2017 Spring Seller Update Reminder

[alan@ebay]

Hello,

Please use this thread if you have any questions or wish to discuss today's announcement. 

Thank you. 

[vermonter53]

@mgeorge003 wrote:

Just look at Ebay's stock price over that past year.  More tweaks to fees and categories create more shareholder value 🙂   Unfortunately, even while the stock price is ticking upward total EBAY volume is dropping relative to Amazon.com.  To make up for the loss of sales volume, Ebay looks to be increasing their fees to be more in line with Amazon.com which is 15%.   However, Amazon has better shipping rates for their sellers and moves merchandise, especially for sellers that  use a distribution center.

Amazon is killing nearly everybody and to compete Ebay, in my opinion, needs to innovate instead of hammering sellers with fees.  

Hey Ebay, things to ponder. 

What can Ebay do that Amazon can't?  

How can Ebay outperform Amazon?

How can Ebay create reduce the friction of transactions to increase sales volume?

I have about 10 ideas that don't involve raising seller fees.

-Michael

Ebay Seller Since 2000

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Will/would be nice if Ebay were monitering and listening to this forum and reach out to  you for imput. They should focus on the positives they already have and build on those rather than reacting like they are going out of business reaction and have to get the most they can out of a sinking ship. Focus on actually "helping" the sellers rather than putting more of a load on them. This would increase volume and in the end increase their bottom line as well. Need to think more long term rather than being short sited. IMHO 🙂 

[mam98031]

@mgeorge003

Amazon fees, in my experience, in some cases [books] go upwards of 25%.  While much of what can be sold for 15% fees, that doesn't cover everything.  Ebay fees are still lower than either of those number, even when you add in PP fees.

[teesbygpa]

I think that the continued raising of cost to do business with eBay has finally pushed me to two other auction platforms.

I work too hard for diminishing returns brought about by new policies.

[mgeorge003]

It depends if you use the Amazon distribution centers.  Right now Ebay+Paypal run around 11-12% then FREE shipping adds another layer of cost.  On Amazon, if you have new stuff, you can get a flat-rate USPS box, fill it up, send it to Amazon and then cover shipping costs after that.  Most people pay Amazon $100 per year for Amazon prime, so FREE 2-day shipping isn't really free and Amazon has money to cover it. 🙂

Ebay made a smart move with the International Shipping center.  Ebay needs to do something similar for NEW items.  

What about an Ebay-prime?  What about combining with Netflix or Pandora or Spotify and offering free content and free shipping? I have so many ideas to improve Ebay including one killer idea that would take a bite out of Amazon but I will leave it to the highly skilled (sic) visionaries at Ebay who think the answer is RAISING FEEs and polluting the marketplace with counterfeits and knockoffs.  To grow you have to make your platform more than just a clunky transaction.  You need lock-in, loyalty, and leaving the customer with a feeling that they are getting more than they are paying for.  Jeff Bezos said that he wants people to feel it would irresponsible not to have Amazon Prime. 

There is so much low hanging fruit for Ebay to improve and innovate on their platform beyond raising FEEs.  We all know the CEO of Amazon, but name the CEO of Ebay or name any board member or member of the executive team.  No one can, they are just average performers trying to make their quarterly numbers

Right now I have new items on Ebay, Free Shipping, and prices 25% lower than Amazon and no sales.  My sales are down on Ebay 85.4% compared to last month. Could it be the flood of Chinese sellers pushing counterfeit Chinese products that were booted from Amazon competing with my genuine products? 

[ted_200]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@miss_minutes wrote:

Wait a minute.... we are being punished 4% for not meeting the e-bay minimum performance standards..? I'm not really complaining because im a TRS and I always following their performance standards but that just seem extremly unfair to smaller sellers. 

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Hi @miss_minutes - All sellers are held to the same expectations when it comes to their Seller Performance. If the minimum requirements aren't being met, there's a possibility that bad experiences have been or are being created for buyers. Thank you so much for being a TRS and for all the hard work you do! This change will help motivate sellers who aren't meeting the minimum requirements to make improvements and potentially get to that same accomplishment. 

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I realize I'm a little late to this party, but if the minimum requirements aren't being met, and the sellers can continue to sell here, then there aren't really any "minimum requirements", are there? 

The fact that said sellers have to cough up another 4% doesn't change that, nor does it do anything to mitigate any alleged "bad experiences... for buyers" that may or may not arise. 

[mam98031]

@mgeorge003

It depends if you use the Amazon distribution centers.  

I don't.

Right now Ebay+Paypal run around 11-12% then FREE shipping adds another layer of cost.  

What do you mean?  You pay a FVF on shipping whether you roll the shipping cost into the price of the product or you state it separately, the cost is the same.  There is no additional "layer" of cost.  If you sell an item for $10 with $4 shipping, you pay a FVF based on the total of $14.  If you decide to offer free shipping, then the item price should become $14 and that is what the FVF is based on.

On Amazon, if you have new stuff, you can get a flat-rate USPS box, fill it up, send it to Amazon and then cover shipping costs after that.  Most people pay Amazon $100 per year for Amazon prime, so FREE 2-day shipping isn't really free and Amazon has money to cover it. 

This service isn't free on Amazon.  I also disagree that "most people" pay to be part of Amazon Prime.  While they have some nice benefits, as far as Free Shipping goes, the price of the product is increased to cover shipping, which again does not make it free nor covered by Prime.  You are paying for it.  But if you really use the other benefits of Prime on a regular basis, it can be a good deal.

What about an Ebay-prime?  What about combining with Netflix or Pandora or Spotify and offering free content and free shipping?

Maybe, but Ebay is a long way from that.  They don't own any of the products on the site [except shipping supplies], unlike Amazon that has many product that they sell directly.  As for Free Shipping, I go back to what I stated in my above paragraph.  It won't be really free with a program such as Prime that you pay a yearly fee for.  They just increase the cost of the product, which is so easy to see on Amazon.  But again, the other benefits could make it a worthwhile program.

I have so many ideas to improve Ebay ...

As do many of us on the threads and elsewhere.

Jeff Bezos said that he wants people to feel it would irresponsible not to have Amazon Prime. 

Personally I find that a ridiculous statement.  Not everyone needs or wants to be part of the Prime program.   And that does not make them "irresponsible".  What IS Irresponsible is to charge your customer a fee for being in the program and still increasing the price of the product to accomodate the shipping costs.  If a benefit of Prime is to allow for Free Shipping, then you are paying twice.

We all know the CEO of Amazon, but name the CEO of Ebay or name any board member or member of the executive team.  No one can, ...

You really need to speak for yourself.  Just because you don't know does not mean that no one else does.  What you stated is simply NOT true.   

Right now I have new items on Ebay, Free Shipping, and prices 25% lower than Amazon and no sales.  My sales are down on Ebay 85.4% compared to last month. Could it be the flood of Chinese sellers pushing counterfeit Chinese products that were booted from Amazon competing with my genuine products? 

Could it be it is tax month and historically April is not a great month?!?  Well not until after tax day, which we are now past that and hopefully your sales will pick up.  It happens.  Some months are just better than others.  But you are right, sales have been slow and hopefully that will change really soon.

[deina]

I am a top rated seller and offer free shipping on all my items in the US. Why would the shipping rate chart help me? And worse, the additional amount I add to my selling price to cover the free shipping (and I usually lose money on that) is counted as part of the total percent Ebay takes as a commission. Thus, I pay 12% (or whatever) for the item cost, 12% on top of my shipping cost, the actual shipping cost, and the base cost of my merchandise. That doesn't include the cut Paypal takes on the same, and my packing supplies. So maybe I'm not that thrilled with the cut from 20% to 10% on fees when I factor in all that.

[Anonymous]

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@e-phila wrote:
Hello

I have a question about the new fees board starting on May 1st

We sell stamps on ebay US from Belgium since 13 years and have a store subscription, all works fine.
We have the seller badge "Top Rated" for Global performance since years but "Above Standard" for US performance.

Why ? Because we sell from outside US and can't upload a validate tracking, that not means we sell without tracking, it means that we can't use an American service and of course the system can't automatically check our tracking numbers.

My question is that I'm worried about what's written below the announcement :

"Bellow Standard sellers" = Additional 4% fee

And so what, do our fee will increase from 6 to 10,15 % ? Or should eBay consider our global performance to apply the 6,15 % fee ?

This question is very important and will affect our business on eBay because we sell a lot of items a month and 4% fee can be a heavy impact

Thanks in advance for your help

Regards
Bruno

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Hi @e-phila - If your performance is showing as Above Standard in the US, you won't have the additional 4% apply. The only time that additional fee would be charged is if your account falls Below Standard and is no longer meeting our minimum requirements. One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot fall Below Standard due to the shipping metrics. It would only happen due to cases closed without seller resolution or defects. 

Check out: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/defect-removal.html for more info on the requirements and I hope this info helps.

[Anonymous]

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@guardian6c wrote:

Where can Sellers find good solid information concerning how to embed YouTube Product Videos into our auctions. You people keep telling us you plan to cut off our current abiblity to embed sometime in June of 2017. I have searched eBay info, searched the community boards, searched the web and even telephoned eBay support. NO ONE AT EBAY HAS AN ANSEWER OTHER THAN BLA BA BLA BA BLA BA BLA. What the hell is up with you people? I need my product videos to sell my product.

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Hi @guardian6c - Check out: http://pages.ebay.com/sell/itemdescription/bestpractices.html and visit the "Including a Product Video" section for more info and steps that can help. Feel free to reach out to our customer service teams with any additional questions and have a great day!

[guardian6c]

Your eBay info link concerning "Including a Product Video is" a JOKE.

Their code...

<video width="320" height="240">   <source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">   <p>Here is a video of the product</p> </video>

will not work with YouTube videos.  

You think I'm wrong? Well then, show me any auction that has a YouTube video operatiing under the new policy. I have three auctions with YouTube videos operating under the old policy but they will not display the video using the above code. Come on... prove me wrong. 

Oh & BTW, I have reached out to your customer service teams. I telephoned and spoke with someone, probably much like you.  A person who didn't know jack! Just another five-dollar an hour telephone talker who can only read solutions from a scripted manual.  Obvisouly you haven't tried to embed a video into an auction.

[Anonymous]

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@guardian6c wrote:

Your eBay info link concerning "Including a Product Video is" a JOKE.

Their code...

<video width="320" height="240">
	  <source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">
	  <p>Here is a video of the product</p>
	</video>

will not work with YouTube videos.  

You think I'm wrong? Well then, show me any auction that has a YouTube video operatiing under the new policy. I have three auctions with YouTube videos operating under the old policy but they will not display the video using the above code. Come on... prove me wrong. 

Oh & BTW, I have reached out to your customer service teams. I telephoned and spoke with someone, probably much like you.  A person who didn't know jack! Just another five-dollar an hour telephone talker who can only read solutions from a scripted manual.  Obvisouly you haven't tried to embed a video into an auction. 

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Hi @guardian6c - I apologize if any information in that link is out of date. We did host a chat last Wednesday with the experts regarding Active Content. Some questions were asked regarding videos and the information there may be helpful. Take a look at: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Community-Chat-April-20th-1pm-PT-Active-Co... to see the teams replies. 

[vermonter53]

This all sounds good "in theory",  QUOTE! "One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot fall Below Standard due to the shipping metrics. It would only happen due to cases closed without seller resolution or defects."

However it does not seem to hold true in real life. My experience disputes this claim. Although, I am still a TRS I have had more than once on my record, case closed without seller resolution and cases have been escaleted by buyers. To my knowledge I have never had a case closed without seller resolution but of the few cases, No case had any merit and Ebay decided in the buyers favor. In one case, it was damaged in shipment and the postal service took care of it for me but it was still a case of "item not as described" and on my record as a defect??????????????? I did nothing wrong but in fact took care of the customer quite well and it is still on my record. My concern is, that if Ebay's "policys or software error, take your pick?" causes a seller harm, Ebay does nothing to help the seller. I have been shut off for a week because of their software error and after spending much time on the phone and logically proving to them the error,  I was still shut off for a week because the woman I spoke with told me it was done automatically by the computer so they couldn't change it?????? This was bogus at all levels. Who was running things? computer? software? humans? 

Also have had it say tracking not uploaded in time. Which has never ever happened!!!!! but it was in ther record .......so it must be true, right? if the computer says so!

I'm sorry if I send negative here but, 

I am an honest seller and always treat people fairly no matter what happens and would just appreciate the same conduct and treatment from Ebay. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens and sometime it doesn't and as a seller we often have no recourse.

I sell here only because it fits my purposes at the moment but if another site could take care of my selling needs, I would be gone in a heartbeat. I have little loyalty to Ebay as Ebay has very little to me. If they would step up and treat their sellers honestly and fairly, basically do what it right, I would not even consider going elsewhere.

[springs_2013]

We sellers have being saying for a while now that sales transactions has decreased drastically over the years.  I usually do not go into my seller dashboard for anything, but I was very dismay at what I saw for qualifying to be TRS.  I just made the threshold of 100 transactions for the last 12 months to qualify for TRS.  I think I might fall below 100 transactions for the last 12 months when calculating the number of transactions come next month  😞

Even though I have consistantly provided good customer service and have lots lots on frivalous claims by scammer buyers, I have keeped my TRS status, now for not selling enough, I will be booted off the program?  Somehow that does not go over too well with me, but nothing I can do other than perhaps pay more money into a more expensive store to list more items, or lower the price so much that I would actually loose money, or buy trending items that I will have to pay top dollars for to sell at a lost to keep up my item counts, all of which is not very good business practice for me.

[more-in-store]

Higher store fees...lower reward for achieving Top Rated Plus seller performance...higher PayPal fees (which, while eBay no longer owns, remains tied at the hip to selling on the site)...what a horrible money grab. Time to check out selling on Amazon.

[more-in-store]

RAISE the performance standards for your best sellers while LOWERING their incentive to do the best job possible. What bonehead eBay executive thought of that combination?! Likely a desperate one, applying short-term thinking to meet near-term sales goals. Good businesses don't take price on the ones who are driving revenue.  They improve their product or service in meaningful ways, which eBay is clearly struggling to do.  Nice job, Vice President of Seller Experience and Business-to-Consumer Selling, Bob Kupbens. Contact your headhunter.