MSE News: eBay sellers beware - its fees now eat into postage costs

lovinituk

J45 wrote: »

Many people will jump ship when eBay finally hits rocky waters

This gets said every year when ebay make changes (and I usually post these sort of replies every year!). It has done for years. ebid usually do well with new sellers at the same time!

And yet ebay are not even close to hitting rocky waters...!

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130417006476/en/eBay-Reports-Strong-Quarter-2013-Results

"Double-digit growth in revenue and net income, with customer growth accelerating at Marketplaces and PayPal
Total Company Enabled Commerce Volume Up 19% Year over Year"

J45 wrote: »

Charge more fees if they want but don't take money that doesn't belong to them.

Its hardly theft is it! They are not forcing you to list there! They can charge whatever fees they want. Equally, you can choose not to use them. Get over it!

J45

lovinituk wrote: »

And yet ebay are not even close to hitting rocky waters...!

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130417006476/en/eBay-Reports-Strong-Quarter-2013-Results

Yeah how about you take a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23352809

Also paypals profits and their other supporting companies will make eBay's profits seem a lot bigger then they really are.

lovinituk

J45 wrote: »

Yeah how about you take a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23352809

Also paypals profits and their other supporting companies will make eBay's profits seem a lot bigger then they really are.

OK, you carry on kidding yourself if it makes you feel better. In the meantime the rest of us will be soaking up the sales.

We just had our best ever month of sales in August on ebay. August?!? Thats supposed to be the quietest month for sales - it has been the last few years. Someone must have forgotten to tell August that this year! Double the sales of last August and a 35% increase on Julys sales (and no, we don't sell seasonal items).

eBay is here to stay for the forseeable future and even if they eventually go to the wall there will just be another outfit that takes it place charging just as much, if not more. Amazons fees are higher than ebay and paypal fees combined!

If your business can't absorb a 10% fee rise on just the cost of the postage then perhaps its time to rethink your business model.

RFW

J45 wrote: »

Yeah how about you take a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23352809

Also paypals profits and their other supporting companies will make eBay's profits seem a lot bigger then they really are.

Did you actually read that article? It's hardly symbolic of a failing business.
Paypal has been out performing Ebay for a few years now it will probably expand that gap as they bring in new initiatives. Keeping Paypal as a separate company, rather than following Amazon's model has probably been the smartest thing Ebay have done.

J45

I knew sooner or later you would use amazon as an excuse for eBays new fees.

Why do you make disputes about my business when I never said I couldn't absorb the fees (especially since I said if they were going to charge more fees then put it on the final value fee).

Regarding the website I was just demonstrating it was easy to backup a statement with creative journalism. None of us know how eBay is really doing now or in the future otherwise we'd be buying shares.

Maybe you should take your own advice and "not give a damn" about others opinions since you keep on missing the point and arguing against things people never even said.

sequence

The changes are on the whole good, they'll bring more consistency to the buying experience on ebay, as well as giving ebay more money to advertise their site. More advertising = more buyers = more profits for sellers (and ebay of course). You only have to look at ebid to see what a lack of fees and advertising does for you.

J45

sequence wrote: »

The changes are on the whole good, they'll bring more consistency to the buying experience on ebay, as well as giving ebay more money to advertise their site. More advertising = more buyers = more profits for sellers (and ebay of course). You only have to look at ebid to see what a lack of fees and advertising does for you.

That's a whole lot of assumption. Perhaps another competitor had been spotted and they needed the money to buy it out before it becomes a threat?..

There was already postage caps in most categories, this decision just epitomizes the greed of eBay.

RFW

J45 wrote: »

There was already postage caps in most categories, this decision just epitomizes the greed of eBay.

"Most" categories? How odd, I thought it was just a few. Have I missed something?

cactusroger

[QUOTE=RFW;63158161

1.Under this scenario, if you're settings are set right and/or you send the correct invoice on checkout, the Ebay fees will be on 4 x £2 and only one postage charge, not on four.

2.Also if you're selling items for £2 that cost £5.50 to post you may want to change products, I don't see how that can ever be profitable, even without commission on post.[/QUOTE]

1. I do hope you are right. Can anyone confirm this is actually the way eBay is levying the p&p 10% levy? Some online posters are claiming the full amount is being charged, while others are saying the charge depend on what appears on the invoice.

2. I'm not, I generally manage to use small parcels or even large letter. However a £2 item which has cost me next to nothing to grow, and the buyer considers is actually worth £4 from a commercial nursery, is profitable. My figures were just hypothetical (but realistic)examples anyway, as I'm sure you realised. :beer:

cactusroger

lovinituk wrote: »

There are plenty of larger sellers who are barely affected by these changes (better off in some cases!), believe me! We're more than happy for the others to go elsewhere - give us an even larger slice of the pie. Thanks very much

Seeing as this was a reply to my post, I doubt that there are any "big" sellers, you especially, who will benefit because of anything I don't sell in my narrow and specialist "occasional" market in which there isn't one big boy on eBay, and the "medium boys" and von Schmallhausen's (like me) some of them very good sellers, don't undercut me on price and I often get better prices than them, so I'm sure I can find a way of maintaining my occasional sales on eBay without upsetting the eBay "policy" Gestapo. :beer: