Major Changes to eBay Fixed Price Fees: Discussion

eBay's Lorrie Norrington today announced big changes in the fees charged for listings in the Fixed Price format. The details of this announcement can be found on many other sites which I will link to at the bottom of this post. Suffice it to say that there are numerous variables by category, increased Final Value Fees, and a convoluted mess where understanding the changes is concerned.

Rather than detailing the changes here, I would like to share with you some of the discussion being generated by these changes. What are eBay sellers and buyers saying and what are their first thoughts and reactions? I roamed the eBay message boards and found some interesting comments.

Regarding the new policy banning checks and money order payments and the switch to electronic payments (PayPal, ProPay, merchant accounts) only:

"Well as a buyer, this puts me out of the game.

I used to have a Paypal account......the first time I used it, I had unauthorized charges on my credit card.

Got that mess straightened out, & didn't use Paypal for 6 months. Made a second Paypal purchase......& had unauthorized charges again. At that point, I told them to stuff it, closed Paypal & used just M.O.

I have 100% feedback. I have never paid anything late (I've sent M.O.'s overnight mail, just so they were there in the time required to pay). I've left maybe 2 dings in my entire shopping career......both to sellers who never sent what I paid
for.

This is the thanks I get for being the type of buyer the sellers want??????????? If I treated the shoppers at Target like this, I'd be fired on the first incident.

There's a lot of people like me who just don't have a credit card,for whatever reason.......or it's just for emergencies. But we are not good enough to shop here."

The Media category will be hit especially hard with the fee changes. A 15% Final Value fee will apply and sellers will now have a cap on how much they may charge for shipping. One angry longtime seller, with 10051 feedback, states:

"I ship many books and LPs! This is ABSURD!!! They're going to put me OUT OF BUSINESS!

Example Books/Antiquarian & Collectible they say $4.00 MAX! Do they know how HEAVY those old books are??? Most are thick hardcovers with GLOSSY paper pages and cost $4.00 alone, NOT TO MENTION PACKING SUPPLIES USED, DELIVERY CONFIRMATION, SIGNATURE CONFIRMATION, YOUR TIME, OR GAS TO POST OFFICE.

LPs (record albums). I PAY $1.00 PER LP MAILING BOX, PLUS BUBBLE WRAP AND A 3mm POLY BAG that cost approx. .30 each, plus MY TIME, AND GAS! I don't ship "all" my LP's MEDIA mail but when I do, I charge $4.99 and I either break even or LOSE at that cost!

But....some records are too nice to risk sending media (in with heavy books to get broken) so I ship them PRIORITY WITH DELIVERY CONFIRMATION. That can be $5.50 PLUS MY MATERIALS!

Ebay is NUTS to tell US our max shipping.They are COMPARING US to large Web sites S & H costs but ebay is forgetting! that those huge sites (Azon, etc.) buy shipping/packing supplies in HUGE BULK QUANTITIES. I can only get 50 to 100 at a time. And they have their EMPLOYEES packing for them.

I too, sell on Azon but I only pay a flat fee per month + 15% but I don't have to spend all my precious TIME TAKING PHOTOS, hence I don't complain about only getting reimbursed $3.99 for shipping a book when I sell one on their site."

More discussions:

"Yesterday you were all complaining about zero visibility, do you think that is going to change ? Ebay Cherry picking Paypal's opposition on site could and should raise flags on the Anti-trust and monopoly front."


"Why doesn't ebay just invent a computer chip full of policies and make a policy that sellers must have this surgically inserted into their brains before being allowed to sell on eBay?

Then we would just plug our brain into the USB port and download the new policies into our brain daily.

Hey, it would save TONS of time, instead of time reading and studying and discussing new policies, basically on a daily basis!

Just THINK eBay! You could "require" a cost of $29.95 from each seller and get richer!"


Final Value Fee's Sky Rocket AGAIN


"I would suggest that all sellers that do not agree with this new policy of not acceptting checks or money orders, file a complaint with the U.S. Attonery General Office. As far as I know, through out the U.S. that Cash, Checks, or MO are considered legal tender in banking industrys. If ebay is not allowing a seller to accept legal tender, that might be considered against the law."


"I just find the wording in Norrington's statement to justify electronic payments inappropiate. Why not just say as of this date EBAY is accepting paypal propay cc only. Why blame sellers or buyers for an executive decision to bring more money into both EBAY and PAYPAL?"



The above is just a small sampling of what eBay members think about these latest changes to eBay's fee structure and the accompanying policy changes.

More information about this announcement, which will affect ALL eBay buyers and sellers in one way or another, can be found at the links below.

eBay's 8/20 Announcements Discussion Forum

AuctionBytes Blog

My Blog Utopia


So what do you have to say about eBay's newest bombshell? Is it Good, Bad, or are you Indifferent? And are you waiting for the other shoe to drop based on eBay's habit of releasing news that causes a great stir and then sneaking in other major changes, hoping nobody will notice?

Was There Any Good News for eBay Sellers This Week?

I suppose the answer to that question would be a matter of opinion but, based on a check of the eBay discussion boards and comments on the AuctionBytes Blog, I would say the answer is a resounding NO.

There were a few announcements of upcoming changes but changes are the norm lately for eBay so that in itself is nothing good. In fact, most announcements for the last couple of years have been ominous for sellers.

Lorrie Norrington says that eBay has decided to change its recent feedback changes. Sounds confusing, right? That it is. She makes it sound like eBay listened to its sellers and is reversing some policy changes regarding feedback which were detrimental to most sellers. Then along comes Usher Lieberman, eBay's spokesperson, to confuse things even more with talk of these changes BUT he says, "eBay has not committed to a timeframe."

Huh? So are they reversing their previous changes or not? Is this more feint and distract on eBay's part? Some regular posters on the eBay Stores discussion board seem to think this is another con job. That is my perception, as well.

Speaking of the eBay Stores board, another little gem was discovered there today. Links policy scraped is the title of the thread. The eBay member who started the thread has this to say:

Just got my power up newsletter and at the bottom was this quote"the policy announced in May covering links in sellers' listings or other eBay pages will not be enforced. Instead, we'll be announcing a clearer and more comprehensive links policy in mid August."

Too bad I already ended 2400 listings, oh well, thanks ebay for the push towards my own site.

Off to put link back in about me page

This refers to eBay's recently announced change to their policies concerning what links are allowed in listings and on About Me pages. After the announcement was made that most links would no longer be allowed, many sellers got to work revising their listings... and work it is for those with Stores, especially, due to the large number of listings which must be revised. Now eBay seems to be saying WAIT.

Will they ever make up their mind? And what about the sellers who do not get the Power Up newsletter? How many are revising their listings right this minute, thinking they know what eBay expects? Will they be revising all over again if and when eBay finally decides just what its links policy is to be?

The above examples are just a few things which happened this week on eBay which should carry some good news for sellers, at first glance. Once you look below eBay's murky surface, a different picture is seen. Sadly, with eBay, very little, if anything, is at it seems.

eBay Exec Lorrie Norrington: Bad Buyer? Bad Seller?

During eBay Live 2008, President of eBay Marketplace Operations, Lorrie Norrington, told a tale of buying and reselling a pair of shoes on eBay. Interested persons thought to check this out and made some odd discoveries.

Ms. Norrington's auction listing stated that she received the shoes as a gift. I thought she said she bought them?

eBay Employee Trading Policy states that, "When eBay company employees list an item for sale on eBay, the eBay company employees must identify themselves as eBay employees and include the link to this Web page in their listing." How odd. I don't see that link in Ms. Norrington's EBay listing nor do I see her identify herself as an eBay employee.

A search at Toolhaus.org reveals that Ms. Norrington received Negative Feedback, as a buyer, on Nov-13-06. The feedback from the seller stated, "NON PAYING BIDDER - TOTAL TIME WASTER." Oh, my.

You can view the whole sordid story in the YouTube video below and judge for yourself. Is Lorrie Norrington a Bad eBay Seller and/or Bad eBay Buyer?

Thanks to an anonymous commenter for alerting me to the fact that this topic is under discussion on eBay's own Trust and Safety message board. What are people saying about the conduct of Lorrie Norrington as a buyer and seller on Ebay?