Ebay, you're "enhancing" us to death!

[forwardtechsurplus]

Every time ebay implements a fee increase they pitch it under the guise of "enhancing" our experience. What an absolute load.  I can't think of a single "enhancement" they've made in the last 10 years that resulted in any measurable benefit to my selling experience. In fact, most of the time it has only created headaches for me. This time they're touting their AI descriptions tool as an enhancement. What a joke. Those AI descriptions are terrible- they make the seller sound like a dimwitted foreign scammer trying to cobble together a paragraph that would pass as english. Near as I can tell these so-called "enhancements" are nothing more than excuses to raise our fees and line their pockets while we do the work. Ebay, do you know what would "enhance" my experience? LOWER FEES!

[fbusoni]

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@meme6253 wrote:

There is only so much that we can keep passing along to the buyer. It has to stop somewhere & the sooner the better.

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@meme6253 

But since you know that fees are not only not going to stop but will continue to increase, how are you preparing yourself?

[fbusoni]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@bcal1149143z wrote:

If your statement is true then those of us who have been here for decades and witnessed changes beyond count must be so over our heads in difficulty as to be impotent.

And yet we are still here and, while I can speak for others, I am having fewer difficulties now  than I had when I first started. Admittedly, some changes are more difficult to adapt to than others, but adapt we must and can.

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@richard1rst 

Well said.  Perspective is vital it seems to me.  And adaptation is of course the operative point here.  

When you are asked to pay an additional .5 cents for a gallon of gas, do you stop driving?  

It seems to me that if a seller cannot deal with an FVF increase of 0.35% then something is fundamentally wrong... and needs correcting STAT because another such increase is inevitable.

To be sure, eBay has dozens of serious shortcomings, and many of its "enhancements" have been impediments (the inane carousel on our storefronts, for example).  

But on balance it seems to me that things have improved greatly from even 5 years ago.  Creating a listing now takes a fraction of the time it used to (for me at least).   The bulk listing tool works flawlessly.   The iOS app works flawlessly.  I remember when we had to connect our computers to a camera to add photos to our listings (I also remember receiving checks in the mail from buyers).  

All that saves an incredible amount of time for me, and my time is valuable.

[meme6253]

Not quite sure how to keep preparing over & over again, Like i said it has to stop at some point, Customers will not keep paying more & more, They are tired of higher prices as we all are.

[somanypostcards]

A perfect example is the enhanced search results seen only when searching by Price + Shipping:  lowest first which often returns just 2% or less of the total results and none of the lowest results on the initial search.  One must click See more to see all results if the streamline message is present.

[meme6253]

I think it boils down to corporate greed, They have & make plenty of money, All these little increases makes them millions & millions of dollars, While placing the seller in a more difficult spot, & a consumer with more expense each & every time. There is just too much acceptance of everything, no one ever pushes back anymore, gets a little rebellious & we should, Stop accepting things like well that's the world we live in, That's just Trump being Trump, That's the way it's alway's been, & start speaking up about it.

[mam98031]

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@meme6253 wrote:

Not quite sure how to keep preparing over & over again, Like i said it has to stop at some point, Customers will not keep paying more & more, They are tired of higher prices as we all are.

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Sure they will, they always have.  Milk, eggs, bread etc. are not priced the same as they were last year, yet we all likely continue to buy them.  If one rents their home, that continues to go up and people continue to rent.\

Things today on Ebay are more expensive than they were years ago and still people buy these things.

Prices on most things will change.  Change is a guaranteed part of life on so many levels.  It is natural for us mere humans to fight change, but it doesn't change anything.  We simply just don't like it.  We learn to live with it.  Whether my buying less or  paying more.  

For me personally, I've been tired of higher prices for my entire adult life.  But it changes nothing.

[mam98031]

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@meme6253 wrote:

I think it boils down to corporate greed, They have & make plenty of money, All these little increases makes them millions & millions of dollars, While placing the seller in a more difficult spot, & a consumer with more expense each & every time. There is just too much acceptance of everything, no one ever pushes back anymore, gets a little rebellious & we should, Stop accepting things like well that's the world we live in, That's just Trump being Trump, That's the way it's alway's been, & start speaking up about it.

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I know.  The threads are full of calling ebay greedy.  For some reason many sellers feel entitled to make more money but they don't call that greedy.  It is only Ebay that is greedy.  

Ebay is a for profit corporation and like any other for profit corporation, they exist to make money.

I'm not sure why you say that "no one ever pushes back anymore".  I see it every single day on the Community.  Some with good reason some not so much.  I don't know how or why you brought Trump into this.  That subject is entirely different than discussing Ebay and far more impactful to our entire lives .

[johnrj1226]

Recall when a loaf of bread, eggs and a gallon of Sealtest milk was 2 bits each and a bottle of ice cold Coca Cola  6 cents and  (including the 2 cents for the bottle deposit - then  it  jumped to a  dime.  First new house - 3 br ranch  w/o AC $19.900. and a Comet Caliente convertible went for $3100 and some change out the door. paid it off in 3  years traded it in for a '68 Olds Cutlass 442 paid $3900 cash, sold the Caliente to private party cash.  First job out of college  $750.00/month salary no OT pay worked   over 40s and  some times on  Sats.  Time changes everything

[steady2304]

@forwardtechsurplus Anytime eBay states they are enhancing something it usually means it will take me longer to do what I used to do and/or it will cost me more money!!!!

[johnrj1226]

When was the last time you found anything that cost you less????  Heck  even the Dollar Tree went up 25% & more on their Chinese sourced  stuff.  When I sold on eBay  always past any selling cost fees including shipping labels on to my buyers and still maintain my target profit percentage that was based on my selling price (not a mark-up %).  Just like I did in my 41.5 year real selling career of capital equipment (forklifts. - 4, 5 & 6 digit  stuff).   Profit is not a dirty word.

[forwardtechsurplus]

Oops. This reply deleted by poster due to redundancy.

[forwardtechsurplus]

All these people just accepting fee increases as "inevitable".   But when is it enough?  FVF increase is NOT the same as inflation or cost of living!!!  These fees are a percentage of our sales, and that's a very different concept.   Yes, inflation is inevitable, but ebay can make more money WITHOUT raising their fees, by virtue of the fact that the goods sold on their platform increase in price due to inflation.

FVFs are ebay's share of those sales. If fee increases are "inevitable", then you're also saying they're limitless. and therefore mathematically, they will eventually be 100%. Now, I understand they wouldn't get away with that, but honestly, where does it end?  Are you okay with 25%?  50%?   They are going to keep pushing it more and more every year, and sellers who shrug their shoulders and say "oh well, it's inevitable" are the frogs in the boiling water who make it possible for them to do that.

[forwardtechsurplus]

All these people just accepting fee increases as inevitable as if it's just part of inflation. FVF increase is NOT the same as inflation or cost of living!!!  These fees are a percentage of our sales, and that's a very different concept.   Yes, inflation is inevitable, but ebay can make more money WITHOUT raising their fees, by virtue of the fact that the goods sold on their platform - like the bread and milk you mentioned- increase in price due to inflation.

FVFs are ebay's SHARE of those sales. If those fee increases are inevitable, then mathematically speaking, they will eventually be 100%. Now, I understand they probably wouldn't get away with that, but honestly, where does it end?  Are you okay with them taking 25% of your sales?  HALF? Again, mathematically speaking, that's where it's headed. They are going to keep pushing it more and more every year, and people who shrug their shoulders and say "oh well, it's like the price of bread" are the frogs in the boiling water who make it possible for them to do that.

[forwardtechsurplus]

NO, YOU ARE WRONG. INFLATION AND FEE INCREASES ARE NOT THE SAME. 

These fees are a percentage of our sales, and that's a very different concept.   Yes, inflation is inevitable, but ebay can make more money WITHOUT raising their fees, by virtue of the fact that the goods sold on their platform - like the bread and milk you mentioned- increase in price due to inflation.

FVFs are ebay's SHARE of those sales. If those fee increases are inevitable, then mathematically speaking, they will eventually be 100%. Now, I understand they probably wouldn't get away with that, but honestly, where does it end?  Are you okay with them taking 25% of your sales?  HALF? Again, mathematically speaking, that's where it's headed. They are going to keep pushing it more and more every year, and people who shrug their shoulders and say "oh well, it's like the price of bread" are the frogs in the boiling water who make it possible for them to do that.

[cluck-old-hen]

           When I started selling on EBay in the year of 2000 I believe the fees were .  5 or 10 cents for listing an item and the final value fee was around 3%.  And they were making millions and milions at that rate. And it still not enough for them? When is enough money, enough?  Greed has taken over this country.  But then again, EBay needs to raise the prices because all of the buyer's and seller's they chased away with all their enhancements.

           Now all their enhancements they made over the years has made selling and buying a nightmare. With their "Best Match" only gives Big time sellers the advantage. Your small time sellers are put on the back burner. I went to Newly Listed Items and it still don't show all the newly listed items. Should be "Newly Listed of Best Match."  Maybe they should look back to how they were running EBay in 2000?

           Yes, I'm also getting tired of all their enhancements.