that on your own webpage and auction templates.
Sorry if i have missed something obvious here.
pHilip muld says
8:34 pm on 23/08/2008
I must admit to being astounded,that in the teeth of maybe the worst recession for 80 years,Ebay makes the decision to transform itself from Aldi into Selfridges.
Gerry007 says
9:00 pm on 23/08/2008
# 104
Please don’t tempt fate, with suggestions like ‘recession’.
If it gets even 1/2 as bad as the one in late 80′s/early 90′s then we all have a VERY big problem coming.
Funny enough it might not have been a bad idea to have got rid of the rotten sellers now, as when things do get bad, we won’t get an influx of every tom, dick & harry. who can’t sell on the High street.
hanafi_h says
9:20 am on 24/08/2008
@103 (Super Max)
I can’t speak for anybody but me but my Basic Shop was used to host many low-ticket collectables, which would sell very slowly (more than 2 months), and a few high-ticket collectables, which sell quickly (within 14 days). The shop was about building a presence on Ebay that was based on quality – no DSR below 4.8, no customer unsatisfied (100%). The SIF items helped create an interesting shop. This isn’t about making a living off of Ebay for me, it’s about being good seller with a commitment to Ebay, my customers and the things I love to deal in.
I think the Fees Illustrator page they have on site indicates Ebay’s commercial strategy. These fee changes were expected to drive people out of shops but the fee hikes would make up the lost revenue from the shops that remain, when the decision is based solely on the invoice bottom line.
I think this commercial strategy is probably rather flawed. Not only will Ebay lose marginal shop fees, but also the items sold on long term SIFs. In my case that means this month’s invoice to Ebay (a long holiday month) would have been $16.54 not $30.01. Before that, my fees would have been $56 not $110 because I wouldn’t have paid a shop fee and I wouldn’t have sold the low-ticket items. I suspect more shops than Ebay expects and a huge slice of low-ticket slow-sales SIFs will vanish from the web front. For me it’s high-ticket items only from here on in, the bric-a-brac goes to the boot sale.
Why do it now? Well I’m pissed by all this. I think I’ve been a good Ebayer. I put a lot of effort into building a good shop and playing by the rules. That doesn’t get you anything on Ebay. So I’ll just sell the things I think I can shift quickly and make enough profit on to cover the fee hikes. I won’t be putting any effort into being an Ebay presence. And I’m looking at Amazon and Ebid very much more seriously. I think having just Ebay as your sole outlet is a truly serious misjudgement.
Robin Horsley says
3:36 pm on 24/08/2008
Everyone wondering what effect the new Search feature with BIN listings showing? Ebay UK are showing all SIF listings in Search results RIGHT NOW! – They have been for the last week or so.
Gerry007 says
6:39 pm on 24/08/2008
#108
I think it depends on what you are selling. If there are not many other items in your search catagory, then shop listings automatically appear in search rewsults.
We only have a few items listed at the moment & all are still in the shop.
Robin Horsley says
6:53 pm on 24/08/2008
Dont think so – I checked with Pseller support Friday and they said SIFs are now listed
Gerry007 says
6:56 pm on 24/08/2008
#110
Just checked our listings & shown in shop, underneath main search, so don’t know …..
Kevn Macdonald says
7:46 pm on 24/08/2008
At a time when retail sales are slowing rapidly and people have less money in their pocket due to energy and food price rises, eBay decide to promote larger sellers and push private sellers off the site or at least down the pecking order.
If smaller sellers can’t afford to list on eBay, buyer choice and competition will be lost. At a time when people are feeling the pinch they want to look for bargains. Not use another shopping mall for larger sellers.
Finally, could this change be any more complicated?? To me it looks like the man at the top has an idea. Then it is tinkered with and manipulated into this complex non sensical mess but they will still call it his idea. eBay continue down the slippery slope…………..
Gerry007 says
11:40 am on 25/08/2008
#112
But isn’t this, what has happened to the UK’s high streets over the last decade. All the big boys move in, up goes the rents, out goes the small sellers.
Now of course the big boys, who have pushed everyone around are starting to feel the pitch, and aren’t they letting us know, winging over how bad things are etc’.
To them & ebay (if it’s not careful) ‘ You made your bed, now lie in it ‘.
hanafi_h says
7:49 am on 26/08/2008
The more I think about this, the less convinced I am that these changes are good news for medium scale sellers either. Assuming Ebay succeeds in its aim of bringing entire inventories online at the same time as raising BIN sales over auction bids, medium scale sellers need to ask themselves whether there’s any larger sized sellers than themselves who can use economy of scale to permanently sell at a lower price.
When I buy by BIN I search for lowest price and P&P, not most relevant or ending soonest. Medium size sellers will benefit from lower fees but may well become exposed to fewer sales as the buyers opt for lowest price buying from the largest scale retailers.
Gerry007 says
1:07 pm on 26/08/2008
Yesterday, I was clicking a few links to amuse myself (sad I know), and one thing came to mind.
I clicked onto a shop (for whatever reason). Now this particular shop had over 700 items listed, but there where only 11 tems in total, hence over 60 listings for each item, all the listings were BIN and the same.
This will be the problem when SIF become BIN (not that I think the general idea is bad), the problem will become when someone decides to earch for an item, this type of seller will swap the BIN listings & as we all know there is nothing worse than seeing numerous repeat listings continuoiusly displayed on page after page.
We all just loose the will, to search. Listing like this should only have limited exposure, ie, say1-2 in every 10 identical repeat listings, otherwise BIN listings will just be swamped.
gerry says
2:57 pm on 26/08/2008
I had ( closed it now) a basic shop. £6 a month, I sold personalised items for 99p each and now ebay want me to pay £15 a month and 6 times as much to list my items.
A free gallery that i didnt use in the first place doesnt make up for the fact that the cost of my listing an item has increased from 3p to 20p and the fee for selling it has also just increased by over 2 %. As its individual personalised items, multiple quantity listings dont work, as each item requires a seperate listing. That’s a 600% increase in selling costs per unit,
so no matter the visibility or quantity of items I sell there is no way to make up the increased fee.
So the items I sell, which had a quite small but resonable profit margin, which was compensated for by sales volume to regular buyers is now completely unviable to sell as i would be selling at a loss.
So either i have to increase my prices and pass on ebays increase of fees to my buyers or stop selling on ebay. As I cant predict what the next change to the costs of running an ebay shop might be in two or three months it isnt financially viable to continue trading on ebay.
Which is a shame, I’ve had an account on ebay since about 2001, and have seen ebay turn from a great maketplace into a faceless, uncaring, generic website clogged with poor quality chinese electronics, fake designer products and a user base that was once a communty and is now nothing more than corporations, scam artists, scalpers, uncaring opportunist powersellers and increasingly disillusioned hobbiests that are being forced to pack up and leave.
And when you loose the sellers who made ebay what it was, the buyers will drift off. Why buy new on ebay from some seller in china when i can buy the same thing from woolworths or tesco and know what im getting. The days of ebay having a community are over, all ebay will have soon are clients.
martin says
4:11 pm on 26/08/2008
I have just checked my invoice from last month and applied the new fees.
My fees will be more than double!
I have a shop (£6) and just list low value BIN’s and SIF.
With these new fees ebay will be making more than I do unless I increase my prices at the risk of losing sales.
If there was a real alternative I would just move, but they know they are a monopoly and can screw us as they please.
It seems they only want large sellers and individuals selling a few personal items.
What can be done?
John says
5:11 pm on 26/08/2008
#117 Martin
You will almost certainly need to upgrade your shop to featured to get your listing fees back down. Try that? Remember too, no gallery to pay for.
Then you can put multiple items (where you have them) on listings and pay no more. etc etc.
Kate says
6:03 pm on 26/08/2008
Like Gerry #116 I sell mainly one-off items at low prices – and a lot of the time I didn’t need gallery either. Visibility wasn’t much of a problem – people found my stuff. This isn’t lowered front-end (insertion) costs, it’s a trebling of insertion fees. I won’t be closing my shop just yet but I know I will have to reduce inventory (ie stop selling slow moving stuff). It’s the buyers who will suffer too – less choice for them. As you say, maybe this will push folks back to the high street.
Upgrading the shop just isn’t an option for all of us, those of us with other commitments couldn’t physically cope with selling a whole lot more even if we could afford to experment with more lisings.
martin says
8:21 pm on 26/08/2008
#118 John
But at the moment my fees average around the £25 mark so upgrading to featured will nearly double my fees before I even list anything.
Their arguments just don’t stack up.
Inv. should have featured in the listings anyway, or at least always be on show below.
The current system relies on a buyer knowing about the shop facility to click on the link when there are a high number of listings.
But to ask more to get what we should have had in the first place is wrong.
If they really wanted to help us then why not give a free trial period or even a refund for the inv. items that did not sell?
With the fvf at nearly 10% and then the paypal fees the only way to make a profit on low value items is to add to the shipping cost.
But that is not the way to run a business.
John says
9:56 pm on 26/08/2008
#120 Martin, sorry, I was making the asssumption that you listed enough to make the 5p unlimited quantity listings rate attractive.
Clearly sellers of higher ticket / repeatable items are more likely to be pleased than sellers of lower value one off items such as collectables. Perhaps eBay has run its course for the latter.
In my own case, it is borderline with around 2000 listings, but with the prospect of an increasing inventory going forward it could work.
Would need to get to 7000+ to justify the real saver rate but I think that the management of that number of listings / sales is well beyond my 25 hour day.
Further developments are making my case for staying more precarious though.
The new view item form makes off eBay picture hosting (just look at the numbers!) more or less essential to get the picture next to the description and the dropping of the proper full itemised store category links and shop frame from the listings will make multiple sales less easy.
Most of my current sales are in multiples. This is mainly to repeat customers, new customers are currently in decline for possibly one or all of a number of reasons.
I am appalled by the current effectiveness (!) of item specifics / new search and the total apparent complacency of eBay to resolve this.
I have a deal of trepidation going forward.
Best wishes to all.
rosie says
12:54 am on 27/08/2008
Sue,
any quesses on the date of the next cheap listing day so that those of us who the new system doesnt suit can hopefully get rid of our stock.
Regards Rosie.
Sue says
8:13 am on 27/08/2008
Rosie, this year’s August CLDs have gone against the trend of the previous two years, so I’m not absolutely convinced I want to guess. However, not next week but the week after would be my guess if I had to.
Which raises an interesting question. When the new fee schedule kicks in and most professional sellers are on 5p per BIN, will that be the end of CLDs?
Richard says
2:50 pm on 27/08/2008
Shamelessly lifted pink post hot off the press from the UK Powerseller board…..
“Concerns around feedback manipulation have prompted us to review this area and after 24th September, the minimum BIN price will be 99p, for single and multiple quantity listings. The minimum BIN price for an auction + BIN option listing will also be 99p. Sellers with lower value items will still be able to list in auction with starting prices lower than 99p”
Steve H says
2:51 pm on 27/08/2008
For those concerned about low value BINs, James @ ebay has just given this response:
“Concerns around feedback manipulation have prompted us to review this area and after 24th September, the minimum BIN price will be 99p, for single and multiple quantity listings. The minimum BIN price for an auction + BIN option listing will also be 99p. Sellers with lower value items will still be able to list in auction with starting prices lower than 99p.”
I guess that will upset a LOT of sellers.
John says
3:15 pm on 27/08/2008
236 live SIF and 343 scheduled/unsold SIF (many with multi quantity) now potentially unlistable.
Cannot offer a full service on eBay now.
Website beckons.
Gill says
3:17 pm on 27/08/2008
I think it will upset a lot of buyers also.
Sue Bailey says
3:22 pm on 27/08/2008
I think this deserves its own post.
shirley says
3:42 pm on 27/08/2008
I imagine this is a real kick in the teeth for just about every craft seller on Ebay. That’s a lot of people.
Jim says
3:56 pm on 27/08/2008
I already list unique, low-cost collectables under auction format about 2-300 per month with average sales of about 20%. Unsold items go into my shop and at present total about 2000 items with fees of £6 + £60 (2000x3p) with average monthly sales of about 7-10% – I don’t use gallery as experience has shown that it produces few if any extra sales for my items. New shop fees would be £15 + £400 for a basic shop or £50 + £100 with a featured shop; either way a huge percentage increase!
I have made a test with a small shop which I have already closed, and YES I can open a .com shop with fees of about £8 per month and listing fee of under 2p per item (just needs a bit of extra thought when working out P&P)!! At the moment I cannot see any way of transferring all the items other than by painstakingly individually relisting, but it is the only way I could afford to carry on! Also, this .com shop will be visible to UK buyers all the time I continue to list on.co.uk in auction format, which still shows the link to the shop!
I have also listed the same items on specialistauctions.com and will soon do so on ebid.com, where charges are negligilble! Yes I know that sales there are poor at the moment, but if enough of us SMALL-FRY do likewise and point all the old customers in our sales address books towards them, who knows, I might eventually be able to stick 2 fingers up to eBay and say ‘enjoy your fight with amazon’.
I know these fees are attractive to large-volume sellers of new items, and good luck to you (been there, got fed up with it!). The trouble is that you have got several internet outlets (I always had more success with Amazon anyway), we in the collectables/craft field have not, apart from eBay, which if my memory is not playing tricks, was started specifically for those fields.
martin says
8:17 pm on 27/08/2008
#130 Jim
I sympathise.
It is bleeding many of us dry.
What are the alternatives?
phil says
2:55 am on 29/08/2008
More like ebay are just jacking up overall fees to the masses and benefiting the few.
I still have a number of shops on ebay now, but there more linked to websites now to promote them and push customers away from ebay direct to our own websites. Although i do make money out of them i admit, but once ive got a customer on ebay, i try and make sure they never buy from me via ebay and go direct instead.
Also sell mainly on Amazon now (despite silly fees) do get a premium price and better customers.
Now moving onto ebid and other auction sites as a combination of marketing and for sales.
Was a time when i would never have considered selling anywhere else but on ebay, now its a case of i think how i can sell anywhere but ebay.
My advice to anyone is, yes sell on ebay, cost and analyse it. But use it as a method to push customers you get on Ebay away from Ebay and to buying direct from you. Only takes a website, a discount coupon and a sticker or note in the packaging and the email when they purchase off ebay going from your website to advertise it.
Also as someone not a fan of ebay, each time you successfully do it, it costs ebay money
booksforsale says
12:57 am on 30/08/2008
Some great comments on here.
Wherever I go on the internet, I am certain to bump into an article outlining ebay’s moving of the goalposts.
And I am also going to encounter people whinging about ebay and paypal.
And I am going to encounter social network sites with their obligatory “Boycott Ebay” group and groupies who go back to ebay and its ugly sister paypal once the boycott is over.
Instead of whinging about paypal and ebay, why not do something about it – give them the sack!
There are plenty other online auction sites and payment services online, such as ebid.net for listing, and moneybookers and google checkout for payment.
Hazel says
2:45 pm on 10/09/2008
There will be a 0.01% decrease in Final Value Fees ?? hardly worth changing really.
And the shop subscription fee is going up by £8.99 per month. So much for the good news.
A lot of the smaller sellers are leaving but this probably won’t hurt eBay – with the massive increase in shop subscriptions they will still make good profits. A pity the same can’t be said for their customers – the hard-working sellers.