eBay Spring Changes: FVF based on total cost (includes S/H)

Johan Santana 57 · Mar 15, 2011

Just got an email:
"Starting April 19, for sellers without a Store subscription, the Standard Final Value fee rate for Auction-style listings will not change, but will be applied to the total amount of the sale--including shipping. The number of free Auction-style listings per month will be capped at 50, with maximum Final Value Fee of $100."

I, for one, think this isn't right. Sellers already have to worry about their shipping charges and now eBay will be taking a percentage of the shipping cost? It seems like a push to get sellers to offer free shipping or stop those who start auctions at very low prices but make the shipping hundreds of dollars to avoid fees. A simple solution to that is cap shipping in handling in categories (at reasonable amounts), which some categories have, and if you want to charge over the cap, you get hit with the fee.

Either way, I don't think this is a good change, it's another fee hike without hiking fees.

hofmichael · Mar 15, 2011

They will keeping eating away at sellers until there is a usefull alternative.
Mike

tonsofcommons · Mar 15, 2011

And only 50 free listings.

FU EBAY!

A_Pharis · Mar 15, 2011

Wait. I understand some people abuse shipping charges to get a little bit of extra dough, but how can you take a percentage of a value that some people may be putting 100% of into the shipping process? If they are doing it to deter overcharging shipping, why not just do flat shipping rates like Amazon?

Huffamaniac · Mar 15, 2011

lets not forget about this

5% PowerSeller discount retired--aim now to be an eBay Top-rated seller to earn 20% off
Also, starting with your June invoice, the 5% Final Value Fee discount for PowerSellers who are not eBay Top-rated sellers will be retired (all other PowerSeller benefits will continue). So be sure to check your Seller Dashboard for up-to-date information on your rating and what you can do to achieve eBay Top-rated seller status and earn a 20% discount as soon as possible.

clarkfan · Mar 15, 2011

always something with feebay, they can always find clever ways to make more money and take away a bigger percentage of our profit . . . i'll still use them

Bob Loblaw · Mar 15, 2011

Here's the whole email. They frick you in so many ways.

Your upfront cost of selling on eBay is about to be dramatically reduced once again!

Starting April 19, Standard Auction-style fees will be changing. You'll be able to list FREE at any start price--up to 50 items a month. Plus you can add the Buy It Now option FREE to grab those buyers who don't want to wait for your listing to end. In short, you can now list even your higher priced items free--pay only if it sells.

Also, we know online buyers pay attention to shipping costs when deciding what and where to buy. That's why, to encourage low-cost shipping, Final Value Fees for all sellers will be applied to the total amount of the sale, including shipping. Just keep your shipping costs low to get the lowest overall fees.

New eBay Shopping Cart
Online shoppers are accustomed to adding items to a shopping cart--and they're often motivated to buy more. That's why we're introducing the new eBay Shopping Cart that works with both Fixed Price and Auction-style items. Buyers can add items from multiple sellers and pay in one easy checkout--making it easier and more likely for them to buy more. It will become the way to shop on eBay before the 2011 holiday season.

Update to funds availability for Below Standard sellers
Starting in June, for sellers not meeting eBay's minimum performance standard and sellers without an established track record, funds from buyer payments may be unavailable for a period of time to ensure successful fulfillment. To have your funds available faster, always upload tracking information to My eBay.

New communications hub
Starting in May, you'll be able to manage your communications with buyers from just one location within My eBay. View the emails that eBay sends to buyers after a transaction, manage your buyer-facing Automated Answers, or access your Store newsletters--all from one convenient page.

Category and item specifics changes
Category and item specifics changes are also consolidated with rest of updates. Find out if your listings are impacted.

Joshua.Roundtree · Mar 15, 2011

Jeff N. said:
Here's the whole email. They frick you in so many ways.

Your upfront cost of selling on eBay is about to be dramatically reduced once again!

Starting April 19, Standard Auction-style fees will be changing. You'll be able to list FREE at any start price--up to 50 items a month. Plus you can add the Buy It Now option FREE to grab those buyers who don't want to wait for your listing to end. In short, you can now list even your higher priced items free--pay only if it sells.

Also, we know online buyers pay attention to shipping costs when deciding what and where to buy. That's why, to encourage low-cost shipping, Final Value Fees for all sellers will be applied to the total amount of the sale, including shipping. Just keep your shipping costs low to get the lowest overall fees.

New eBay Shopping Cart
Online shoppers are accustomed to adding items to a shopping cart--and they're often motivated to buy more. That's why we're introducing the new eBay Shopping Cart that works with both Fixed Price and Auction-style items. Buyers can add items from multiple sellers and pay in one easy checkout--making it easier and more likely for them to buy more. It will become the way to shop on eBay before the 2011 holiday season.

Update to funds availability for Below Standard sellers
Starting in June, for sellers not meeting eBay's minimum performance standard and sellers without an established track record, funds from buyer payments may be unavailable for a period of time to ensure successful fulfillment. To have your funds available faster, always upload tracking information to My eBay.

New communications hub
Starting in May, you'll be able to manage your communications with buyers from just one location within My eBay. View the emails that eBay sends to buyers after a transaction, manage your buyer-facing Automated Answers, or access your Store newsletters--all from one convenient page.

Category and item specifics changes
Category and item specifics changes are also consolidated with rest of updates. Find out if your listings are impacted.

That doesn't seem too hard considering most do it anyways to avoid the 'When did my item ship?" Messages. They won't hold payments for established sellers, only newbies, which they are probably doing to cover themselves because they are insuring the transaction. As for the changes as a whole. They cut my free listings in half, but I can list starting at ANY price w/ Free BIN. Those of us that get the 20% discount aren't really affected, but those that have been screwed over in the DSR's now will get no discount, which hurts, but its only 5%.

Johan Santana 57 · Mar 15, 2011

My email didn't say the free BIN listings, is that true for everybody, or was this a seller specific email? My email also told me to upgrade to a store to save money (pass).

I get the 20% discount already, so I still will be "saving" money, but I wonder what percentage of buyers actually factor in shipping into their bid price, because if more people don't than do, chances are you lose even more money.

If you do get free BIN listings though, I at least one positive change.

JVC · Mar 15, 2011

Johan Santana 57 said:
My email didn't say the free BIN listings, is that true for everybody, or was this a seller specific email? My email also told me to upgrade to a store to save money (pass).

I get the 20% discount already, so I still will be "saving" money, but I wonder what percentage of buyers actually factor in shipping into their bid price, because if more people don't than do, chances are you lose even more money.

If you do get free BIN listings though, I at least one positive change.

The free BIN listings only count as an add on to an auction listing, not a BIN/BO.

Johan Santana 57 · Mar 15, 2011

JVC said:
Johan Santana 57 said:

My email didn't say the free BIN listings, is that true for everybody, or was this a seller specific email? My email also told me to upgrade to a store to save money (pass).

I get the 20% discount already, so I still will be "saving" money, but I wonder what percentage of buyers actually factor in shipping into their bid price, because if more people don't than do, chances are you lose even more money.

If you do get free BIN listings though, I at least one positive change.

Click to expand...

The free BIN listings only count as an add on to an auction listing, not a BIN/BO.

Yea but still, that's still worth it if you make the BIN and Auction price right around the same haha.

cmnkb8 · Mar 15, 2011

Did anyone notice that the FVF schedule for fixed-price listings, in "All other categories" in the "spring seller update" link that you click on in the ebay e-mail, the first $50 is 11% instead of 12%? I wonder if that's a typo or if ebay is actually lowering the fee by 1%.

Pine Tar · Mar 15, 2011

Wow seems like Google needs to come up with an alternative and quick. They do have the money to
make some kind of play in the on line auction field again.

Pine Tar · Mar 15, 2011

cmnkb8 said:
Did anyone notice that the FVF schedule for fixed-price listings, in "All other categories" in the "spring seller update" link that you click on in the ebay e-mail, the first $50 is 11% instead of 12%? I wonder if that's a typo or if ebay is actually lowering the fee by 1%.

Hell 11% in high enough so lowering it to them is no big deal. They gave yo .50 back only to get you in the PP fees then. ::facepalm::

JVC · Mar 15, 2011

cmnkb8 said:
Did anyone notice that the FVF schedule for fixed-price listings, in "All other categories" in the "spring seller update" link that you click on in the ebay e-mail, the first $50 is 11% instead of 12%? I wonder if that's a typo or if ebay is actually lowering the fee by 1%.

It's probably not a typo. They figure that by lowering the FVF by 1% they can make it up by charging that 11% on the shipping cost. In the end it's a wash if you're charging $3-5 for shipping.

cmnkb8 · Mar 15, 2011

JVC said:
cmnkb8 said:

Did anyone notice that the FVF schedule for fixed-price listings, in "All other categories" in the "spring seller update" link that you click on in the ebay e-mail, the first $50 is 11% instead of 12%? I wonder if that's a typo or if ebay is actually lowering the fee by 1%.

Click to expand...

It's probably not a typo. They figure that by lowering the FVF by 1% they can make it up by charging that 11% on the shipping cost. In the end it's a wash if you're charging $3-5 for shipping.

Well I only charge $2 for shipping, so if the fee is 1% lower on the first $50, and I sell an item for a fixed price, now I'll just offer free s/h, and up the BIN by $2 to compensate and it actually becomes a small savings.

Pine Tar said:
Hell 11% in high enough so lowering it to them is no big deal. They gave yo .50 back only to get you in the PP fees then. ::facepalm::

Paypal has always included shipping charges as part of their fee calculation, so the fees aren't going up there.

danimal · Mar 15, 2011

I ship free so I'll gladly take 1% fee decrease. Thank you eBay!

gvsu96 · Mar 15, 2011

I just ran the numbers and it's still cheaper for me to list auction style than to open a store. Even with the reduction of free listings to 50 if I do what I always have been it's actually still a little cheaper fee wise not to open a eBay store at their lowest tier.

jonebone · Mar 15, 2011

If you are a small time seller who uses the auction / BIN format, these changes are probably going to benefit you. I know they'll help me for sure.

I sell lots of items in the $10-$25 range, with a BIN added. That's 0.50 per listing + 0.10 to 0.25 per BIN, let's say 0.60 for the sake of argument. Even if they hit my $3 shipping charge with the FVF, that's only 0.27 extra cost to me (9% * $3).

So I get 0.60 of free listings, but pay an additional 0.27, for a savings of 0.33. And I usually don't list 50 items in a month anyway, so those changes definitely help.

Do the math as it applies to your own situation before hopping on the eBay must die bandwagon.

cstmleather · Mar 15, 2011

Wow, I ship a good amount of large items overseas. Due to the value I only use Priority Mail w/tracking and that's about $35 on average. Is that even legal for them to profit off our shipping costs?

And do they go by what their crappy system "calculates" for multiple items? Most of the time it overcharges nearly double since they have that "1-2 lbs/2-3 lbs" option with no decimals. It sucks cause most pay before I send an invoice with correct postage rates and leave a low rating because they didn't see my partial refund email/message.

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