Ebay Charging Stores 20 Cent Insertion Fees in March? WTF?

[wingzrow]

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/StoreSubscriptionFees.html

Anyone know what's going on? If I have to pay that much on every of my $1.00 items I don't know if I would be able to keep my store up.

Do you have a $16.00 per month store? If so each of those 1300 items will cost you 20 cents every 30 days instead of 3 cent. In my case with that many items I might want to invest in the 50.00 per month store and then my 200 items will only cost 5 cents per month. Still more but not as much more as the other way.

[Baloo]

Does eBay really want people to continue selling on eBay?

[wingzrow]

No clue, but I really don't think I have a choice. They get the most traffic. Anyone know any decent alternatives?

[ryborg]

Yeah, you, and everyone else who has a similar sized store, is boned.


*In general, are eBay fees going up or down?
For most sellers, the new fee options will bring significant savings with dramatically reduced upfront cost. Across the board, Insertion Fees are being dramatically reduced.

Yeahhh.... about that....

[wingzrow]

I thought it might even out since all my store items would be viewable right off the bat in ebay searches......then I realized that would be the same with ALL the other ebay stores, cina's stores included.

I really don't know if it's going to be worth it to be open but only time will tell. It's sure as hell going to be harder to justify things paying $30.00 more each month and having so many $1.00 items.

[mobiusclimber]

I sell on Amazon mostly and it works out really well for me. I can't tell anyone else it would work for them but I make A LOT more now than I did when I sold on Ebay.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I intend to move most of my stuff to Amazon as soon as I open my US bank account this weekend.

eBay's fees are just as high as Amazon's. No reason to not sell there anymore.

[gum_drops]

eBay's fees are just as high as Amazon's. No reason to not sell there anymore.

I don't know, I am still not a fan of the amazon fee structure. Anytime a game sells you get hit with a 2.34 fee (0.99 transaction fee + 1.35 closing fee) no matter the price of the item. Keep in mind that is before the 15% is taken out of the sale. So if you list a game for $10.00 you are going to pay 3.84 in fees. You can still make a couple dollars back from shipping like most do on ebay, since you are credited $3.99 by amazon to ship it.

You can buy a pro subscription for 39.99 a month and the 0.99 transaction fee is waived, but obviously you would need to sell at least 40 games a month.

Compare that to ebay where the fee would be $1.55 assuming it was listed only once for a $10 game. I have really enjoyed the 0.05 / month listing fees (compared to 0.35 in most other categories) on pre-filled items that ebay has been running for a while now. Who knows if they will pull the plug on that at some point.

EDIT:
"What will happen with the existing 5¢ Insertion Fee promotion for media listings?

Insertion Fees in Books, Music, Movies & DVDs and Video Games listed with Product Details will continue to be 5¢ through December 31, 2010 regardless of subscription. Anchor Store subscribers listing in these categories will be charged the lower Insertion Fee of 3¢ beginning March 30, 2010 when the new pricing starts."

[Kitsune Sniper]

There's not much of a difference if the item is valuable.

Amazon:
$100 game - $15 (15% deduction) - $2.34 = 82.66

eBay:
$100 game - $15 (15% FVF) - $.05 - 3.32 PayPal fees = 81.63

It -really- isn't that different anymore.

[gum_drops]

There's not much of a difference if the item is valuable.

Amazon:
$100 game - $15 (15% deduction) - $2.34 = 82.66

eBay:
$100 game - $15 (15% FVF) - $.05 - 3.32 PayPal fees = 81.63

It -really- isn't that different anymore.

Ah yes, I completely forgot about the paypal fee. That 15% is only on the initial $50.00, its 5% for the remaining amount after that, so 86.63 for ebay in that example.

[udisi]

I think they're trying to move people back away from fixed price listings, or at least get rid of the high BIN prices. They're gonna be offer free <$1 listings.

[wingzrow]

Why would amazon be better than ebay? I'm thinking of switching.

[Kitsune Sniper]

No PayPal.

[wingzrow]

Well then how do you get payed? What if an item never arives? What happens?

[mobiusclimber]

Dude, it doesn't matter whether it's Paypal or Amazon, you need to use D.C. and, on any order above an amount of money you'd be comfortable losing, insurance. Cuz I can tell you right now if the item doesn't arrive, Paypal will side with the buyer and make you refund, whether you get D.C. or not. As for how you get paid, after you indicate that you've shipped the item, the money becomes available in your seller account. You can then send it to your bank manually, or wait for Amazon to auto do it (every week?).

Why is Amazon better? Here's why:

1) Most items sell for more money.
2) You can have your item up for three months (or forever if you're subscribed) on Amazon for one listing fee.
3) You don't have to worry about DSR at all, and only slightly about feedback.
4) Amazon takes the money out for the listing/selling fee when the item sells, so no worrying about having enough in your bank account or trying to figure out what amount you're going to lose. Amazon shows you exactly what you'll earn on the last screen when you go to list an item for sale.
5) Did I mention you'll make a LOT more money? It's true. No "should I list these auctions at a $1 and hope there's a bidding war" only to have them all sell for $1 apiece. No spending extra money relisting an item until it sells. And most games sell for more money on Amazon. Check it out. Go do a search. The only thing I DON'T like is trying to sell common NES games on there. I wouldn't do it cuz most of em are $1, but I wouldn't do it on Ebay either. (The only bad thing about Amazon is you generally can't sell "in a lot" unless you're selling a console with games, in which case you'd list it under the console listing. Even that isn't a great option.)

I will say that selling on Amazon isn't for everyone. It all comes down to how you sell and what you sell.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Well then how do you get payed? What if an item never arives? What happens?

You get paid via direct bank deposit. No idea what happens if the item doesn't arrive, though.

[wingzrow]

Am I missing something or does the buyer never actually get a picture of what they're buying on amazon? Cause i'm looking up some of my higher items on there to price compare and not seeing anything for any item.

If that's the case as a buyer I sure as hell wouldn't buy from amazon of I can't see what i'm buying. Maybe it's better to buy from ebay but sell on amazon? In any case if I don't have to take pictures and only have to write up[ a few sentences for a description that would certainly streamline things a bit.

[ryborg]

Am I missing something or does the buyer never actually get a picture of what they're buying on amazon?

Yep, that's right. I've had a few buyers over the years ask for photos first, but generally, people just buy sight unseen. I RARELY buy from Amazon for specifically that reason. No personal photos and only a few sentences for a description. No thanks.

[mobiusclimber]

It's better to buy from Ebay anyway b/c it's cheaper. If you DO find something on there that's a good deal tho, you either cross your fingers, or you read the description that the buyer wrote and hope it's accurate. I've lost out on some killer deals b/c I took the time to email the seller and ask about the item. By the time I got a reply, they'd already sold it.