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When eBay changed their fee structure in January, they said it would benefit sellers. They said it would be cheaper in the end. Many sellers have found that they are now paying more in fees than they once were. This makes most people quite unhappy. Mix the higher fees with the inability to give a buyer negative feedback, eBay’s customers (sellers) are leaving.

Who can really blame people for leaving? After all, they are providing the same service (which doesn’t cost them any more than it did a year ago) at a higher price. Ebay says that the changes in fee structure was made to encourage sellers to list more items. They cut the fees for listing, but raised the ending commissions on a completed auction ending lower than $1000 or a fixed price sale under $100.

What it seems like eBay has successfully done is allow “diamond power sellers” to flood the market. One of the largest “diamond power sellers” is Buy.com. There is speculation that because Buy.com has so many fixed price auctions on eBay, they are being charged nothing or next to nothing for these auctions.

To appease disgruntled sellers, starting September 16, eBay says they will begin allowing sellers (in the U.S.) to list an unlimited number of identical items for a month at a time for $0.35.

Will this really make people happy? Well perhaps for some, but I don’t list unlimited identical items…ever. I occasionally list a few things. There have been times after fees from eBay and PayPal, I could have gotten more for it at a thrift shop. With the fee changes for auctions, sometimes it’s just not practical to sell things auction-style, and I find that buyers don’t always like paying what you’re asking in a fixed-price auction.

Jeremy

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