I absolutely agree!
Essentially I have noticed that Ebay does a very good job of framing their actions as "help" or suggestions on sellers to earn profits, when in reality it ultimately it is just tactics to drain every cent they can from your sales.
"Promoted Listings" - sure they will get your item seen, but it will cost you 10% more on top of all other fees. At best, you get a buyer who doesn't know what they are doing and never see their total options in their search because Ebay decided to omit certain listings for WHATEVER reason they say. As a buyer, I don't need Ebays help when requesting a search of the item I am looking to buy and sort the findings from lowest to highest. I rather see ALL my options. YET, to get that you constantly have to select "see all search listings"
I got the invite for "managed payments". They framed it real nice and ultimately looked like a way to save money when compared to what you currently pay with Paypal. However, knowing just how shady Ebay does business I read it thoroughly and made sure to take into consider ANY possible misleading wording. TWO things immediately came to light. What PAYPAL describes as a "transaction fee", Ebay listed it as a "listing FEE". The first thing I thought of is that this was complete deception because ANYONE would assume they are using the same processing method that Paypal uses (2.9% + .30), which would ultimately save you .2% of the entire transaction AND ALSO Save you an additional $.05 on every sale. Not trusing Ebay for one minute, I had a gut feeling that Ebay intentionally made it look like you would be saving money, but would really be charging you more. Also their "dispute charge" seemed very unclear. I also had a gut feeling this was yet another way to force a seller to not get Ebay involved in any transaction. Sellers are FULLY AWARE that they are expected to give in to their buyers demands and take any loss that comes with the transaction, because if Ebay has to get involved, THEY will give the buyer what they want AND penalize you (the seller) JUST because they had to get involved by not refunding your Final Value Fees.
What about those ANNOYING emails Ebay consistently sends out claiming your items are waiting within people's carts. With their advice, LOWER THE PRICE AND MAKE THE SALE!!! WE ARENT IDIOTS! Assuming Ebay is even giving you CORRECT and TRUE information, you can see if your items are being watched and even how many times it was viewed. It doesn't take a genius to realize a cheaper price could definitely increase the possibility of a sale. HOWEVER, I listed a price that I WANT for my item. Obviously if the item IS IN someone's cart, that it MORE of a reason NOT to decrease the price. I NEVER put ANYTHING in my cart that I have no intention of buying or waiting for a cheaper price. Ultimately eBay's only TRUE interest is convincing the buyer to complete the purchase so they can take their cut. They are in NO WAY concerned about a sellers profit, how much they NEED to make or much less how much they WANT to make. They can care less how much it is going to cost to ship or even how much Paypal will charge you too - their ONLY interest is that Final Value Fee. Although I ignore the emails, they are EXTREMELY annoying.
Hmmmm, sounds something like me - I just did not, and still do not, understand why you would think the data isn't flawed and is credible. 
