eBay Update by Dave Bromley

Well it may not have been the busiest of months in respect of sales but the backroom

staff at eBay have certainly been busy. I don’t think I can remember a month when they have pushed out so many announcements.

Possibly the most important was issued on 20th July and this was a statement from Doug Macallum, the Managing Director of eBay.co.uk He started off by stating that after the test of including eBay store listings in the search results the company had come to the following conclusion:

“Over the past few months it has emerged that the change had two unintended consequences. Firstly, buyers found the greater abundance of items a bit bewildering.

Buyers find it difficult to hone in on the item they want when presented with lots of choices (on average, search results doubled!). Secondly, because Shop Listings last
longer than other formats, it has become apparent that the sales velocity for which eBay is rightly famous is under threat: your products have been selling, but not as quickly.

This has obviously affected the vibrancy of the marketplace.

To rebalance the marketplace eBay is going to reduce the visibility of Shop Listings in Search and Browse. Shop items won’t disappear entirely from Search and Browse results:

Whenever a Search returns a small number of listings, we’ll present Shop Listings to the buyer. But when that does happen Shops Listings will have their Gallery image showing to help buyers – the poor experience offered by lack of images was another key piece of buyer feedback.” He then went on to say that ebay would continue to monitor the situation.

He also went on to announce that plans for introducing eBay Express into the UK were
going ahead well. As I understand it eBay Express is a form of classified advertising intended for business sellers of new products. EBay Express should be up and running in time for the Christmas rush.

Other items addressed in the statement included excessive shipping charges which he
promised was being actively addressed which I am sure will please the majority of
readers. EBay motors are also introducing a classified ad format for vehicle sales.

Finally he announced that over the last year eBay had trained over 1000 members of the UK police forces on how eBay works and is building a good relationship to counteract

fraud. To read the full statement visit http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200607.shtml
At the same time eBay announced changes in the fees for store items. Gon eis the 5p
across the board charge and the following will apply from 21 st August.

Shops Listings Insertion Fees Insertion
price tranche 30 day listings 90 day listings Good 'Till Cancelled listings
£0.01 - £4.99 £0.03 £0.09 £0.03/ 30 days
£5.00 - £9.99 £0.05 £0.15 £0.05/ 30 days
£10.00 - £49.99 £0.07 £0.21 £0.07/ 30 days
£50.00 - £499.99 £0.09 £0.27 £0.09/30 days
Over £500 £0.11 £0.33 £0.11/30 days

Final Valuation fees have also been increased to:

First £4.99 10%
£5 to £9.99 10% for 1 st £4.99 then 8% for remainder
£10 to £49.99 10% for 1 st £4.99 then 8% for initial £5 to £9.99 + 6% for remainder
£50 to £499.99 as above plus 4% for balance between £50 and £499.99
Anything above £499.99 is as above +2% for £500+

There are also some other minor changes to Gallery prices and feature plus. Full details can be found at http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200607.shtml

There are similar changes announced for eBay.ie. (The Irish eBay site)
I am sure that these changes are going to make some sellers question whether it is still going to be viable to continue with their eBay stores.

I think for many it is going to be time to get the calculators out and start doing your sums.

http://www.ezeeweb.co.uk