posted on February 6, 2005 11:09:35 AM new
It appears auction listings are dropping.
Reduced from .30 to .25 as of tonight!
Also a store credit is scheduled!::
A Message from Bill Cobb
Since becoming the President of eBay North America in December, I've spent a lot of time listening to you, our Community. There's a lot on your minds right now. I've been taking it all in and thinking hard about how we can make sure eBay remains a fun, safe place to trade, and a prosperous home for our many dedicated sellers.
One of the issues I've heard a lot about is our recent fee increases, particularly the increase in Store Inventory Format final value fees. I've also heard concerns about customer support, the amount of change we make to the site on a regular basis, and trust and safety. We're listening to everything you have to say.
eBay has become a hugely successful marketplace as a result of the innovation, enthusiasm and hard work of our Community. The site has also become more complex as it has grown to meet many of your needs. So our challenge is to keep pace with the Community's changing requirements, while preserving the things that make eBay so special. With that in mind, I'd like to give you a preview of some upcoming changes for the United States and Canada.
eBay has a fantastic Customer Support team, but Meg and I agree we haven't invested enough in giving our CS reps the flexibility and tools they need to really take care of you. So, to start, within the next 90 days, we'll shut down most of our automated email responses. Our users will get a "real" e-mail response to their questions - you'll hear from a human being who will try to help you with your problem or question right off the bat. We will only use auto responses to acknowledge receipt of spam or policy violation reports.
We also think the time has come to expand phone support. Currently phone support is available only to Silver, Gold, Platinum and Titanium PowerSellers. Starting April 1, all eBay Stores owners also will have access to phone support. We'll provide details on the benefits of phone support to Stores owners soon.
We know pricing is a critical issue for our sellers. While we stand behind our decision to increase final value fees on Store Inventory Format listings - because they make sense for items that list with insertion fees of two cents - I know this increase has been difficult for some of our sellers. To reward our eBay Stores sellers, we'll be crediting $15.95 - a month's Basic Stores subscription - in May to all sellers who operated an eBay Store for the month of April. Stores owners will receive more details on this soon.
We also want to do something for the rest of our sellers. I'm happy to announce that effective at midnight tonight, eBay.com and eBay.ca will reduce minimum insertion fees for Auction-Style listings, Fixed Price, Motors Non-Vehicle and B&I non-Capital Equipment Categories from 30 cents to 25 cents (CA$0.35 to CA$0.30). eBay Germany has always used this pricing, and users there have benefited from higher conversion rates on items with lower starting bids.
One of the great things about eBay is the candor and passion of our Community. Your input keeps this company focused on what's right and important. Later this month, I'll be hosting an online meeting to hear more from you. You'll see more details on the Announcement Board soon. And I'll periodically post notes like this one to talk about issues of importance to all of us.
eBay has never stopped listening to our users and we never will. I know many of you already have Meg's e-mail address and frequently send her messages about things you care about. I hope you will do the same with me. My e-mail address is [email protected]. I promise I'll read every e-mail. And most of all, I'll listen.
posted on February 6, 2005 11:30:25 AM new
Well, well, well...
seems somebody lost eine fortune "on paper" recently?
Why don't they think things out BEFORE hand instead of FUBAR'ing the place up with half-baked junior-high crap?
You'd think they'd a learned sumptin from what happened at BOOHOO AUCTIONS!!
"Who could have possibly envisioned an erection — an election in Iraq at this point in history?" Prez.Jim Beam, at the White House, Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2005
posted on February 6, 2005 11:33:09 AM new
the good news is, with the lower insert fee, less, using the gallery photo, you really can see your change jar fill up wit' dem nickels ... lol
Now to bring in my years of long experience with "read-the-fine-print-Bay", I have to ask the question...
"will reduce minimum insertion fees for Auction-Style listings, Fixed Price, Motors Non-Vehicle and B&I non-Capital Equipment Categories from 30 cents to 25 cents"
$0.30 to $0.25 is for the $0.99 and lower starting price, which not many people use. Are they going to lower *ALL* insertion fees by a nickel or just that tier?
Nothing is reflected yet on the rate lists for eBay about this yet.
Now for the analysis side of this. Do you really think the stores were hurting regular auction listings that much? That they had to increase FVF in the store and lower the price on auctions to make it work out evenly?
Or is this announcement somehow related to the mysterious "7 day listing fee" thing that has started showing up on invoices?
I've heard too much double-talk and malarky from eBay over the years to take ANYTHING they say at face value.
--------------------------------------
Replay Media - The best source for board games, card games and miniatures on the web! http://www.replaymedia.com
posted on February 6, 2005 11:56:56 AM new
Replay:
Your answer won't be known till tomorrow.
Tonight is a big listing night, at least it is for me.
But it don't go into effect till after midnight!
Mine will be up and running by then.
posted on February 6, 2005 01:09:21 PM new
Okay, so they throw us sellers a couple of bones for us to gnaw on... maybe, just maybe things will straighten up. I am still taking the "wait & see" attitude. Still not going to close my store, still going to migrate quite a bit of stuff else where and still NOT going to trust ebay as far as I could throw them.
Please, oh please, any one here that uses the new & improved customer service let us know how it goes. I'm secretly placing bets against that one.
Kevin
[ edited by Kevinatgrannys on Feb 6, 2005 01:10 PM ]
posted on February 6, 2005 01:43:18 PM new
It's refreshing to hear from someone other than Meg Whitman. I'm wondering if this president, Bill Cobb, can make a difference.
I don't start auctions at 99 cents so this latest "gift" won't do me any good. I'll be very interested to see if live phone support really happens.
___________________________________
Is it true that the only difference between a yard sale and a trash pickup is how close to the road the stuff is placed?
posted on February 6, 2005 02:08:47 PM new
wgm said:
"...so it is only the .99 and less auctions that will be .25. Gee thanks for nothing, eBay."
Yeah, that was my thought as well. Now if they lowered the $9.99 tier down to $0.30 that actually would be nice and I would certainly be able to take advantage of that, but the under-a-dollar listings are just to risky unless you are selling really high demand items. And even then, it's a gamble.
I HOPE to be pleasantly surprised tomorrow morning when the new rates get posted. But I really really doubt it. If this was an across-the-board price reduction, they would have said so.
They most likely just wanted to be able to say "Yes, we raised all those rates, but look- we LOWERED some rates too!"
--------------------------------------
Replay Media - The best source for board games, card games and miniatures on the web! http://www.replaymedia.com
posted on February 6, 2005 02:12:36 PM new"ring! ring"
Hello?
"Yes? We are being Abu of eBay CS, brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Quiki-Mart! We are being helping you, NO?
Hello? Hello?
"Who could have possibly envisioned an erection — an election in Iraq at this point in history?" Prez.Snort-Snif-Snort-Snort, at the White House, Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2005
posted on February 6, 2005 02:17:58 PM new
Damage control is all it is. The stock has been consistently dropping, outraged sellers have been making the news, and eBay wants to put some positive PR out there. "LOOK what we ARE doing for our sellers!"
All the reduced fee on .99 and less auctions is going to do is promote more fee circumvention. Why can't they concentrate on the sellers charging ridiculous s/h is beyond me. I, for one, am TIRED of paying the fees for these type sellers.
I do have an eBay store and have no plans of closing it....so I am one of those those store owners catching a bone of the one-time credit. Big deal. That $15.95 isn't even a drop in the bucket to the extra fees they will be taking from me on the new FVF.
As usual, eBay continues to insult the intelligence of their sellers.
__________________________________
"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work." - Richard Bach
posted on February 6, 2005 02:18:14 PM new
Well, I just emailed Sweet Old Bill to ask him about this new regular auction insert fee, for clarification ... we'll see what he says.
[ edited by EstateSaleStuff on Feb 6, 2005 02:20 PM ]
posted on February 6, 2005 02:18:29 PM new
ROFLMAO @ tom!
__________________________________
"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work." - Richard Bach
posted on February 6, 2005 03:48:14 PM new
Well, I haven't been here in months because I've just stopped selling on ebay altogether.
In my field, the problem isn't the FVF or the listing fees or any of that.
It's the fact that the gah-daw Ebay corporate advertising created a market of buyers looking for bargains and nothing else. The buyers aren't looking for quality items, they want cheap items.
When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
posted on February 6, 2005 04:04:35 PM new
"It's the fact that the gah-daw Ebay corporate advertising created a market of buyers looking for bargains and nothing else. The buyers aren't looking for quality items, they want cheap items. "
Really, this has really changed in the past couple of years? I've been selling collectibles now for 25 years, and buyers looking for cheap items has been a constant for all of those years. I am sure it goes back before then.
It ALWAYS comes down to FVF and listing fee, basically, you either make a profit and stay, or you don't, and leave (or stay and lose money, and there are a lot of people out there losing money)
"It is better to have none than to have some, but if you must have some, it is better to have few than to have many" - Ronald Reagan
posted on February 6, 2005 04:15:28 PM new
Replay, you said:
Or is this announcement somehow related to the mysterious "7 day listing fee" thing that has started showing up on invoices?
I got that, too, on my account statement for a listing I started two weeks ago and queried them. I actually got a response:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us regarding the 'special duration fee' line
item you may have noticed on the SYI form or your account status page.
This notation was due to billing backend work that caused the extra line
item to appear. Engineering has resolved this problem and the fix will
appear on the site next week.
We would like to assure you that this notation doesn't indicate that
there have been any changes made to listing duration fees or to the
auction format. Please look to the announcement board for any further
information in the future.
I wasn't charged any "special duration fee" in the first place. It just showed up as another line right behind the listing fee for a normal 7-day listing.
I got that email from Bill Cobb, too. There's a reply line in the header, so I replied and it hasn't bounced back - not yet at least.
So I responded:
In other words, you're encouraging people to list with minimum bids of 99 cents by shaving the minimum fee *which applies only to listings with minimum bids of 99 cents or less* by shaving the insertion fee by a nickel?
There are already too many 99-cent listings - with inflated shipping.
How about doing something for the category that now pays 35 cents? How about shaving that to a quarter?
How about reducing the fee for the gallery photo on 35-cent listings? Rather than raising it from 25 to 35 cents, how about reducing it to 15 cents on items with minimum bids of less than $9.99?
I plan on dropping the gallery photo once it goes to 35 cents - 70 cent is
too much to list low-ticket items combined with the FVF.
How about doing what Billpoint used to do - have one flat fee for low-ticket items of $15 or less?
PayPal with its 30 cents and 2.9% of everything including shipping - too much on top of the other fees when it comes to low-ticket items.
I dropped PayPal for CC's a while ago - it hasn't hurt any.
posted on February 6, 2005 05:40:01 PM new
Just what we need all the Powersellers selling everything for a Penny. What is E-Bay going to do when Sellers sell-thru-rate in the E-Bay's Stores falls to nothing.
**********************************
Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on February 6, 2005 06:10:29 PM new
I think eBay should encourage people to list with higher minimum bids.
The whole trend with forcing things down, down, down to 99 cents - I think it backfires. Devalues things and results in lower sales prices and FVF's.
In a rip-snorting market where you're sure that 99 cents will get the bidding started sooner and maybe attract more buyers to the fray - makes sense.
But in a down market, I think it just drags things down more.
I'm just getting re-started with my father's beer cans - haven't done anything with them since October of 2003. I'm noticing there are more $1 listings, but a lot of people are now listing fixed shipping costs that are high - as much as $5 or $5.95 on a single can. Used to be the max on shipping a single can was $4.30 for Priority Mail, and some of the pro's had the very small cardboard boxes or tubes that would allow them to send a single can first class for $1.50 or $2.00.
Definite trend there, and not good if you want to sell for a reasonable price without being forced into inflating shipping.
posted on February 6, 2005 08:01:10 PM new
I believe next year when the Post Office goes up again on the shipping rates that will really drag E-bay down. I think E-Bay is going to see a big change in Sellers this year,not everyone is making a killing on E-bay like they claim they are. I'm beginning to see quite a few Sellers moving their auctions to other sites. I know that happens everytime the fees go up,but I've never seen that many leave. Maybe they will go back,Maybe not.
**********************************
Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on February 6, 2005 08:06:38 PM new
I don't believe many serious auction model businesses are going to other auction sites....the traffic there just doesn't justify it. They may go, but they will be back to ebay if they want to be in the auction business. What I do see happening is people relying less on ebay for their overall business. I have to admit it is just easier, and great traffic to have an ebay store, but I see the writing on the wall too, and expect the next round of postal increases (which should be announced in the coming weeks for 2006) to be brutal for ebay shippers. I have to admit though, I thought the last round of increases would kill off more business than it did, so who knows. I do know though that by the time ebay announces the next increases, I want to have 25% of my business at ebay instead of 75% of it.
"It is better to have none than to have some, but if you must have some, it is better to have few than to have many" - Ronald Reagan
posted on February 6, 2005 09:18:10 PM new
I've already quit selling on ebay except on their sale days. And I've stopped buying on ebay as a protest. This year, I quit selling on the internet full-time and I now sell on free websites in my spare time. I moved all of my inventory over to Epier. Traffic is very light there, but I advertise with links to my stuff and bring in my own customers. Eventually, I'll open my own website.
[ edited by ebayauctionguy on Feb 6, 2005 09:24 PM ]
posted on February 6, 2005 11:01:00 PM new
It's not after midnight on the West Coast, which is Ebay's official time!
"It is better to have none than to have some, but if you must have some, it is better to have few than to have many" - Ronald Reagan
posted on February 7, 2005 04:59:18 AM new
Just to confirm what I said last night, ONLY the bottom tier of the price schedule changed. The $1-$9.99 is still $0.35 while the sub $1 level dropped a nickel.
--------------------------------------
Replay Media - The best source for board games, card games and miniatures on the web! http://www.replaymedia.com
