Curious if anyone thinks ebay "improvements" justify a fee hike this year? Reflect on past year....

[siamjane8]

Obviously absolutely nobody like when fees go up....... but when simultaneously the product and the customer services goes down..... it makes no sense.

    Has anyone seen any actual improvements to the site this year?.... not just changes but actual improvements?

    Just looked at our 1099-k from ebay and wouldn't you believe it!-  $15,000 less in sales this past year with all the site "improvements".

    It seem more like ebay causes disruptions with all the unnecessary site changes and sales go down so the answer is to raise fees to cover the effect of the bad decisions...... does nobody ever take responsibility for the actions anymore?   How to the CEO's an management still take millions in bonuses while the platform relevancy decreases?

       One nice feature they made was the repeat buyer notification- that was helpful- but does not counteract the bad search engine and promoted listings debacle they have created- no buyer wants unrelated junk shoved down their throat when they search- JUST GIVE US 100% of the results that match our keywords!, not what some slightly **bleep**ed AI system thinks we want to see.

[gurlcat]

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

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@dhbookds wrote:

Book fvf fees are high..........because there are so many listed and they don't want to be even more flooded with more volume/low cost.......  Same thing with clothing........it's at 15% I think (non store)...........

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Understood but that would make sense if it’s common books, rare and antiques? (Self interest here)

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Rare and antique may have standard meanings in the real world, but on Ebay they're fairly subjective, therefore fully abusable, and not just as title words to puff up an item's desirability for buyers; the same would happen if rare/antique sub-categories had lower fvf's.  It already happens to some degree, in categories where the suggested promotion rate of this or that sub-category is cheaper and doesn't stray too far from the item's more-appropriate sub-category (so buyers can still find it).  That's why there's a ton of "retro" plastic junk jewelry in the vintage/antique sub. 

Granted books have their publication date right on them and must be noted in the listing, but even IF they got someone adept enough to program the bot to auto-reject any listing of a book with a pub date after _____ in an Antique sub, all the seller would have to do is make up an old-enough bot-satisfying year for the item specific entry, but put the real pub date everywhere else that the buyer might look.  It'd probably result in some buyers emailing questions and maybe filing reports, but I bet a ton of sellers would risk it anyway, and you don't want that crowd flooding into your nice old-book-smelling store, do you?  😊  

[chapeau-noir]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

eBay raised the fees on Media 3 months after Amazon raised their fees for Media, I don't remember the specific dates but I think it was in 2019 or 2020.

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In 2018 it was raised from 9.15% to 12%.  Some years previous to that it was 5% to 9.15%. Then came the rise to 14.5% to 15%.  I guess they've never figured out that being 'competitive' doesn't mean being lead around by the nose.

[craft-stash]

Ebays loss this year!

After last year every Store deserves a FREE MONTHS rent!

I was planning on going bigger but this site just CANNOT move product so I cut my Store from $59 to $21 a month .

What a shame HOWEVER that just gives me more PARTY TIME ⏰🍻🌿🥃🍕🌿🍿🍗🌭😎

[pburn]

@craft-stash wrote:

. . .  I cut my Store from $59 to $21 a month .

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Does eBay provide any data in regard to how having store, or a store at a particular level, impacts sales? Are there any statistics that indicate have a store is an advantage to a seller as far as sales are concerned?

Speaking strictly for myself, I never shop a seller's store. Ever. And now it appears the only way to display item listings in a store is with the gallery option--for which I have a strong dislike. If I can't see item listings in a store in the list option, that. for me, is just one more reason to avoid stores.

[charshealthybeauty]

I completely agree. It seems to me that eBay is trying to mimic Amazon. That is a huge mistake!!!

[meme6253]

Of Course They Will Not Lower Fees, But There Is No Good Reason To Raise Anymore!

[pburn]

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@meme6253 wrote:

Of Course They Will Not Lower Fees, But There Is No Good Reason To Raise Anymore!

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When sellers post threads regarding increases in shipping costs, the cost of adding tracking or signature confirmation, or the cost of acquiring goods, or eBay fees, the answer is always, "Raise the cost of your items to cover the increases. Your customers should be paying for the increases."

Same thing goes for eBay. 

[luckythewinner]

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@siamjane8 wrote:

Obviously absolutely nobody like when fees go up....... but when simultaneously the product and the customer services goes down..... it makes no sense.

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It makes no sense to you as a seller.

But eBay does not make strategic decisions based on what makes sense to sellers.

They make decisions based on what they think is in eBay's best interest.

[zamo-zuan]

It pretty much breaks down to: They are going to need to pay for their new international protections somehow.

One thing the last few years have guaranteed is they never increase protections without taking it out of somewhere else. 

[soh.maryl]

In real life, eggs are costing more and I don't get any more eggs for the increased price.

Gas for my car costs more and a gallon is still a gallon.

Many grocery items cost more and the can of green beans that I used to pay 63 cents for is no larger and no better now at 78 cents.

I will stop now.  

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@chapeau-noir  Agreed.  No one likes fee increases, but this could have been much worse. 

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@siamjane8 

Still have to add in(consider) the past upping of promoted fees from minimum of 1.0% to 2% and then making it for the whole sale including shipping and taxes. All these added little increases add up for small sellers that cuts into the bottom line. As to the choice of promoting or not..... if you want steady flow of eyes to stay somewhat competitive? As things go forward, not likely.

As a side, Canadian seller  do not have access to any similar shipping programs that US sellers have to  reduce FVF's. Mostly because we do not have anyone that can provide such a service due to distances between rural and urban(Besides the post office no one has a complete network across the country). It would just add to final transit times. (Similar to what Canadian buyers already see when shopping with US sellers.)

-Lotz

[theteamsetguy]

The fee increase is .315% after my 10% TRS+ seller discount which equates to slightly less than $500.00 per year in my case. 

Nothing I can do about so I’m not going to waste my time on it. I’d rather spend more time on finding more inventory.

[farmalljr]

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@pburn wrote:

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@meme6253 wrote:

Of Course They Will Not Lower Fees, But There Is No Good Reason To Raise Anymore!

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When sellers post threads regarding increases in shipping costs, the cost of adding tracking or signature confirmation, or the cost of acquiring goods, or eBay fees, the answer is always, "Raise the cost of your items to cover the increases. Your customers should be paying for the increases."

Same thing goes for eBay. 

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You've made a many posts that make sense. Seem like a reasonable person.

BUT, the answer isn't always "raise prices". If the post office raised the price of a postage stamp to $10, almost everyone would find another way to send things other than a letter. There would be very few people, if at all, using stamps. Most seller who have any sense, are already raising/raised prices. You can only raise the cost of something so much, before buyers either do without, or find someplace cheaper. Like a place local that cuts out the shipping expense. 

There comes a point when people just can't or won't pay the asking price. Everyone here is looking to make money, no give stuff away. Every time the post office raises rates, eBay's fees increase. Every time a sellers costs increase and we have to raise prices, eBay's fees increase.  No one is saying (at least reasonable people are not) that eBay should do all this for FREE. I think the point is, if eBay wants more money, THEY have to attract more users to spend money. There is only so much meat to slice off the bone, before there is nothing left. 

Everyone because of the economy, feels the pinch. Not just buyers, but sellers as well. Some people may tout how great their sales are, but they ARE the minority. It's easy to see from eBay's own reporting, that GMV is down, users are down, but profits are steady. eBay's money is made on the FEES. Over the last couple of years, they decline is not a good sign, when coupled with the state of the economy.  I run a monthly sales report, and eBay/shipping is over 50% of my gross sales. I had to buy inventory out of that too. So what do you think the margins are, so my time spent here EVERY single day listing? Small, I can say that. And I have sold half of what I did the year before. 

Not good. Not good at all. 

[vintage_collectibles_and_rare_finds]

Honestly I don't really notice much improvements, but now to scan a barcode you need to do an extra step, great job eBay.

On the App to sell similar you have to scroll all the way down, how dumb is that?

And why I have to constantly check the immediate payment switch on, why can't I have it ON by default?

[itolduandso]

Ebay is interested to weed out underperforming sellers and sellers that do not generate much revenue. That has been going on for some time, that is nothing new. Ebay fees are still low compared to for example what Poshmark charges 20% (or more for items less than 10 dollars selling price). Ebay is still a bargain for sellers. Enjoy the ride, I do not think it will last long.