eBay fees and listing conditions, constantly changing, sellers treated with utter contempt!!

[yeoldecoinco]

eBay, your current fee structure is an absolute disgrace.

When I started on eBay 15 years ago, the fees were less than HALF what they are today.

Also, back then, there was no Paypal gouging another close to 3% on top.

If you want people to offer anything else but rubbish on eBay, why don't you HEAVILY reduce your fees, ESPECIALLY for items of say, $200 or more?

The higher priced the item, the lower the margin, in most cases.

Why can't you JUST LEAVE SELLERS ALONE TO SELL THINGS??

All you do is add more and more requirements and fees onto sellers, minimum sized pictures is just the latest example of eBay craziness. Try taking photos of small items, like coins, above 500 pixels let alone the 1600 pixels you want.

Another gem is no stock photos for used items, are you mad? Do you think I have the time to take individual photos of $5 items?

I have sold THOUSANDS of used items(coins) off  standard photos with almost ZERO complaints.

How about the eBay Premium Service madness? Making you provide free postage so eBay can gouge more commission out of you, or your items do not appear in many search results. Just another form of blackmail.

eBay used to be great, now it is **bleep**, ruined by too many people trying to justify their existence, most of which HAVE NEVER SOLD A THING IN THEIR LIFE!!

Go on, put you fees up some more, I DARE YOU!!

Please, please, no posts from people saying "If you don't like it go elsewhere"

Most of these people appear to me to be paid eBay plants.

I am going, this is my last year on eBAY, website and self promotion is the way to go, NOT propping up eBay, a company who bought out the people I used to list with (Sold.com) and closed them down.

Back then, I had no choice but to go to eBay. Now, there are choices..

I have the right to vent, because PEOPLE LIKE ME MADE eBAY, now we are just gouged at every turn, made to jump through continual rule change hoops affecting our listings and are treated with utter contempt!

If I wanted to work for someone else I would, with eBay these days, you are just working for someone else WHO CONTINUALLY CHANGES THE RULES WITH UTTER DISREGARD FOR THE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT THEM!!

The fact that one has to redo 100s or 1000s of photos and listings MEANS NOT A JOT TO eBAY SUITS!

Just so over it.

[*sparklz*]

Maybe contact ebay and tell them as this is only members like you that post here and the ebay staff do not read here.

[davewil1964]

I won't comment about the rest, but as pictures form part of the description, I certainly don't think ANYBODY should be allowed to use stock pics of new items for any used items.

[digital*ghost]

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@yeoldecoinco wrote:

Please, please, no posts from people saying "If you don't like it go elsewhere"

Most of these people appear to me to be paid eBay plants.

---

Would you pay someone to tell your customers to go away? As far as marketing and customer satisfaction goes, if I were running eBay I'd be spending money on other things. But then, I'm not an eBay employee, nor do I know what motivates all of their decisions. 

And I'm not saying I think eBay's fee structure is the best thing ever. I haven't been here as long as you, but I have seen final value fees nearly double in the last few years - sometimes more than double, since they're now a flat 9.9% for anyone without a store and there's no sliding scale anymore (which saw fees reduce for amounts above $75, down to a bit over 2% on amounts above - from memory - $1000).

No one likes to pay more, and I do personally think in some cases these fees are bordering on unfair to outrageous (eg I have to pay the same FVF on most of my items that media sellers do, but I don't get the lower insertion fee of 5c, and I have a hard time reconciling the idea that eBay should get up to $250 for a commission when there's not much difference to them between a $5 listing and a $5k listing), but at the same time, I think it's a mistake to presume that if eBay had never changed at all, neither would the businesses that have operated here for years. 

[yeoldecoinco]

I am NOT using stock pictures of NEW items to sell USED items. Sheesh, can't you read English?

I am using stock pictures of USED items to sell USED items.

Pictures soon will NOT form part of the description, they will be only able to be loaded through the picture hosting service.

My pictures, at present form part of the description and are loaded AS PART OF THE DESCRIPTION, but, according to them, not for much longer, then I have to put them through the picture hosting service.

Once every one HAS to do that, watch them start charging for it.

You are a constant  eBay apologist, do they pay you?

You were probably not around when eBay started, so you cannot form an opinion based on what it was like then.

I was and can and I can tell you, it has changed for the worst for sellers, especially over the last three years.

[davewil1964]

But different used items, not the ones you are actually selling. So pics of coins that might bear no resemblance to the ones you sell, but are nevertheless used?

I don't know where you get your inside information about only being able to upload pics through the hosting service. I only upload pics through the hosting service, but I am also able to upload any of MY pics into the description part of a listing.

No, I wasn't here when the place started, but i have been around for over 5 years, so I have an idea of what was happening three years ago.

Question - eBay increased the pic limit from 2 to 12, made them all free (when only the first was previously), why do you think they will suddenly start charging again? Unless, of course, you work for eBay and have information the rest of us don't?

[yeoldecoinco]

Let us say I have a 1911 penny, a popular coin, the first year Australia made pennies.

I list a stock photo of a 1911 penny and send one SIMILAR to the photo.

Usually, just to make sure, I send a slightly better one than the photo.

And guess what? Very, very few complaints, I must have sold 25,000 coins like this, ie using a stock photo of a SIMILAR item.

But, if I had to photo EVERY 1911 penny, just would not be worth the time.

FOR NOW, I can list photos in the item description (ie rather than via the picture hosting service), but not for much longer.

[davewil1964]

I'm sure, with your volume and buyer satisfaction levels you won't have problems selling elsewhere.

But eBay flagged this change back in September, so it can hardly be a shock, if you read announcements.

1911 pennies must be very common, as they seem to constitute 90% of your sales.

My issue is that you have been a member of eBay for over 14 years, have never considered giving other members the benefit of your expertise, but when you deign to post on the boards expect everybody to bow to your experience. Why bother posting in the first place, you obviously know more than we do?

Or maybe take it to the powerseller board, where at least one member will give you similar answers to mine.

[digital*ghost]

I think there is a difference between being an "eBay apologist", and a realist. 

I also think it's worthwhile taking a moment to consider eBay's actions from their perspective, rather than focussing on how they affect you as an individual.

Put it this way (figures are arbitrary for obvious reasons, simply designed to illustrate a point) - if you had ten customers that contributed 50% of your total annual revenue and they were all quite happy to continue doing that no matter what you did, then 100 other customers who contributed 10% to your annual revenue who were thoroughly displeased with your service and prices.... What would you do?

Would you bend over backwards 100 different ways to try and please everyone, or would you recognise it's easier to keep 10 big spenders happy, simplify your tactics, change your business plan and target the customers who are the most value to you?

eBay's changes have continually driven me forward (especially the ones I don't like or agree with, because I often have to find a way to contend with them), and maybe I'm just lucky, but I've ended up being more successful both because and in spite of them. And you know, that's just me actually telling myself (in a nicer way, as I tend to be kind to myself) "if you don't like it, leave" (i.e. if I couldn't find a viable way to contend with - or adapt to - eBays changes, I wouldn't be here, because I know there are many, many, other sellers who can and will, and I, as a small business seller, offer eBay no incentive to adapt to me.

[x3n0m]

.. I can't help but agree with yeoldecoinco and can imagine he could only be alarmed at the continuous barrage of non sensicle changes that ebay forces on us  .. I monitor some of the categories that yeoldecoinco targets and the situation is woeful .. not only have multiple categories been deleted and database madness coupled with keyword spamming making it near impossible but the best match default has simply worsened and confused everything .. those categories used to have very high turnover and prior to all the ebay insanity were approximately 1/10th of the size .. now the categories are just swamped with items that sell very slowly .. I can't help but imagine ebay planned it this way to bedazzle shareholders with grey accountancy and to prop up a few ebay insiders via best match default .. as for sold.com.au being bought out by yahoo.com (an ebay affiliate at that time) then shut down and buyers redirected to ebay the ACCC should have fined them both and kicked their asses out of the country for the abuse as sold.com.au was 3 times more viable than ebay ever was so obviously there were backroom deals going down to get a highly viable Australian business shut down in such a short period of time and I would be pleased to see justice done there and the entire situation properly investigated by the appropriate authority but until that happens one must surmise that ebays insidious tentacles reach all the way into government who look the other way as money is routinely deposited into ebay’s Swiss bank account .. I too am disgusted with ebays pathetic performance and diminishing sales, the lack of support, the diluted product, the insider scamming, the underhanded monopoly practices, the deletion of thousands of categories, the fee structure and the demonic best match default garbage which can make and break a business on the whim of an ever changing secret algorithm which can be tweaked by the scamming ebay account managers .. this site is broken but unfortunately people are fairly robotic and keep returning .. the problem is that now the return visitors can barely use the website and are no longer hooked into the environment but more likely repelled .. overall a disgraceful and nauseating situation ..