Wednesday 24 April 2013

Go Home eBay - You're Drunk !!



eBay Australia is implementing a huge change on 1st May.

As with any news like this, I respond by screaming and hiding in the cupboard until either I see a spider, or my need for a drink forces me out.

The blurb read that changes were being made to the fee structure, so the fees for listing were decreased, but the selling fees were increased - the end result being that the % of fees is moved to after-sales, instead of just for listing.

"What a load of wank", was my first reaction.   I boo-hoo'd and moaned to my parrots, who didn't give a hoot.   They just kept eating bird seed and crapping, oblivious to the fact that eBay keeps them in food.


So, I decided to actually sit down and figure out how this change affected me.   Look eBay right between it's beady little eyes, and see what the future held.

Yes, I squealed when I saw the price of auctions was tripled from $0.50 to $1.50.     Then I remembered that I don't run many auctions.   Disaster averted.

They are bringing back the basic store at $19.95 which I used to be at, before they scrapped it and I was forced to change to Featured Store at $49.95.      Good news.

They tweaked the FVF up by 1% on items.   No biggie.

They offered 80 free Fixed Price items per month (basic store) or 200 for the Featured Store.    Not very exciting when applied to my 5c listings  (media - books, videos, CDs) - but when applied to everything else at 20c per listing - then that was a fair saving.   I could sell more items that I'd been avoiding because of the higher listing cost.  It doesn't sound like much, but 20 cents per listing can add up very quickly.

I dug out my sales for February, and applied these theories.   I included no auctions in this, as I had none in February.

a)   What it currently costs, before the change :    Store Fee ($49.95) + Listings Fees ($44.50) + FVF ($105.78) =  monthly cost of $200.23

b)   New fee structure with Featured Store and 200 free listings  :    Store Fee $49.95 + Listing ($33.50) + FVF ($105.64)  = monthly cost of $189.09

c)   New fee structure with Basic Store and 80 free listings:  Store Fee ($19.95) + Listing Fees ($36) + FVF ($119.04) = monthly cost of $174.99


Interesting.   


I found out that the changes will actually give me some small savings from around $10 to $25.    But then given that the fees are moving to after sales are made, then that would explain it.   :-p

The free listings all start on 1st May, so to get the best advantage of them, I would need to relist all my 20 cent listings on this day.  (or if I go back to a Basic Store - the 50 cent listings).

The number geek in me is satisfied.

A benefit to me from eBay - who'd've thunk!

eBay - go home, you're drunk!

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