AyiosYiorgos
Card Addict
A couple of links re FeEBAY
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eBay slugs Aussies with fee rise
eBay Hikes Auction Fees To Discourage Auctions | Lifehacker Australia
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eBay Australia has revealed plans to more than double its fees on some auction listings, effectively penalising non-professional sellers.
The days of eBay as largely an online garage sale are finished as the company pushes sellers away from second-hand auctions towards listing new items in the fixed price format and on eBay Stores.
But as consumers and mum and dad sellers typically run one-off auctions as opposed to opening their own stores or setting a fixed price, they appear to be left worse off by the upcoming changes.
Advertisement: Story continues below From September 22, eBay Australia will scrap insertion fees for the first 30 items listed for auction in a month. Insertion fees currently range from $0.30 to $3.50 for most items (excluding vehicles).
However, final value fees will increase from 5.25 per cent to 7.9 per cent, capped at $49.95 for each of the first 30 listings per month. This is now the same as the final value fee paid by professional sellers with eBay Stores.
Today, on a $600 item with a starting price of $400, users pay a $3.50 insertion fee plus an $18.40 final value fee (5.25 per cent of the first $75 then 2.75 per cent of the next $525). This gives a total of nearly $22 in fees.
Under the changes, on a $600 item, there will be no insertion fee but a 7.9 per cent final value fee of $47.40 will be levied.
For lower value listings such as a $20 item with a starting price of $0.99, fees will rise from $1.35 to $1.58.
"In recognition of the changing Australian retail landscape, the fee changes are aimed at encouraging professional and business sellers to list more Buy It Now items in Stores," eBay said in announcing the changes.
It said online shoppers were predominantly interested in fixed price sales and that it expected future growth in e-commerce would primarily come from fixed price formats such as Buy It Now, which is now the most common format on the site.
eBay said the new fees would be run on a trial basis with a view to making them permanent if they "meet sellers' needs".
Angus Kidman, technology writer and blogger at Lifehacker.com.au, said it may be time for sellers to protest.
"This feels a little like unfair exploitation of power to me," he said.
eBay Australia spokesman Daniel Feiler said the changes were not a revenue raising exercise and would in fact be a zero sum game for eBay considering that the insertion fees had been scrapped.
He said that while the fee increases were pronounced for high value auctions, people who sell stuff from around their homes are generally selling items that are of much lower value.
"We've got an issue on eBay and that is simply that most people associate us with auctions and second hand when actually the majority of our business in 2011 is fixed price buy-it-now items from retail or business sellers," Feiler said.
"On the consumer side the big issue that the consumer has when they sell on eBay, the biggest barrier to them listing, are the insertion fees, so we're getting rid of the insertion fees.
"But to afford us to do that we have to increase the final value fees. We net out neutral on this one."
A spokeswoman for consumer group Choice said she did not know whether the changes would be beneficial for consumers on balance because it depended on whether the money they saved on insertion fees was more or less than the increase in the final value fee.
The Australian branch of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance said "changes like these can be difficult to digest" but, from the Alliance's perspective, eBay changes were generally positive.
PeSA spokesman Shaun O'Brien said eBay "tend to skew their changes to guide sellers to list in formats that buyers want, in this case heavily biased to encourage fixed price, which our sales data agrees with eBay's in suggesting it's the most popular format".
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eBay Australia has made no secret of its desire to encourage new goods over second-hand ones, but this is the strongest evidence yet: from September 22, fees for auctions will be raised to match those charged for Buy It Now options. In other words: eBay doesn’t really want to run your stinking auctions no more.
Picture by David Goehring
On September 22, eBay will increase the percentage final value fee charged on auction listings from 5.25% to 7.9% — the same rate it already charges for fixed-price listings. eBay is quite up-front about wanting to switch people to fixed-price formats. In its press release, it proclaims:
The fee changes announced today are aimed at encouraging more professional and business sellers to list their stock in an eBay Store using the fixed price format/.
The sop to Joe and Juanita Average who just want to get unwanted stuff out of their garage — an option where an auction makes much more sense — is this: you’ll be allowed to list up to 30 items a month with no insertion fees. That might sound tempting, but since you’re now stuck with paying 7.9% of the value no matter what you’re selling or how much for, eBay is likely to end up with a bigger chunk of your change most of the time.
Let’s suppose you sell a lamp for $20, with a starting price of $0.99. Under the current system, you’ll pay an insertion fee of 30 cents and a final value fee of $1.05, for a total of $1.35. Under the new system, you’ll pay $1.58. That’s not a massive difference, but it is a difference. And if the lamp happened to sell for $40, you’ll be up for $3.16 rather than $2.40. Over a garage of items, those differences will add up.
The maximum final value fee is ‘capped’ at $49.95 for the first 30 transactions, but that doesn’t help most people; a final value fee of $49.95 equates to selling an item at $632. When was the last time a non-professional seller flogged more than 30 items worth that much?
eBay is currently saying the changes are a trial, which it will make permanent from the end of the year if they’re successful. So it might be time to protest.
eBay-bashing is often a professional sport, and I’m all for recognising useful initiatives, such as the recent deal with Australia Post. But this feels a little like unfair exploitation of power to me.
Realistically, if you want to sell off your household junk, eBay gets the biggest audience; most of the other alternatives have much less traffic. And now eBay has jacked up the cost for most casual sellers. Doesn’t sound particularly fair or consumer-friendly to me. What are your thoughts?
eBay
Lifehacker’s weekly Loaded column looks at better ways to manage (and stop worrying about) your money.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
eBay slugs Aussies with fee rise
eBay Hikes Auction Fees To Discourage Auctions | Lifehacker Australia
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
eBay Australia has revealed plans to more than double its fees on some auction listings, effectively penalising non-professional sellers.
The days of eBay as largely an online garage sale are finished as the company pushes sellers away from second-hand auctions towards listing new items in the fixed price format and on eBay Stores.
But as consumers and mum and dad sellers typically run one-off auctions as opposed to opening their own stores or setting a fixed price, they appear to be left worse off by the upcoming changes.
Advertisement: Story continues below From September 22, eBay Australia will scrap insertion fees for the first 30 items listed for auction in a month. Insertion fees currently range from $0.30 to $3.50 for most items (excluding vehicles).
However, final value fees will increase from 5.25 per cent to 7.9 per cent, capped at $49.95 for each of the first 30 listings per month. This is now the same as the final value fee paid by professional sellers with eBay Stores.
Today, on a $600 item with a starting price of $400, users pay a $3.50 insertion fee plus an $18.40 final value fee (5.25 per cent of the first $75 then 2.75 per cent of the next $525). This gives a total of nearly $22 in fees.
Under the changes, on a $600 item, there will be no insertion fee but a 7.9 per cent final value fee of $47.40 will be levied.
For lower value listings such as a $20 item with a starting price of $0.99, fees will rise from $1.35 to $1.58.
"In recognition of the changing Australian retail landscape, the fee changes are aimed at encouraging professional and business sellers to list more Buy It Now items in Stores," eBay said in announcing the changes.
It said online shoppers were predominantly interested in fixed price sales and that it expected future growth in e-commerce would primarily come from fixed price formats such as Buy It Now, which is now the most common format on the site.
eBay said the new fees would be run on a trial basis with a view to making them permanent if they "meet sellers' needs".
Angus Kidman, technology writer and blogger at Lifehacker.com.au, said it may be time for sellers to protest.
"This feels a little like unfair exploitation of power to me," he said.
eBay Australia spokesman Daniel Feiler said the changes were not a revenue raising exercise and would in fact be a zero sum game for eBay considering that the insertion fees had been scrapped.
He said that while the fee increases were pronounced for high value auctions, people who sell stuff from around their homes are generally selling items that are of much lower value.
"We've got an issue on eBay and that is simply that most people associate us with auctions and second hand when actually the majority of our business in 2011 is fixed price buy-it-now items from retail or business sellers," Feiler said.
"On the consumer side the big issue that the consumer has when they sell on eBay, the biggest barrier to them listing, are the insertion fees, so we're getting rid of the insertion fees.
"But to afford us to do that we have to increase the final value fees. We net out neutral on this one."
A spokeswoman for consumer group Choice said she did not know whether the changes would be beneficial for consumers on balance because it depended on whether the money they saved on insertion fees was more or less than the increase in the final value fee.
The Australian branch of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance said "changes like these can be difficult to digest" but, from the Alliance's perspective, eBay changes were generally positive.
PeSA spokesman Shaun O'Brien said eBay "tend to skew their changes to guide sellers to list in formats that buyers want, in this case heavily biased to encourage fixed price, which our sales data agrees with eBay's in suggesting it's the most popular format".
--------------------------------------------------------
eBay Australia has made no secret of its desire to encourage new goods over second-hand ones, but this is the strongest evidence yet: from September 22, fees for auctions will be raised to match those charged for Buy It Now options. In other words: eBay doesn’t really want to run your stinking auctions no more.
Picture by David Goehring
On September 22, eBay will increase the percentage final value fee charged on auction listings from 5.25% to 7.9% — the same rate it already charges for fixed-price listings. eBay is quite up-front about wanting to switch people to fixed-price formats. In its press release, it proclaims:
The fee changes announced today are aimed at encouraging more professional and business sellers to list their stock in an eBay Store using the fixed price format/.
The sop to Joe and Juanita Average who just want to get unwanted stuff out of their garage — an option where an auction makes much more sense — is this: you’ll be allowed to list up to 30 items a month with no insertion fees. That might sound tempting, but since you’re now stuck with paying 7.9% of the value no matter what you’re selling or how much for, eBay is likely to end up with a bigger chunk of your change most of the time.
Let’s suppose you sell a lamp for $20, with a starting price of $0.99. Under the current system, you’ll pay an insertion fee of 30 cents and a final value fee of $1.05, for a total of $1.35. Under the new system, you’ll pay $1.58. That’s not a massive difference, but it is a difference. And if the lamp happened to sell for $40, you’ll be up for $3.16 rather than $2.40. Over a garage of items, those differences will add up.
The maximum final value fee is ‘capped’ at $49.95 for the first 30 transactions, but that doesn’t help most people; a final value fee of $49.95 equates to selling an item at $632. When was the last time a non-professional seller flogged more than 30 items worth that much?
eBay is currently saying the changes are a trial, which it will make permanent from the end of the year if they’re successful. So it might be time to protest.
eBay-bashing is often a professional sport, and I’m all for recognising useful initiatives, such as the recent deal with Australia Post. But this feels a little like unfair exploitation of power to me.
Realistically, if you want to sell off your household junk, eBay gets the biggest audience; most of the other alternatives have much less traffic. And now eBay has jacked up the cost for most casual sellers. Doesn’t sound particularly fair or consumer-friendly to me. What are your thoughts?
eBay
Lifehacker’s weekly Loaded column looks at better ways to manage (and stop worrying about) your money.