Well that will teach me to believe headlines in the press. I posted the earlier pieces on eBay during my lunch hour. When I got home, I was able to read the information on eBay itself.
It appears that the reduction in fees for listing an auction is $0.05.
Insertion Fees
The insertion fee for Auction-style and Fixed Price listings will be reduced as indicated in the chart below. Also, all listings will now include the Gallery picture feature for free!
Starting or Reserve Price Current Insertion Fee Insertion Fee (effective 02/20/2008)Insertion Fees for Auction-style listings
Starting or Reserve Price Current Insertion Fee Insertion Fee (effective 02/20/2008)
$0.01 – $0.99 $0.20 $0.15 Lower fee!
$1.00 – $9.99 $0.40 $0.35 Lower fee!
$10.00 – $24.99 $0.60 $0.55 Lower fee!
$25.00 – $49.99 $1.20 $1.00 Lower fee!
$50.00 – $199.99 $2.40 $2.00 Lower fee!
$200.00 – $499.99 $3.60 $3.00 Lower fee!
$500.00 or more $4.80 $4.00 Lower fee!
The 50% reduction appears to be derived from the elimination of Gallery Fees. Formerly an extra $0.35
The Gallery picture feature fee for all listings will be free
On lower price items, the reduction of $0.05 on the listing and the elimination of the gallery fee would reduce the current combined fee by 50%. But of course not all of us used the gallery on every listing.
Bottom Line – I don’t think this will lead to a significant long term increase in listings. What do yoy think?
What a rip off. It amazes me to see what a company will do to tell you they are lowering your costs but still manage to charge us more when the sale is finally finished.
What with the post office charging more for a padded mailer to be mailed ( going for $1.13) plus the cost of the mailer, and the listing and final value fees, it will be very difficult to cover your costs with a basic $4 flap for sale.
The buyer doesn’t realize that these costs have to be bourn by the buyer through higher shipping and handling fees. If you add on the cost for using paypal, … well, it doesn’t get any better.
I think this will encourage more regional people to attend trade-o-rees in their area. And not depend on ebay for their sales strategy.
Just me feelings.