Ebay Changes Feedback and Fee Structure

*IMPORTANT NOTICE*

Worldwide eBay Boycott February 18th through February 25th, 2008.

We the concerned eBay buyers and sellers on eBay are protesting eBays announced new fee increases and feedback policy changes. We do not believe that these changes will have any positive affect for buyers or sellers and will result in increased prices, less choices and disharmony within the eBay community.

We also are in complete agreement that eBay’s policy of allowing dogs and cats to be sold on eBay in China for slaughter purposes is both cruel and inhumane and must be stopped immediately.

We urge all people’s to not shop or sell on eBay during this worldwide boycott.

Please spread the word.

Thank you.

I’m sick, eBay is killing us sellers.

I now list on alternatives like eBid, Find out more at ukebid.com

wow this is going to be crazy!!!

“The fee changes are welcomed by most sellers, who thought the fees should not have been raised that high in the first place. ”

Welcomed by “most” sellers, who conducted this poll, eBay marketing?

What business would welcome increased costs to conduct their business?

I guess you think most people welcome higher gas prices, higher medical costs, and more taxes too.

What corporate memo told you to print this trash? Do you read your own articles?

Now tell us about your integrity as a journalist. LOL

For 2007 I had $20K in ebay/paypal fees. I should have used that to market my own store solo on the internet. Oh well maybe when I get out of the Military right?

It’s not that the sellers are retalliating - it’s that they are trying to nuetralize their feedback score. If a buyer leaves a BS negative feedback for an Item that the seller has sold a Ka-gillion times never having a neg on that item then the seller leaves neg too. The reason is because the customer will get upset and the chances of a mutual feedback with-drawal are greater for both parties. This expells the negs. It’s the logical way to resolve the negative feedback. Hope I made sense of the mess.

@NotASheep: Per the fee structure changes put out by eBay, the fees are going down marginally for some of the listing costs, as if eBay is trying to “soften the blow” to the sellers of losing the essential feedback feature.

@NathanPeterson: I agree with your point on retaliation.

I am a long-time ebay buyer and seller. The new feedback policies represent the most dramatic change in ebay’s terms of service ever and is an abandonment of ebay’s stated community values.

I wrote and open letter to ebay on this topic today in my blog:

http://amodernguy.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/an-open-letter-to-ebay/

eBay WAS a *fun*, *exciting*, *vibrant*, and *useful* place to both buy and sell when I joined in 1999. Little by little over the years eBay has begun pounding the nails into it’s own coffin. eBay has become an unresponsive, evil, arrogant and monopolistic entity through the years, culminating in the eBay we see today in it’s death throes. The most recent changes that eBay has made to the feedback system that renders it useless, coupled with the issue of PayPal HOLDING seller’s payments for 21 days has turned eBay into a complete monstrosity. I am now, and will continue to, seek out, publicize and use other every other alternative to eBay that exists. Good bye eBay… you’ve destroyed yourself.

You couldn’t be more wrong about sellers welcoming the New Ebay Fee changes. 99 % of Ebay sellers are Outraged!! http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=1000637065&tstart=0&mod=1202425706596

The new fee structure is nothing more than “Bait and Switch” Modestly lowering upfront costs while at the same time raising Final value fees by 43%. This amounts to the largest fee incrase in Ebays History!

have sold on Ebay for 4 years now. I made good money in the beginning but saw my profits slip each year as Ebay and the Postal Service raised fees.

In he beginning my expenses including inventory was about 70% of my total sales.

This was so promising that I quit my job as a Cement mason and sold on Ebay full time.

Well I am now a Power seller with over 15000 transactions half from repeat customers and have seen my profits slip from 30% to 5% as Ebay , Paypal and the Postal service gets more from my sales than I do.

I have a 99.9 Positive Feedback score but my S&H DSR score (4.5) does not qualify me for the so-called Power seller discount because the $1.00 per listing handling charge I MUST access is the only way I can survive on Ebay. Ebay does not allow Sellers to pass on the true cost of doing business to the Buyer as “handling charges”and encourages Buyers to report sellers that do.

I currently gross $10,000.00 per month in sales. Ebay gets $1200.00 per month out of that, Paypal gets $600.00 and the Postal service gets $1000.00. I also Pay $4000.00 per year for storage of overstock as I have to buy in volume to be able to offer a viable product. The majority of the items I sell can only be marked up 50% and the Bullion items I offer are a NO profit loss leader with an average 10% mark up and sells the majority of times at a 10% to 25% loss after Ebay and Paypal fees.

In other words I no longer make money but am being pimped by Ebay. I only have cash flow. I am in $50,000.00 worth of debt from having to finance inventory to keep this charade going.

It is a pity that Ebay has abandoned its sellers in this manner. maybe they have a new Business model where Sellers are not required. That certainly seems to be the new strategy.

I will know for sure within the coming days whether I can keep this madness up. I anticipate that in a day of total frustration, I will select “CLOSE MY STORE” and 1200 Buy IT NOW Listings will disappear and be a thing of the past.

Maybe its not so bad after all. I will be saving over $4000.00 a month

Sick sick of ebay. All the work we do and we keep getting a swift kick in the ars and a hand in the pocket on ebay.

The boycott will sting. Selling elsewhere will really hurt them. ORGANIZING selling elsewhere will really teach them a lesson. They think - Oh, they’ll boycott and then they’ll be back in a week selling as usual. Well I think they’re wrong. I’m closing my store by Sunday- I took everything but one thing out already. I won’t be selling at auction during Boycott week 2/18-25. I’ll be spending the time listing items in the other two stores I opened this week on Ruby Lane and Ecrater.

Please visit my website http://www.pennsylvania-antiques.com if you’d like to link to us. If you’re an ebay seller - let us know where you’re going to be selling off-ebay. I’ll publish this information as soon as I get some responses - so bookmark the page to come back and see where your fellow ebayers have found great places to sell.

Let’s try to check out each other’s sites and buy and sell from each other as opposed to ebay. We don’t have to be on ebay to stick together and make sales!

By the way - this is paranoid on my part - but I would strongly suggest downloading your paypal transaction files so you have the email addresses and other information of your steady buyers . You can download a file from them and put it into a spread sheet and sort it by buyers. You may need it for marketing. Do it before they make this information unavailable to you. They didn’t say they would - but you never know.

Here is an image for use on the Web to promote the boycott. Pass it around.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c276/sledbiscuit/boycott.jpg

After reading various comments on many forums, I am more concerned than ever that seller’s will not be in a position to leave neutral or negative feedback for the buyer. It is quite obvious from the comments made that there are some very vindictive people out there who can’t wait for the new rules to take place. SELLERS’S PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING: Now there is a website where you can leave neutral or negative feedback for those buyer’s who warrant it. http://WWW.VOX-POPULI-ONLINE.COM is a site where you can list your feedback about the buyer. It’s a very clean looking site, easy to navigate and it is a free service. So stop worrying about buyer’s holding you to ransom and take a look.

the new eBay feedback policy is excellent and is just what is needed to weed out all the bad sellers

The fisherman are out trolling. Don’t bite on the bait.

A highly recommended site is elfingo.com for online auctions. They are the new ebay. Many smaller sites like this offer buyers far better deals than ebay ever could. Buyser also save a ton because this site charges little or nothing depending on the day. One more reaso I like elfingo.com is because they don’t take a part of the sale at all. No commissions or final value fees. A+++ http://www.elfingo.com

Well I’m a drop shipper and I just drop ship on Craigslist. It’s slow but I still make a little bit. Ebay is killin’ us I agree.

I REGISTERED ON EBAY AND BOUGHT SOME STUFF. I PAID FOR THEM RIGHT AWAY. THE NEXT DAY, EBAY SUSPENEDS MY ACCOUNT. SO THE SELLERS I BOUGHT THE STUFF FROM DECIDED NOT TO SEND METHE ITEMS I BOUGHT BECAUSE I CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE I’M SUSPENDED! THIS IS AFTER I HAD MY PREVIOUS ACCOUNT SUSPENDED FOR NO REASON. IT SAID THAT MY CONTACT INFORMATION WAS INVALID, SO I GO AND CONTACT EBAY, ASK THEM WHAT”S GOING ON AND THAT MY CONTACT INFORMATION IS CORRECT. SO EBAY TELLS ME TO GO AND SEND THEM A REINSTATEMENT FAX AND FIX THE CONTACT INFORMATION, BUT IT WASNT WRONG IN THE FIRST PLACE. SO I CONTACT THEM ONCE MORE AND THEY SAID, “YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION ISNT NECCESARILY INCORRECT, IF IT’S CORRECT, THE CONTACT INFORMATION YOU PUT ON THE REINSTATEMENT FAX SHOULD MATCH” . THEN WHY DID THEY SUSPEND MY ACCOUNT IN THE FIRST PLACE??? SO I WASNT ABLE TO PAY FOR THE STUFF I BOUGHT AND I RECIEVED STRIKES AND RUDE EMAILS. NOW BOTH OF MY ACCOUNTS ARE PERMANENTLY BLOCKED AND I NEVER REVIEVED THE STUFF I BOUGHT. I LOST OVER $600 BECAUSE OF THEIR CRAP! AND AFTER MY ACCOUNTS WERE SUSPENDED, THEY SEND ME EMAILS TELLING ME TO PAY MY EBAY FEES THAT I ACCUMULATED FROM BUYING THOSE ITEMS. IF I DIDNT PAY, THEY WOULD HAVE RUINED MY CREDIT RATING, AND I’M TRYING TO BUY A HOUSE BUT I CANT IF A HAVE BAD CREDIT RATING. ALL THAT FOR $2! DONT GO ON THAT EBAY SITE! THEY’RE CROOKS!!!!!!!

I have been both a buyer and a seller. I am absolutely SHOCKED at the attempted justification by some on here for retaliatory feedback. There is NO justification for retaliation in feedback. Period. If the buyer paid you, then leave good feedback. If they left unjustified negative feedback, then address that, but DO NOT leave retaliatory feedback. I just do not understand the mentality of some.

Now, that having been said I will give MY opinion on the new changes. While I recognize that the final value fees HAVE gone up and the listing fees have gone down basically meaning there are NO changes in the OVERALL fee structure; I AM happy with the changes. Why? If I list an item, then I would rather pay a lower upfront fee on a item that might not sell as opposed to a higher upfront fee on EVERY item meaning I could end up losing MORE money if an item DOESN’T sell. At least I am only paying the final value fee on an item that has already sold. Granted, I’m not selling $20,000/month. I am definitely the smaller-volume seller.

Now, the feedback. I agree with the changes. I have been registered with Ebay for MANY years….MANY. In those years, I have NEVER had a BAD buyer. I have had a couple that waited until the absolute last minute (according to my terms) to pay, but I have never had a bad buyer. Granted, I ONLY accept Paypal.

On the other hand, I have had far too many bad sellers. (More than I could count on my hands.) I have had them send me items that weren’t the same as pictured, I have had to file Paypal claims because the items were never sent, I have been sent items that were listed as “like-new” that had pages missing or were written in, I have had $200 items STUFFED into boxes WAY too small for them (and wondered if the items would ever regain their shape), I have been charged $10 for shipping when the seller paid $2.13 media mail (not a mere $1 handling charge there)…the list could go on… (And I am NOT a small volume buyer!)

I have in NEARLY every case either NOT left feedback (for fear of retaliation based on their obvious retaliatory history by looking at their feedback), or left “positive” but with my BAD experience listed. In EVERY case, I e-mailed Ebay with my frustration at NOT being able to leave an appropriate negative feedback due to fear of retaliation. (I know I am not the only one here.) In nearly EVERY ONE of these cases, the seller had 99.5% feedback or higher…I won’t bid if they don’t…yet these were my experiences…BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE AFRAID TO LEAVE RETALIATORY FEEDBACK OR BECAUSE THE RETALIATORY FEEDBACK WAS WITHDRAWN DUE TO RETALIATORY FEEDBACK HAVING BEEN LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS is NOT an honest feedback system!!!!!! (Can you tell I have strong feelings on the subject?)

I predict that this will not be the downfall of Ebay but rather will bring about a stronger, more vibrant, more HONEST feedback system for ALL. The sellers that don’t like this system seem to so strongly scream that a non-paying bidder won’t receive negative feedback. Go back and read. This is not true. THEY WILL!! If they are a non-paying bidder, they will still receive a non-paying bidder strike against them! That is the ONLY negative that can be left for a buyer…but it CAN be left!

Amy

And for the record…my feedback is 100%…I have NEVER had a neutral or negative left against me…ever (not withdrawn or otherwise).

Amy

Found a great online tool for calculating your ebay fees and profits

only UK at the moment but have emailed the site owner to see if they will be adding U.S. anytime soon and was told within 7 days

http://www.ebaycalculator.co.uk

I read over a lot of the comments here and i have to agree, Im trying to liqudate my fathers estate. Its been an amazing journey with ebay over the last 18 months. I mean what an insult to say they cut listing fees when the really jacked the final fee through the roof. Do they think we are stupid, and do they think they are the only online auction? I have 97 plus percent feedback and the 7 negatives I have are from the worse possible buyers you could ever ask for! They continue to do nothing to protect the sellers and everything to protect deadbeat buyers. why not make feedback manditory then the true numbers will shine, and after I go through the headache to get a deadbeat buyer refund, the jerk leaves me negative feedback? He shouldnt have the ability to do this. The numbers are not close to being accurate as for the seller isnt goin to tell the true experience of a buyer as to they will damage there future and lively hood.
Why not reverse the fees to the consumer. I mean isnt this how we grew up? we go to the store and purchase items we Want not Need and pay what we are willing to pay. Then you will see good quality sellers and buyers as the buyer is knowingly paying for the item and the final fee. It would also keep buyers from running up the auctions and keep people at a fair market value. In return it would create better sellers as they would have more money to purchase more inventory and have better returns. just my 2 cents, but ebay is now feebay and i pay them dearly each month and get nothing in return, but a final billing statement and no protection. I just recently got burned on an item that plainly stated as is no returns and ebay made me refund his money and he beat me out of a lens that came with the camera. Instead of the headache of dealing with ebay and paypal, i left him negative feedback and of course he retaliated. I’m the one hurt not him. My question is, how many other people has he done this way and they are reluctant to leave feedback. What the since in any of this? I can block him but do you not think he knows i will never allow him to bid again? I mean if you got caught shop lifting at the local store, would you really go back? I guess some would, but its always the good side that gets the shaft.

This is what I recommended to ebay today to help in some way to allow sellers a little more latitude in who buys from them. After all, it is our products, we should be able to decide who can buy if their is risk involved on our part. The way Ebay is now…If you own a store on the streets, and someone shows up on your bad check writing list, you do not accept a check from them. But Ebay has made it that you have to accept the check and even though you know they are a problem. Get the drift.
Here are 2 suggestions I gave them today.
“I have a few suggestions that will help build confidence and protect sellers. And at the same not interfere with buyers.
1) Since the change on the feedback system on Ebay, Sellers are open for fraud and abuse. Also there is no way to know if the buyer is a crook since they can only get good feedback and good comments. You have no way of knowing anything about the buyer and no way of blocking a bad buyer. It should be our decision who we sell to.
So here is a suggestion: We need to have a way to select at our option in our Ebay to block anyone who has left Negative Feedback to a seller in the last 30 days. This can be an option the same as the unpaid items option we currently have. It can be…Block buyer who has left a negative feedback in the last 30 days with 1,2, negative feedbacks left for others etc. And maybe even a within 30 days, 60 days etc. This allows us to at least block some risky buyers at our discretion. And the buyer even though may have had justification for leaving bad feedback on the transaction with someone else, will still be able to buy from other sellers who do not want to block someone who has left negative feedback in a certain period of time. Also it gives the buyer a 2nd thought of leaving negative feedback without resolving the matter. It will not stop them from buying on ebay, it will just keep them from buying from those sellers who choose to set this option and do not wish to take as much risk on someone who could not resolve the matter in which they gave bad feedback.

2) Another suggestion to help protect sellers and reduce disputes would be an option to require those buyers who have not ID verified with Ebay and got there ID verify icon on their ebay account.
I would like to suggest that the seller have the option to select an option in their account for those that have NOT ID verified that they are required to pay shipping insurance in their purchases. This encourages them to pay the $5.00 and be recognized with ID Verify. They do not have to ID verify on Ebay and totally is an option for the buyer, but if the buyer has not been ID verified they will have shipping insurance automatically in their total costs. Those who are ID verified will not have shipping insurance automatically added to their shipping costs. Shipping insurance will be optional for ID verified members of Ebay as it is presently for everyone Id Verified or not. This way we can clean up the buyers a little, and at least know a little more who is legit. It encourages the buyer to participate a little more in the Ebay system. And gives the sellers a little more reinsurance on transactions.

I know there is no way of completely eliminating all fraud etc. But these 2 suggestions at least give the seller more control who buys their products and also helps legitimize more buyers. And since both are options, and not required to be used. It should have no effect on disrupting the present system. And you can stop all the bad press and forums about the feedback system which is driving your sellers away.”
If you feel this will help a little, go to your ebay account, help, contact us and tell em you want it added like above. Enough people screaming for added protective filters for sellers will stop some of the problem, but never all.