1) No more Money Orders / Checks. Granted I take mostly paypal but I still like to have a choice. Soon you will have to take electronic payment on everything so paypal gets their pound of flesh.
2) Encouraging FREE shipping. To me this just means the seller will be rolling the shipping into their selling price where ebay gets to take a fee whereas the do not on shipping (paypal however has always taken their fee on the entire amount including shipping).
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We (sellers) may have put a dent in the giants armor...Associated Press Story out today...about sellers leaving and not being happy...also ebay is/has been "rejiggling" itself but membership and sales HAVE NOT risen.<just google>
Hmm
Earth to Ebay!
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This scares me as well. I turned to Craigslist to sell alot of my items. Its free and I only sell to people in Louisville. Also, if I am selling cards, I will use the BST here. I am sure there will be more auction sites pop-up in the near future.
It does not surprise me that ebay will only take paypal and that is they own paypal, so more money for them(ebay). Granit, I get about 95% of my payments via paypal, so it wont be a big deal for me. But I too like to give my customers a choice. The free shipping will mean I will only do 1st class and no more priority shipping. I am not going to spend the extra $5 to get the package there a day or two earlier. I am sure a lot of buyers may complain that there package is taking too long to get to their door.
Don't know if anyone read this section on New seller standards: Minimum 4.3 on all DSRs? At least they will start weeding out the bad sellers. If only they could do something to the bad buyers.
Oh well, it will be very interesting to see what pans out..
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All these years I have accepted only personal checks and money orders.
>So, I guess I am through selling on eBay.
Keith, you're not the only one. Just cancelled my seller account. Over 2,000 feedback with zero negatives. Opened it in 1998. This move will likely result in the extinction of eBay, maybe by the end of 2009.
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In a nutshell - they are increasing the percentage from 8.75% on the first $50.00 to 12% - this is a 37% increase. The amount over $50.00 is going up from 3.5% to 6% - a 71% increase.
I guess this is how they are going to make up for all the sellers that are leaving in droves. I closed my ebay store because of these high percentages so now they are just rolling them into the regular site.
The time is ripe for some competition out there. Anyone know of any other auction sites that are decent?
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Consign to an auction house and you will still have to eat at least 10% unless it is a rare item. Plus you can't sell the "crap" that you can on ebay and you have to wait to get paid.
The BST is great...but you have to price stuff right, which is very hard to do in an ever changing marketplace. To sell you usually have to price it below ebay almost, so many times it's a wash.
Shows cost major $$$ to do nowadays. Not enough traffic.
If the buyers are there, there will always be sellers willing to eat the costs on ebay.
Face it, there is no alternative. Grab your ankles...
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I WISH! But I realize it's all wishful thinking. They will not only continue to exist, they will continue to thrive because we have no where else to turn (currently). Several other companies have tried to edge into the market, but all the buyers keep going to ebay, so that's where all the sellers keep going.
How those guys have the nerve to up the rates and increase the restrictions during hard times is amazing. I think the only thing that could really hurt them is a class action lawsuit for knowingly selling fake items. I've contacted them for pirated DVDs and they did nothing to stop it, so I know others are telling the truth when they say eBay doesn't give a rats rear if people get screwed with their service. I'm not normally a fan of class action law suits, but I'd sign up for that one!
It's sobering to think how fast that company went from a small consumer friendly free enterprise idea into another corperate money grubbing monster. The more they made, the less they gave back or allowed anyone else to keep. Heaven forbid you try to trade or contact other collectors to swap stuff in their "community". What a piece of work.
I think the first hint it was going this way is when they offered public stock ten years or so back-- but only insider traders could buy it. Everyone else had to buy it from these insiders after they jacked up the price 100% or so. It was like saying, "we won't even let our customers invest in our company without taking them to the cleaners first-- because we don't want the public to elect our board members. We only want hard core wall street types to pull the levers." A real BAD SIGN.
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We have never accepted paypal, and won't. Have been in business over 30 years, so have Visa and MC accounts.
Finally set up a paypal account to buy stuff overseas. What an absolute NIGHTMARE!!! Took me 15 hours of personal time, and about 10 telephone calls to bank and paypal to get 2 overseas purchases paid! AND WE HAD WAY MORE THAN 50 TIMES THE PURCHASE AMOUNT IN THE ACCOUNT! And it took 2 weeks!!! Finally had to mail paypal a check! I could have swam the ocean and carried the cash in my teeth! Well, maybe not; but extremely frustrating. The only good thing I can say about paypal is that their customer service people were extremely knowledgable, friendly, and courteous. They just couldn't override the computer defaults!
Gave up, cancelled paypal.
Looks like 1 January will probably cancel Ebay as well, after about 10 years.
Jon.
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I TOTALLY AGREE WITH TODD RILEY.I HAVE BEEN SELLING ON E-BAY SINCE 2003 ALWAYS JUST TAKING PERSONAL CHECKS AND MONEY ORDERS.MAKES IT MUCH EASIER FOR THE AVERAGE JOE LIKE MYSELF,AND NOW THIS!!!!!.FIRST THEY TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHTS TO LEAVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK TO BUYERS AND NOW STRICTLY PAYPAL IF WE WANT TO CONTINUE SELLING AND TO ENCOURAGE FREE SHIPPING.!!!!!THEY ARE DRIVING THE AVERAGE JOES LIKE MYSELF RIGHT TO CRAIG'S LIST AND I WILL BE BACK ADVERTISING AT OUR BELOVED WRAPPER!!!!!.SCREW YOU E-BAY!!!!.I AM DONE WITH YOU AFTER OCTOBER!!!!!
SINCERELY YOURS WRAPPER FAN VINCE
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at me - I must confess that I will be listing again at the end of September just like always. The fixed listing thing only affects me as a buyer (yes there is the buyer/seller chicken and the egg thing,,,,) because there will be more crap items filling the pages of my searches day after day. The feedback system carries no relevence for me as an established seller - and no relevence in general because of the restraints and the form it now takes. The carrot eBay offers for discounts based on DSR's is a trojon horse - the rules of the game and presentation to the buyer is geared to favor not giving a discount so I couldn't care less, Allowing only electronic payments might hurt me a bit as a seller - with the paypal backlash and some people not opting that route for any number of reasons - therefore not bidding on my stuff. It might just cut down the few no-pays I occasionally get. I would prefer to offer a check option - especially for larger sales or those with expensive shipping as paypal gets their cut of that too, As a buyer I love it. So much easier. My fees with paypal and all costs associated with listing/selling average 9-10%. Not too bad considering what I can sell and other auction fees in the marketplace. Must state here that as a seller I HATE paypal and their arbitrary rules and the way they hold and minipulate my money. The most troubling thing to me is the push for free shipping. I'm very uncomfortable with it as a seller. I occasionally use it as an inducement to move an item but I LIKE TO MAKE THE DECISIONS ABOUT WHAT I SELL AND HOW I SELL IT. Just goes against my grain. eBay is forever taking a bigger piece of the pie. They own paypal (not really a seller's - or buyer's for that matter - pal) and now will draw more money thru their doors. I'm all for a more honest and open marketplace. Just hard to believe that's what eBay is truely focused on - given their hidden bidders - private auctions - erratic control over all kinds of fraud. Still the only place for a guy like me to buy and sell that makes sense. Buyers will still be there and so that's where I'll be......
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My handy-dandy calculator says that is a figure of 6.6 TIMES the ebay stamp auctions for Stamp Wants, so, IT CAN BE DONE!
What we need is some large card (both sports and non-sports) dealers to set up a competitive auction, use it themselves, and make it available to the masses.
Too bad ebay continues to shoot all of us in the foot. We used ebay for purchase of lots of products; but with their attitude, it may come to having multiple specialized auction sites, rather than one monster site.
Jon.
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With at least 3 threads on this topic, it is hard to know which one to respond to.
Let me start with a couple of points:
1) Although I imagine I will sell on eBay some day, I have not done so yet.
2) I have bought a lot through eBay.
3) I sell in the Wrapper and offer free shipping withing the continental 48.
Unless you are selling large lots of very cheap cards, the difference in postage for various locations is a very small percentage of the selling price. In other words, for all practical purposes, you can estimate how much it will take to ship your cards anywhere in the lower 48. (If you are selling 5000 card Pokemon lots, this argument is not for you.)
Given that you can predict it, you can build it in to your starting price or reserve. That covers the low end.
But one could argue that the practice will make the shipping more visible. The theory here is that it is easier to sell a card for $1.00 and add $5.00 shipping than to sell it for $6.00 ppd. I can't argue with that, but I don't have much sympathy for it either.
I'm sure no one on this forum tries to make excess profit on shipping charges, but many eBay sellers do. If sellers include the price in their minimum, maybe the price will be more reflective of actual costs for these sellers.
Maybe on the high end, the effect of free shipping is not so visible. If you are deciding whether to bid a few hundred extra on that 3 Stooges checklist, you are probably not factoring shipping cost into the equation. On the other hand, the seller is probably making enough on such an item that covering the shipping is no big deal.
One place where it could make a difference is in multiple items. If you build in a shipping into the item price, then you are charging too much. On the other hand, there is nothing to prevent you from offering a multiple item discount even if you have a built-in shipping cost.
My Wrapper ad is small time activity and I certainly cannot speak for people who make a living selling cards. But in my case, I struggled with this for some time, trying to figure out how to recoup shipping costs in a general way. Now, I don't worry about it. Even if I lose a couple of bucks every once in a while, I think of it in terms of buying an extra soda or tipping 20% versus 15%. It is not a significant impact on my lifestyle.
The free shipping is encouraged, not required, by eBay. I don't think it is such a bad idea.
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All true Alan, except for when you may be a seller of single cards for $1.00. Not a really profitable business model, but it can be useful when your buyers are trying to complee a set.
When you factor in the listing fees of about 30 cents, plus the final value fess of another 15 cents, and then require Paypal which is another 40 cents, you lose money when you don't charge shipping.
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Alan,
Free shipping through the Wrapper is one thing but ebay charges you a percentage based on your selling price. If you are adding your shipping into the price of the item then ebay takes a larger chunk of change from you then if you split it out separately.
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Eric, you missed my point. My proposal was that you recoup all costs by selling that $1.00 card for more than a dollar. You are selling it for more than a dollar already, but the extra price is hidden in shipping charges. You can probably do OK even eating some of the costs, but the simple model says just add it in.
Todd, superficially, I could just say add in eBay's percentage just like the price of the box, postage, and other costs. In strict economic terms, the same principle still holds. However, considering the reaction to the PayPal requirement, this looks like yet another way for eBay to squeeze a little more profit. It is reminiscent of the Airlines charging a fee for not getting a middle seat rather than raising ticket prices.
The only saving grace to the seller is that if you add the incremental eBay fee in, it is the buyer who is paying.
By the way, as a buyer, I would be glad to see Craig's list or other avenues open up - primarily because this would reward the diligent but penurious searcher by making items harder to find and thus reduce the competition.
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I would sure like to see something for cards like the stampwants.com site. That would be awesome. Is anyone considering it?
The latest EBay changes are definitely disturbing. I wish I could just walk away, but that isn't realistic. For one thing, the new policies are actually an improvement for me as a buyer. I'd always rather pay with PayPal, as I find it slightly annoying to have to write checks or go and get money orders.
Of course, I feel totally differently as a seller. The new fee rates are ridiculous. There are millions of items sold on EBay every day! Which either means the people running EBay are the greediest people on earth (along with the Oil Companies), or they are running their company very poorly. The latter seems hard to believe. How can you NOT make money when you are getting fees on millions of items every day. It's not like they have retail locations, warehouses, transportation costs, etc.
Beyond the fees, the new rule requiring people to use PayPal just plain sucks. There are quite a few people who simply refuse to use PayPal, and while I may not agree with their reasons (I actually do agree with some of them), they should not be forced to sign-up for a service they don't want. This is not just unfair, it's totally un-American, and it should be illegal. Plus, if it reduces the number of buyers, then it sucks for me too. I'm not sure that's going to happen, as I have the feeling people without PayPal will find other ways to pay, including private payments, using friends' accounts, etc. If the number of buyers does decrease, that would force me to stop selling.
As for offering Free Shipping, I'm just going to say no. It's not like I'm making any money on the shipping. Heck, the labels I use cost about 40 cents each. Add in the cost of tape, envelopes, printing ink, etc., and I should be charging more, not less.
I sell the cards on EBay that I've upgraded or can't use in my sets. Unless there is a viable option, I'll continue to do so, even with the higher fees. I will probably try ads in BST and buy ads in The Wrapper too though. Luckily, I'm not trying to make a profit (although I certainly don't mind when I do). I'm just trying to get back some of the money I've spent previously so I can spend it again on more cards.
There is a reason monopolies are supposedly banned in our country. Maybe it's time for our government to remind EBay about this.
Alan
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I don't know if you noticed but ebay has a new look on the bidding page. Kind of bleak.
I see they are limiting the size of the photo even on images you host yourself. Here is one of my auctions which you have to hit the "View Larger Image" to see my actual scan.
I've been a long time seller on ebay and have taken Paypal for 6 years. These changes do not affect me that much. However, these forced changes are certainly an irritant. I have numerous customers (Chuck M. for example) who I greatly value that may not be bidding due to this foolish, shortsighted rule of no checks or money orders. What's next? A minimum of 5 pictures with every listing (in which each picture after the first costs $.25)to insure a distinct display of what's being sold?
And what does this do for the occasional seller? On a $30.00 sale in which the occasional seller never accepted Paypal previously, ebay has just "charged" the seller an additional 3.9% Paypal fee.
I don't mind a company, especially a publicly traded company, striving to make a profit. However, it just appears that ebay is masking their true reason for making changes as being concerned for their members.
I will continue to sell on ebay, because there is no marketplace like it. My profit margin will shrink again, but it is still the only game in town. I'm waiting for some ebay heavies to come to my house and start tearing up my inventory (like the small-town extortionists in the movie, "Road House"). I guess that is next.
Rich W.
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I just received a notice from ebay on my auction listing up above that it was unauthorized and they shut it down.
This was a card I pulled right out of a pack of new Star Wars cards made by Topps and put on ebay who claims that Lucasfilm complained about the listing as being unathorized so they cancelled it.
Here is an example of an honest listing that ebay went out of their way to shut down yet they won't stop shillers and illegal selling of reprinted items.
AMAZING!!!!!!!!
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Yeah, that's because LUCAS FILM made a complaint. When KURT FILMS (not a real name, but you can guess my point) complained to them that a documentary I knew was pirated was being sold, they promised to investigate it and did NOTHING. That was the link and email option, along with "live tech help". Then I called them and got the run around. Then they promised they would investigate it again and remove it is there was a promblem. Again, nothing. Meanwhile, the days tick buy and they keep kicking the can down the road. I call them again (find their phone number is a story-- an epic unto its own!) and all sorts of promises by zero action. This was for a film that had NEVER BEEN RELEASED as a DVD (only VHS) and the director, and elderly friend of mine in South Florida, wanted it taken off. Finally, it closed, the crook took the money and ran, and eBay wouldn't return calls or email. To them, customer service and customer protection and copyright protection means acting like you give a flip and being polite but not actully doing a cotten picking thing. I also hear through the grape vine that the DVD copy sucked and looked like the video was all worn out. Everbody got screwed on that one except eBay and the seller. Thanks eBay! Now die scum bag, DIE!
Other than being a den of greedy money hungry liars content on skirting the law if it turns a profit, I think they're an okay company.
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