Ask Gator 13 13

[miraclemet]

do you think ebay's free listing opportunities are good or bad for the hobby? (I'd love to hear you answer this from both perspectives as both a buyer and a seller).

 

 

[G.A.tor]

do you think ebay's free listing opportunities are good or bad for the hobby? (I'd love to hear you answer this from both perspectives as both a buyer and a seller).

 

I stopped selling on ebay last april, when they started to charge a FVF on shipping costs as well as item price...

 

so, if you are refering to the 10c listing fee being waived, that is "irrelevant" to most sellers...and certainly not relevant to a buyer

 

if you are saying that ebay is now waving all FVF's (making it "free" to sell), then I for one would start selling again, and would think that would be great for sellers...once again, not really relevant to a buyer, they still pay the same, but if more sellers like me, that stopped selling start again, gives more items , so good for buyer too

 

so, I need more info on your inquiry?

[Dick Pontoon]

They've waived insertion fees is all. A week or so ago they had a special "List 1,000 items for free!" and currently it's 5,000 for free. They also waived the add a BIN fee. They have not waived FVFs and still include shipping.

 

As a buyer, this has produced a glut of garbage to wade through.

[G.A.tor]

it used to be that the insertion fee was only 10c...again, virtually negligible from a sellers standpoint... and, apparently, to a buyer, creating a glut of "junk"...

[tabcom]

eBay's fee on shipping cost was overdue. Sellers generating extra income via premium shipping cost was being abused for over a decade. The tool that irritates me is the DSR matrix. Neophyte buyers can flame longtime sellers without any regard for the frustration it causes the seller in trying to repair their DSRs to keep eBay from bullying them with annoying compliance requirements.

[G.A.tor]

eBay's fee on shipping cost was overdue. Sellers generating extra income via premium shipping cost was being abused for over a decade. The tool that irritates me is the DSR matrix. Neophyte buyers can flame longtime sellers without any regard for the frustration it causes the seller in trying to repair their DSRs to keep eBay from bullying them with annoying compliance requirements.

I certainly have no problem with the sellers that sold a 125 item at $1 and $124 for shipping (fee circumventers), but for the honest sellers that sold a $10 figure that costs $10 to ship, the additional fee was rediculous... as you mention, you either had to adjust your shipping cost up 13% to cover the diff (which promotes just the opposite of "reducing shipping costs to ebay customers" ) or eat it, and that is unfair to sellers...and if you did up your shipping costs 13% so that you could net what it really cost to ship, then buyers could ding your DSR which would reduce youre discount and cost you even MORE fee money to ebay... talk about screwing the seller

 

I talked to ebay and told them that they could get the abusers by requiring sellers to use the ebay shipping cost calculator...that way, ebay would know (for the most part) that sellers were not doing the low price make up for it in shipping circumvention...

 

I stopped selling on ebay in april... I used to sell about 30K a month...that is almost 50K in fees ebay lost from me alone...seems like a REALLY bad decision on their part (from my perspective)

[miraclemet]

They've waived insertion fees is all. A week or so ago they had a special "List 1,000 items for free!" and currently it's 5,000 for free. They also waived the add a BIN fee. They have not waived FVFs and still include shipping.

 

As a buyer, this has produced a glut of garbage to wade through.

 

Deeck P. has accurately read my mind

Edited December 8, 2011 by Miraclemet

[miraclemet]

They've waived insertion fees is all. A week or so ago they had a special "List 1,000 items for free!" and currently it's 5,000 for free. They also waived the add a BIN fee. They have not waived FVFs and still include shipping.

 

As a buyer, this has produced a glut of garbage to wade through.

 

and multiples of said glut.

 

Seems there are a few online sellers that have taken to listing the same book 3 different ways (since there are no insertion fees) same book gets listed with a low price with a reserve, gets listed with a BIN, and gets listed with a regular auction (that has a price within a few dollars of the BIN auction).

 

its ridiculous wading thru it all...

[tabcom]

. . . I stopped selling on ebay in april... I used to sell about 30K a month...that is almost 50K in fees ebay lost from me alone...seems like a REALLY bad decision on their part (from my perspective)

 

I've been selling on ebay as a full time business for about 5 years, part time for 10. I can understand your reasons for closing down your ebay business due to tight margins and increasing fees. Is your lost ebay revenue being made up for elsewhere, i. e. Google Adwords?

 

I've tried setting up an adwords campaign for a couple years with poor results.

I'm skeptical of a company that can program algorithms to get people to your site. They probably have algorithms to generate bots that click to your site to increase their revenue.

[G.A.tor]

. . . I stopped selling on ebay in april... I used to sell about 30K a month...that is almost 50K in fees ebay lost from me al

[ComicConnoisseur]

. . . I stopped selling on ebay in april... I used to sell about 30K a month...that is almost 50K in fees ebay lost from me alone...seems like a REALLY bad decision on their part (from my perspective)

 

I've been selling on ebay as a full time business for about 5 years, part time for 10. I can understand your reasons for closing down your ebay business due to tight margins and increasing fees. Is your lost ebay revenue being made up for elsewhere, i. e. Google Adwords?

 

I've tried setting up an adwords campaign for a couple years with poor results.

I'm skeptical of a company that can program algorithms to get people to your site. They probably have algorithms to generate bots that click to your site to increase their revenue.

I am going to be doing some of that sort of stuff within the next month. I will let you know how it turns out.

[frozentundraguy]

. . . I stopped selling on ebay in april... I used to sell about 30K a month...that is almost 50K in fees ebay lost from me al

 

It is startling to say the least, in how Ebay has evolved in recent years. I know of a few folks who refused to do business there any more once the P-Pal became a requirement. Ebay has now added additional fees on shipping charges. There is also talk of the government stepping in to "finally" tax e-commerce. If that occurs, my prediction is that autions would drop from around 15 percent down to about one or two. (A current check of Silver age books shows 200,000 total, of which 30,000 are auctions, the rest are BIN.)

[tabcom]

There are two news cycle fillers I can count on every year:

 

1. April 16 -- Tax Revolt Headlines

2. Cyber Monday -- tax e-commerce Headlines

 

It's simply a fantasy to think either one has any political backing to make a change.

 

A. The tax code will not change -- Corporations will not allow it.

B. There will not be a new tax on e-commerce. Overstock.com\Amazon\eBay says so.

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2011 by tabcom

[tabcom]

Back to G.A.tor's exiting eBay . . . the sense I'm getting is that eBay is trying to ween itself from the good old days when they created the myth that they started the site as a venue to sell PEZ dispensers.

 

As a former employee of HP before and during its implosion after the Compaq merger, eBay's board of director style of management has similar hubris dictating the direction the company is going.

 

That has been exemplified by HP's appointing Meg Whitman as their Chairman.

 

What do I mean? HP and eBay are ran by very powerful people with super-large egos that really do not understand what their customers want. If they did, they would have a more dynamic Apple style approach to evolving the site.

 

Back to my question (staying on topic) . . . I'm assuming the shipping fee charge was more than your margins could absorb. Hence, you left the eBay store. Have you moved that business to another portal? Google? Or simple discontinue selling those products on-line?

[G.A.tor]

Back to G.A.tor's exiting eBay . . . the sense I'm getting is that eBay is trying to ween itself from the good old days when they created the myth that they started the site as a venue to sell PEZ dispensers.

 

As a former employee of HP before and during its implosion after the Compaq merger, eBay's board of director style of management has similar hubris dictating the direction the company is going.

 

That has been exemplified by HP's appointing Meg Whitman as their Chairman.

 

What do I mean? HP and eBay are ran by very powerful people with super-large egos that really do not understand what their customers want. If they did, they would have a more dynamic Apple style approach to evolving the site.

 

Back to my question (staying on topic) . . . I'm assuming the shipping fee charge was more than your margins could absorb. Hence, you left the eBay store. Have you moved that business to another portal? Google? Or simple discontinue selling those products on-line?

there is no other portal for me to sell that would allow me to not "lose" money...

 

with ebay fees on the item at about 13.9% (this includes listing, paypal's take and the actual fvf), my 20% gross only nets me 7%... now, given that it takes an avg of $10 to ship a $10 figure, in reality, I was losing 13+% to sell on ebay...

 

now, raising my price will dilute sales, so that is really not an option...tacking on the additional 13% fees onto shipping will negatively impact my DSR rating, thus making the fees "more" (by upto 20%)...so, I was really left with no options, and I left on "principle"...I would rather my figures sit in my warehouse only costing me the "opportunity costs" (which really don't apply since I am not "needing" that cash), than lose money to the ebay machine...ultimately, my customers either find my website, or we all "lose"

[tabcom]

I hear you. It must not have been easy. But it sounds like you made the right decision.

[G.A.tor]

I hear you. It must not have been easy. But it sounds like you made the right decision.

 

at some point, I will have to "break" down, and start relisting, but it will only be items that I can absorb the FVF on shipping, and still hit my net...

 

now, what to do with the 400 of this, or 300 of that, I still have in my warehouse...that is the question...but even at one a week, I had an 8 yr ebay supply, so really no loss there

[Straw-Man]

. . . I stopped selling on ebay in april... I used to sell about 30K a month...that is almost 50K in fees ebay lost from me alone...seems like a REALLY bad decision on their part (from my perspective)

 

I've been selling on ebay as a full time business for about 5 years, part time for 10. I can understand your reasons for closing down your ebay business due to tight margins and increasing fees. Is your lost ebay revenue being made up for elsewhere, i. e. Google Adwords?

 

I've tried setting up an adwords campaign for a couple years with poor results.

I'm skeptical of a company that can program algorithms to get people to your site. They probably have algorithms to generate bots that click to your site to increase their revenue.

 

g.a.tor, if the answer sounds anything like public park restrooms, DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!!!!!

[G.A.tor]

. . . I stopped selling on ebay in april... I used to sell about 30K a month...that is almost 50K in fees ebay lost from me alone...seems like a REALLY bad decision on their part (from my perspective)

 

I've been selling on ebay as a full time business for about 5 years, part time for 10. I can understand your reasons for closing down your ebay business due to tight margins and increasing fees. Is your lost ebay revenue being made up for elsewhere, i. e. Google Adwords?

 

I've tried setting up an adwords campaign for a couple years with poor results.

I'm skeptical of a company that can program algorithms to get people to your site. They probably have algorithms to generate bots that click to your site to increase their revenue.

 

g.a.tor, if the answer sounds anything like public park restrooms, DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!!!!!

[Cat-Man_America]

. . . I stopped selling on ebay in april... I used to sell about 30K a month...that is almost 50K in fees ebay lost from me alone...seems like a REALLY bad decision on their part (from my perspective)

 

I've been selling on ebay as a full time business for about 5 years, part time for 10. I can understand your reasons for closing down your ebay business due to tight margins and increasing fees. Is your lost ebay revenue being made up for elsewhere, i. e. Google Adwords?

 

I've tried setting up an adwords campaign for a couple years with poor results.

I'm skeptical of a company that can program algorithms to get people to your site. They probably have algorithms to generate bots that click to your site to increase their revenue.

 

g.a.tor, if the answer sounds anything like public park restrooms, DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!!!!!

 

 

Don't knock the restroom angle Billy. Gator may be taking his lead from Bedrock, who found this method useful for attracting customers at recent shows (while their wives and girlfriends were otherwise occupied)...

 

 

Edited December 14, 2011 by DavidMerryweather