"Another nut cracked with a sledgehammer on Ebay" Topic

We are all aware that some sellers use excessive p&p fees as a way of avoiding Ebay charges so Ebay are starting to take action. This was in the body of an email from them today.

From 15th June sellers listing in selected categories in Video Games, Mobile & Home Phones, Consumer Electronics, Computing, Photography, and Clothes, Shoes & Accessories will be required to offer free P&P as their first domestic postage option.

Why is eBay making this change?
Excessive P&P costs are cited as a major reason for buyers spending less on eBay. Free P&P is increasingly standard on online shopping sites, and offering the same on eBay contributes to a higher rate of successful sales. To ensure
eBay remains a dynamic marketplace, we'll be introducing the requirement to offer free P&P for listings in selected categories (see below).

How will this benefit me?
Shoppers are more likely to buy your items if the P&P is free, as buyers are increasingly used to seeing free P&P offered while shopping online.

How will eBay help keep prices fair for me and my customers?
We understand that sellers might be concerned that they'll have to absorb the cost of P&P so we'll be offering Final Value Fee promotions and other incentives from time to time. From 6th April to 30th June, eBay Shop owners will qualify for a 20% Final Value Fee discount when they offer free P&P in the categories listed above. (Terms & conditions apply.) Sellers should also bear in mind that the requirement to offer free postage & packaging applies only to the first domestic P&P option. Further chargeable shipping services can be offered in addition.

So sellers will have to factor the postage into the start price. This will increase the amount they pay in insertion fees and the final valuation, partly offset by the 20% discount while it lasts.

So far it's only being applied to some groups but how long before it gets rolled out to everywhere else? This looks to be another step along the route to Ebay just becoming an agency for professional sellers with the lists full of Buy It Now items.

Right now Ebay UK has 64,000 items in the Wargaming section, only 20,365 are auctions. the rest are "B.I.N."

I thought that I'd heard that E-bay essentially acknowledged that the "Amazon" model wasn't working for it and they were moving away from the pro-seller format to get people back into listing with them.

What I don't like is their hamfisted attempt to control the market forces in this manner. If people are avoiding purchasing phones and whatnot via e-bay because of excessive shipping, let them buy from sellers who offer lower P&P or lower prices overall.

Most of the people selling phones and etc. on E-bay are already pro sellers from what I've seen.

Wyatt

where did you see this I have not yet seen that?

I agree with Wyatt on this one. Require sellers to post up-front what the S&H (or P&P) costs are, or what they'll be based on (such as the USPS online shipping calculator), and then hold them to that. But this… nah. Let the market correct itself.

This may be a UK based initiative at present. This was a direct e-mail to me from Ebay outlining their latest improvements.

Ahh, ok tie to call ebay and let them know that if they do that here there loosing a powerseller

I really don't care what Ebay does. They worry about their own bottom line not yours so I never understand why guys go out of their way protecting big companies when all they do is squeeze us out of every dime we have.

well when ebay has you by the nards financially there is little else you can do. I can't afford to give up the income and I have yet to find any magic money making site anywhere else…