eBay raises fees yet again... is another seller revolt coming?

I agree with everyone, but just like with politics, action is required because the powers that be don't listen to you, right? A revolt sounds great, but how many would actually switch?
I especially agree with the post above that states that they are going after the SELLERS, BECAUSE THEY CAN, even though sellers are the reason for their success.
I was already fed up with their "fees" and I started listing elsewhere, but have had no sales so far! And since a lot of people need this type of venue to pay for their food and keeps a roof over their head, we need sites that produce results.
I have listed all the alternatives given above, below, please send your alternatives also.

www.pheebay.com, hibidder, tazbar, zikbay.com, onlineauctionexchange.com.

ALSO... are there other sites where we can post this information?

THANKS A LOT FOR GIVING US THE OPPORTUNITY TO POST HERE.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Not only is eBay killing its sellers, it's going to kill its business model if its not careful. We've started a web site to try to "constructively" find ways to deal with these new problems. Come offer your advice, tips, opinions, thoughts, or just let loose a little frustration if you need to.. we certainly have.
http://ebaysellersunited.carolinaregion.com/

I am a ten year eBay seller with thousnads of transactions and one with a 100% perfect record. Besides raising fees they are taking away the sellers right to give negative feedback to buyers. In other words, besides being more costly to sell it will be lots, lots harder. Want to learn more? Go to the eBay discussion boards. Long time sellers like myself are ready to forget eBay and jump ship. Think it can't happen; think again!! Good luck shareholders!!!

I'm really tired of Ebay's fees and of the way they treat their sellers. I'm sure there are plenty of Ebay sellers that have been with the from the start that regret supporting this company. I still sell on Ebay but I also sell on offertime http://www.offertime.net of course I get more traffic on Ebay but I'm paying an arm and a leg for it. Not only that but It's also stressing me out. Ebay's no longer the company it used to be.

You kno I'm starting to see more and more people switching from ebay but now I see why there really ridicoulous and money hungry, I use http://www.porkypost.com now

Just how much more of a seller's income does ebay think it can snatch? If someone pays by Paypal you lose 20% of the first £1 in the UK and then, of course, there are the listing fees, gallery fees, final value fees etc.

Now what concerns me most is why ebay find the need to adjust their percentage up the way all the time. What exactly does this indicate?

In my opinion there are a few things going on here and I don't like any of them.

First, ebay made its brand name on the back of all the Mom and Pop little kitchen table businesses and these are the very people being severely harmed by these constant increases in fees. I'm sure it will also hit low profit margin, high volume sellers hard too.

Secondly, with all the cheap listing days which have been trotted out recently (far more than in previous years) it appears there is a serious problem in maintaining the volume of listings on the ebay network. I wonder idly if this is because after the fee hike in August - to 'rebalance' the marketplace away from store inventory format listings - which put a lot of sellers in an untenable position on ebay by making it wholly uneconomic to sell low price range items - many sellers then listed at the 'old' price to take them up to Christmas and have now deserted their ebay accounts.

Third, it appears that since the revenue is likely to fall in real terms when even volume sellers are leaving, the only way ebay can hope to meet investor expectations is by grabbing a larger percentage of the total financial traffic on the site than they currently do.

Whilst this last point may be fine by the investors, it spells disaster for the site as a whole.

Investors had better be aware that there are many auction venues available on the internet.

Sellers are finding them and you can too, most of these venues are free to list on and , without doubt, they are taking market share from ebay.

Call in on the forums at http://www.pheebay.com/ and you'll see what I mean.

Heya Brian...

This is what I posted to Melly's Blog:

"eBay is pricing themselves right out of the market... And they deserve it... There are other venues out there, HiBidder.com and Tazbar.com just to name two good ones that provide better service for much much less...

I had to step away from the computer when I read the words "unhealthy dynamics"... Those were the exact condescending words they used in July... Who writes this garbage? And poor Cobb Man, he must have drawn the short straw to have been chosen to make that announcement, LOL...

St Elsewhere's get ready, eBay just handed you an entire new market, don't miss it..."

And I will add here, that I do believe the powers that be at eBay have lost their freaking minds... 40 cents to list a 1.00 item???

That's insane... But you are absolutely positively correct in your last statement, and eBay might have just finally given sellers that push they need...

I think eBay are fast reaching the tipping point and the winners will be the alternative venues. It's a win/win situation for both sellers and the St Elsewheres, if the alternative venues can market themselves successfully.

Last summer, eBay UK announced their fee hikes would take effect on the same day as Royal Mail's new pricing in proportion - August 21st. Here in the UK we are now awaiting another announcement from Royal Mail regarding the introduction of an International PiP (some indications are on this site: http://www.neopost.co.uk/index.asp?Page=2724). I am now wondering if eBay UK will once again coincide their core listing price rises announcement with RMs price rises. I have also heard that USPS are also increasing shipping costs in the US.

My point being, the: who, where, why, when, what and how of internet shopping might well be shifting. For example, 'what' - I will no longer purchase low cost items on eBay - so that 'where' is also changing. (It's looking like there will soon be far fewer low cost items on eBay anyway). 'Why'? Because shipping costs are prohibitive. I'll return to the High Street 'when' I fancy a change of scene.

"When is enough enough? I am not sure how to answer that, but the brand power eBay has apparently has given the company the confidence to know it can jack up fees regularly and still say in business quite well. That is, unless, sellers revolt -- and strongly."

I'm up for revolting! Thanks for the link Katherine.

This is the same play that is used by Utility , Shipping, and Oil companys. What the market will bear. Fed by the same thing. Greed

Dear Brian, wow those big oinkers going after that share of consumer wallet!

I can bring out my magic ball and say that more than likely ebay will announce something that will curtail the growing riot. We should all get ready for a super auction promo because they'll do that just to get you back to work!

Whatever goes down, everyone needs to remember, this is not the big issue. Ebay times everything like a wave. They want you to get all outraged and put all your energy into fighting a fee hike, then they slip something under the radar so you don't realize or don't have the momentum to fight 2 issues at once.

Think about what ebay just announced over the past months. Hmmmm ... rolled out the excessive S&H policy before the stores fee hike, removing the preapproved listings option so you are vulnerable to those deadbeats, starting to block your ability to see who you are bidding against to see if they are shillers, testing skype. Hmmm maybe they're getting ready to roll out good skype. And now that you're having to start again on what should I do to make sure I get higher sales to compensate for these low opening prices.. it's a perfect time for ebay to deploy skype and bully us all into user adoption.

The stores fee increase was nuts, but the auction sellers are going for the throat. I would spend more time talking about the inadequate service and what you are getting for your money instead of the fee increase itself.. because we all know that when sales are rocking you can afford the higher fees. You watch, Ebay is going to encourage auction sellers to buy stores just like how they told store sellers to use auctions. And those ebay moderators on the message boards are going to disappear just like before because they don't have enough body armour. Then when they start wearing down the ebay protest groups, they'll show up, hand them pink slaps, censor the posts and pull it from the search cache and rewrite their own history again as the greatest most magical place on earth!

I'm going to do the same thing I did the last time, buy ebay stock when its low because you know its going to drop and sell it when it goes back up. I'm going to make a MODEST amount of money

Perhaps those that remained at eBay after the last hike will realise that they are now having to pay for those who had the sense to leave last time. It's all about revenues and stockholders, how much longer can the smoke and mirrors be used to hoodwink the investors. I only see another exodus of sellers, who are also buyers, a fact that eBay seems to have forgotten. With fewer buyers sales will decline, more sellers will despair, another 'Lets blow my foot off' exercise, not going to be much of a body left soon.

Im heading to pheebay to see what we can do.

Ive seen this before as you all have but it seems ebay alwasy comes out anyway so not sure what we can do.

:(

steve

Ebay needs to figure out what it is doing wrong beyond listing fees. Maybe a change in leadership is in order. Look for someone outside of the company with an objective approach. Someone who views the Ebay seller as the boss and not the other way around. Thier stock should have been at 40.00 by years end.

Another fee increase...why is it that their stock is still going sideways?

I got so fed up with ebays fee hikes and just the mass confusion at. I'm starting to move all my stuff to another site. The site allows me to avoid all the ebay fees and put more of the profit in my pockets. Its worked out well, I invite you all

http://www.onlineauctionexchange.com

Zikbay.com does not charge a penny for a store. Please look: tony.zikbay.com

It is awsome, they keep adding new changes daily! Main page www.zikbay.com. It does not take them 1 year to put Skype button on page like Ebay did.