eBay has instituted a fee schedule that allows sellers of fixed-price items to list a product for 30 days — in many cases, multiple quantities of that product — for just 35 US cents.
In the past, sellers had to pay up to $4 per item per week. As of mid-September, sellers able to maintain large inventories of a product will find it easier and cheaper to offer their wares at eBay. They will also find the site more competitive with Amazon.
Smaller retailers who stick to the auction format will not be aided by these changes, a development that is bound to heighten the tension that has been building between eBay and this constituency.
Increasingly — and especially since CEO John Donahoe took the helm in March — eBay has been accelerating its evolution from an online flea market to an online retail community dominated by larger sellers offering goods at fixed prices.
eBay could not accommodate the E-Commerce Times’ request for comments on Wednesday, said spokesperson Melissa Chanslor.
Need to Change
Despite all the angst this shift is causing in the eBay community, it is clear that the company needs to do something to bolster its bottom line. Its latest (Q2) quarterly earnings report showed that revenue growth had faltered to the slowest pace in the company’s history
Furthermore, the majority of its growth in the second quarter came from Skype and PayPal, while its eBay Marketplaces business unit registered a relatively disappointing 13 percent increase in revenue.
“eBay is taking a step in the right direction,” said Justin Hamel, CEO and president of MastaMinds Network, a specialty retail network consisting of more than 50 niche stores — and an active PowerSeller on eBay.
In fact, “eBay will need to lower the listing fee even more across the board to gain momentum,” Hamel told the E-Commerce Times.
“A lot of sellers are moving to Amazon,” he noted. It’s perceived as less risky, because a seller does not have to pay listing fees until an item is sold.
Sellers Revolt
Indeed, eBay has been hemorrhaging smaller sellers in the wake of several very unpopular changes, including banning sellers from posting negative comments — or even giving neutral feedback — about the buyers with whom they do business. It also implemented a new fee schedule that sellers felt were detrimental to their operations.
eBay’s latest changes are just another slap in the face to the small seller, said Nancy Baughman, a PowerSeller who deals mostly in antiques, as well as the co-author of
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A belated attempt by eBay to retain some sellers.
At Kaqoo we have seen a huge influx of powersellers who are downloading our software, setting up on their own websites and joining hundreds of others to list items for free and create an auction network where all the sellers work together.
The sellers provide the items for sale on their own website, provide customer service to their own customers and it all comes together at kaqoo.com.
This is the people taking control of the marketplace as the Auction Alliance.
A word to the wise on signing up with Kaqoo.
True, it is a wonderful concept for someone who wants a Turnkey auction site but there a few points on the downside.
The site is not user friendly and looks very AM aturish.
For the 20% commission that you have to pay from your sales, you don’t get much beyond the software.
Many broken links on their site. Most you can work around but a customer would just shake their head and leave.
Reminds me of one in a long list of not quite yet failed schemes.