The tides (and fees) rise on the bay

[springintoscooters]

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2017/2/1488296012.html

[Southern Jewel's Fab Finds]

Here's the good part of the news (or how it relates to me as I have straight across the board great performance eBay standards)
Final value fees for sellers who do not meet eBay's minimum performance standards will increase by 4 percentage points on items sold on or after May 1, 2017.

On the plus side, eBay is removing product listing ads that take shoppers off of the eBay platform.
eBay will replace those ads with Promoted Listings - in other words, pay to play.
However, eBay currently restricts the program to multi-quantity items in certain categories, and only eBay Store owners can participate. (I don't have a store, but can't remember the last time I've clicked on a promoted add off eBay (or Amazon for that matter).

Thanks for the update.
eCommercebytes is a great source for info.

[uncleleroy]

Let me ask a question that anyone that wants to, can feel free to answer.

I've been contemplating expanding and going to Ebay. Are the fees, policies and customers worth the hassle of opening up there? The products I want to place over there are not BVMD categories. It seems like Ebay doesn't really have its act together and is just going after sellers for more fees. If this is true, then what (if any) significant benefits are there to  Ebay?

[Southern Jewel's Fab Finds]

I also sell on eBay.
Regarding fees:
My eBay performance standards are through the roof excellent/perfect.
So no new fee increases for me.

The plus for me (and we'll see if it continues to be) is that I sell items on eBay that I can't or won't sell on Amazon.

Bent and Dent items put together as a lot package.
Hard to find items
Collectibles
Vintage and Retro (clothing, collectibles, decorating, etc)
Food
 
eBay has special promotions for sellers...Todays offer which I accepted:
40% final value fee discount for select categories when you start auctions below $5
AND an offer I receive monthly. 
Pay no insertion fees for auction-style or fixed price listings. Buy It Now is free too.

The removing of product listing ads that take the customer off of eBay is a huge to me.
I really don't like that part of Amazon, either.
I realize people pay to have those ads on my catalog/eBay page, but dayummmmm, it takes buyers away from the product I'm selling to another off Amazon/eBay site.

Cons will come soon.

AND need to mention this, I've heard eCrater stores are doing a hella good biz as of late.

Heading out the door but will be back later today...if you'd like me this part of the thread to the private section of the forum, just lemme know.

[uncleleroy]

I think I'm gonna wait for the cons to rear their ugly head and then make a decision. I don't want to make a quick decision and then regret it. Especially with the fees being as high as they are.

[Southern Jewel's Fab Finds]

My cons are as follows:
Storage of items.
Organization of items.
Maintaining the condition of items that I'm selling/storing.
If you aren't putting up but a few items for test on eBay, then storage isn't an issue.
But if you end up adding hundreds over time, then yep, storage of items can and does become an issue.
There was a time that I had hundred's of items up on eBay for sale at any point and time.
Not only did I have to have storage for them, I had to be organized... majorly organized.
Especially when I was selling books.
Alpha vs genre, I had to figure out my organizational style, ya know?
What worked for me, might not work for another.

Fees?
When I was a larger eBay seller, I paid $40.00 a month for a store and organized it by categories.
The fee scale was different.
http://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/faq/stores.html
Think of it as Personal Seller Account vs Professional with Amazon.
The categories help you to get more Search Engine Optimization, too.
Double hits per se by those search engines.

Paypal or using your own payment processor for your payments = immediate payment most of the time. (unless there is a hold put on funds, then you aren't required to ship until the hold/echeck has cleared)
I do miss not having to budget for payouts.
Every day there was a new transfer out of my Paypal and heading towards my bank.
But, that was also in the 'I can sell anything on eBay and it will sell fast' days.

I can't honestly say how the items I sell on Amazon would do on eBay as I have never attempted selling on both venues at the same time.
I do have Amazon competitors that do sell on both.

When you're on eBay, search an item and in far left hand column check the completed list and it will show you what items sold for and for how much.
I do use this often to price my items on Amazon..
Of course, I add $$$ more to my price.
But, then again my fees are more with Amazon and storage costs.
Six in one hand, half a dozen in the other.