Ebay and Fee Increases

Unfortunately now that Ebay is widely known and widely popular they can increase their prices knowing full well that they have the desired audience, so what if a few hundred stop buying and selling they can easily cover that loss. They have carte blanche now to increase whenever they like and they can afford to lie back on their laurels. My activity on Ebay has slackened off big time in the last year, and the increase will only make me less inclined to use it. If Ebay had stiffer opposition then maybe they wouldn't make the increase so high. Time you take out from your profit margin their cut, VAT and the time and effort, you are left with a small piece of cake, is it really worth it? How people make a business through selling by Ebay is a complete mystery to me.

I only sell once in awhile also. If there are fee increases, that means I will ONLY sell if I know the item will make a large profit. I think it's dumb that they charge for failed auctions, which has happened to me once. Once it fails, you shoulnd't have to pay. Shouldn't you be paying for the service to SELL something? So what kind of increase are we talking about? Dollars? I haven't been there in awhile.

I don't like the idea that they keep raising the prices on ebay. I know that I will still sell and buy on ebay though. With the price of gas being what it is it is still cheaper for me to get my items off of there than to drive to the store and get them. As far as selling goes, I will still do that to as I don't sell a lot just a few things here and there.

Ebay keeps getting more and more greedy. They feel invincible because their name is synomous with buying anything online. If they raise the fees sellers will just pass the cost off to buyers, but if the prices get too out of hand buyers may stop coming. It's a difficult balance. I think they should leave them alone but corporations and their shareholders look for one thing--more profits.

They are always increasing thier fees and milking money out of the traders and buyers. First you have to pay your listing fee, followed by final value fee, then onto the paypal fees that are owned by ebay anyway! Its a con!

I haven't sold anything on Ebay in a long time. The fees THEN seemed kind of high to me, especially on the auctions where they charged a percentage on whatever the selling price was. I never paid the extra for "gallery" or extra photos, either. I never made enough money to make those extras worth it to me. My mom has a book store on Ebay and I know she does pretty good. You really have to know what you're selling, though, especially with what it will cost to ship! I have goofed and undercharged for shipping before, so it really cut into my profit! Also, she said that it makes a difference WHEN you sell. She obviously did good before Christmas, but she said that some items do good around other holidays like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Just have to know your item and the potential buyers and to make sure you pick the right time to sell!

I do feel that the fees are high. However some of the stuff we have sold on there I don't think we ever would have gotten rid of without it. It reaches so many people. Some things have value, but if you can't find a buyer then you can't cash in on them. That is where the advantage lies with ebay. I doubt anything will change around here!

It's ridiculous how much they are making it cost to post an auction! I've been trying to use Craigslist instead, because you don't have to pay anyone! I will use Ebay for big expensive things, but cheaper things it's not worth it!

I don't really see the issue. The fee increase is what, .25%? There is still no better place to sell used items online. They bring the customer. They should get paid for that. How much $ and time does it take to sell a few items at a rummage sale? I sell items at flea markets but still use (and will still use) eBay because it is cost effective. I've paid as much as $500 for a single table at one place only to end up making about $2300 (which is a lot worse than the%s you get charged for on eBay). **Bah... myLot hates me right now. This is attempt 6 at posting this response.

I have already stopped selling on ebay since as you said the selling fees and insertion fees are too high.Moreover i could not bring in more customers by setting up the price.If i set it up to the low then i will not get any profit so i stopped selling on ebay.

I think that as EBay continues to raise their fees, that they are going to push the average user right off the site. It will turn into a community of businesses, where everyone is selling a specific product, and you no longer get to deal with individuals, but rather only find corporations selling goods anymore. If EBay wants to continue to thrive, they need to be very careful about how they are treating their users.

WHAT?! Ebay is raising fees again?! this is absurd..it's going to cost TOO much to sell on there anymore. Bidturf.com is the way to go..although I still use ebay occassionally...What are they raising their fees to?!

I usually use ebay for a side income, usually everything i list only costs about .55 and thats with a gallery picture. I usually go to fleamarkets every sunday and pickup good deals that i know will sell. Another thing to help people out on ebay is so many items are listed wrong and you could buy them so cheap. For now im staying with ebay unless fee's get out of hand

I can't agree with the last fee increase on eBay at all. I've found that sales have dropped drastically in the last year and I've quit listing. I've been selling for about 6 years and finally had to quit. With all the fees, and trying to keep my prices low enough to attract buyers, I was going into the 'red'. I tried the $.99 with slightly padded shipping but didn't overdo it as a lot I've seen on there. I would end up with about $.50 an item. It just isn't worth the work anymore. I think with the last year of increases, they've hurt themselves and it might take some time to recover their buyers and sellers.

The fee increase doesn't bother me for once. It wasn't really that bad of an increase. Normally they raise every tier listing fee. I can definately live with the new fees. I dislike paying a few hundred dollars a month to Ebay, but it would cost a lot more to run a brick & mortar store.

I think that as EBay continues to raise their fees, that they are going to push the average user right off the site. It will turn into a community of businesses, where everyone is selling a specific product, and you no longer get to deal with individuals, but rather only find corporations selling goods anymore. If EBay wants to continue to thrive, they need to be very careful about how they are treating their users.

I think the raised fees will push more people to open stores, and pay that monthly fee, and will almost do away with live auctions, which stinks for the average person just trying to sell stuff and get it out of the house. Its also going to force people who dont use drop shippers to have to list items at the lowest amount they are willing to take. The store fees are still fairly reasonable, its the live auction fees that get you. Its the PayPal fees that get me, SO FRUSTRATING to sell something for $1.50, and have to pay 35¢ to Paypal.

I am not sure at this point, what my game plan will be. I am definitely sick of ebay taking any little profit that I could possibly make. Ecrater.com is a free and fairly new auction site, but I have only made one sale listing there. I'm going on my 4th year with Ebay, and I can only say...they have made more money off me, than I from them.

How much higher can they raise their fees. They are getting just too high. But if you want to sell on ebay you have to put up with it. You definitely have to raise your prices a bit to make up the difference. There is still money to be made but they are definitely making it harder and harder.