Monday, August 21, 2006

Ebay fees are killing me!

Ebay is killing me with their fee increases! On top of the increases, my sales have plummeted! I'm trying to decide whether it is worth it to keep listing on ebay. I have already started listing on two other sites; etsy.com and ecrater.com because their fees are either low or nonexistent. Anyone out there have any suggestions? The hardest part of my decision comes with the holiday season quickly approaching. Ebay has always been good to me during the holidays. However, I know that the only way to truly let ebay know I'm unhappy, is to pull all my listings completely. I could email them and complain, post nasty messages on the forums, go on strike, etc, etc. But I seriously think the only way they will get the message is by losing my business completely. If they really wanted people to list more auctions and less store listings, they would LOWER their auction fees, not raise the store fees! Just another case of corporate America taking advantage of us little guys. Well, I don't think I will stand for it much longer! Just like I stopped shopping at Walmart, I think the only thing to do is stop selling on ebay.

Let me know what you think? What are you doing? What would you do if you were in my position?

4 comments:

Suzanne said...

Hi, I'm fairly new to creating and selling art (collages) and have had reasonably good success on etsy, but I'm doing it mainly just to get enough out of it to pay for my supplies--and give me an excuse to create more pieces! I recently tried selling only 2 pieces on e-Bay and although I love e-Bay for buying things, it, well, sucked when it came to listing and selling things. Cost at least 4x what etsy did (so I raised the price of my items), was much more complicated, plus I had the same amount of hits as I would have on etsy and my pieces did not sell during the auction period. I re-listed on etsy and sold both in a week. That was enough for me, I'll stick with etsy from now on! I do wonder though that if you are selling pieces for a lot higher amount that e-Bay's fees won't be as much of a consideration as for someone like me who sells things under $20.
I'll have to check out e-crater now. :^)
Good luck with your sales, your boxes are cool!
Suzanne
suzannerenfrow.etsy.com

Suzanne said...

p.s. one other suggestion, since you do well on e-Bay, maybe you can list one or two pieces and put your link to your etsy shop in the listing to get people over to etsy??? (Take THAT, e-Bay!!!)

Cynthia said...

I'm listing on eBay again after a hiatus. I wasn't selling during the holiday season last year, but would like to experience it, so I'm trying to list something everyday or so to get a consistent presence. Although, I did close my store last spring...wasn't working for me. I also list on Etsy.

Anonymous said...

E-bay fees are killing us all. I found they raised their store rates to 15.95 instead of the 9.95 I originally paid =without informing me. 12 cents on the dollar final fees. And, paypal charges that have gone through the roof. DO NOT BOTHER WITH THE STORES. MOST OF THE ITEMS IN THE STORES ONLY THE OLD TIMERS KNOW WHERE AND HOW TO FIND THEM. JUST FOUND A NEW BLOG ONLINE THAT E-BAY WILL HAVE FREE LISTING FOR THE HOLIDAYS. AFTER THIS 35 CENT ONE THEY HAVE STARTED. BUT, WILL BE TAKING 15%. ON THE LISTING OF THE 35 CENTS, THEY WILL BE TAKING 15% ON CLOTHING AND COLLECTABLES, THEN RIP YOU UP WITH EXHORBITANT PAYPAL. I JUST STARTED LISTING ON E-CRATER, FREE LISTING. NO ENDING FEES, AND HAS ACCESS TO INTERNET SEARCH. GOOGLE IS NOW THERE TO ACCEPT PAYMENTS FOR 20 CENTS TRANSACTION FEE AND 2% WHICH IS FRACTION OF PAYPAL. ALSO LISTING ON E-PIER. FREE LISTING AND 2.5% ENDING FEE. REAL FRIENDLY AND HAS YOUR THINGS REPEATED ON FRONT PAGE WHEN YOU SIGNE ON SOMETIMES. I GET A KICK OUT OF THIS. IF SOMETHING SELLS AND PEOPLE DO NOT PAY, IMMEDIATE REFUND OF ANY CHARGES, THEY JUST TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT. GROWING DAILY. I ALSO LIST ON AUCTION-WAREHOUSE. FREE LISTING AND NO ENDING FEES. NO ONE THERE ACTUALLY DOES THE FEEDBACK, BUT, I DO SELL STUFF THERE.
I AM CLOSING MY E-BAY STORE. I AM TIRED OF THE CONSTANT CHANGES AND COMPLICATED LISTING WHICH PICTURES RARELY WORK. TIRED MUCH OF THE CHARGES AND GREED BY THE CORPORATE HAWKS, DURING THIS TIME OF DIRE ECONOMY.
I LOVE YOUR BOXES. I LOVE MAKING THINGS MYSELF. IF I EVER GET OUT OF DEBT, I HAVE TO FIND YOUR WEBSITE AGAIN AND BUY ONE. THOSE ARE MOST BEAUTIFUL. SINCE E-BAY WENT UP IN FEB, MY PERSONAL GAIN IS LIKE LUCKY TO HAVE 23 CENTS IN MY PURSE. HOPEFULLY THESE OTHER SITES WILL TAKE OFF. NO MORE E-BAY FOR ME.