In my eyes, there is no other auction site online besides eBay, many have tried, and all have failed. eBay has branded themselves much in the way Xerox, Kleenex and Coke have, and they have turned their branded name into the common name for a product. One can often hear in an office, “Can you make me a Xerox copy of that?” instead of “photo copy”. Same goes for your sick family member who asks you to stop on the way home and pick-up a box of Kleenex, not a box of tissues. You sell stuff on eBay, not an online auction site.

Sales numbers are down for eBay though as new up-and-coming sites again try to tackle the proverbial five hundred pound gorilla and sites like Craigslist continue to grow in popularity, especially for hard or impossible items to ship. EBay figures the answer is to cut listing fees, up to 50% in most cases. This is great news for anyone listing an auction. Three is a dark downside to this though. When you sell on eBay you have to pay two fees, one to list the item and a second based on what the item sold for. In the event that your item did not sell, a nominal fee is thrown at you, but you have the ability to re-list it a second time and if it sells, only pay listing fees and selling fees once.

EBay Inc. said Tuesday it will cut by up to 50 percent the fees it charges sellers to list their goods online, in an effort to boost listings and keep pace with other burgeoning e-commerce sites.To balance the fee cut, the company plans to increase its commission on items that do sell, a method the company says sellers prefer because it lowers their risk if items do not sell.

The greatest fee increase will come for goods selling for less than $25. EBay’s fee for those transactions will rise 67 percent, to 8.75 percent of the final sale price.

I’m sorry, cutting one fee by 50% and increasing the other is not a sound way to make people more interested in listing with your company. It sounds like a slime-ball used car salesman’s bait and switch program. I still buy off eBay several times a year and sell items from time to time, but unless you are moving high dollar item, it may be in your best interest to use a free site like Craigslist.

Source: Wired AP

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