Years ago eBay decided that they wanted to become an Amazon.com, well congratulations they have achied that status now. The proof is that for every 7000 auctions listed there are 223,000 Buy It Now listings.
Ebay is no longer an Auction site rather just a retail purchase store with 9 out of 10 items priced way over their actual value. This proves that most sellers are now scared of running auctions in the case of not achieving their expected highball price point.
Also the proof is that I've bought hardly anything anymore and many people I know are using other sites to buy and sell. I used to buy lots of items but with the rediculous postage prices which are driven by eBay's greed (postage calculator) many items are no longer viable to even bother listing especially when the item is a $10 item but postage is somewhere between $20 and $25. Do the maths and you'll soon work out there are much better deals out there opposed to using eBay. Another thing that proves that they are losing market share is that they have been running huge electronic media advertising campaigns as they never had to in their early days when all the buyers were coming here.
Oh well that's progress I guess and as one company faulters another prospers, eBay's days of prosperring are well and truly over now.
You also have the situation now whereby the consumer does not want to wait for an auction to end. They want their item now. How much does the cost of postage enter into the sale costings, who knows.
That means it costs me 10c to list the first 200 items per month and 5c thereafter, for BIN listings.
Auctions would cost me $1.50 each, with no guarantee of a sale, much less a reasonable price (which would have to factor in the extra $1.40 listing fee).
I can understand you want to get something for nothing, but I doubt most sellers have the same view.
And postage, whilst eBay apply FVFs, has nothing to do with eBay.
I run auctions on 3 accounts and do quite well. I think it depends on the item. Some would never sell at auction, others do quite well, like collectables and coins. Matchbox cars also do well at auction. Something like stationary, or new car parts not so well. The big issue with eBay these days is they have too many of the big retailers now, where they constantly run discount sales, so buyers spend their money there, rather than with other sellers.
I am not in competition with the big retailers, but if buyers are taking advantage of those constant discounts, they are not spending money with other sellers.
It doesn't matter where you buy online, you will have to pay a postage cost. Sometimes it's a separate charge, other times it's built into the price. EBay doesn't have anything to do with that. Blame Aust Post for the high prices.
I would also add that auctions were a dying breed 3 and a half years ago, when you apparently joined.
Even 8 years ago, when I joined, they were on their way out, as mug sellers started to not be mugs and realised that 99c auctions were not working to their advantage.
Then basically what you are saying is much the same as myself and that is eBay should change its name to "eSales" because eBay is no longer relevant, isn't it ?
The deal is this, if you buy from US or U.K. Like I did and failed t grasp that IPS shipping was in fact GSP where you pay by PayPal and instead of the approved verified address the shipment is hijacked to Kentucky Fried Chickenland via truck boat plane and maybe some ten days on you get your parcel. When you complain about the delay they say check back next Tuesday.
yes Aust Post prices went up but ebay take 10% of the postage fee as well as their fvf as they got greedy and wanted more of the pie even though they have nothing to do with postage and we the seller have to wear it or pass it on to the buyer which puts a lot of people of buying
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