Below is a repost of a conversation I recently had with other eBay community members. Ultimately I decided to venture with starting my own e-commerce store. Up to 350+ items drafted since then. I do wish eBay was more seller-friendly and I hope this changes at some point. That's why I'm still here today. Mostly just want to get this in front of eBay employees, if you have a response I appreciate it.
I’m in a position where I want to pay eBay $720 for an annual premium store subscription. I cannot commit at this time because I fear eBay will make changes that could ruin me as a seller.
Kindly a little more backstory to help you understand my situation. I purchased over $7,000 in very targeted bulk trading card listings. I’ve almost completed sorting everything and would have around 1,500 buy it now listings were I to commit to a store. My intention absolutely was to start a store here, but I’ve become increasingly concerned the more I learn from other sellers experiences.
Regarding managed payments. My card listings would be primarily $1 each. I’m currently using PayPal Micropayments which equates to 5 cents + 5%, ultimately 10 cents on a standard $1 card. Managed payments would be 25 cents alone per card! 25% of the items value (on a standard $1 card) literally taken for payment processing alone (plus a percentage, 2.7%?) plus FVF, listing fees and promotion fees. All in all about 36% minimum on a $1 card versus 20% now (FVF + micropayment). Nearly double! The greed is unbelievable. There is a market for high volume, low price sellers here. There is also a limit for what reasonable buyers will pay. Other card sites already sell at considerably cheaper prices (TCGPlayer great example), yet eBay has the user volume advantage FOR NOW. Ultimately prices will rise under managed payments on eBay for this niche category, both buyers and sellers will at some point seek other venues. You risk almost pricing this niche category out of existence for what average reasonable buyers would pay. How ironic it is that eBay may undermine one if its greatest competitive advantages, that being the go to source for niche and unique products.
I am not happy with the approach eBay takes regarding almost knowing what is best for me as a seller. It is 100% not eBays place to enable best offer on my listings against my wishes. The annoyance of promoted listings impacting the search when filtered and no intent to change how this works. GTC being forced upon me. It feels my partner in this (eBay) has the primary goal of taking as much as possible from me while providing less and less outlook and stability.
Many are complaining sales are down. I’ve been here off and on for years but have also felt a similar impact in recent months. I’m happy some sellers are having a great start to 2020, the boards are however littered with posts regarding slow sales from frustrated sellers. It seems eBay keeps shooting itself in the foot for short term profits. I find it crazy that as a serious seller I’m afraid to give you $720 to jump in and get started. I just don’t trust the current direction from leadership, be it incompetence or malice. It is an issue though and the disconnect with sellers is unbelievable.
