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eBay: The Next 4 Months

Just a comment on this : "Company announces huge cuts in fixed price listing fees. eBay inches ever closer to becoming a retailer as a result." ..

I've noticed that almost every article and blog mentions the cut in listing fees, without mentioning the large INCREASE in final value fees, the implicit fee increase in requiring paypal, and the implicit fee increase (in some categories) of forcing sellers to include the shipping costs in the price of the item (and therefore paying fees on the shipping charges too). (Take a $100 media item with $10 shipping - under the old system you would pay $2 to list, and $4.82 for the FVF + $3.49 for paypal fees - $10.31 total (or $6.82 if the buyer pays with a money order). Under the new system, you would pay 15 cents to list, you would need to list it for $107 because your shipping is limited. Your FVF would be $10.35, and your paypal fee would be $3.49 for a total of $13.99. that's a 36% fee increase on each item sold (more than 100% increase if you are a seller who used to take money orders only).

The listing fee decrease is going to encourage sellers who have large quantities of slow-selling junk to list it on ebay, while the fee increases are going to discourage sellers who have more saleable or one of a kind items. Overall, it seems to me that the result is going to be bad for everyone.