I’ve been a member of Ebay since 2000. That’s 10 years. The company has changed quite a bit over time, with some of the biggest changes coming into effect during the last two years.
Yesterday Ebay announced that they will be making changes to their seller fees, with the guise of being easier or cheaper for sellers.
That is dead wrong.
According to this article on WebProNews, either of the changes result in an overall higher fee associated with the selling of any item. Occasional sellers will be charged 151% more than before and high-volume sellers will see a 15% increase per item. Apparently, no listing fees will be incurred for items being listed at under $1, which is a welcome change. However, the final value fee has been raised to a flat 9%!!! Add on the paypal fees, and you’re talking over 10% is lost to the system. The days of actaully making a profit by selling an item on Ebay are falling off the wayside more and more with each passing year…
So is there an alternative to Ebay? At this time, there really isn’t. Yahoo auctions gave it a run and while those are the hottest toy auction sites in Japan, Yahoo Auctions is a ghost town outside of the Land of the Rising Sun. Ebay is the big dog in the picture because no other auction site can get even close to the amount of eyes looking at your items. That isn’t likely to change, but here’s hoping that pissing off 100% of your customerbase that keeps you in business has at least some sort of lasting repercussion.
Perhaps someone out to make a new outlet for Transformers collectors to buy and sell their wares… hmmmmmmm…
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