2013 Spring Seller Update

[CmtyGuide@ebay.com]

Discuss the 2013 Spring Seller Updates here!

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/ca/201303191308082.html

-- Edited by raphael@ebay.com at Mar 19, 2013 3:01 PM EDT

[pierrelebel]

"Am I missing anything here?"

The big picture: the new fee schedules are meant to raise more money for eBay.

Some sellers may end up paying less fees (mostly those selling low priced items at fixed price) while other sellers will end up paying more fees (generally those selling higher priced items at fixed price). This time, I will end up paying higher fees. That is a fact.

A few years ago, eBay changed its fee policy by lowering FVF on most transactions but adding FVF on the shipping charge.  At that time, many sellers experienced lower fees (I saved about $1,000 a year with that change) while most sellers ended up paying more fees (mostly when shipping charges were a high percentage of selling price).

The situation is similar here: some sellers will save, some will pay more and eBay managers and shareholders will smile all the way to the bank!

And life does go on....

[pierrelebel]

Oooooops!  I forgot to add this link from the financial pages:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ebay-goes-amazon-fee-changes-165307056.html 

Key words: EBay shares rose 2 percent to close at $51.10 on the Nasdaq. Amazon slipped 0.6 percent to $256.41.

[pierrelebel]

Question for eBay:

Will subtitles comtinue to be a free option for sellers listing on eBay.cafr ?

[getgiz]

If I commit to a yearly store rental, and I put it in vacation mode for a month or two, will I pay EBay for services when  I'm not using them? What if I get ill or just really need a "mental health" break from Ebay?

[pierrelebel]

" will I pay EBay for services when  I'm not using them?"

Yes, same a currently done.

And listing fees will continue for GTC listings renewing while the store is "on vacation" (if in excess of the "free" monthly allowance)

[kalvin@ebay.com]

"A calendar month begins at 12:00:00am Pacific Time on the first day of each month and ends at 11:59:59 pm Pacific Time on the last day of the month."

Do these times apply to Canadian stores - eBay.ca usually runs on Eastern time, not Pacific time.

Hi pierrelebel,

Good question - we'll double check that for you and confirm. 

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Question for eBay:

Will subtitles comtinue to be a free option for sellers listing on eBay.cafr ?

Hi pierrelebel,

That's right - subtitle will continue to be free for sellers on CAFR.

[nostalgicdreamscnd]

Hi under this link

http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/feesupdate2013tandc.html

Section 7 Other Terms

At any given time you can only have one active Stores subscription across all sites.

Might just be too early for me (and i haven't had my coffee yet), but, am i reading this correctly as each seller can only have 1 store subscription? Or that you can not have a basic and premium subscription at the same time, but can have multiple stores?

Thanks

[triber]

Moderators: With regard to the Premium store subscription, I will get 500 free listing a month. What about the relists every month? I have 500 pluslistings in my store, if they are all relisted at the end of the 31 days, will they be free? Will that be included in my 500 free listings a month?

[inuitgifts]

Seems like there is different information on different ebay pages. Ebay.com says that the new flat FVF will be 9%, ebay.ca mentions new flat FVF 10%. Which one is right? Will the fee be different on different sites?

If we switch to a yearly store subscription now, will we immediately receive free listings or still have to wait till May 1st?

[pierrelebel]

inuitgifts - please take a look at http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2013/springfeesimplification.html 

The new store deal is effective May 1st

[pierrelebel]

If you have an eBay store:

"Final value fees will be simplified to just five flat rates—as low as 4% and never more than 9% of the total amount of the sale"

If you do not have an eBay store:

"When your item sells, you’ll pay one flat 10% final value fee based on the total amount of the sale"

[nostalgicdreamscnd]

OK,

got my answer.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/2013-Spring-Seller/Mutiple-Stores/5100144045

[pierrelebel]

Answers to many questions are available on eBay.com special "2013 Spring Update" discussion board:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum/2013-Spring-Seller/5200000027 

Keep in mind these answers generally apply on eBay.com and may be slightly different on eBay.ca.

[rose-dee]

Moderators: With regard to the Premium store subscription, I will get 500 free listing a month. What about the relists every month? I have 500 pluslistings in my store, if they are all relisted at the end of the 31 days, will they be free? Will that be included in my 500 free listings a month?

I too would be interested in an answer from eBay on the GTC listings that relist. 

So my question to eBay:  Not to nit-pick, but the rollover on GTC listings is 30 days, so in longer months of 31 days, could there be a potential doubling of store listings recorded for that month?.  In a Basic store, with say 150 listings starting on the 1st of a month and renewing on the 31st, would that count as 300 listings for the particular month, attracting additional listing fees ($0.20 x 150)?  Would this mean you would pay excess fees for that lot of listings, but the following month they would be free when they turned over on the 30th of the month? 

I realize most GTC listings aren't started (or rolled over) on the same date, but with bigger inventory there could be enough starting on the 1st of the month to generate a "doubling" within one month.  Clarification would be very much appreciated.

[dutchman48]

List the GTC last day of the month and double fees in a month will not be an issue for quite a while, If you list on the 1st then yes, you will pay for them again on the 31st

[dutchman48]

nostal

1 store per ID but you can have multiple stores if you have multiple ID's

You can not have more than 1 store under the same ID.

[rosscd57]

I am posting this on this thread also.

Here is a good example of what the new 10% flat fee hike will do.

This January, I sold a vintage radio for $1,950.00 - I paid $80.29 in FVF.

May 1 of this year, for the same radio, the FVF will be $195.00

That is an increase of about 143% and that is just criminal.

How can that be justified? Other than just a massive and very unfair cash grab

[pierrelebel]

Until I retired last year, I ran an eBay store with about 3,000 GTC listings.

All of them were automatically renewed at 30 days.  That is the purpose of GTC.

Sometimes, the same listing would be renewed twice (fees paid twice) the same month (1st and 31st of January, March, May, July, August, October and december) while at other times NO fee would be paid at all (renewed January 31st then March 2nd, skiping February.). 

The advantages of using GTC :

1) you do not need to worry about missing a relisting

2) for multiple quantities, the system keeps track of your sales and reduced inventory.  That does not exist with the regular relist function.  For example, if you start with a quantity of 10 and sell 2 during the 30 day period, using GTC eBay will relist 8.  If you use the bulk relist function, eBay will use 10 (copying the information from the original listing).  You need to make a manual adjustment to 8 if you want to keep accurate track of your inventory.

GTC is really the way to go.

[pierrelebel]

How relevant is paying fees twice the same month on a few items?

Use law of average.

If a seller has 1,000 GTC listings spread over the month (about 33 a day)  that seller would pay and additional 1.4% on average in listing fees ($2.80 for the year).

Since 1000 listings can be expected to yield sales of $50,000, $100,000 or more, is that $2.80 really relevant?