eBay Seller fees and Seller Feedback changes 2008

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Feb 2008, 22:23

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/2 ... y-changes/

Of note:

EBay is lowering the fees it charges to list an item for sale and raising the percentage it takes from the final sale price. The fee changes are meant to make eBay more competitive with Amazon.com, which does not charge independent sellers anything to list items.

EBay is now allowing all sellers to display photographs on search results; previously they had to pay extra for what are called gallery photos. For sellers who paid for those photos, the changes are more likely to be for the better, but some sellers will still pay more.

Personally I always add a Search Results Photo.

And much more worrying for Sellers:

Now, for the first time, sellers will not be able to leave negative or neutral feedback about buyers. (They are welcome to continue to leave positive feedback).

A buyer could get an item, then turn around and say to the seller, “Give me $10 back. I’m not happy and I’ll leave you negative feedback.

Some of the feedback changes are actually beneficial to sellers, she said. For example, negative feedback left by buyers who were suspended for violating eBay rules will now be removed from the system.

It's not clear if Sellers cannot leave Negative feedback period or only after they go through the Dispute Procedure. Personally I only leave negative feedback after doing this and would be annoyed if I couldn't then leave a buyer negative feedback.

Regardless it's still worrying as you can only use the dispute procedure when there is a problem. If it's arrived safely you cannot exactly then go an use it.

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Also:

The fee changes are meant to make eBay more competitive with Amazon.com, which does not charge independent sellers anything to list items.

Ms. Steiner said that Amazon is still more attractive these days even for sellers who find their eBay fees do go down.

Not when I checked it wasn't. Amazon may not charge to list an item (eBay do) but your overall costs are still much greater than eBay.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 05 Feb 2008, 22:46

Basically the fee change is actually a fee increase for most sellers. Some power sellers will get a final value fee discount, but your regular small time sellers like us will not.

If you sell something at £29.99 you can expect the whole thing to cost you about 50p more now.

Also the free search photo result, with the gallery picture, is ONLY with ebay.com - the US site - not ebay.co.uk. UK users will still have to pay for the gallery photo and search photo result.

From what I've read, negatiave and neutral feedback from sellers to buyers will not be possible once hte changes come into effect.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 05 Feb 2008, 22:53

so some timewaster like i had last week,joined on the saturday,won three of my items then claimed he was bankrupt would get away without me being able to neg him

that is fucking disgraceful

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 06 Feb 2008, 02:49

saltysam wrote:so some timewaster like i had last week,joined on the saturday,won three of my items then claimed he was bankrupt would get away without me being able to neg him that is fucking disgraceful

Yep

I had a similar case just the other week too. He claimed he was skint despite spending £26 on 4 other items on eBay and after a week of waiting I had to file a Dispute against him. Another week past and I could finally get my Final Value Fee back, and give the tosser negative feedback. I then re-listed it and sold it in an hour and the new seller paid swiftly.

degeneration wrote:Basically the fee change is actually a fee increase for most sellers. Some power sellers will get a final value fee discount, but your regular small time sellers like us will not.

I'm not too bothered about this tbh.

degeneration wrote:Also the free search photo result, with the gallery picture, is ONLY with ebay.com - the US site - not ebay.co.uk. UK users will still have to pay for the gallery photo and search photo result.

You're kidding?!? WTF! :shock:

degeneration wrote:From what I've read, negatiave and neutral feedback from sellers to buyers will not be possible once hte changes come into effect.

What I'm sure about is what happens if you go all through the Disputes Procedure (which takes 2 weeks from start to end). If you cannot even then leave negative feedback that really sucks.

It looks like they're trying to make it more like Amazon and Play whereby you cannot leave buyers negative feedback. The difference is they're not the same. I hear Amazon actually help if there's a problem.

eBay do the minimal about as possible!

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 06 Feb 2008, 09:36

I heard about this on the news - specifically the bit about not leaving neg. feedback - WTF?

You would only leave neg. feedback if a sale goes badly, what about sellers leaving neg./neutral feedback about other sellers? How does this "speed trading up"?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 06 Feb 2008, 18:17

grim_tales wrote:what about sellers leaving neg./neutral feedback about other sellers?

Well they'd be a buyer wouldn't they and can then leave feedback

grim_tales wrote:How does this "speed trading up"?

Good bloody question!