mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
I completely agree with you. And I wouldn't mind the increases in fees if Ebay were performing well enough. We all deserve to be profitable [including Ebay], but the traffic has done nothing but decreased year over year for quite a few sellers. Ebay diverts traffic to larger sellers on purpose which is strangling us smaller sellers. My sales in up to April of 2014 was more than 2015 & 2016 put together.
Again, I couldn't agree with you more. We absolutely see these things in the same way.
When you go to make your actual decision about closing your store, take into consideration that if you do that, your FVFs will increase and you can't get your coupon for free shipping supplies anymore. Those two things alone keep me subscribing to a store.
Most of the Ebay shipping supplies I've gotten are pretty good with the exception of their tape. I'm not sure if they have improved it yet as I got enough to last a long time when we first got the coupons.
You are right about the auctions. I'll run some more tomorrow, or at least that is my intention. Sometimes family has other ideas. LOL I use to run about 500 auctions 2 or 3 times a month. That was back when the store structure was different and auctions were basically free to list as I had an Anchor store at the time. Then when Ebay changed the store structures to only GTC or BIN listings qualified for the free listings with the store, I stopped as it was too expensive to run them.
With the store shift I dropped to a Premium store and usually only ran auctions when there was a promotion for them. Now Ebay hasn't sent me an auction promotion in over 8 months. The free ones offered with stores are in categories I don't sell in, so they aren't helpful at all.
I too love selling on Ebay. I don't want to leave, but as you say, our profits are getting lower and lower as sales are fewer and fewer.
To lose 6-7 hundred dollars each month on the TRS+ discount reduction, a seller is selling in excess of $6,000.00.
I see you don't have a store on this ID. Why not? You pay higher FVFs without one. If you are selling in excess of 6k per month domestically [as the discount is not applied to international sales], then you are wasting a minimum of $60 a month in additional FVFs because you don't have a store. That more than covers the cost of a Basic or a Premium store just on what you'd save on FVFs.
" I offer free shipping on most items because eBay charges fees for shipping if you don't..." Huh?? When you offer Free Shipping you just roll your costs of shipping into the price of the item. So you increase the price of the item to cover shipping. It actually is shipping included. So you ARE still paying a FVF on shipping, it is just in a different place. But you are correct, there is the advantage of getting the TRS+ discount on the FVF that included shipping by using the Free Shipping option.
"I don't have a store because I got by without it with all of the free listings eBay used to offer, and now they don't because they want you to subscribe to a store."
The free listing promos still exist, some sellers still get them. I don't think they are as frequent as they once were, but they are still out there. I'm like you, I haven't received a promo in over 8 months, but others have. I don't know what Ebay is thinking on this.
Even if we were getting free listing promos on a regular basis, having a store is still a GREAT idea. There is other values in having a store than just the savings on FVF. And even if we were receiving promos on a regular basis as we once were, the lower FVF is still a good value. It can pay for your month store fee and you could partially recover the loss due to the reduction in TRS+ discount.
You are only hurting yourself by not having a store, NOT Ebay. Having a store is a good tool, even if it is just the basic store. You are all upset by the discount reduction yet you cost yourself a higher FVF rate just because you are angry with Ebay because, as you say, they want you to have a store. So you aren't going to do that.
"I simply don't like having to pay a fee for when I charge shipping, I don't over charge people, I think top rated sellers shouldn't have to pay a 10% fee for shipping costs."
If paying a FVF on S&H is unfair to TRS members, then it is unfair for ALL members. And like I said before, just because you roll your shipping into your product price does NOT eliminate the FVF on shipping, you just don't see it separately. You ARE still paying a FVF on shipping.
The majority of sellers do not overcharge their customers for shipping. So you are in good company.
"With the paypal, and eBay fees, and the rising postal cost, and the reduction in the fvf discount it means I will cut back and look for other alternatives to selling on eBay, unless the profit is worth it. "
At ALL those alternative sites you will find that the cost of shipping is NOT driven by the site you are selling on. USPS FCP rates are what they are for EVERYONE. No matter where you go for your postage, FCP domestic is NOT any cheaper than Ebay charges because USPS does NOT allow negotiations on these rates.
As for International FCP, that Ebay did a great job in negotiating rates. Better than Amazon and many other sites. FCP International is 13 or 14% lower than the retail rates.
I agree. The supplies are overpriced, but that really doesn't matter to me as I just get what I can with my coupon. I may over over a little bit, but the coupon is a real help to me. It saves me money and I like that. I disagree about the quality. I use the bubble mailers, tissue paper and polymailers the most. They work very well for me. The tape I got from the very first time I used a coupon is the one thing I don't like. It is strong enough, but it does not stick to cardboard very well at all. I don't know if they have improved that or not. And I haven't tried their boxes, so I don't know about them.
I just work within what I can get with my coupon. Since you don't like their boxes, you do have things you could easily use the polymailers and bubble mailers to ship. So try those next time you order and maybe some tissue paper.
