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

[charlie_webber138]

With the new "It Ain't Yours Until You Pay For It Policy", how can a Buyer take advantage of combined shipping discounts if he's buying multiple BIN items and hoping to win multiple auction items, either of which could be days apart?

Does the shopping cart somehow come into play in a situation like this?

I believe you're removing a great deal of flexibility between the Buyer and the Seller with this policy.  The "Require Immediate Payment" option handled this issue for those sellers concerned with unpaid items.

Thanks.

[rosscd57]

Thier Spring Seller Update Site went down for a while and when it came back up this had changed. Here is a cut and paste.

"When your item sells, you'll pay one flat 10% final value fee based on the total amount of the sale, with a maximum fee of $250 **."

So now it looks like there is a cap of $250.00 but the two little asterisks do not lead anywhere. Does this mean anything over $250.00 will be costed at 3.25 like it was before?

I would really appreciate an answer on this.

[rose-dee]

Shopping cars, all over the internet, suffer from a difficult disease:

Shopping cart abandonment

Take a look: http://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate 

The problem is simple: folks start buying "stuff" from one site, put them in the "cart", intend to continue shopping later or compare prices elsewhere and abandon the shopping cart.

In the meantime, an item that could have been sold remains on the seller's shelf. 😞

Yes, this is the other side of the coin of course, or maybe I should say the other side of the stamp in your case. :-). 

Still, in the current situation on eBay.ca, I do occasionally like to give my customers the courtesy of a few days' grace to pay, especially if they ask me up front.

[raphael@ebay.com]

I have a couple of questions please Raphael.  These concern the new  "Business Policies" -

I currently use Auctiva (and have for years).  As you likely know, Auctiva has long had such "boilerplate" for seller policies, terms of sale, etc. 

1)  Do I still need to opt into this eBay change when it comes? 

2)  What happens if I don't opt in once this policy becomes mandatory?

3)  Will "opting in" mess up my listings? (As it stands now, Auctiva's boilerplate goes into the "description" area of eBay listings, so is completely separate, and could conceivably duplicate (or worse - contradict) information in the "Business Policies" area on eBay.

Thanks for any input you might have on this!

Hello rose-dee,

This is a tough one as I don't have any experience with Auctiva. Perhaps you should take this question to their support service. In the meantime, I'll see if I can find a colleague with more depth into the Auctiva platform than I have.

[imbuzzy]

Thanks for your reply Pierre, but I already knew about the way eBay presented my free listing statistics on the Selling Manager page.

It was there that I realized on both sites (.com and .ca) that after only listing 50 auctions total, that I had reached my monthly allowance for both sites.

As a seasoned seller, I also knew that talking to an eBay rep would be a lesson in futility, but I wanted to hear some representative say something with regards to my situation.

So, as it stands, this month of March, I was allowed only 50 free auction listings - the counter on both selling sites had exactly the same count.  I am now under the belief that April will be the same...

Thankfully the random ZIF promotions negate my concerns...

Now if only in a dozen or so more years will eBay be able to hammer down a solid business model....

[pierrelebel]

" the counter on both selling sites had exactly the same count."

There may be a misunderstanding here.

Both eBay.com and eBay.ca should show the same information such as:

Free Auction-style Insertion Fees
List Auction-style FREE with any start price. Plus add a Buy It Now for FREE.
Start: 02/28/13 21:00:00 PST
End: 03/31/13 21:00:00 PDT

AND

Free Auction-style Insertion Fees
List Auction-style FREE with any start price. Plus add a Buy It Now...

 

The first set if for listings on eBay.ca (ending at 21:00:00PST is the clue!)

The second set is for listings on eBay.com (ending at 00:00:00 PST is your clue)

If only one shows up, it means you still have 50 free auction listings available on the other site.  Disregard the information received from the rep.

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Thier Spring Seller Update Site went down for a while and when it came back up this had changed. Here is a cut and paste.

"When your item sells, you'll pay one flat 10% final value fee based on the total amount of the sale, with a maximum fee of $250 **."

So now it looks like there is a cap of $250.00 but the two little asterisks do not lead anywhere. Does this mean anything over $250.00 will be costed at 3.25 like it was before?

I would really appreciate an answer on this.

Hi rosscd57,

Thanks for the heads up - we'll need to drop the extra asterisk.

[pierrelebel]

The information above was from the eBay.com site.

When checking on eBay.ca, the times are changed to reflect Eastern time:

Free Auction-style Insertion Fees
List Auction-style FREE with any start price. Plus add a Buy It Now... 

Free Auction-style Insertion Fees
List Auction-style FREE with any start price. Plus add a Buy It Now for FREE. 01/03/13 03:00:00 EST 01/04/13 02:59:59 EDT

[rose-dee]

With the new "It Ain't Yours Until You Pay For It Policy", how can a Buyer take advantage of combined shipping discounts if he's buying multiple BIN items and hoping to win multiple auction items, either of which could be days apart?

Does the shopping cart somehow come into play in a situation like this?

I believe you're removing a great deal of flexibility between the Buyer and the Seller with this policy.  The "Require Immediate Payment" option handled this issue for those sellers concerned with unpaid items.

This is exactly the point - leave us some choice as sellers. 

One problem with "Require Immediate Payment" of course is that it does not permit purchases to be combined on one invoice - this can cause difficulties if a seller wants to provide a shipping discount on the entire sale. 

As for shopping cart abandonment, a lot of sites I notice now warn customers about their 24-hour limit, after which the merchandise reverts to active. 

[raphael@ebay.com]

With the new "It Ain't Yours Until You Pay For It Policy", how can a Buyer take advantage of combined shipping discounts if he's buying multiple BIN items and hoping to win multiple auction items, either of which could be days apart?

Does the shopping cart somehow come into play in a situation like this?

I believe you're removing a great deal of flexibility between the Buyer and the Seller with this policy.  The "Require Immediate Payment" option handled this issue for those sellers concerned with unpaid items.

Thanks.

Hello charlie_webber138,

For multiple item orders, the eBay Shopping Cart does need to be used in order for this to work. If the seller offers shipping discounts, these will be applied on the combined order in the Cart. For combined shipping, buyers need to put the items in their Cart and request the total from the seller from there.

One thing to remember is that one of the requirements for an item to be eligible under the new 'Not Sold Until the Buyer Pays' policy is for that item to be purchased from eBay.com. Therefore, any sale that fall under that policy will have the Cart available to the buyer. Items purchased from eBay,ca will continue to have the current 'Sold When the Buyer Commits to Buy' flow. 

[rosscd57]

Thanks Kalvin - but it does not really answer my question, which was:

"Does this mean anything over $250.00 will be costed at 3.25 like it was before?"

[kalvin@ebay.com]

Thanks Kalvin - but it does not really answer my question, which was:

"Does this mean anything over $250.00 will be costed at 3.25 like it was before?"

Hi rosscd57,

You're right, sorry!

Final Value Fees are capped at $250 - it won't ever exceed that amount.

[imbuzzy]

To clarify it -( I guess I should have just started a new post....)

After listing a total of 50 auctions in March:

ebay. ca states

 
Free Auction-style Insertion Fees
List Auction-style FREE with any start price. Plus add a Buy It Now for FREE.
Start: 01/03/13 00:00:00 EST
End: 01/04/13 00:00:00 EDT
    
50 / 0

ebay.com states

Free Auction-style Insertion Fees
List Auction-style FREE with any start price. Plus add a Buy It Now for FREE.
Start: 02/28/13 21:00:00 PST
End: 03/31/13 21:00:00 PDT

50 / 0

I was under the belief that I had 100 free listings per month - 50 on each site.  After I used 50 auctions, any attempt on either site to post an auction resulted in insertion fees being stated.  Maybe it was only 50 per month no matter what and I've been selling in dreamland lately...  So is it 50 or a 100?

[kalvin@ebay.com]

To clarify it -( I guess I should have just started a new post....)

After listing a total of 50 auctions in March:

ebay. ca states

 
Free Auction-style Insertion Fees
List Auction-style FREE with any start price. Plus add a Buy It Now for FREE.
Start: 01/03/13 00:00:00 EST
End: 01/04/13 00:00:00 EDT
    
50 / 0

ebay.com states

Free Auction-style Insertion Fees
List Auction-style FREE with any start price. Plus add a Buy It Now for FREE.
Start: 02/28/13 21:00:00 PST
End: 03/31/13 21:00:00 PDT

50 / 0

I was under the belief that I had 100 free listings per month - 50 on each site.  After I used 50 auctions, any attempt on either site to post an auction resulted in insertion fees being stated.  Maybe it was only 50 per month no matter what and I've been selling in dreamland lately...  So is it 50 or a 100?

Hi imbuzzy,

You should be receiving 50 free auctions on each site. If there seems to be an error, please contact Customer Support so they can look into it for you.

[tobyshitzu]

That is the same .ca counter showing on both sites.  If you list on  .com it will start another 50 counter. With the promo on now you end up with 2 more counters to 500

[pierrelebel]

imbuzzy - both counters show the same eBay.ca listings (check the times)

You do not show any on eBay.com

[imbuzzy]

Thanks for all your input - I'll look into it further after the current promotion ends...

[tobyshitzu]

If I sign up for a monthly store, I pay a prorated amount plus the next month

So potentially I could sign up the day before my billing date, use the whole months of free listings in one day, and the next months.  Pay for 31 days of the store subscription, then cancel

Then repeat that again in a couple of months?

[bilge21]

"Well, my fees are going down"

I am glad for you.

I received an email from eBay.,com earlier today stating:

"Great news for you! Based on your recent selling activity, your fees will be 21% lower than they are today!"

Posting rules do not allow me to adequately and candidly answer that message.

Since I retired last year, I only used "free listings" (50 each month plus promotions).  How I can save 21% from FREE considering FVF for auction listings are going up from 9% to 10%.

Bill... Bill... Bill... where are you hiding? 

Hi Pierre. Busy day with local sales but now I have time to sit down and absorb the news.

I 100% agree with this part:

"

"yes, a buyer could miss buying an item until they make a payment"

It has been many years since I have use the word STUPID for a new eBay policy.

This is one such instance.  The change of policy is ill conceived and totally STUPID.

I expect the policy will be quickly rescinded once millions of complaints come to eBay Head Office from buyers totally upset with not getting an item they purchased freely."

What an idiotic move by eBay. However, it apparently is only for .com where the shopping cart is used. ebay.ca, not having the shopping cart, continues to use the "Commit to Buy" solution..

As for whether I would save by closing my store and taking advantage of the 50 free listings (I generally only have 35 listings) and using 30-day expiry, I have checked into the calculator eBay provides here:

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

Using my average monthly sales as 10 sales per month (Used to be more, but now is less), $32 average price per cartridge, 35 listings per month, I would save a grand total of ONE DOLLAR a month by not having the store and paying the 10% flat FVF rate. Having the store would give me 150 free listings per month if I decide to add other items down the road. Just a buck more gives me the store. If I get enough sales again to meet the 20% discount criteria, that would be even more of a savings.

I think I'll keep the store open, list as usual for my eBay customers so they can save and/or find me easily. My prices will be up a bit across the board because of increased CP shipping fees, but it's worth it to me especially since I write the costs off as the cost of business on my taxes.

[pierrelebel]

"Bill... Bill... Bill... where are you hiding? "

For newer members, "Bill" is a reference to William "Bill" Cobb, former president of eBay Inc.  To be polite about it, Bill was, how shall I say, "math challenged" I guess would be the appropriate expression.

Back in 2008 Bill tried so darn hard to tell eBay sellers how our fees were going down when they were in fact going up. He used all kind of numbers.  It was sad. 😞

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200801290559182.html 

Now, for the entertainement portion of this post:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXgujV9T_B0  🙂