No more free listings?

[Cetona]

This may be old news, but I just received this e-mail from eBay. Sounds like for those of us without a store, no more free fixed price listings. I guess this is another reason to move towards big sets, I can see this really hurting people who part out.

"Our research shows that in many popular categories

[dbost01]

Ebay..lol they want auction style listings badly...Their damn research doenst show that auction style nets more profit for sellers. I just don't buy it.

[spener90]

This does change things, my hope is that they continue to give sporadic free fixed price listings each month, like they do now.

[knarrff]

They probably saw that about 90% of the listings are fixed price, which is kind of destroying their image of auction house. For large items it does not change a lot, but for smaller ...

[Noodlenut]

I have hated auction style listings since I sold a Joker minifigure from 76013 Steam Roller for $5.75.  I had seen the same minifigure go for $11 on auction style and thought "How bad can it be?"

 

I guess I'll just have to pay the fees and suffer at the relentless hands of eBay.

[El Guapo]

Not sure this changes all that much for me.  For example...I have a couple dozen Superman Vs Power Armor Lex sets.  For me to list them for 1 year would cost $3.60.  There might be less competition...so I think I could grab an extra few bucks here or there.  Just need to watch it more closely...at some point having a store will be cheaper.

[justafrog]

Yep, just keep crunching numbers - a store will make sense at a certain price point for some, just eating the fees will make sense for others.

 

On the plus side, there will be a good deal of hilarity to watch as yahoo sellers list in the wrong category to avoid fees. I remember one from a year or so ago listing her evening wear (dresses and shoes) in the camping categories because they had a free listing special going on at the time. 

[Cetona]

For me I sell about 200 items a year, so this would cost me about $60 extra. Not a huge deal but still significant. I guess one option would be running auctions but make the starting price whatever you would run a fixed price auction at.

It definitely affects people who part out- say you split a set into the set plus three minifigs, that's an extra $1.20 you're paying to list it. Though I'm guessing most people who part out enough have a store already.

[jnorlund]

They probably saw that about 90% of the listings are fixed price, which is kind of destroying their image of auction house. For large items it does not change a lot, but for smaller ...

 

They already made a marked shift towards being a non-auction house some time ago with forced free shipping, promotion of certain stores and inventory, etc.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

For me I sell about 200 items a year, so this would cost me about $60 extra. Not a huge deal but still significant. I guess one option would be running auctions but make the starting price whatever you would run a fixed price auction at.

It definitely affects people who part out- say you split a set into the set plus three minifigs, that's an extra $1.20 you're paying to list it. Though I'm guessing most people who part out enough have a store already.

 

I don't think you get free listings past a certain starting point unfortunately. Free is for 99 cents if I remember correctly.

[Noodlenut]

Yep, just keep crunching numbers - a store will make sense at a certain price point for some, just eating the fees will make sense for others.

 

On the plus side, there will be a good deal of hilarity to watch as yahoo sellers list in the wrong category to avoid fees. I remember one from a year or so ago listing her evening wear (dresses and shoes) in the camping categories because they had a free listing special going on at the time. 

Speaking of stores... how expensive is a basic store nowadays?

[jbacunn]

Speaking of stores... how expensive is a basic store nowadays?

I got the same e-mail. I live off of the free listings completely. I haven't paid a listing free in years and I use every single one of my 50 every month and supplement with the free ones they offer at least once a month. A basic store costs $20 a month or $16 a month for an annual commitment. The thing I don't understand is the fees. It says that final value fees are 9% if you have a store but I already pay less than this with top rated plus so my question is if you have a store and are top rated plus what final value fee percentage do you pay?

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[redghostx]

Speaking of stores... how expensive is a basic store nowadays?

$16 a month.

 

It seems to me that if you are a small time seller, you can still use your free listings and run an auction and just start the bidding at your selling price.  I looked through eBay's unhelpful help section and that seems to be the policy.

 

Perhaps an expert can clarify this.

[Cetona]

I got the same e-mail. I live off of the free listings completely. I haven't paid a listing free in years and I use every single one of my 50 every month and supplement with the free ones they offer at least once a month. A basic store costs $20 a month or $16 a month for an annual commitment. The thing I don't understand is the fees. It says that final value fees are 9% if you have a store but I already pay less than this with top rated plus so my question is if you have a store and are top rated plus what final value fee percentage do you pay?

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I'm pretty sure the top rated discount is 2%, so for a store you would pay 7% instead of 8%.

[knarrff]

It seems to me that if you are a small time seller, you can still use your free listings and run an auction and just start the bidding at your selling price.

Isn't this again connected to a fee, depending on the starting price much more than 30 cents?

[justafrog]

I got the same e-mail. I live off of the free listings completely. I haven't paid a listing free in years and I use every single one of my 50 every month and supplement with the free ones they offer at least once a month. A basic store costs $20 a month or $16 a month for an annual commitment. The thing I don't understand is the fees. It says that final value fees are 9% if you have a store but I already pay less than this with top rated plus so my question is if you have a store and are top rated plus what final value fee percentage do you pay?

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Top rated plus is getting you 20% off your final value fees on items sold - you would still get that 20% off a long as you maintain TRS Plus status, the store/no store makes no difference to your TRS discount.

[redghostx]

 

Isn't this again connected to a fee, depending on the starting price much more than 30 cents?

 

Not according to their help section and the fee calculator.  Using the fee calculator, you can list an auction at $100, sell for $100 and pay only $10 in fees.

[MarleyMoose]

If you have auto relist set up will Ebay still relist you and then charge you? Probably....

[jbacunn]

I'm pretty sure the top rated discount is 2%, so for a store you would pay 7% instead of 8%.

Just looked it up. Top rated plus is actually 20% off your final value fees so if you don't have a store then it's 20% off 10% which is 2% so if you have a store and are top rated plus then it would be 20% off 9% which is 1.80% so the final value fee would be 7.20%. Having a store would only benefit me by .80% in final value fees plus the listing fees I would avoid. I will have to crunch some numbers to see what's best for me.

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[Anakinisvader]

Free is NEVER free.  Someone pays for it somehow. 

[knarrff]

Free is NEVER free.  Someone pays for it somehow. 

I don't think anybody claimed that. "Free" here is meant as "free for me/us". I don't like their move with the 30 cents. They could at least wave it in case the item is sold, which would avoid the many unsold, "free" BIN listings. Oh well - I guess everybody is free to choose Ebay or not, and of course Ebay is only interested in their money in the end. It's not a community project, it's a company. I don't have to like it and they probably don't care about a small fish like me.

[j.hermit]

An easy way to look at the cost of an Ebay store-  if you're making $2000 in sales a month, then the 1% FVF reduction pays for the $20/month store cost.  If you want to be a bit more technical, here's what I use my math skills for:

 

.01x + .3y - 20 = ????

 

x  is your total monthly sales.

y  is your monthly listings over your free 50 (up to 150, since that's what you get free with a store)

 

If you end up with a positive number, then you should get a store.  The equation is taking the money you would've saved from the FVF reduction and extra listing fees then subtracting the $20 store fee. 

[Migration]

All I plan on doing is running auctions with a starting bid at or slightly below whatever BIN price I would have chosen. At least until eBay finds a way to close that loophole. I like how it stated that auctions lead to more SALES not higher returns.

[Shislerocco]

Got same email. Needless to say I was pretty pissed.

[doejaster]

I've never paid for a listing fee before.  My assumption is that is the price paid to list the item, but reading some posts it sounds like it is only charged when you sell the item.  If it is only when I sell the item, then it isn't going to be as big of an impact to me.  If it's to list the item (as I assume) then it's a much bigger deal. 

 

I also, as was already mentioned, wonder about what items that auto-relist will do.  I'll likely make sure all of my items are canceled before 5/15.  Sigh.