Ebay Does It Again
A Crash Course In Ebaynomics
I received an email today from eBay. A reminder that effective March 30th, the new eBay fee schedule will take effect, and that I am right on track for the lowest rates! This email went on to say that the "cost of selling on eBay is about to be dramatically reduced with our lowest insertion fees ever."
I went to the link provided in the email to check out the new fee structure. And what did I discover? Ebay lied. Imagine my surprise.
I currently have a basic store subscription which costs me $15.95 per month. Most of my items are between $1.00 - $24.99, so my per item insertion fee is .3 cents. Although my subscription rate will remain the same, the per item insertion fee will jump almost 600% to .20 cents per item. In order for me to retain my current .3 cent per item insertion fee, I must upgrade my store subscription to an anchor subscription of $299.95 per month.
Perhaps this is some sort of a new revised math or something, but in my mind a rate increase of almost 600% sure doesn't sound like "dramatically reduced...lowest insertion fees ever".
Apparently, eBay must think we are all a bunch of moronic dolts. How can anyone actually think that changing insertion fees from .3 cents to .20 cents is dramatically reducing fees to their lowest ever.
In fact, this little fee deal that eBay is pulling is nothing more than an attempt to scam new eBayers into purchasing a store subscription. It is also accomplishing something else, however. In reading the eBay seller forums, many of the sellers have seen right through eBay's lies, and have called it for what it is. An attempt to push out those sellers who do not sell enough high price items, and thus increase eBay's profits.
Increasingly, eBay has been romancing large retail outlets and stores, which will bring in substantial profits to the eBay coffers. And the truth of the matter is, that although eBay needed to smaller sellers during it formative years, we are no longer needed and no longer wanted. Many sellers have developed a loyalty with eBay, but that loyalty is not reciprocated by eBay. Nor will it ever be.
If eBay continues along its present course, as I suspect it will, it will become just another large online big box store, and the atmosphere of friends and family that made eBay an enjoyable experience will be completely lost. It is not far from that now.
Thank you for stopping by and reading my articles, and please remember that your thoughts, comments and suggestions are always welcome and encouraged.
1 comment:
Their promotion of this fee change is typical eBay speak - focusing on one aspect of the change and ignoring the other. Their viewpoint is that listing at FP30 used to be 35 cents - now basic store owners will get FP30 for 20 cents, and Premium store owners will get FP30 for 5 cents. That is, indeed, a fee decrease.
Of course their simultaneous decision to eliminate store inventory format, which essentially forces all store owners to switch their listings to FP30, is where the change is actually an increase. And of course they don't choose to promote that viewpoint.
Luckily it is fairly easy to do the math and figure out how to make the change work the best for your business. For me, I am upgrading to a premium store, and listing more items straight to fixed price with best offer, rather than running them at auction first. This allows me to pay basically the same amount as I was paying before, with the added benefit of all my items being in core search, which is a great benefit.
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