EBAY fee changes / increases

[HugeRosen]

think there's a buyers premium on mycomicshop too. not sure though.

[ItsJustRyan]

True HR.

[toytastik]

Let's say you sell a Walking Dead #1 for $2500. Today, that costs $72.10 with a store membership. As of May 1st, you are looking at $225.45.

 

HOLY EFFING SHAZAM!

 

That. Is. Absurd.

 

That gap is much smaller at a sale of $1,000. Current Fee $50 New Fee $73, still a markup of over 40%.

 

When I type in $1000 I get $42 vs $90.

 

Yeah, considering the new BIN fee for store owners is 9%, I don't see where the $73 is coming from either ...

 

With store:

Current $1,000 BIN: $62.50

Current $1,000 auction: $41.75

New $1,000 BIN: $90

New $1,000 BIN: $90

 

Without store:

Current $1,000 BIN: $62.50

Current $1,000 auction: $90

New $1,000 BIN: $100

New $1,000 BIN: $100

 

When I did the calc it factored in listing fees and 20% discount for TRS. It was also for a fixed price best offer scenario.

[magnumchops]

The fee changes are awful, what a joke. I'll one-up it though.

 

What I love is the new "seller limits" I have been placed under as a seller. When I first heard of them, I thought it was for bum sellers and those who are just starting out. I've been a power seller when the volume was high and a top rated seller for years. In the last year, I have had 7 buyers give me a 1 or 2 star on my DSR for shipping charges (out of 300+ buyers.) They are giving me a rating because they're clueless to the why I ship in a box and ship priority only. I literally made no money on shipping, never have. I just don't ship books in an unprotected envelope for $3 or ship a new book via media mail. So because these clowns agreed to a price as they clicked "bid" and then got their books as described, priority fast (and wrote as much in my positive feedback) they still did the damage of leaving a 1 or 2 star DSR. So after my rating went to 4.78 out of 5 (4.8 is the limit I guess) I was levied restrictions. Can't list more than 60 items a month, and the total amount listed cannot exceed $1300. As the month goes and items are sold, their ending amount goes against that $1300 too.

 

It pretty much forces me to start everything at $0.99 with free shipping on the 1st of the month and sell what I can and list new books before I hit that threshold. I pretty much get told to stop selling on the 14th of every month. Pretty awful. I guess they don't want their money. I've started selling here because of this.

 

Called them, got the "you don't meet requirements to have your limit lifted" but "if you get that DSR up a little, you'll get back your Top-Rated Seller title." So 0.22 stars is the difference between a stupid limit and a discount, get real.

 

Until those low stars come off, I'm grounded.

[mangbus]

The fee changes are awful, what a joke. I'll one-up it though.

 

What I love is the new "seller limits" I have been placed under as a seller. When I first heard of them, I thought it was for bum sellers and those who are just starting out. I've been a power seller when the volume was high and a top rated seller for years. In the last year, I have had 7 buyers give me a 1 or 2 star on my DSR for shipping charges (out of 300+ buyers.) They are giving me a rating because they're clueless to the why I ship in a box and ship priority only. I literally made no money on shipping, never have. I just don't ship books in an unprotected envelope for $3 or ship a new book via media mail. So because these clowns agreed to a price as they clicked "bid" and then got their books as described, priority fast (and wrote as much in my positive feedback) they still did the damage of leaving a 1 or 2 star DSR. So after my rating went to 4.78 out of 5 (4.8 is the limit I guess) I was levied restrictions. Can't list more than 60 items a month, and the total amount listed cannot exceed $1300. As the month goes and items are sold, their ending amount goes against that $1300 too.

 

It pretty much forces me to start everything at $0.99 with free shipping on the 1st of the month and sell what I can and list new books before I hit that threshold. I pretty much get told to stop selling on the 14th of every month. Pretty awful. I guess they don't want their money. I've started selling here because of this.

 

Called them, got the "you don't meet requirements to have your limit lifted" but "if you get that DSR up a little, you'll get back your Top-Rated Seller title." So 0.22 stars is the difference between a stupid limit and a discount, get real.

 

Until those low stars come off, I'm grounded.

 

I had to start doing free shipping just to avoid giving buyers the option to low star me for the same reason. I've managed to stay above 4.8 but don't want to risk it anymore.

[Point Five]

Hypothetically, could you list a bunch of 25-cent items, have a friend BIN them and give you 5-star ratings to lift the restriction...?

 

(Hypothetically, mind you.)

 

 

[mangbus]

Hypothetically, could you list a bunch of 25-cent items, have a friend BIN them and give you 5-star ratings to lift the restriction...?

 

(Hypothetically, mind you.)

 

 

Haha.. yes. But I believe even in that scenario, you would have to wait until a specific day of the month for the new ratings to be applied.

[SuperBird]

ok, so, speaking strictly in terms of cost, eBay is not more expensive than other outlets for selling comics. You guys are pissed that they are charging more- but what they are charging is totally in line with your other options.

 

The star thing with the limits sounds ridiculous, but that's separate.

[mike-honcho]

The fee changes are awful, what a joke. I'll one-up it though.

 

What I love is the new "seller limits" I have been placed under as a seller. When I first heard of them, I thought it was for bum sellers and those who are just starting out. I've been a power seller when the volume was high and a top rated seller for years. In the last year, I have had 7 buyers give me a 1 or 2 star on my DSR for shipping charges (out of 300+ buyers.) They are giving me a rating because they're clueless to the why I ship in a box and ship priority only. I literally made no money on shipping, never have. I just don't ship books in an unprotected envelope for $3 or ship a new book via media mail. So because these clowns agreed to a price as they clicked "bid" and then got their books as described, priority fast (and wrote as much in my positive feedback) they still did the damage of leaving a 1 or 2 star DSR. So after my rating went to 4.78 out of 5 (4.8 is the limit I guess) I was levied restrictions. Can't list more than 60 items a month, and the total amount listed cannot exceed $1300. As the month goes and items are sold, their ending amount goes against that $1300 too.

 

It pretty much forces me to start everything at $0.99 with free shipping on the 1st of the month and sell what I can and list new books before I hit that threshold. I pretty much get told to stop selling on the 14th of every month. Pretty awful. I guess they don't want their money. I've started selling here because of this.

 

Called them, got the "you don't meet requirements to have your limit lifted" but "if you get that DSR up a little, you'll get back your Top-Rated Seller title." So 0.22 stars is the difference between a stupid limit and a discount, get real.

 

Until those low stars come off, I'm grounded.

 

I had to start doing free shipping just to avoid giving buyers the option to low star me for the same reason. I've managed to stay above 4.8 but don't want to risk it anymore.

 

i just had the something similar happen to me a few days ago. thankfully my selling limit hasn't been decreased yet ( knock on wood).

 

i had 2 people in the last few months ding my shipping time out hundreds of sales. i had just gotten a powerseller ranking not even a month ago too. then i got a notice that i was underperforming. mind you all my stars are 5.0. to 4.8 which silly me i thought was okay.

 

now i am getting hit by paypal with the dreaded 21 day hold, while i "establish" sucessful selling history with ebay, what a f'ing joke because i've been selling on ebay since the early 2000's. so now my funds aren't released to me until tracking confirms the buyer gets their item. so now i am going to have to go back to free shipping and fold the cost into my auction and bin prices just to assure these a-hole buyers can't screw me over and shut down or severely hamstring my ebay account.

 

this is my only source of income right now while i finish this last year of school right now.

[whetteon]

The fee changes are awful, what a joke. I'll one-up it though.

 

What I love is the new "seller limits" I have been placed under as a seller. When I first heard of them, I thought it was for bum sellers and those who are just starting out. I've been a power seller when the volume was high and a top rated seller for years. In the last year, I have had 7 buyers give me a 1 or 2 star on my DSR for shipping charges (out of 300+ buyers.) They are giving me a rating because they're clueless to the why I ship in a box and ship priority only. I literally made no money on shipping, never have. I just don't ship books in an unprotected envelope for $3 or ship a new book via media mail. So because these clowns agreed to a price as they clicked "bid" and then got their books as described, priority fast (and wrote as much in my positive feedback) they still did the damage of leaving a 1 or 2 star DSR. So after my rating went to 4.78 out of 5 (4.8 is the limit I guess) I was levied restrictions. Can't list more than 60 items a month, and the total amount listed cannot exceed $1300. As the month goes and items are sold, their ending amount goes against that $1300 too.

 

It pretty much forces me to start everything at $0.99 with free shipping on the 1st of the month and sell what I can and list new books before I hit that threshold. I pretty much get told to stop selling on the 14th of every month. Pretty awful. I guess they don't want their money. I've started selling here because of this.

 

Called them, got the "you don't meet requirements to have your limit lifted" but "if you get that DSR up a little, you'll get back your Top-Rated Seller title." So 0.22 stars is the difference between a stupid limit and a discount, get real.

 

Until those low stars come off, I'm grounded.

 

I had to start doing free shipping just to avoid giving buyers the option to low star me for the same reason. I've managed to stay above 4.8 but don't want to risk it anymore.

 

i just had the something similar happen to me a few days ago. thankfully my selling limit hasn't been decreased yet ( knock on wood).

 

i had 2 people in the last few months ding my shipping time out hundreds of sales. i had just gotten a powerseller ranking not even a month ago too. then i got a notice that i was underperforming. mind you all my stars are 5.0. to 4.8 which silly me i thought was okay.

 

now i am getting hit by paypal with the dreaded 21 day hold, while i "establish" sucessful selling history with ebay, what a f'ing joke because i've been selling on ebay since the early 2000's. so now my funds aren't released to me until tracking confirms the buyer gets their item. so now i am going to have to go back to free shipping and fold the cost into my auction and bin prices just to assure these a-hole buyers can't screw me over and shut down or severely hamstring my ebay account.

 

this is my only source of income right now while i finish this last year of school right now.

 

Just to add another log to the fire I have mistakenly listed 3 days as my turn around time for shipping a book but sometimes I don't get to the post office until 5 days later. So people who get their books 2 days later than expected give me a one star rating despite my covering the difference in shipping cost. It's pretty retarded. I'm bumping my prices and doing free shipping as well because eBay are fun but individual_without_enough_empathys.

[Juan Kingded]

Does eBay ever side with the seller in a dispute?

[Zaitsev]

Not to be devils advocate, but I usually leave positive feedback through my ipod touch, and a few months ago, ebay changed the appearance of the layout in one of their updates. The stars which I thought I had selected as "5" stars, were actually one star, which got sent. Maybe that has happened to others as well.

I did send e-mails to the sellers explaining my mistake, but never heard back from them and never bothered to investigate further.

 

 

 

 

[spotted13]

I know a lot of people make money on eBay but I don't understand why people want to sell there.

I stopped selling there over 2 years ago. I just went with eBid, here and through my blog. I know I'd been loosing money but I haven't had to deal with the stress that comes with selling there.

[krighton]

Does eBay ever side with the seller in a dispute?

 

i'll be finding that out in the coming days...I don't feel confident, buyer is the High King wining and dining the beautiful maidens, seller is the guy who hauls away the dead bodies after a plague.

[mschmidt]

I know a lot of people make money on eBay but I don't understand why people want to sell there.

I stopped selling there over 2 years ago. I just went with eBid, here and through my blog. I know I'd been loosing money but I haven't had to deal with the stress that comes with selling there.

 

And that's why people are still selling on eBay

[AKA Rick]

With any auction transaction, whether the buyer or the seller, you have to consider the costs of the transaction and factor that into your decision on what is the maximum you will pay or what to set the minimum bid at.

 

If you're selling on eBay, like it or don't like it, if you're doing it as a business or as a "garage sale" transaction to make money, whether for profit or salvage an investment and take a loss, just figure out what you're willing to part with the item for, including all of the factors such as your acquisition costs (cost of goods), the market value of the item, as well as your overhead (the time it takes you to list, as well as package the item up, materials for packaging, listing fees, transaction commissions (eBay and Pay Pal), and anything else). Then you have your minimum bid established. If you find your minimum bid it higher than the market value of that others sell it for or that you're willing to let it go for, you have to find alternate ways to rid yourself of your merchandise. For those common dollar bin comics, and stuff that's a dime a dozen that costs more to ship than the product is worth, you might consider just donating those to a worthy charity for the tax benefits.

 

Those who use the "penny auction" tactics to try to generate interest in their items have to live and die by their own sword if the item sells for less than what they want for it ('tho I do know "shill bidding" is prevalent to falsely hike up prices through false bids) and they don't have a reserve.

 

It's funny when a seller has a reserve and a buyer asks the seller for the reserve amount. I thought the whole premise of having a reserve was to create a psychology and mystery to the amount and have people bid and bid and bid not knowing what the reserve is 'til the whoa and behold, "reserve is met" - - if you're going to put a reserve and then tell everyone what that is, you might as well have just put that price as your starting bid price.

 

I think the overhead number to use for eBay is 10% for their fees and 3% for Pay Pal, so round it up to 15%, and if you want $100 for your item, then list it at $115, so you're getting at bare minimum your $100 and then you can't really complain about the transaction fees.

 

If you're buying on eBay, look at the shipping fees, don't complain about what they are, so long as your item comes in a respectful time frame packaged where the item arrives undamaged, it should be inconsequential to the amount you agree to pay for shipping and handling versus how much the postage cost. That's where eBay if flat out wrong in trying to control the shipping fees in certain categories such as books, CD's and Movies, especially when they're collectible and some sellers have to buy special boxes, bubble wrap and other materials that cost money to purchase. I know whether bidding on eBay or via Heritage (and their premiums) I am prepared with a specific number, my highest tolerance I'm wiling to pay out of pocket "all in" total with all expenses (again factoring in shipping and/or taxes and/or premiums/commissions) and just go with that number.

[darkstar]

 

It's funny when a seller has a reserve and a buyer asks the seller for the reserve amount. I thought the whole premise of having a reserve was to create a psychology and mystery to the amount and have people bid and bid and bid not knowing what the reserve is 'til the whoa and behold, "reserve is met" - - if you're going to put a reserve and then tell everyone what that is, you might as well have just put that price as your starting bid price.

 

People put a reserve, obviously, because they don't want to sell the item for less than that.

 

People don't start an auction at their reserve price because all that does is encourage the bidders to wait until the last possible second to snipe the item at a price slightly above the starting bid. There is no incentive for people to get into a bidding war for the item.

 

For some reason a reserve is a deal-breaker for a lot of bidders and they won't even bother with reserve auctions or inquire about the reserve. As if they lose money if the bid they make isn't the winning one.

 

 

 

 

[retrothecollector]

Didn't want to start another thread about ebay because that's not what this forum is for, so I thought I'd post here since theres already a thread.

But I just got great news ebay is going to make it 2 days buyers have to pay before your can open a Unpaid Items Case instead of 4 days!!! WoooooHooo! That's so much better!! I hate when these stupid people don't pay!!

[ComicConnoisseur]

eBay is doing this because they can.

 

We can complain. Makes no difference. They have us by the *spoon*

 

No one that has an established eBay business is going to say, "well I'll just list less" because that makes no sense either.

 

"Necessity is the mother of invention." A competitor always has, and will in this case, rise. Not a matter of if... when?

There has been a better place to sell for a few years now. It`s called Amazon marketplace. The savy sellers buy certain products on Ebay and sell on Amazon.

Books,electronics,videogames and toys are some of the good products to sell on Amazon over Ebay.

Unfortunately though comic books are not one of those products.

You will find though most of mainstream uses Amazon marketplace as the alternative to Ebay now, and there is no longer a monopoly.

[krighton]

ebid search has 6 peter panzerfaust, ebay search has 430.....I would love to break free of the ebay yoke but until someone steps up big time, I just don't see anyone knocking them off their pedestal.