EBAY HAVE FINALLY GOT RID OF LOW PRICE SELLERS

[rota65]

YES AFTER 10 YEARS OF SELLING, EBAY HAVE FINALLY PUSHED LOW PRICED SELLERS OFF THE CLIFF, I SELL RECORDS AT 50p EACH AND WITH EBAY'S BUYER PROTECTION IT BUMPS THE PRICE UP TO £1.24 WHICH IS MORE THAN MOST OF THEM ARE WORTH, WHO'S GOING TO BUY A £1.50 LOAF OF BREAD FOR £3.75, AND I CAN'T BECOME A BUISNESS SELLER BECAUSE OF THE INSERT FEES AS YOU HAVE TO PAY EVEN IF YOUR ITEM DON'T SELL, I USED TO LIST 1000 RECORDS FOR FREE AND SOLD AROUND 150, NOW I CAN ONLY LIST 300 OF WHICH I WOULD ONLY SELL AROUND 50, THAT MEANS 250 INSERT FEES DOWN THE DRAIN, SO THANK  YOU TO THE IDIOT WHO CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA YOU HAVE LOST ANOTHER SELLER, PLUS I BUY LOTS OF RECORDS FROM LOW PRICE SELLERS, AND NOW WITH THE BP IT PRICES ME OUT OF MANY PURCHASES SO I AM BUYING LESS, BUT I DON'T SURPOSE EBAY GIVE A MONKEY'S, TIME TO GIVE E-BID A GO AND SUMMERS COMMING BACK TO CAR BOOT SALES, TO ALL MY CUSTOMERS IF THEY SEE THIS, CHEERS FOR YOUR CUSTOM.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

You have used the exact correct word in your first sentence - 'guess' because that is all that anyone is actually doing.   What if 99% of the silent majority are actually still selling?  How do you or any of the other vociferous commentators know that is not the case?   Maybe a majority of low priced sellers have decided to sell some other way rather than just as single items?   Unlike so many i do not claim to know what the stats are, especially based on this forum comments!   I do know that my sales for March (just like February) are much better than last year.  That could be because i am selling the items some people want and are prepared to pay for (all pretty low cost ones at that) or it could be that many clothes sellers have given up selling on here.   No one likes the changes (and why would they) but we all have a choice as to whether to continue or not.    By the way anyone who sold an high end designer item for 99p is a fool.

[rota65]

Yes albums sadly not mine, sold them for a friend that does not do ebay I wish the singles would reach those prices, my best sale was Mr blobby for £13 eight years ago, work that one out

[susapric-68]

Maybe you're just underestimating the market. Checked one of your sold records at random "BELINDA CARLISLE - CIRCLE IN THE SAND 7" SINGLE" you sold for 50p yet lowest I can find is £4.61 now and that's with BPF added. I checked the feedback left to buyers to see how much they're selling at that price and It looks a lot each month. Do the search yourself and check out the lowest price seller and you will see people will pay

[rota65]

Buyers are very fickle, I have sold records for ten years to lots of returning customers, and they expect to buy at the low price I have always sold them for, when I had to increase due to postage prices going up, I lost a few regular customers, maybe a lot of these record sellers are dealers and the records they sell are in a lot better condition than mine, but hey ho it was good while it lasted, there is more than one way to skin a cat, I have other options just not with ebay, I was never in it for the profit, it was just fun and enjoyable, but wherever you go there is always a party pooper.

[vintagevilarosa]

I do believe that some people have forgotten what ebay was all about it...it was never about being a business it was about selling off stuff that you had already paid VAT on when you purchased it! It was never about being a business..sadly that who idea has gone out of the window and the minute they started allowing big business and chinese sellers to sell on ebay its when it went downhill! The thing that made ebay interesting was all those small sellers who were getting rid of their stuff! Now its totally boring because those small sellers have been pushed out by ebay!

[lucy_farmer]

'I do believe that some people have forgotten what ebay was all about it....'

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I don't think people have forgotten how it used to be, but the whole online world has changed so much in the last 20 years, it'd be really strange and probably illegal (one way or another) if ebay had stayed the same!

Legally speaking : well it took a flippin' long time for govts, tax offices, regulators and lawmakers to catch up with the online world, but they're getting a grip on it now......

There's a whole load of Online Selling and Online Consumer laws that have to be adhered to now, that weren't there before.

A whole load of secure money transaction stuff, delivery tracking and confirmation stuff and identity confirmation stuff that weren't there either.....

And the biggest change is the anti Online-Money Laundering rules that are being put into place in basically the whole western world (this is what the Nat Ins number ho-ha is all about.... it's not just HMRC wanting to chase up tax-evaders. Though I'm sure they're not too upset about being able to peer into some previously opaque accounts! )

And the online world in general: well it's just turning into a giant business-led advertising hoarding, with all sites leaving their previous community or interest based roots behind.

Somebody on these boards mentions a site called 'your neighbourhood' (or something similar) that started off life as a site for neighbours to share info.

(Things like,  'I've lost my cat'  or  'Anybody seen my parcel that got delivered to the wrong house?', or 'will whoever it is please stop letting their dog carp on my drive way' etc etc .......)

Even something as unimportant and homely as this is now apparently full of businesses trying to flog stuff.

I find the 'ensh**ification' of the online world really depressing, but it's not going away.😒

[*vyolla*]

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@vintagevilarosa wrote:

I do believe that some people have forgotten what ebay was all about it...it was never about being a business it was about selling off stuff that you had already paid VAT on when you purchased it! It was never about being a business..ing rid of their stuff! Now its totally boring because those small sellers have been pushed out by ebay!

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Why do you push this romanticised notion that eBay was never a business? 

It wasn't set up by a group of students wanting to help create a fun marketplace for sellers of cool and collectible items to list and sell their bits and pieces - it was set up by Pierre Omidyar, who wanted to create a global marketplace business and, obviously, make money from the business he was creating.

It's like the Mandela effect, people are starting to create and believe scenarios that simply were never true in the first place. 

[rota65]

The sellers on ebay don't push the romanticised notion that ebay was never a business, ebay do,

Mr Pierre Omidyar i'm sure created ebay for the businesses but did not advertise it in that  way, all the tv adverts were always aimed at people to sell there unwanted items around the house, even now the latest adverts on tv are doing exactly that, no mention of businesses in any of them, but Mr Omidyar seems to have forgotten this with the new unpopular buyer protection fee which hurts all low priced sellers, it would not have been so bad if it was implemented on all items £5 and over

[jonatjonatjonat]

The suggestion that ebay would willingly lose money on every Private Seller transaction under £5 is the peak of romanticised notions.

[rota65]

If you think ebay lose money on ANY transactions is the peak of romanticised notions, ebay will ALWAYS take it's slice of the pie

[wintersdawn1]

Agreed, they've got everything set up for their benefit because of their dirty, grubby, greedy hands.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Yes - that was my point.

[jonatjonatjonat]

What is the solution? There needs to be some fees to ebay on a transaction right?

[lucy_farmer]

'There needs to be some fees to ebay on a transaction right?'

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Yes, absolutely.

 How about a 'listing fee'? Or possibly something called a 'Final Value Fee'? ... what a radical idea....

Nobody expected or asked for fee-free selling.

And nobody wants the loss of  fees to be made up for with all the ridiculously complicated ways ebay have chosen to do it.

[*devils.advocate*]

Nobody expected or asked for fee-free selling.

I must have missed the outrage at being given it!

[jonatjonatjonat]

I quote from above…

“it (buyer protection fee) would not have been so bad if it was implemented on all items £5 and over”

And they aren’t the only ones who have suggested this. It’s mad to even suggest it. 

the old seller fees of course were fine. The mess eBay got in is offering 80% off periods or whatever it was so devalued their offering. It’s the old issue Pizza Express used to have. Did anyone ever pay full price in Pizza Express when there were so many discount vouchers going around?

[*vyolla*]

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@rota65 wrote:

The sellers on ebay don't push the romanticised notion that ebay was never a business, ebay do,

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I actually quoted the post I was responding to which stated that 'eBay was never about being a business', when of course it is. 

I've never seen eBay claim that it wasn't a business. They even have shareholders.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

maybe you should set up your own site then!  They are a business and profit is what business is all about, anyone who thinks it is not is naive in the extreme.  Then again we are all selling on here to gain money whether as business or private sellers.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

i would take exception about no one wanting free selling, that is exactly what some people on here were wanting!  Whatever is done there will always be the freeloaders who want everything for nothing.  Look at all those who used to only list when the 70% was on  and then complained when it was not!

[kath3735_wxmjn]

i think the big problem is the 75p fixed part of the fee on small items, even 50p would have looked so much better.   I am not getting worked up about any of it though, leaving that for the introduction of SD and I am already prepared for the day i start delisting all my items.