eBay Says Screw 2012 – Declares Doomsday in March 2010!
Do You Hear The Background Rumbling? That’s DROVES of eBay Sellers – Running off to the Competition! Well, like they do every time eBay has another fee reduction!
Wait… nah… forget it.
2010 Spring Seller Update
eBay is getting ready to make more changes to its system… this time however, the changes are targeted to eBay Sellers, billed as the 2010 Spring Seller Update, and according to their site… claims to be “Steps to Increase Your Profitability and Bring More Buyers!” View eBay Traffc Trends on Compete.com!
I am including this news at the Niche Store Builder for a few reasons:
- Many eBay Affiliates were at some point, Dedicated eBay Sellers who left due to the crazy fee structure! Little did we know!! Kim and I ran more than $2 Million dollars a year (3 Core eBay stores) of sales through eBay from 2001-2007. The fees turned us off, and we left.
- Anyone who has stuck it out with QCP model, might actually earn a bit more money! (Assuming no bots come through your site, you have red hair, green eyes and 5 legs… oh, and these features must happen on Sundays ONLY, at least I think that’s in the payout algorithm)
- There have been category changes again, which may affect your site!
Looking through the different pages eBay has setup to support sellers during this newest “Profitability Increase”, it really becomes very clear – any seller who has not yet abandoned eBay, will be doing so VERY soon! The ONLY people who will be paying LOWER eBay fees, are those who sell items that have a final value fee “Less than $25, or MORE than $2000! (Yes, you read that correctly) If the final selling price is between $26-$1999 – you pay considerably more!
I swear – I couldn’t make this shit up – they are pile driving themselves right into the ground! This will make a great subject for some college grads “Epic Story of Failure“, as an exit project!
A Few Bullet Points about the New eBay Fees
Based on “Non-Store Subscriber” final value fees (The 90% majority of ebay sellers)… just look at the new “Increased Profitability” chart… (This is from the eBay forum! – and a Pink actually responded with “But we give you 12 free pictures!”)
You are reading correct – a $500 final selling price has a fee increase of +141%
Where exactly are the “Signifigant Savings and Lowest Fees Ever”?
And for those who decide to pay the $15-$300/month store fee:
I Guess I’m Just Speechless Again!
My father used to say… if you don’t have anything nice to say, say nothing at all.
That’s what I will do.
Previously Published Articles You May Like to Read:
- Quick Pulse – How is Traffic & Earnings in 2010?
- Sell on eBay or Build a Niche Store Empire
- Get Ready for Another Slap by Ebay Partner Network!
Like it on Facebook
Rate This Post
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing.
I didn’t run all the numbers you had, but they look like they are all 9% of FV. I thought people might be interested in seeing the percentages that Amazon is charging (plus a 99 cent insertion fee if you don’t sign up for the $39.95/month seller plan):
* Amazon Kindle = 15 percent
* Automotive parts and accessories = 12 percent
* Camera and photo = 8 percent
* Cell phones and accessories = 15 percent
* Computers = 6 percent
* Electronic items = 8 percent
* Items in the Everything Else store = 15 percent
* Musical instruments = 12 percent
* Tires & Wheels = 10 percent
* Video Game Consoles = 8 percent
* Watches = 15 percent
* Wireless Antennas and Boosters = 12 percent*
* All other product lines = 15 percent
Looks like you can get the best deal from selling computers, cameras, and home electronics at Amazon. But eBay still has them beat, percentage wise, on the other items. Great post as usual, Mark!
@Brian – Great comparison to Amazon Brian – I have never sold anything on Amazon myself, so its great to see the comparison. Doesn’t appear any cheaper on Amazon either!
My best guess is that the smaller sellers will end up at places like Etsy, uBid, BeeZid, etc.
Mark
FeeBay does it again. I do not see how all the tops sit around a table, make these kind of decisions and everyone thinks, “Yeah, this is gonna be great for all!” And darn, I have red hair, green eyes and 6 legs :( not 5 – no wonder my payout has gone down.
The best thing for eBay sellers, is to get Mark to set them up a website for them ;)
@Tao – I wish that were the case Tao – eBay, for all its fees, constant change, and any other downsides, is still one of the top places with VERY targeted visitors for the right markets!
I have a close friend who sells +$30k/month of JUST guitar & bass strings. Thats not counting the 1000+ OTHER items he sells!
It would take a few years to establish that kind of traffic on a website without the same expense.
M
Like it or loath it ebay is the biggest auction site out there.
I am just amazed at how royally eBay is screwing up… Again!
Have they just “not noticed” the thousands of affiliates no longer sending their traffic? The thousands of sellers taking their business elsewhere?
I am just blown away by their stupidity, truly astounding!
This is not directed at anyone in particular….so nobody get their panties wadded up over what I am about to say.
My take is that it has become fashionable to hate Ebay and deservedly so considering the way they run their affiliate program. At the end of the day though, I think all the yappers that say they are taking all of their traffic elsewhere, aren’t.
I think they stay right there at EPN and just bitch and complain. I doubt Ebay has even felt a hiccup from these “hordes” of affiliates leaving them in droves, why…because most of those doing the complaining are the ones who don’t make any money at this game. Even if they DO actually leave, who cares?
I am not saying this is true of all and I am known to be a bit cynical but I think it makes people feel better to be able to lay the blame on Ebay rather than on themselves. It’s better to think that Ebay is conspiring against them rather than they just simply SUCK at building affiliate sites.
So I guess if it makes somebody feel better to blame Ebay then by all means have at it…..or better yet…quit and go do something else. The more of you that quit this game today, makes it easier for me to succeed. Quit taking up the good domain names and then putting a POS site on it…that would be the best thing you could do to contribute to society. If you suck at this, either do what it takes to get better..or quit….but don’t sit there pointing fingers at Ebay.
Meanwhile maybe we could use the forums and the blogs to find ways to succeed rather than piss and moan about the invisible Ebay monster taking all of our high quality, buying traffic that we got from StumbleUpon.
@Bill – My understanding from an internal source is that the QCP program was actually designed to eliminate the less-than-professional affiliates anyhow!
Expectations from eBay were that they would lose more than 50% of affiliates, with some forecasting up to 80% of affiliates either being lost, or accounts terminated!
M
Mark – I wouldn’t doubt it. I don’t know what they have to gain other than maybe some admin costs from eliminating them but whatever floats their boat I guess….at the end of the day it is there company.
I was a huge detractor of QCP in the beginning but after removing some of my crap sites, my EPC is respectable at least and hovers between .10 and .14 cents.
I have moved to Amazon where it makes sense and added adsense if it was the right thing to do. Honestly…..and this is hard to admit…but honestly I am WAAAY better off post QCP than pre….because before I had all my eggs pretty much in one basket.
Post QCP I have become much more diversified. I still want to add a few different revenue streams but too much diversity is a bad thing too….I’d rather be an expert at something than mediocre at everything.
My 2 cents.
@Bill – “I’d rather be an expert at something than mediocre at everything.” LOL – That’s the exact message I was trying to tell that guy at the RZon forum! LOL
I still have a LOT of old residual links from stray posts that go into ePN. My EPC stayed around .26 all this month until a bot hit on the 19th, and drove it dow to where it is now, at .16 epc.
I agree with you completely – if nothing more, QPC has really forced a lot of us to look at our efforts, diversify more, and optimize our sites to a more targeted type of traffic (Buying traffic, versus reading traffic)
@Mark Hansen – @Bill
I couldn’t agree with you two even more than today. Who would of thunk it.
But I’ve always concentrated on ‘buying’ traffic. Along with QCP, BANS and it’s issues have made me move to a different model, with phpbay and rzon. No longer are they so much thin sites.
I’m in it – to win it.
Don’t you just love how the fee reductions start on products that sell for $2000 and up? How very generous of them!
Recently, I’ve been hearing about a new auction site called youpillar.com. I wonder how much business they are getting from people running from eBay…
Rochelle
I’d bet almost none or at least what they do get they won’t keep once sellers realize that Ebay, love em or hate em, is a ROCKING marketplace to sell stuff on.
What these fees might do is get rid of a lot of the junk sellers, people trying to sell at ridiculously low margins, etc.
I like selling on Amazon. It’s absurdly easy to list something, far easier than eBay, and they give you your fee breakdown before you submit your listing so you know exactly what you’ll take home. This makes it easy to figure your margins. Don’t forget that on eBay it’s not just the final value fee you have to think of but also a listing fee and probably a Paypal fee. eBay lost me as a seller years ago when my category became overrun with junk listings from China and I figured out how to build a website.
It’s funny too when I think of my online buying habits. I buy from Amazon on a monthly basis, and rarely (if ever) buy from eBay anymore. Several years ago this would have been the opposite.
As far as ePN goes, I’ve removed the majority of my links to them and am seeing a corresponding increase in my popularity with the search engines and much higher ePN ppc. Although, their ppc is still jumping around all over the place. Whatever. I’m okay with sending them less traffic.
Now was I supposed to have five legs or not have five legs? I’m confused. ;)
@Affiliate X – The part about your buying habits really rings very true for us here as well.
We DO still buy some things n eBay – but 3 years ago, we bought just about everything on eBay, since that really WAS THE PLACE to find the best deals.
Now it seems like you can find the same deals just about anywhere online.
M
I have been in the antique business over 30 years.
I have been selling on ebay since Jan. 1997.
I have had an ebay store for many years.
Last year I averaged 1800 to 2000 items in my store every month.
Ebay removed 60 of my items last July due to the fact I was accepting money orders. These items were listed well before their policy not allowing money orders came into effect.
Staring in August I worked very hard at putting all my ebay store items on to my web site.
Today I have fewer than 60 items on my ebay store.
By the end of this month I will close my ebay store due to their high costs and rules not favorable to sellers.
I will still sell on ebay, but no where near the amount I did in the past.
One last note;
DOUBLE STANDARD
Ebay does not allow sellers to accept money orders as form as payment for their items.
Yet Ebay does accept money orders as a form of payment when you need to pay their bill.
Leave your response!
Listen While You Read!
Site Categories
Monthly Archive
My Favorite Places
Blogging Sites
Blogroll
Places I Write
Technology Sites
Site Credits
Niche Store Builder is powered by WordPress, using a modified theme originally inspired by Arthemia.
Home | About | Terms & Privacy