topic Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September - now it's back!!! Basic Store in Selling

Basic store subscription doubling in September

sbmg2005 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 23:28:23 GMT

Hi,

We have just read the changes that are coming in September 2012 regarding Basic Store Subscriptions (rising from $24.95 to $49.95)

Our sales on ebay have reduced so much over the last year or so that doubling our store subscription really isn't an option (most of our sales come though our website). My question is, if we close our store and take advantage of the 30 free listings per month, will we have to relist the stock we have in there now? Or will it appear in our Unsold folder and we can just relist it from there? Also, is there anything we'll miss out on by not having a store other than Good Till Cancelled listings?

Any help would be appreciated.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

digital*ghost — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 23:35:10 GMT

I'm not sure what will happen to current listings if you close a store (GTC listings in particular - at best, if they don't end, I guess the'd reach the end of the listing period already charged, then end), but apart from the slight break on FVF, non-Power Sellers, store owners and businesses aren't able to list multiple quantity BIN's, nor use the variant listing format. Not sure if either of those will affect you, but they're the only other things I can think of.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

selpaw — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:50:47 GMT

I would guess that you are a Powerseller ?

If powerseller, you do not qualify for the free 30 listings.. so would need to create a new account or wait few - several months for you to lose your powerseller status (assuming thats how that would work).

listing fees are also from 50cents upto $3 depending on price tag/start price.

only can list 1 qty per listing. and max days listed is 10 days.

so you could only relist each item 3 times.... once you go over 30 listings, it will then cost....

im in the same boat now.. sales have a slowed a lot since earlier this year.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

jupitercreekmusic — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 01:12:58 GMT

My sales have been down for some time now so on receiving the email this morning I've closed my store.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

nicegreenpetticoats — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 01:22:25 GMT

I recently closed my store, good timing hey, all my listings dropped into unsold so you can relist them from there.

It would seem that ebay wants to squeeze low volume sellers out of the store system and only keep big businesses there.

I guess us hobby sellers aren't worth much to them.

Jenny

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

nicegreenpetticoats — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 01:25:59 GMT

Oh yes, if you want to opt out of the powerseller program you just give ebay a ring and they will cancel it for you and you will be able to get your 30 free listings a month.

I never found the powerseller of any benefit when I had it, when they removed it sales were about the same.

I got to list my first 30 the other day, it saved me $15.00, so woohoo, better than paying $49.95!

Jenny

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

flashback_deals — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 01:36:28 GMT

If you close your store, all your listings end at the same time

This will hurt the smaller sellers on selling limits. I am on 200, but since late November last year, I have now lost track on how many times I have sents emails or rand ebay to get my limits raised.

If you email, it says you get a response within about 24 hours, if you ring, they will forward your request to have your limits raised to Trust & Safety and you should bget a reply within 3-5 working days

Late November 2011 is 9 months ago and not once have I had a reply about getting my limits raised

If ebay want sellers to become sucessful, not raising limits and increasing site fees wont help

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

superscanner4 — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 01:43:00 GMT

I will be closing my store also. The price rise is outrageous and aimed at getting rid of hobby sellers. Some enterprising people should start a new site and do it better than eBay, it wouldn't be hard.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

sbmg2005 — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:03:04 GMT

Thanks for all your replies. It seems like we won't really lose much by closing the store. Even if we used up the 30 free listings and had to pay a few dollars here and there for listings it would still be a better outcome for us than having our store subscription double.

Luckily for us, we don't rely on ebay for most of our business because with all the changes over the last 12 months and with more to come, I suspect business will be dropping even more unfortunately.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

comcol — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:17:35 GMT

Well done once again to the people we call "ebay". Just weeks after doubling the sales fees they now double the store fees..lol. Seriously, you people are shooting yourselves in the foot. People are quitting ebay in their droves due to this. All for the sake of making a quick buck. It is far cheaper to sell off ebay now due to the ridiculous over the top fees.

My sales had dropped since the massive fee increases yet ebay is now making more money from those sales!!. The is simply no use having a store anymore.

Imagine the shock of customers who now learn that they could buy a desktop computer from us for over $100 cheaper if it was not on Ebay.

Wake up ebay. If you want to continue having a large section of the internet otherwise everyone will eventually move on to other far cheaper sales auction sites now available.

Of course, as usual my posting will be removed for daring to state facts.lol

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

comcol — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:18:33 GMT

Totally agree!!. Making a third of the fees and they would still be mutil millionaires. Ebay is nothing but a rip off these days.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

star*mystyk — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:37:44 GMT

but apart from the slight break on FVF, non-Power Sellers, store owners and businesses aren't able to list multiple quantity BIN's, nor use the variant listing format. Not sure if either of those will affect you, but they're the only other things I can think of.

So, if I close my Store I won't be able to do multiple quantity fixed price listings - it's only for store owners? Can non-store owners do BIN with best offer?

As we're also not allowed to list multiple identical listings that's rather annoying. I've two different items that I have at least 10-20 of.

I guess I'll have to list them now, before the changes happen.

I certainly won't be keeping my store open. The main reasons I liked having one was holiday settings, GTC, 30 day listings, multiple fixed price, and having everything neatly organised into categories.

I've had a store for as long as I can remember so don't remember what it's like without one.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

thesoulyearns — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:43:09 GMT

Yes, non-store owners can have BIN with best offer. I have the 30-day free listings thing and at the moment 10-day listings are also free. You could also do a Second Chance Offer to the next highest bidder and get 2-3 of the same item sold from the one auction, depending on the number of bids.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

flashback_deals — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 05:10:05 GMT

The sellers with thousands of listing wont be affected. Some charge a vfortune for secondhand stuff and thing everything is a rare find so they only have to sell a few and they get their profit

But smaller and hobby sellers who sell cheap items will get flushed out because of more fees and in the end, if you want something, instead of getting something say for $3, if the smaller traders are gone, these big sellers could charge $10, $20 or more for the same item, and if you really want it, you have to pay it making ebay an expensive buying experience

Smaller sellers on limits wont be able to afford to sell cheap items now, and they cant raise prices to match the bigger sellers because of their higher feedback which means eBay flushes the smaller sellers out

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

nicegreenpetticoats — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 05:46:07 GMT

I read one comment the other day about how you can't find any cheap, weird and whacky items here anymore.

With fee hikes like this one there won't be too many of these gems or bargains to be had anymore, smaller store owners if they decide to brave the fees will have to raise prices to compensate.

Let ebay try to tell buyers how much they will enjoy paying more for their products, they keep telling sellers that buyers want all these reforms, but I'm not convinced.

It is getting to the point where you can buy brand new items at Kmart & BigW for less than what you can pick up secondhand here.

Jenny

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

perfectly_dark007 — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:34:23 GMT

Ebay youve done a good job here of getting rid of your hobby sellers. I read the email as 'we didnt make as much money as we thought with our last fee change, so heres a doubled store fee. What are YOU going to do about it'

So yes, Ill be closing my store also. Its not big but a couple of hundred a month in ebay fees youve lost on me alone over a cash grab

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

j*oono — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:37:17 GMT

Around 90% of my sales are to the United States. These other sites would just not work for me the way ebay does but the store cost will finish my little hobby store off now anyway.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

j*oono — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:44:45 GMT

Thanks Soul. I will take a look.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

shemagic — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:58:34 GMT

will close my store also paying 49.95 fro 24.95 is a joke small time sellers can't make a profit most of the time with the changes and this will just end it for me.

Re: Basic store subscription doubling in September

sarahs_bits — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 07:22:29 GMT

It won't matter one bit to eBay if the majority of small/hobby sellers (like myself and many, many others) disappear, they want us gone anyway - it's practically in the wording of their email anyway :

"This new fee is aimed at allowing serious businesses on eBay to continue operating a Store, while individual sellers should consider taking advantage of the 30 free listings* available every month."

I think it also boils down to the fact that they won't spend the money on getting more support staff to help with the daily issues the site has as it as anyway (in relation to disagreements regarding FB and DSR's etc), so better to trim a few of us off and keep the larger monthly fee's they get from the big sellers and reduce seller complaints. I don't know, it's all a bit sad really, I'm sure the combined total of what the smaller/low turnover stores generate is quite large, but obviously not large enough to be worth the hassle in their eyes.

I'm just going to see how it goes, I'll keep on doing what I'm doing and see if it's still financially viable to keep a store and if losing my TSR really has much of an impact.

Good luck everyone - sad times ahead methinks!