Not Another E-Bay Post...

[jnantz]

As far as I can tell (please correct me if I'm wrong), E-Bay has not experienced any changes that would force them to up their fees, so the increases are based on pure greed.

has the price of paper and film and photo equipment gone up at your neighborhood
and mail order photography store over the past 13 years ?
why should another place that offers a service not be able to raise their prices?

there are always stores that sell things on consignment, and often times they
charge a 50% commission --- for what? lighting, electricty,
their walk in customers ... ebay/paypal are an inexpensive alternative ...

[Aender Brepsom]

The final value fees are not 12-13%, but a bit less. It seems that they are not the same everywhere. My understanding is that for example final value fees are a bit less at eBay.de (Germany) than at eBay.com (USA).

Here is a link to the fees for US sellers:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

And here for seller sin Germany:
http://pages.ebay.de/help/sell/fees.html#fvf (see: Verkaufsprovision)

[Donald Miller]

From what I see, if Ebay is really that absyminal an organization, this would present a great opportunity for someone to start a competitive entity.

Rather than complaining, thank your lucky stars for this opportunity.

Gosh, just hire an office staff and an IT person...buy the necessary servers...hook up with one of the banks that have tons of money from the US Government and capture your share of the American Dream. Cut Ebay fees by 40% and you'll go down in history as having reinvented the wheel.

With time, with luck, perhaps you will be so fortunate as to be ranked with the other online auctions on this list.

http://online-auction-sites.toptenreviews.com/

[Brian Ellis]

I don't buy or sell in volume but a few times I've listed an item for sale here and it attracted no buyers, then I've sold it on ebay for a good bit more than I offered it here. The most extreme case was a Chamonix 4x5 camera that I offered here for around $600 with no takers, then I sold it on ebay for around $900 (net after fees of course was less). Similarly with a 210 APO Symmar that got no takers here for around $300 and sold on ebay for almost $500 (IIRC). From a buyer's standpoint, I occasionally see items for sale here at an asking price that IMHO is way too high. Often darkroom equipment, where I've seen a few people not only price the item too high, but they've wanted to add a mileage fee like 50 cents a mile to deliver the item.

As for your specific question, who knows the pricing point at which ebay's fees will be optimized. But if they get up into the 30% range or higher I'd guess that some of the competing services will become more popular.

[CP Goerz]

Many people have started up competing auction companies but all that happens is that when they get big enough ebay makes them an offer they can't refuse. The reason Ebay has become so big internationally isn't because they started from square one and reinvented the wheel everywhere they went, they just bought other companies in the countries they targeted, its worked in some places and not so well in others. As with 99% of all internet businesses the first one in usually becomes the biggest....not always the best.



Paypal probably makes as much if not more money than Ebay with less work for them, meanwhile Skype lost them a boatload of cash..the management at Ebay has never been the best in their decisions as any S+P type dossier has reported. Its almost blind luck that has led the company to where they are now, nothing more.

[G Benaim]

So what's the best way to protect yourself as a seller?

[CP Goerz]

Be honest in your descriptions, show clear pictures and take cheques,MO or cash via registered mail.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Since you're selling in an Internet medium, why not take secure electronic funds? Otherwise, you're probably leaving a lot more potential buyers out in the cold than you realize.

Take me, for instance. I live in the sticks with a satellite ISP connection, an hour from the nearest Post Office-- and that's when the weather is good. With PayPal I don't need or want to go to town until I have an electronic delivery confirmation for pick-up.

[bigdog]

I want to personally thank all of you who have quit Ebay. It just leaves more deals out there for me.