UPDATED: 70% Reduction in Fixed Price Fee and much, much more…

DakotaOn 08.19.2008 at 11:04 pm Said:

Nothing like being forced to accept PayPal on all transactions!

That stinks!

I get a lot of business from buyers who use checks and money orders. There goes that piece of my business. Thanks for nothing eBay!

Since PayPal will have their greedy little fingers in more of my transactions, there goes more of my profits.

I see nothing good in this.

MechelleOn 08.19.2008 at 11:07 pm Said:

LOL

I can feel your enthusiasm Richard - nice pitch!

However, I have issues with the PayPal only section and the shipping fee limits.

Clearly, not being allowed to accept checks/money orders means I lose some sells- not a whole lot but more lately- frankly the loss of one sell makes this cost prohibitive for me.

However, I can see eBay is hoping to acquiring more PayPal users with this plot so they can venture out and take over the world in online Payment services outside of eBay. However, their objective only serves to harm consumers by 1) taking away choice for people who want to buy from eBay without opening a PayPal account 2) making a seller absorb costs they would not have with a check/money order transaction by using PayPal 3) With eBay leveraging the network effect more merchants will sign on to offer PayPal because of the demand that will result from the massive eBay user base all signed up for paypal because they had to and will naturally use paypal out of convenience when shopping outside of eBay essential causing harm to all e-commerce shoppers. 4) the entry barrier created with this clear cut tying of PayPal to eBay marketplace will prevent competition in the payment service market leaving consumers with no choice if they would prefer a more convenient option than punching in their information every time they make a transaction (outside of eBay of course) 5) not to long from now all eBay sellers and once the outside merchants become more entrenched in PayPal we can all look forward to over pricing and poorer service than we already receive.

hmmm

I know eBay is thinking they covered their A** with the merchant credit card payment method, however they adamantly argued paypal only was essential in Australia because the eBay user Base isn’t a good fit for merchant accounts the cost to high. Of course the other acceptable option ProPay the problem is it is more costly- a yearly subscription higher transaction rates, processing limits, no brand recognition… so that really isn’t a good fit either.

Some would say that PayPal sounds like the best option and that might be true if there wasn’t a cost effective service out there that eBay has banned from use- Google Checkout- Brand Recognition, lower costs, even lower costs for Adwords users *benefits (that would be incentives not contingencies), convenient, safe a very good substitute for PayPal as it actually benefits the consumer more.

The shipping limits I am opposed to because I already pay a portion of the shipping cost $$$ cost for 99% of my transactions - no I have not passed that on to my customers- who knows what eBay will deem appropriate shipping fees and what service they will base it on. If there will be a service based guide or maybe it’ll be eBay providing a stipend out of my own pocket.

The fee thing doesn’t effect me one way or another other than if eBay doesn’t feel my product gets enough attention they’ll eliminate its exposure. I take that back this is also potentially negative for me.

Basically, I feel more S…ed with this round of changes than the January C…!

MechelleOn 08.19.2008 at 11:47 pm Said:

“Having said all that, I’ve been told that to help alleviate the transition, eBay will be targeting heavy check and money order users with coupon campaigns and introductory offers to educate buyers and incentivize them.”

incentivize them.” to do what?

MechelleOn 08.19.2008 at 11:48 pm Said:

The truth is that today, items paid with check or money order are 80 percent more likely to result in a customer complaint than those paid with credit card or PayPal.

What is your source??

Brett@Discount Printer InkOn 08.20.2008 at 12:38 am Said:

I think it’s about time eBay did something about the shipping problem, it has gotten way out of hand. I think if they provide an incentive for the seller to keep their shipping reasonable then it helps the over all market. Obviously it helps eBay as well because they don’t make as much when the seller sells something for .99 and has $20 shipping, so they do have a financial interest in the change, but it will help the over all market as well.

I think the lower initial listing cost and the longer Buy It Now will help encourage more listings with the lower risk. If something doesn’t sell it is now more likely to be re-listed and not be so costly.

I don’t understand why Mechelle would question this comment “The truth is that today, items paid with check or money order are 80 percent more likely to result in a customer complaint than those paid with credit card or PayPal. What is your source??” His source is that he works for eBay and he knows what people call in about….it seems like a silly question to me. PayPal is more secure than any other payment source that eBay has to offer and it makes sense that they would want to cut down on fraud and customer service issues. The point I agree with Mechelle on is that they should give people the option to use Google checkout. I think it would force competition in a healthy way and whoever had the better customer service and better security would prevail. All and all I like the changes that are being proposed and I think it will make eBay a more credible place to purchase goods. I am intrigued to see what effect it will have on my eBay affiliate site…could be quite good! Thanks for the update RBH!

MechelleOn 08.20.2008 at 1:09 am Said:

@ Brett@Discount Printer Ink

His source is that he works for eBay and he knows what people call in about….it seems like a silly question to me.

Actually, that was my point

PayPal is more secure than any other payment source that eBay has to offer and it makes sense that they would want to cut down on fraud and customer service issues.

Well, to be specific eBay is forcing me to accept its PayPal as a payment method from my customers for my merchandise. Safety is not the issue acquiring paypal users by forcing eBay sellers to go electronic only is the goal. The only safety they are concerned with is securing PayPal’s market share in payment processing by using the eBay marketplace as its fishing pond- and the sellers and their merchandise are the bait

ur_bringing_me_downOn 08.20.2008 at 4:57 am Said:

All these changes are fabulous! This is awesome so now I can’t wait until Sept 16th!

Yeah ebay!!

Amy AOn 08.20.2008 at 5:09 am Said:

I JUST opened an EBAY Store, so now all these flat rate 30 day buy it now listings will show up before my ebay store listings? So what is the point of my store now? It cost 15.95 per month for the store.. now does anyone see that a 30 day buy it now at a lower fee basically reduces the need for a store? anyone’s thoughts?

Thanks!

ssOn 08.20.2008 at 5:14 am Said:

As a seller (never a buyer) I have used paypal for years. I’m currently changing to a merchant account. The reason is paypal decision making process on complaints is greatly flawed. To much scamming. Fees to high. Look for them to raise them again after October. Merry Christmas. As for ebay new fees. I will continue to list my little 10 items each day and enjoy the traffic it drives to my store for 3 cent listings. Nothing changes that it doesn’t stay the same. Donna A Hole is an idiot and more sellers will be moving there merchandise to other venues. Sorry but those are the cold hard facts. Wake up sellers you are getting the shaft again.

TomOn 08.20.2008 at 7:22 am Said:

I am SO SICK of all these constant changes. You CAN NOT TRUST eBay anymore. (they outright lied and said they had no intention to change payment options like they tried in Australia). You CAN NOT BUILD any sort of long term business plan, because the rules are constantly changing. GOOD BYE ebay. I will be spending the next month clearing out my inventory, and I will be gone for good. You can’t make any profit any more, and it sure isn’t worth the stress. Your goal seems to be to get rid of the smaller sellers… and I think it’s working. You obviously don’t want my business, and I don’t want to give it to you anymore.

TheBrewsNewsOn 08.20.2008 at 8:21 am Said:

I suggest anyone wanting to learn more…. sign up for one of the free eBay webinars.

R WakefieldOn 08.20.2008 at 8:57 am Said:

I think this is excellent news.

Do all the changes announced today also apply to eBay Motors Parts & Accessories?

ex-ebay sellerOn 08.20.2008 at 9:11 am Said:

“The truth is that today, items paid with check or money order are 80 percent more likely to result in a customer complaint than those paid with credit card or PayPal.”

Hogwash. Must have come from the same research department that produced the retaliatory negative stats. 8 years of accepting money orders and checks by MY CUSTOMER’S REQUEST and I never had a complaint generated by these customers. Many coin dealers require that purchases be paid by money order or cashier’s check. But hey..eBay already decimated the coin market here and chased off most of the quality coin dealers with their efforts to ‘protect’ the marketplace.

SZYSZEKOn 08.20.2008 at 9:12 am Said:

I think the changes are very positive, I pretty much abandoned eBay due to high listing fees. Checks and MO cause more headaches than they are worth, I was planning to stop offering that option anyway.
I am curious why this change is advertised as “save up to 70% on listing fees”. If the previous charge was $4 and the new one is $0.35 then wouldn’t the savings be over 90%? I understand that final value fees may be higher and that’s fine with me - I don’t mind sharing profits with eBay. But the adverisements on official eBay site (http://thebestplacetosell.ebay.com/) say “70% Reduction in Listing Fee”. Am I missing something?

JayOn 08.20.2008 at 9:37 am Said:

I think the changes are awesome.

Plus, if you feel ‘forced’ to take Paypal, use ProPay, which is a direct competitor of Paypal.

It’s 2008 - I keep a checkbook in the car, but I’ve not used it in two years. And money orders… are those things still around?

Digital sales should require digital payment.