COLD!! Ebay raising rates!

[Queasy]

From cnet.com:

Already a success, eBay is looking to make even more money.

Two days after posting record earnings and revenue, the San Jose, Calif.-based online auction company announced that it is raising fees, some by as much as 100 percent. Additionally, the company will begin charging for its popular "buy it now" feature and will change the way it calculates fees on Dutch auctions, where sellers offer multiple quantities of the same item in one auction. The new fees will go into effect Jan. 31.

"We recognize that price increases directly impact our users, so we do not raise fees lightly or without considering the impact to our community," the company said in a note to its consumers. "These increases will help us continue to build a vibrant marketplace by allowing us to invest heavily in technology, marketing and customer support, making it possible for millions of people to discover and use eBay."

More details to follow.

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[RDMustang1]

Liars, they make a killing and they just want to make more of a killing. They are greedy bastards

 

[sphiatt]

This stinks! I'm used to the BUY IT NOW feature and HATE to think of paying more fees. At the same time its not like I can get as much for my stuff anywhere else. Ubid doens't have the ease of use and hasn't reached a critical mass of buyers. Amazon Z-shops and Half.com both charge 15% already. What to do. I hope this doesn't kill my margins!

 

[ThaPerculator]

Man, I just got a digital camera to take pictures of a bunch of crap i'm planning on selling.... this sucks...

 

[zandor45]

How about they use so of that money to get rid of all the scam artists on their site.

 

[sphiatt]

Here is a more detailed story:

Ebay makes a killing!

The text of it says:

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- EBay Inc. told users Thursday that it plans to raise fees for its online auction services and will begin charging for certain buying options.

Shares of eBay gained $1.76 to $61.70 in midday trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The moves come two days after eBay (EBAY) said fourth-quarter revenue soared 64%. The company also raised its sales forecast for the first half of this year and reaffirmed its first-half profit projection. The company said its U.S. and international businesses were strong.

EBay said it plans to raise how much it charges on the final value of auction purchases by 0.25 percentage point, and will raise fees for reserve listings above $200. It also plans to begin charging a fee for its "Buy It Now" feature. "Buy It Now" is an option on eBay auctions that appears at the seller's discretion. About 45% of all eBay sellers make Buy It Now available on their auctions, the company said.

Overall, fixed-price shopping -- available at Half.com site, eBay Stores and as Buy It Now -- grew to 19% of eBay's fourth-quarter gross merchandise sales -- the total value of all goods sold through eBay.

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Yeah ebay really needs the dough! Darn those capitalists!

 

[sphiatt]

If the BUY IT NOW fee is more than about $0.10 there is no way I'm going to keep using it. Its convenient but I don't want to pay for it. It sounds like the 0.25% fee hike isn't so bad, but still sucks big time.

That amounts to an extra $300 or so on ebay commissions based on my last year's sales.

Bad news there.

 

[laugh]

ebay's tech part is horrible. no stable listing can be submitted in IE -- only in Opera or Netscape.

 

[tmc]

i have another issue with ebay - when i want to sell an item my countdown starts as soon as i click the submit button. however my item doesn't get listed or doesn't come up in the search until after 2 hours approx (ebay calls this 'update'). so basically i'm losing 2 hrs of auction time. shouldn't the countdown start after ebay lists the item in the corresponding category.

 

[Justincase]

Greedy scumbags. They recently asked me to take a survey, which I did - told them if their fees were a little lower, I'd be a much happier customer. Nice to see they take customer feedback to heart.

I agree with sphiatt; if they're going to charge more than a few cents for Buy It Now, I'm going to stop using it too...unless the fee will only apply if the item actually sells at the Buy It Now price.

That increase for reserve price auctions is ridiculous - that fee is already way too high. Not advocating this, but it seems the only way to beat Ebay at its own game is to list with no reserve, then end the auction just before it closes, if the price doesn't get high enough (I know - it's against their rules, but their rules suck).