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Ebay puts the screws to store sellers


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I don't know if anyone on here heard about this or not, so here's the links. The first one is a copy of the message that the CEO sent to all sellers, and the second link is to a thread on the Ebay message board.

 

Link #! http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200607191343242.html

 

Link #2 http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?thr...d=1153453881208

 

Some of you probably won't care about this, but it will affect some of the members on here. Basically what's going to happen is, store owners are going to be forced to either close their Ebay stores, or sell more items at auction. If they sell more items at auctions, watch out, because things won't be as cheap as they used to be. If you have an opinion on this mess, either for or against please reply. There are many sellers and buyers that have left Ebay already, or are going to by 8/22/06. BTW, the CEO's "6%" price increase is BS, because a listing that used to cost .02, will now cost at least .05, and some listings will cost at least .10. The final value fees, have also gone up another 20%-30%. It all adds up. I know, it doesn't sound like much, but when some sellers have a thousand items or more in their store, it's gonna hurt. I was contacted by Ebay, and told that if I kept my store, my costs per month would go up an additional $60.00.

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Ok, soooo, whats wrong with closing the "store", getting a real website, and still selling stuff on ebay?

 

I never really got the whole store idea anyways.

 

 

Well it's like this, if you had buyers for items in the $1-$15 range, and auction fees ate up so much of your profits, that you lost money, you would list those types of items in a store for .03 per item, and pay the 8% FVF to Ebay, and another 3% to PayPal. Another thing is, Ebay buyers tend to think that "everything" can be had for pennies on the dollar. One seller had an item at auction, that listed for $700 wholesale, and started the auction out at $399, and got no bids, but a buyer asked him, if he would sell it for a measley $1. There is no way, you can list the cheaper items in an auction, and come out ahead, especially if you figure in anything for your time, because you still have to add in initial item cost, on top of everything else. I'm going somewhere else with my stuff, but I don't know where, and I'm completely done with Ebay, as a lot of other sellers and buyers are. BTW, sellers in China pay no listing fees whatsoever, on store items. Kinda makes things really out of balance, because US sellers are paying more to help cover the oversea's operating cost's. If you don't have much experience selling on Ebay, then you won't really have a clue, as to what all is involved.

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It does look rough to make some loot on the items of lower value.It's just to bully store owners to a price increase.How much more money does E-bay need?I'd love to know their operating costs.

Opening up you're own site and do just enough business on E-bay to let people know you're around wouldn't be a bad idea.

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Yeah i can see where this will suck for even the consumer. Now you will either have to pay extra to cover the additional fees for sellers to keep current prices or the number of sellers will decrease which COULD create a monopoly for sellers with unique items. What if store owners simply closed their store and listed everything as a regular listing as a simply user? Or have they screwed the guy who just wants to get rid of some crap also?

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Ebay has pretty much screwed everyone, who wants to sell anything under $15. No matter how you list it, or where you list it, if you list it with Ebay, you're gonna come out on the short end of the stick. I'm watching their stock, and this makes the second day in a row, that it has dropped, but the Ebay bigwigs are also in the middle of a Ebay stock buy-back, to the tune of $2 million dollars. Something doesn't smell right with that.

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Ebay has pretty much screwed everyone, who wants to sell anything under $15. No matter how you list it, or where you list it, if you list it with Ebay, you're gonna come out on the short end of the stick. I'm watching their stock, and this makes the second day in a row, that it has dropped, but the Ebay bigwigs are also in the middle of a Ebay stock buy-back, to the tune of $2 million dollars. Something doesn't smell right with that.

They announce a plan like this that people won't like, and doesn't make sense. Stocks drop, they buy it back cheap. Then renounce the plan later. Pretty sure thats against the law too. We'll see though.

Edited by dawarriorman
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myself is getting tired of the stores on ebay.. the dealers are over running the averge guy selling shit.. im there to find cheap shit if i wanna pay top dollar and have it shipped i go to a website and buy it.. not ebay..

 

Well, what you mention above is part of the overall problem with Ebay also. You have to look at it through the eyes of a store owner. When you sell, and it doesn't matter where it's at, you cannot take loss after loss, and stay in business. If you figure in product costs, listing fees, store fees, shipping fees, PayPal fees, and so on, and maybe a little extra for your time, then you CANNOT sell items for pennies on the dollar. That is why the Ebay auctions have died down, and store listings went way up. The sellers were trying to protect their investments. Sell through rates on auctions were terrible, about 1 in 10 or 15 auctions would actually sell, unless you listed it for $0.99, and took a loss. Hell, $0.99 item sale, won't even cover your listing fees, let alone all the others. Basically, if you want cheap $hit, hit your local garage sales, and flea markets, were there is very little to no operating costs. Times have changed, and Ebay has changed, buyers and sellers alike.

 

When Ebay first started, it was mainly people getting rid of stuff that they didn't want or need anymore, but that stuff will dry up sooner or later. There are a lot of threads on the Ebay message boards talking about all aspects of the stores and auctions. Today's society is so fast paced, that people no longer want to wait 3, 5, 7, or 10 days for an auction to end, and then get the item sniped from them at the last minute. The stores worked great for people that didn't have the time to wait on an auction. The buyer knew, with store items, what the price and shipping would be. Simply put, the stores had the power of instant purchase, and a lot of buyers liked that. There was a comment made on one of the threads, and I quote, "auction bidders, are mainly bargain hunters, and bottom feeders". Some are, and some aren't. With the number of sellers leaving Ebay right now, you are going to be hard pressed to find the things you want or need. There will be less competition, and less products, and the sellers that do stay, will have to pass the fee increases off to the buyers, to stay afloat. Anyways, I found another site, and I'm thinking about an online store.

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