OMG EBAY JUST DONT GET IT! just looked at the link in syrups post. "2. Why are we making this change? Effective 15 September, the monthly subscription fee for Basic / Featured stores will increase to $49.95. This has become necessary as the fee changes made earlier this year incentivised more sellers than expected to take advantage of Stores pricing. Buyers have different expectations about the service they receive when dealing with businesses compared to individual sellers, and Stores on eBay have become the easiest way for buyers to identify a business. This new subscription fee is aimed at allowing the more serious businesses on eBay to continue operating a store, while individual sellers should consider taking advantage of the 30 free listings* available every month." So ebay are basicly saying we have to many sellers that buyers want to buy from. If they have more sellers than surely in time the profits would flow through from FVF and increased traffic.

It's almost funny... On previous occasions when fees were increased, there was inevitably some attempt to spin it as though it were for the greater good (higher fees mean simpler fees - or vice versa - or we have to charge more (and more) for X and Y so we can provde Z for free...) Last time when they tried to put it as though fee increases were what sellers had asked for, I thought... their PR guy is either not very good or they just don't actually care about certain aspects of their public image.

This time they've basically just said "yeah, we decided to charge more for stores so smaller sellers hopefully can't afford to have them".

At least they're being honest about it, I suppose.