Ebay gathered up all their top buyers today to hand out the good news – they’re lowering fees. This is where all the Ebay sellers are supposed to jump up and down, praise the Ebay overlords, and head home to start listing everything in their house, because this is such a fantastic opportunity.
What they’re not supposed to do is actually sit down and figure out what all the new changes are actually going to mean. Ebay and Beyond, (along with various other sources) actually did sit down and do the math, and fees are actually going up in the 40-50% range. Because while Ebay did throw the dog a bone, by giving free gallery images, and lowering insertion fees, they also have raised commissions. So it may be a little cheaper to put your item up, it will cost you more when you sell it.
Of course, none of this touches on the fact that sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers, which leaves the entire Ebay system open to anarchy. Ebay sellers live and die by their feedback ratings, now buyers have all the cards. I think we can all agree that there are criminals all over Ebay, I can only imagine how they’ll utilize this to their advantage, and how many honest sellers are going to get burned.
I realize that Ebay is a juggernaut, and a lifeline for thousands of small businesses. However, I never thought that the sales opportunities offered by using Ebay, ever outweighed the fees, hassles and utter nonsense that often comes along with it.
