ebay again putting the squeeze on -

hobbywhelmed · Post by **hobbywhelmed** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:08 pm

Well, I didn't get an email about the 20-cent listing days, but did get one about how poor, poor ebay is losing money on store inventory listings:

....Amid all this change, one thing has remained constant: auction-style listings are the foundation of eBay. Auction-style and other core listings made eBay what it is today -- and they'll always be front and center on eBay.com. They account for about 91% of the gross merchandise value sold on eBay.com. But recently, we've been wrestling with some troubling facts:

Store Inventory listings now comprise about 83% of active eBay.com listings on average.
While eBay.com core listings typically sell in about two weeks, Store Inventory listings on average take 14 times longer to sell. In some media categories, Store Inventory listings take more than 40 times longer to sell than core listings.
And, when you compare our operations costs for an average Store Inventory listing and an average core listing - factoring in the duration of each - our cost to host a Store Inventory listing is more than 50% higher than for a core listing. In fact, current Store Inventory insertion fees don't cover eBay's costs for hosting them.

Yeah, I guess all the money they make from auctions that don't sell - which more than likely involves months of relisting, and is certainly no "two weeks" period, but is often 50% or more of a seller's listings at any given time - I guess all that just falls into the black hole of stores they've promoted so heavily in the past.

It's vitally important -- to your business and ours -- that we maintain a healthy balance between listing formats on the eBay marketplace, and ensure that inventory conversion across the site remains strong. So we're taking action.

Today, I want to inform you of changes we're making to eBay.com -- changes intended to rebalance the overall eBay marketplace by further distinguishing the roles of core listing formats and our Store Inventory format. In short, we're improving the advantages of selling in core listing formats -- and taking action to manage the proportion of Store Inventory listings -- to ensure that the buying experience on eBay stays true to shoppers' expectations.

Ok, store-keepers, bend over --- "Core listings", i.e., auctions, BIN, fixed price auctions fees will stay the same. They're going to be more heavily flogging their Ebay Express thing as well, and dragging half.com items back into search results. However - will it or will it not be worth it to use a store for those items that have to wait until an interested purchaser comes along?

We'll begin charging variable insertion fees for Store Inventory listings, as we do for core listings. Beginning Aug. 22, eBay.com Store Inventory format insertion fees will be tiered with an item's starting price.

These Store Inventory format insertion fees take effect Aug. 22, 2006:
Starting Price New Insertion Fee Current Fee
$0.01 -- 24.99 5¢ 2¢
$25.00 and higher 10¢ 2¢

Some Store Inventory format final value fees also will also increase, effective Aug. 22, 2006:
Selling Price New Final Value Fee Current Fee
$0.01 -- 25.00 10% 8%
$25.01 -- 100.00 7% 5%
$100.01 -- 1,000.00 5% (no change) 5%
$1,000.01 and higher 3% (no change) 3%

A typical eBay Stores seller who uses Store Inventory format -- making no adjustments to his or her selling strategy following these changes -- will experience an overall fee increase of less than six percent, based on our analysis of all June selling activity. Of course, you need to clearly understand the impact on your business -- ...Our CS teams are fully prepared to help you understand the effect on your business, and discuss your options for adjusting your eBay selling strategy to minimize impact to your bottom line....In addition -- to help eBay Stores sellers make informed decisions about any changes to their selling strategies -- we're making eBay Marketplace Research Basic available to them at no cost for eight weeks, starting today. Through September 19, eBay Stores sellers can use this data to compare selling formats or determine how best to price inventory on eBay.

I suppose in the long run, it will still be cheaper to keep hard-to-sell items in a store. But the attitude just gets to me --

DragonballZSubzero · Post by **DragonballZSubzero** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:32 pm

Like eBay doesn't make enough money over the ridiculous amounts of fees that it instills on sellers. They have to pay for what? Hosting and some staff to keep the site running? Compared to most companies, I don't think they have it to bad to complain over something that is their own fault.

Though my opinion might be a little biased seeing how I have been subject to their ridiculous fees.

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:17 pm

Oh, but don't forget all of the highly paid web designers they employ.

You know... the ones with advanced training in "How To Make Things Impossible To Find."

Nice that they're throwing a 20 cent insertion fee bonanza to celebrate, but I would have celebrated more to find out there was a free one. I never know about those till they're gone bye-bye.

I feel really bad for the folks with small ebay stores.

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:22 am

I'll Give you my Two Cents!!!

Wait! You don't want 2 cents?

Oh! You want TEN CENTS!

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:41 am

RoboFlonne wrote:I'll Give you my Two Cents!!!

Wait! You don't want 2 cents?

Oh! You want TEN CENTS!

No, they want TWENTY!!

soda · Post by **soda** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:00 am

RoboFlonne wrote:I'll Give you my Two Cents!!!

Wait! You don't want 2 cents?

Oh! You want TEN CENTS!

It's okay. Love will make the pain go away. Find love and you have found your answer to all the hate in the world. Love will fill your empty bank account.

Lynxa · Post by **Lynxa** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:50 am

Baakay wrote:Oh, but don't forget all of the highly paid web designers they employ.

You know... the ones with advanced training in "How To Make Things Impossible To Find."

I know, I feel like I need to put on a pith helmet and get a machete to freaking find anything on that site!!! Just LISTING an item is almost impossible unless you know the right combination of unrelated links to follow.

Ah well, glad I don't have a store.

hobbywhelmed · Post by **hobbywhelmed** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:24 am

Well, I recently opened a store, probably for the same reason most small sellers do - to keep items up longer that have to wait for that one collector to come along, without 5-day relisting over and over.

Of course, the "power sellers" ebay sucks up to these days, the drop-shippers and resellers of wholesale lots - I don't know how this will be taken by them. I do know that I was told by several small store sellers that the way to go was to list everything in your store you think will go for one bid only, and then just run enough auctions to point people towards your store. Did ebay think people wouldn't figure out that that was the best approach?

Zag · Post by **Zag** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:03 pm

Baakay wrote:
RoboFlonne wrote:I'll Give you my Two Cents!!!

Wait! You don't want 2 cents?

Oh! You want TEN CENTS!
No, they want TWENTY!!

Bah. Bah. Bah... and we sheep still keep following the "leader".

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:36 pm

It's okay. Love will make the pain go away. Find love and you have found your answer to all the hate in the world. Love will fill your empty bank account.

You're so right Soda!

I'm going to open a new Ebay Store Today! And the Love Ebay gives me will fill my bank account! Which will fill My Cel Collection!

Love will save the world!

Thank You, Soda. I feel much better now!

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:30 pm

RoboFlonne wrote:
It's okay. Love will make the pain go away. Find love and you have found your answer to all the hate in the world. Love will fill your empty bank account.
You're so right Soda!

I'm going to open a new Ebay Store Today! And the Love Ebay gives me will fill my bank account! Which will fill My Cel Collection!

Love will save the world!

Thank You, Soda. I feel much better now!

Get a room, you two.

hobbywhelmed · Post by **hobbywhelmed** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:57 pm

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:24 pm

Sales Increased 25%!!!!

wELCOME cONSUMER · Post by **wELCOME cONSUMER** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:37 pm

Fight the system.

http://onlineauction.com/

http://epier.com/

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 5:20 pm

Fights never solve anything! Love is the only way!