Comments on: eBay UK fee changes : goodbye SIF and Gallery fees

By: Hazel

Hazel — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:45:37 +0000

This means the end of my eBay shop and probably for many other low value sellers. I used to be able to sell my lower value shop items for 12p for 90 days including gallery this will increase to 60p for the same period.

There will be a 0.01% decrease in Final Value Fees ?? hardly worth changing really.

And the shop subscription fee is going up by Â£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.

By: booksforsale

booksforsale — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:57:29 +0000

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.

By: phil

phil — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:55:02 +0000

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

By: martin

martin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:17:38 +0000

#130 Jim
I sympathise.
It is bleeding many of us dry.
What are the alternatives?

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:56:15 +0000

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 Â£6 + Â£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 Â£15 + Â£400 for a basic shop or Â£50 + Â£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 Â£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.

By: shirley

shirley — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:42:17 +0000

I imagine this is a real kick in the teeth for just about every craft seller on Ebay. That’s a lot of people.

By: Sue Bailey

Sue Bailey — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:22:22 +0000

I think this deserves its own post.

By: Gill

Gill — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:17:49 +0000

I think it will upset a lot of buyers also.

By: John

John — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:15:55 +0000

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.

By: Steve H

Steve H — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:51:42 +0000

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.