# My days are numbered, Ebay fires fatal bullet.



## rusty (Mar 15, 2011)

Received, March 15/2011

Seller fee update coming this Spring:

List Auction-style FREE, any start price, all the time. Add Buy It Now FREE.

Dear valued ebay seller,

Starting April 19, Standard Auction-style fees will be changing for non-store subscribers. If you don't own an eBay store, you'll be able to list FREE at any start price--up to 50 items a month and Auction-style Final Value Fees will apply to the total amount of the sale (including shipping). 

You will also be able to add the Buy It Now option FREE to grab those buyers who don't want to wait for your listing to end. In short, you can now list even your higher priced items free--pay only if it sells.

Fees adjusted to reward low-cost shipping.

We know online buyers pay attention to shipping costs when deciding what and where to buy. That's why, to encourage low-cost shipping, starting July 6 Fixed Price Final Value Fee rates will be reduced for all sellers and applied to the total amount of the sale. When you list on eBay.ca and sell to a US or international buyer, we'll charge your Final Value Fee rate against your first domestic Canadian shipping service, or the actual shipping cost paid by the buyer, whichever is lower.

This means that even if you frequently sell to US buyers, you can keep your overall fees down by offering free or low cost shipping to your Canadian buyers

Subscribe to an eBay Store for as low as $15.95 per month for lowest overall fees.

You may be able to reduce your overall fees by subscribing to an eBay Store. For as low as $15.95 per month you'll get all the great benefits that come with a Store subscription, including discounted Insertion Fees for Fixed Price, low Insertion Fees for Auction-style, FREE pictures, and powerful Store marketing tools.

If you already have an eBay Store, consider upgrading to a Premium or Anchor store subscription. With a Premium Store, you can list in Fixed Price for just 5¢ plus get the same discounted Insertion Fees for Auction-style. Subscribe to an Anchor store and you can list in Fixed Price for just 3¢.

5% PowerSeller discount retired--aim now to be an eBay Top-rated seller to earn 20% off

Starting with your June invoice, the 5% Final Value Fee discount for PowerSellers who are not eBay Top-rated sellers will be retired.

As before, if you qualify for either the US Top-rated seller program on eBay.com OR the Global Top-rated seller program on eBay.ca, you'll get the 20% Final Value Fee discount for all your listings, whether you list on eBay.ca or eBay.com. The Global Top-rated seller requirements, applicable to the program on eBay.ca, will be modified in May to allow more Canadian sellers to qualify and receive the 20% discount.

Be sure to check your Seller Dashboard for up-to-date information on your rating and what you can do to achieve eBay Top-rated seller status in either program and earn a 20% discount as soon as possible.

Improving upfront shipping information for Canadian buyers

Starting in June, the domestic Canadian shipping options you offer when listing on eBay.ca will be displayed to Canadian buyers using industry-standard terms and including delivery estimates. Several new generic domestic shipping services are being added to support this change, while the existing generic services "Standard Delivery" and "Expedited Delivery" will no longer be available.

New minimum global standards for selling on eBay.ca

New minimum global standards will take effect in May and must be met in order to sell on eBay.ca (and all other eBay sites except US, UK and Germany). Check your Seller Dashboard for more insight on transactions with buyers around the world. New requirements for the Global Top-rated seller discount program applicable on eBay.ca will also take effect.

New eBay Shopping Cart introduced on eBay.com

Online shoppers are accustomed to adding items to a shopping cart--and they're often motivated to buy more. That's why - starting on eBay.com, and later on eBay.ca as well - we're introducing the new eBay Shopping Cart that works with both Fixed Price and Auction-style items. Buyers can add items from multiple sellers and pay in one easy checkout--making it easier and more likely for them to buy more.

New way to shop coming to more Electronics categories

Buyers come to eBay every day in search of the best deals on the hottest electronics. To make sure they find them and keep coming back, the new way to shop for popular products--introduced before the holidays for DVDs and Blu-ray, GPS devices and MP3 players--is coming soon to more electronics categories including cell phones, cameras, video game systems and video games. Starting May 16, you'll be required to list and relist items in these categories with the catalogue.

Item specifics required for Clothing, Shoes & Accessories

Buyers in Clothing, Shoes & Accessories categories will find your listings even faster shopping by Brand, Style, Colour, Size Type, and Size. These item specifics will be required in Fashion categories starting May 9.

Update for Parts & Accessories sellers who use the US Motors Site

To build confidence and reduce buyer questions, sellers will be required to specify shipping and handling time, return policy, and item condition when listing parts and accessories on the US Motors site. Parts and accessories listings created on eBay.ca already require return policy and handling time and are not impacted.

Update to funds availability for Below Standard sellers

Starting in June, for sellers without an established track record, sellers listing on eBay.ca who do not meet eBay's minimum global performance standard, and sellers listing on eBay.com who do not meet eBay's minimum US performance standards, funds from buyer payments may be unavailable for a period of time to ensure successful fulfillment.

New communications hub

Starting in May, you'll be able to manage your communications with buyers from just one location within My eBay. View the emails that eBay sends to buyers after a transaction, manage your buyer-facing Automated Answers, or access your Store newsletters--all from one convenient page.

Specified shipping required for Canadian, US, UK and Australian buyers

Specifying shipping information for your Canadian and international buyers makes checkout faster and easier and can also help your DSRs by setting buyer expectations for shipping costs. Later this year, we'll be requiring specified domestic Canadian shipping costs for listings created on eBay.ca. You'll also need to specify shipping to the US in order to maintain free exposure on the eBay.com site for your eBay.ca listing. And later this year, Canadian listings that specify international shipping information to Australia and the UK will receive increased exposure by being displayed in the main search results for these eBay sites.

Category and item specifics changes

Category and item specifics changes are also consolidated with rest of updates. Find out if your listings are impacted.

Get details on the 2011 Spring Seller Update.

For more insight, you're also invited to:

* Talk with members of my staff during the next two days on a special eBay.com discussion board we've set up for this purpose.
* Join me and other leaders from eBay in an eBay.com Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, March 16.
* Take part in the upcoming eBay.com webinar on Thursday, March 17.

As always, thank you for selling on eBay.

Sincerely,
Dinesh Lathi
Vice President, Seller Experience


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## Anonymous (Mar 15, 2011)

Unfreaking real gil.
I hope thats not the same for the states.I will look into it later tonight.


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## silversaddle1 (Mar 15, 2011)

If I am reading this right, E-bay want's me to pay a final value fee on the shipping cost as well? That's absurd!

So no listing fee, but we'll make it up on the back end in a shipping cost fee. Cool, just pass that charge right on to the seller. That's how you fix that. See how e-bay likes that.


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## Ocean (Mar 15, 2011)

I noticed this today.

Dang... :evil:


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## patnor1011 (Mar 15, 2011)

This will affect buyers. Seller will pass all this charges to price of item. How about using 2-3 accounts on ebay to get over that 50 items a month?

What ebay is doing is called corporate greed. They become too big and have high overhead, greedy shareholders and so...


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## Anonymous (Mar 16, 2011)

I verified that everything is the same way in the states starting in april.In a couple different catagories the final value fees will be 13%.I sold an autocal a couple of weeks ago,and the shipping alone was $100.
Maybe we could come up with an idea for a new auction site......after all Ebay started somewhere.


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## darshevo (Mar 18, 2011)

Its been said time and again how hard it is to bring down the front runner. In the world of computers and internet marketing this has been particularly true (intel, microsoft, amazon, etc) but it has been done. Ask Myspace how they feel about Facebook :mrgreen: 

I'll be putting a large font message to my buyers that all items will have a $5+ handling fee to offset ebay's unfair and likely illegal fees with a link to ebay's feedback section so the buyer can complain to them

On the plus side with ebay taking out the powerseller fee discount I can now charge however much I want to ship as I no longer have to worry about my DSRs 

-Lance


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## macfixer01 (Mar 20, 2011)

I used to sell quite a bit on Ebay but haven't in a couple years now since they made all the big changes to the feedback system. One thing that always pissed me off though was sellers listing an item dirt cheap then charging a ridiculously high shipping price to screw Ebay out of the bulk of their final value fee. I think that it's mainly thanks to sellers like them that this change was made, and it will ultimately screw everyone.

macfixer01


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## rusty (Apr 11, 2011)

Ebay policy change for Canadians, not sure if this will affect the US members. And were supposed to ship the goods while fleabay holds funds Ha Ha that is very funny.

April 11, 2011

Hello XXXX,

We're writing to let you know that the eBay User Agreement has been updated to support policy and other changes. The updated Agreement is effective immediately for new members, and on May 31, 2011, for current members.

There is one key update to the User Agreement:

* Clarification is included about instances where seller funds may be held as pending in their PayPal accounts. eBay has at times requested, and may continue to request, that PayPal hold seller funds to help facilitate smooth transactions. eBay will make such requests based upon factors including, but not limited to, selling history, seller performance, riskiness of the listing category, or the filing of an eBay Buyer Protection claim. PayPal may also hold funds pursuant to their own Funds Availability Policy. 

As with earlier updates, other changes have been made to keep the User Agreement up-to-date with our product and service offerings.

You don't need to take any further action to accept the new eBay User Agreement. If you choose not to accept the new terms, visit this help page for further direction.

Thank you for being a part of the eBay community. :roll: 

Sincerely,
eBay AG.


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## Oz (Apr 11, 2011)

Just imagine the interest revenue that Ebay/PayPal will earn, even if they only withhold funds for 10% of the transactions for 15 days. Of course this is just for the buyer’s protection in case the item is not as described. Funny thing (if I remember correctly) is that PayPal already has the right to dip into your bank account if there is a dispute.


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## element47 (Apr 11, 2011)

Definitely mixed feelings on ebay. There's no question that some oddball things would be borderline unsalable without the widespread exposure. I'm also into electronics, and an ad I placed "we buy tube-based electronic stuff" yielded an entire garage stuffed to the gills with WW2 radios and over a thousand NOS tubes. I was looking for hi-fi/stereo stuff, but ended up with radio gear. Long story short, I was able to sell $480 my cost for well over $2000 and I doubt I could have achieved that w/o ebay. 

Ebay allowed me to buy well over $20K worth of sterling flatware at $11-12-$15-$17-$21 and $24 and $30 without having to drive all over to find it. Ebay furnishes an easy to check market price for virtually anything you can name. 

I seriously dislike ebay charging final value fees on shipping. That galls me. Shipping small packages has become phenomenally expensive. It is very easy to underestimate freight charges, especially if your recipient is a residence vs a business. Last thing I sold went for $23, the shipping was $34, but I only charged $15 to ship. I ended up making -20 cents on the item post fees. 

Ebay has essentially stated that it doesn't care about the small seller; it wants to be "Overstock.Com" for the world. As such, it becomes less and less an attractive place for an infrequent seller. But as onerous as the fees are, there are lots of things you really cannot sell without the breadth of their exposure. Losing 12-15% as a seller, all I can say is that you have to have something relative unique and have a good line on your sources to create feasible margins with that level of erosion.


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## rusty (Apr 12, 2011)

Joined ebay back in June of 98 with a $10.00 credit towards listing fees, never looked back leaned a lot, had some fun made plenty of money. Actually made power seller status 3 times and declined once. 

I mainly sell old stereo gear , cameras, tube radios, bicycles, car and tractor parts, old chainsaws among other things. Almost sold a complete 56 Volkswagen with a Split Window piece by piece on auction..

Two of my largest sales were done without any exposure from ebay, sales I hustled up myself, sold a hand carved wooden carousel horse for $4500.00 plus shipping, then a Cummings KT450 diesel engine core for $15,000.00

The funny thing is that I never put out one red cent on the horse, asked the store owner how long it had been in the store, she replied 5 years then I asked if I could take some pictures which she agreed to let me do.

After taking the pictures in Salmon Arm went to my buddy's place up at Apex in Penticton, jumped onto the computer and searched some carousel sites that had classifieds posted my picture and within 15 minutes had the horse sold. The sale was a bit more complicated as the woman who purchased it wanted to put it on her cc my buddy had a merchant account, so we split the profits. Not bad for a guy living out of his van.

Ebay needs me more than I need them, there will be no tears shed on my part as the greedy bastards loose their shirts then come begging for the mom and pop sellers to Please come back, no listing fees, but be sure to read the fine print to make sure the category you sell in has not been excluded from this slick offer.

regards
rusty


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## goldenchild (Apr 12, 2011)

I don't think this new fee will change much unfortunately. As long as there are shopaholics, people willing to pay for junk, people that have no clue what they are paying for and people paying over an objects value like say gold scrap *eghm*, eBay is here to stay. :roll:


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## Drewbie (Apr 12, 2011)

rusty said:


> Not bad for a guy living out of his van.



Down by the river?

(Sorry, could not resist...)


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## Drewbie (Apr 12, 2011)

You should write a book about your adventures. I'd be keen to read it.

WTSHTF you and I will be survivors. The guys that can't even change a tyre on a car - not so much.

Just in case you didn't get the "down by the river" joke,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nhgfjrKi0o


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## Militoy (Apr 14, 2011)

I've been a little bit concerned about the new fees; since some of the stuff I sell has shipping charges close to the purchase price. For instance - I recently sold a piece of vintage machinery for $750. I was satisfied to get my opening bid for the item; but shipped from California to New Jersey, the pallets with the machine and accessories cost over $650 to move. If I don't build eBay's new fees into my auction on a large item like this - I could lose my shirt - just based on where the bidder lives!


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## jimdoc (Apr 14, 2011)

Militoy said:


> I've been a little bit concerned about the new fees; since some of the stuff I sell has shipping charges close to the purchase price. For instance - I recently sold a piece of vintage machinery for $750. I was satisfied to get my opening bid for the item; but shipped from California to New Jersey, the pallets with the machine and accessories cost over $650 to move. If I don't build eBay's new fees into my auction on a large item like this - I could lose my shirt - just based on where the bidder lives!




For items like that I would make them -local pickup only. And then if people want it shipped that would be a separate payment if they choose delivery.
I agree that Ebay is getting worse, I didn't think that was possible. But it seems as if they are working very hard to make it more profitable for them, and more difficult for everybody else.

Jim


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## patnor1011 (Apr 14, 2011)

Most sellers will put shipping and ebay fees in price of item. I am selling things for some time with free postage. It is already included in price.


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## jimdoc (Apr 14, 2011)

patnor1011 said:


> Most sellers will put shipping and ebay fees in price of item. I am selling things for some time with free postage. It is already included in price.



I guess you have the Ebay fees included in the price also. People love free shipping, most of them don't understand why or how it is free. Ebay is the only one guaranteed to make money.

Jim


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## Militoy (Apr 16, 2011)

Posting 10-20 new auctions between 6 AM - 5 PM Sunday. My shipping price is going up in accordance w/ the new eBay policy. Wish me luck.


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