Ebay policy changes

Posts: 973 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:37 am

I guess this is something akin to banks hammering their low deposit customers and rewarding the big fish. Banks in Australia which were established to help the battlers, now hammer small depositors (like many elderly on pensions) while at the same time increasing board salaries into the multi-millions. Where is Robin Hood when you need him?

The beauty of Ebay is that little people all over the world are able to link up and turn trash into treasure. I guess this is just not profitabe for Ebay anymore - so the chance for real bargains diminishes.

Maybe we should enlarge the Buying / Selling section here? I know we have the classifieds forum. Maybe we could have a Collectors Selling page, where we maintain running lists of the items we have for Sale and work out transactions privately.

Question: the new Ebay policy that feedback over 12 months won't count. Does this mean all long term members will experience a large reduction in feedback total as soon as this starts? That will certainly hurt the occasional Seller.

Posts: 1002 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:52 am

HermitFromPluto wrote:

Question: the new Ebay policy that feedback over 12 months won't count. Does this mean all long term members will experience a large reduction in feedback total as soon as this starts? That will certainly hurt the occasional Seller.

No feedback looks like will still be there but its now the its the rating they get out of 5 for various things that will effect sellers (and mostly power sellers) the most I believe...

Brette:)

Posts: 939 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:19 am

serleran wrote:

With the fees, before the increase, I refused to sell anything for less than $4. Below that, anything sold was pointless... I might as well have just given it away. But, now, its almost like you have to sell for at least $9, which is great for eBay (the higher it goes the more they make - but not at the same time because people won't want to pay that so eBay makes nothing.) Hello eBay. Meet Damocles.

For small-time sellers listing BINs, Half.com currently gives a greater return on low value items (e.g., CDs/books). Half.com currently charges a flat 15% cut for anything up to $50. So, for a $1 CD, you get 0.85. PayPal is not involved. Buyers use their credit card & Half pays direct to your bank account. There is no listing fee, and you can keep the item up *indefinitely* for no fee. Plus, the listing is insanely easy. It takes about 30 seconds for a CD or book. No pictures needed. The buyer also pays a standardized shipping cost ($2.49 for CD, $2.64 for a softcover book, etc). If you can ship for less than that (which is easy for a CD), you get a little extra profit (basically, the same extra as if you charged that exact amount on Ebay).

According to some quick calculations (and assuming no math errors - always a possibility), the break point is currently $14.20. A BIN listed on Ebay or Half.com for $14.20 gives you same net. Higher priced items give a greater return on Ebay, lower priced items give a greater return on Half.

With the change in the Ebay price structure, the break point will move up to $31.20.

Posts: 2611 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:30 am

zhowar wrote:

According to some quick calculations (and assuming no math errors - always a possibility), the break point is currently $14.20. A BIN listed on Ebay or Half.com for $14.20 gives you same net. Higher priced items give a greater retun on Ebay, lower priced items give a greater return on Half.

With the change in the Ebay price structure, the break point will move up to $31.20.

These are interesting figures ... and I have no problem believing them.

I used to track my eBay stats obsessively, using Excel mostly, and I can tell you that I got by just fine in the late '90s and early '00s as a small-time seller. For quite a while there, my average sale (I'd do the figures at the end of every month) was between $10 and $11 ... and one month, I even dipped down to $7. But I got by ... and even felt like I was putting some money in my pocketses.

No more, though, it looks like. Thirty-one dollars? Be real, eBay: that's way above the average sale for us minnows. Amazon, here I come (and maybe Half, too). For gaming stuff, I'll just throw together some medium-sized lots of interesting stuff as eBay listings; no more sales of single low-priced items, though. I've definitely sold my last individual module on eBay.

Posts: 1002 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:52 am

Xaxaxe wrote:

No more, though, it looks like. Thirty-one dollars? Be real, eBay: that's way above the average sale for us minnows. Amazon, here I come (and maybe Half, too).

Just want to clarify this... you will still be make $$ on ebay you will just make less of it now that's all, with the new fee structure you will make more listing it on half.com than ebay, if its over $31 you will make more out of it by listing on ebay... although if you get the 15% rebate this will drop significantly yes? (guess $17 ish maybe?)... ebay is looking less and less attractive on those figs.. auction break figs are going to be very different to half bins... who wants to do the calculations on that?

Brette:)

Posts: 2611 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:01 am

beasterbrook wrote:

... with the new fee structure you will make more listing it on half.com than ebay, if its over $31 you will make more out of it by listing on ebay... although if you get the 15% rebate this will drop significantly yes?

Right ... I just find it interesting that that "break point" seems to have steadily risen into the stratosphere. It's now high enough that, for the first time since 1998, I find myself seriously asking, "Where is the best place to sell my stuff?"

And I don't blame reliable Powersellers for being excited about their potential rebates. More power to them. I hope it works out well for our Powersellers here (and I hope it frustrates Cougar enough to give him painful bleeding ulcers).

Posts: 669 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:33 am

What does it take to get suspended nowadays? With this loophole you can erase that bad run of feedback:

When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.

So when they get reinstated they get a clean slate! What a crock of shyte!!!

Posts: 4704 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:32 am

They mean feedback left for others.

Posts: 4449 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:10 am

Kosh Vorlontay wrote:

What does it take to get suspended nowadays? With this loophole you can erase that bad run of feedback:

When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.

So when they get reinstated they get a clean slate! What a crock of shyte!!!

Kosh, it's feedback left, not crappy feedback the guy has accumulated. That's actually a good move....I bet I would have half the negs I have now if Ebay did the right thing and removed all feedback when a buyer drops off. More likely, the asshole type buyer is one that buys a few things, craps over everything, and then leaves ebay entirely. This has been about five years too late.....

Mike B.

Posts: 4449 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:17 am

beasterbrook wrote:

Just want to clarify this... you will still be make $$ on ebay you will just make less of it now that's all, with the new fee structure you will make more listing it on half.com than ebay, if its over $31 you will make more out of it by listing on ebay... although if you get the 15% rebate this will drop significantly yes? (guess $17 ish maybe?)... ebay is looking less and less attractive on those figs.. auction break figs are going to be very different to half bins... who wants to do the calculations on that?

Brette:)

I think I will move my (admittedly meager) cd sales to half.com in the next month or so...they do seem to have a better venue there, and actually I buy all my music there also. Seems to be a good portal for selling media items like music, dvds, and some books.

I never saw half.com as much of a portal for selling games; I may try a few just to get a sense of what sells and how long it takes.

Mike B.

Posts: 57 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:38 am

I may just look into the switch also. I sell a lot less then alot of others here, but dang I though it was bad when I was only earning a dollar or so on a module or HC over the past several months. With this scam I would never earn anything.

I know I have one lot of items I wanted to sell as a whole and about 30 single items. I may just sell them in the next week and say goodbye to this hobby. (the selling hobby) It was fun to be involved but I dont think paying money out to participate in the hobby will be any fun.

Oh I long for the late 90's early 00's when you could sell a module and earn 5 dollars. Very Happy

Posts: 9 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:09 pm

Ogreden wrote:

I may just look into the switch also. I sell a lot less then alot of others here, but dang I though it was bad when I was only earning a dollar or so on a module or HC over the past several months. With this scam I would never earn anything.

I know I have one lot of items I wanted to sell as a whole and about 30 single items. I may just sell them in the next week and say goodbye to this hobby. (the selling hobby) It was fun to be involved but I dont think paying money out to participate in the hobby will be any fun.

Oh I long for the late 90's early 00's when you could sell a module and earn 5 dollars. Very Happy

Amen Ogre! I gotta say IMHO that overall the changes suck! No negs. for buyers ever? Seriously!? Backend fees going up by more than a third? (with front end fees being deceptively lowered) WTF!?

I'm a small time seller-I haven't sold anything since last summer. I was considering putting up all the copies of 1st Ed. mods I've accumulated (around 100 items if sold individually plus some Car Wars stuff). My question now is it even worth it? Should I try and list stuff before the changes take effect next month? Should I cull out some the rarer stuff like the H-series, X10, B10 to sell separately and the rest as a lot? What would you guys do in this situation? Sorry 'bout all the questions but I just want to see what my options might be...

Posts: 9 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:22 pm

Almost forgot-I agree that anything that causes the Cougster distress and potentially puts him out of business forever is a freakin' GREAT thing! I can almost picture that crestfallen look on his face when it eventually sunk in that his days of screwing folks on eBay is coming to fitting end. That being said, I still think that overall the changes SUCK! Evil or Very Mad

Posts: 517 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:09 pm

Quote:

Just want to clarify this... you will still be make $$ on ebay you will just make less of it now that's all, with the new fee structure you will make more listing it on half.com than ebay, if its over $31 you will make more out of it by listing on ebay... although if you get the 15% rebate this will drop significantly yes? (guess $17 ish maybe?)... ebay is looking less and less attractive on those figs.. auction break figs are going to be very different to half bins... who wants to do the calculations on that?

It's worth noting that if, and perhaps a big if, the amount of buyers on eBay increases as the result of these changes, then final auction prices will be higher all things equal. So reaching these thresholds may be easier.

Posts: 406 · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:21 pm

I noticed Powersellers now have to register with ebay as a business. So no more private Powersellers. Can't anyone smell the government lurking? Talk about the ebay fee increases but a government fee on top would kill it stone dead. Ebay might be digging its own grave here.

Posts: 1002 · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:58 pm

Sea-to-sky-games wrote:

It's worth noting that if, and perhaps a big if, the amount of buyers on eBay increases as the result of these changes, then final auction prices will be higher all things equal. So reaching these thresholds may be easier.

I personally think that ebay has reached a saturation point, I don't think that this will attract a uge amount of new buyers, I think it will keep some buyers that were thinking of not using ebay again, increase their usage and bring some of the poeple back.. you also may have less sellers at the end of the day so thats were the effect is going to be...

Brette:)

Posts: 578 · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:05 pm

In the UK, buyers get more protection legally if they buy from a business rather than a private individual. I think this is to stop the "10 cars in the drive, but NO, I'm not a REGULAR 2nd-hand car salesman" type.

I think Ebay already provides sales figures to various legal bodies, so I don't think it will affect many ppl.

Cheers,
Malc

Posts: 1002 · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:59 pm

megnelwil wrote:

I noticed Powersellers now have to register with ebay as a business. So no more private Powersellers. Can't anyone smell the government lurking? Talk about the ebay fee increases but a government fee on top would kill it stone dead. Ebay might be digging its own grave here.

For people that their ebay business IS their business I'm all for it.. I pay a huge amount of Taxes and I don't see why others don't have too... Having said that I always wanted to work in the tax office and do an audit on some of the people that calimthey they have .."made millions on ebay/the net/some scam!"... Just would love to be the tax guy that rocks up to their place...

"Hi Mr Smith, I'm here from the tax department investigating claims that you have made millions. Looking at your last last couple of years of your Tax I see that you have claimed that you have made only $10,000 per year and haven't declared any income at all from your business that you have done over the net... I'll be seizing all your property of course and going through everything with a fine tooth comb.. Unfortunatly for you, you have already made statments that you have made this money and the tax department will be billing you as if you made that money, oh and late fees and prob sending you to jail for tax evasion... We will also be seizing all you parents and freinds property as well as it also states that they have made millions as well. I will be keeping all your assets and selling them even if we don't find anything as we know that people are very good at hiding money in various tax havens all over the world... now if you could please stop crying and please bend over so we can at least get the cavety search out of the way that would be a good start.."

Brette:)

Posts: 4704 · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:44 am

CNN has a writeup on the lack of ability to give buyers negative feedback. Seems it is getting a LOT of attention.

Posts: 1573 · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:51 am

It seems to me that the best "solution" to the whole "broken" feedback situation is pretty obvious. A long time ago, ebay should have just made it so that all feedback between a buyer and seller remains "hidden" until both parties have left feedback. If there is more than one transaction, then all transactions must have feedback left.

If 90 days pass, then that transaction is considered closed - if one party hasn't left feedback by this point, they are out of luck.

It's not perfect, but it is a heck of a lot better than what ebay has come up with so far . . .

Anyway . . .