Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am starting this post because I would like to know when this will end. Based on different threads that I have seen on here I know that their are a fair amount of eBayer`s. Several said that they were going elsewhere at the beginning of the year due to several thing that eBay has done.

I just received a message from eBay where they informed me that the insertion fee and the final value fee were both going up starting January 30th. While they said they were modest it does add up throughout the year.

I sell my custom signal flag banners on eBay on a regular basis. I wasn`t happy about what I was paying and really am disgusted with the new increases. When will this end?

I for one will work harder to get my own site up and list less and less on eBay. I work hard and am tired of them increasing at will their fees. Ironically as the fees go up the customer service goes down.

Am curious about what other`s are going to do. There has to be better alternatives.

Kathy




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Well they try to use their market power.

What many eBay sellers do is to make money on shipping, and price their products at $0.01

I plan on selling some of my surplus that way.


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Well it makes sense to see that, in fact just yesterday I had a phone conversation with a supplier about this up-coming issue. In a nutshell here`s what`s happening and it is out of EBay`s control. The dollar has been for the last 60 years the international currency, for reasons we will leave mostly unaddressed as the issue is considerably more complicated than this post attempts to be, our currency has been in a very slippery slope over the last decade. The US economy is very large and the world has a vested interest in keeping the dollar strong because most have their international reserves in our currency, and so they keep buying dollars almost as fast as we can print them (good for us we can `make` money, no other nation else can do that), the thing is lately we`ve been printing it even faster than they can buy it. So, since there is more supply than demand the dollar is slipping, losing it`s value, devaluating in front of other currencies.

Although for us at the personal level this is largely immaterial as a dollar is a dollar and it buys a burger just the same, in international markets to buy that same burger you now need $1.30 dollars. Ebay is an international company and as such if they don`t raise their prices internally to compensate for the dollar`s devaluation although the dollar profits remain the same, the actual value of those returns is diminished by the same percentage of the dollar`s devaluation. This happens regardless of whether we suffer from internal inflation or not. So, in order to earn the same today as they did yesterday they must increase their prices.

Although it is a price increase to you, the cost is the same. You are starting to see the effects of our economic policies over the last  five years, expect to see more of it first with the large international companies, this will then trickle down to smaller companies and if we as a nation don`t change our behavior eventually this will result in full blown inflation. If you think about it, a dollar is really worth about 5 cents, if the world were to value our currency like all the other currencies are valued, we could see things going up in cost by 2000%, that is, for anything that costs one dollar today, you can expect to pay 20 when the dollar is valued for what is worth.

Thanks for sharing that ElidS. That does make sense. I knew the dollar as you said is slippery and is losing it`s value.

The quote from the letter from Bill Cobb says "An important part of any business strategy is the regular evaluation of pricing structure. From time to time, we make pricing changes to correct unhealthy dynamics in the eBay marketplace, as was the case last July. Typically, however, we make changes on an annual basis at the beginning of the year."

At least I know why now. The above is pretty vague and I think that is what is getting to some people.

Kathy


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I did get an email from ebay regarding this. I do not sell on ebay but love to buy and some of my favorite sellers have emailed me in the past to let me know they are bowing out of ebay b/c it is becoming more difficult to turn a profit. There are other sites to sell on and I am sure more to come.

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eBay stores have too much easy competition because of low barrier of entry.  I buy mostly electronic components and low their cents on the dollar prices.  However some stores sell them at HIGHER price than what I can get new from some distributors, at similar quantities.

For real used goods, eBay is great.


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Go Green and put more money onto your bottom line with award-winning LED-based light bulbs PearlLED. If you manage a good sized store/business and want to boost the bottom line, call us!

This is fascinating, and among the many reasons SuN is an excellent place for anyone who`s in business for themselves! Excellent post, Eli, and something I never would have thought of at all.

I`ve been keeping aware of the gradual decline of US currency over the past 50-60 years, and making a note here and there as to how it`ll affect individual US citizens. For a variety of reasons, most folks here in the country have little knowledge of the international scene. If you`re right, and I don`t see why you wouldn`t be, this just may be one of the first bits of light being shed on reality for American citizens.

With all the nonsense about the war in Iraq, liberalism, conservativism, congress, and whatnot, almost none of which means anything on a daily basis, it hadn`t occurred to me that online commerce IS international! And it`ll be impacted by the same problems international corporations are dealing with.

Unfortunately, I can`t think of an election in my lifetime where such things as money supply, currency value, overseas lending and so on had much of an impact. Closest I can recall is the Carter election, when Japan was buying up so much of our assets. That`s when OPEC came into public awareness, but few people today pay much attention to the amount of US debt being held by foreign countries (China being probably the largest creditor).

Hello,

If many people are jumping ship off Ebay, where are they going too? What other websites are popular for auction type sales? Thanks!

 

jamie

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Jamie Dufrene
Rajin Enterprises
http://www.jceconsulting.net/

Jamie,
 I know alot of people a few months ago on here said that they were going elsewhere but they didn`t say where.

It`s possible that some will put up their own websites I would think. As far as auction type sales I know that Amazon and Yahoo have something. I haven`t used either so I don`t know how well they do as far as auctions.

Kathy


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