Basic store subscription doubling in September

[sbmg2005]

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.

[phorum_junkie*]

It seems that eBay is only interested in retaining the high-volume sellers who deal in the same mass-produced made-in-China products that  -- well, that everyone else is already selling anyway.

I am not a high volume seller, I don't sell mass produced products that everyone else is selling.

last year my store fees were $19.99 per month. This year they will be $49.99

BUT my listing fee will be 50% less and I will be paying .9% less in FVFs.

Even if they don't even it out so I am paying a couple of dollars a week more then I will just have to sell one more item a week or add 10c onto my BIN for some of my more polular brands.

[phorum_junkie*]

It seems that eBay is only interested in retaining the high-volume sellers who deal in the same mass-produced made-in-China products that  -- well, that everyone else is already selling anyway.

I am not a high volume seller, I don't sell mass produced products that everyone else is selling.

last year my store fees were $19.99 per month. This year they will be $49.99

BUT my listing fee will be 50% less and I will be paying .9% less in FVFs.

Even if they don't even it out so I am paying a couple of dollars a week more then I will just have to sell one more item a week or add 10c onto my BIN for some of my more polular brands.

[kustomizer99]

Hi Phorum - - my listing fees as a store owner were only 5 cents per item anyway -- so that wasn't the problem.

The problem is that my stuff simply doesn't sell any more -- CDs and comics -- or if it does it's at a loss. At this stage I'm only interested in getting rid of my leftovers from the glory days .... I've tried lisitng in bulk for crazy bargains, but not much luck. When the fees outweigh the profits, that's when I get out.

I'd be better off donating everything to a charity so at least it won't cost me $$$ to dream of ever making cash on eBay again by wasting %50 on a store every moth, plus hours scanning and listing stuff that's now available otherwise for free download all over the net.

I'm glad you're still having success, and I hope it continues!

[viewmont1071]

I will repeat, if a store cannot sustain a fee rise of $5.60 a week then it is not a viable business anyway and the seller would be better served using the free listings.

and I quote Phorum is reiterating

........ any store that cannot sustain a 100% increase in rent............ was not a viable business anyway ???........................

[phorum_junkie*]

The problem is that my stuff simply doesn't sell any more -- CDs and comics -- or if it does it's at a loss. At this stage I'm only interested in getting rid of my leftovers from the glory days .... I've tried lisitng in bulk for crazy bargains, but not much luck. When the fees outweigh the profits, that's when I get out.

My point exactly Kustom, ebay evolves and sellers either evolve with it or they don't survive.

The ebay of today is a very different beast to the site I began selling on so many years ago and I have had to change tactics many, many times and will continue to do so until it stops being profitable or pleasurable.

When that day comes I will stop selling but will not blame ebay, I will blame my wish to no longer make changes.

[marksjeep44]

I used to check out these boards when I first joined e-bay and still do now and then but am constantly driven out by people like forum _junkie (sic) and her phlunkies (sic) who cannot hear a single word against e-bay nor herself.

My challenge to you forum_junkie is this -

Post just one negative comment about e-bay or it's charges, fees and changes and I will leave this forum forever, happy and satisfied, guarnteed.

Let's face it, there must be at least one thing they do that is bad, unfair, unjust, wrong, overpriced or just plain biased against the seller or even the lister?

So, are you up to the chanllenge?

[the3coopers]

I used to check out these boards when I first joined e-bay and still do now and then but am constantly driven out by people like forum _junkie (sic) and her phlunkies (sic) who cannot hear a single word against e-bay nor herself.

It's not about being an eBay flunky. It's about getting REAL.

If you have elsewhere to go that is better, then go. If you have nowhere else to go, then you need to adjust to the changes.

I've been here selling for over 10 years (not on this ID) and there have been HEAPS of revisions to fees, structures, policies etc. I remember the massive Stores changes when they made eBay Stores invisible in searches, and I remember all the sellers saying that would be the end of eBay.

But it wasn't the end of ebay, and despite having the business handed to them on a plate the Other site was incapable of picking up the ball and running with it. And even today, there isn't really anywhere else to go.

Yeah yeah, this store rise is 100%, but no matter which way you cut it the increase is only $6.25 per week. That is NOTHING in the overall scheme of things. How much do you spend on bread each week?

If you sell 20 items a week, then you probably shouldn't be running a store... but if you increase each item by 31 cents then you will be OK. If you sell 1000 items per week, then increase your prices by 1 cent. At the end of the day, the buyer is the one who pays for the increase, not you.

And if, like PJ mentioned, your business is so fragile that it cannot support a fee increase of $6.25 per week, then you are running so close to the bone that it's not just eBay that could tip you over the edge. Just one lost parcel in a month and you go broke? Surely not... but if so, why on earth are you doing it?

[kustomizer99]

Ebay has changed, the whole world has changed....

I'm not suddenly going to start dealing in items I'm not interested in, simply for the sake of a few dollars.

Fortunately I don't need eBay to survive. I was merely hoping to be able to continue selling and buying here at a 'hobby' level, but they've just made it way too problematic and onerous. They're just interested in being 'China R Us'.

So the rest of us move on to other things.There's a lot more to life than this ol' place.

[davewil1964]

If you sell 20 items a week

I wish. I f I sold that the new fees wouldn't worry me.

[bigtrainiac]

It's not hard to understand the customer resistance (sellers are eBay's customers), disenchantment & general Machiavellian attitude to these changes.

After all, any price is directly related to the concept of value ... The value you receive for the money you spend.

If you don't consider the fees you pay for an unjust feedback system, being coerced into shipping & return terms you don't like, being buried in a manipulated search function, if you don't consider these things are worth the value of the fees you pay, then maybe it is time, like others have pointed out so clearly here, for you to bug out & go elsewhere.

Sure, your sales may be slower, but you won't go broke waiting for them. You may even get some warm & fuzzies supporting an Aussie site out of it.

Even hobby sellers, large & small, & the sellers of the old, antiquarian, quirky, they too have there place in the Loonyverse ...

Word your listings well & google et al will find you in it ....