eBay, the people's market, or...

According to the signs, and here I'm referring to our purveyors of the weather forecasts, we in the north can expect more than our fair share of snow this coming Friday. Crap!! I have to admit that snow is fine to look at on xmas cards and the like, nice in photographs, but when one is forced to trudge around in it, especially when the local council can't be bothered to clear the pavements, making it easier for us to walk on safely, it can be a right royal pain in the backside.

Since we're still in the depths of winter with February only just around the corner, I guess that we should expect just about anything weather wise to be thrown at us. Well, the current spell of quite mild and sunny days has meant that the bulbs, and I planted lots of them last autumn, are now beginning to thrust their leafy spears up and out of the soil. At least the snow won't have much effect on their eventual bright and colourful appearance.

As you may well know, my little friend, Froggy, who is still enjoying his period of hibernation, has long had a rather soft spot for us humans. With this in mind, and if he was with us now, I'm sure that he would have said something about the internet marketplace service provider, eBay. As everyone who either buys, sells or just browses through this jungle of a market place will know, eBay in its greedy wisdom, has once again decided to raise its range of fees to place goods in their auctions, and all despite that it's not going to be popular with sellers, especially those power sellers and shop owners.

No matter how long eBay has provided its service around the world, it has never ceased to figure out new and effective ways of getting more money out of its sellers. I have personally kept my eye on the things that eBay auctions and the things that people bid on, for the best part of seven years. Heck, I've even bid on and sold many things myself in this time. Anyway, during this period, the quality of goods offered in their auctions has for the most part been quite high. However, ever since eBay made it first major change to their fees in 2003, which includes the time they began to charge vat on all sales, a dirty trick that the French refused to accept and so didn't pay, the quality of goods has begun to fall by the wayside.

One of the most recent changes, which has to be seen as a precursor to what they are to introduce in February, was to put up the final value fees for all books, magazines, Comics, DVDs, Videos and music cds auctioned on their site. For those of you who don't know about it, the final value fee recently increased from 5.25% up to 9% regardless of the final value of the sale. This is a big increase in eBay's profits and a huge loss where sellers are concerned. It would be cheaper and more effective for those who sell even a modest number of titles, and here I talk about those who mainly sell books, to open a website where the profit is all yours, rather than to feed this insatiable greed of eBay's.

To move onto eBay's latest money grabbing antics, and it mainly happens to we Britons, not those who live in the US or France, I thought I'd tell you my opinion on their new range of fees.

While they intend to raise their final value fees across the board, they are trying to show us that they are going to do something for the seller too. I'd blow a raspberry here, but my mouth is too dry! From February 20th final value fees will rise from 5.25% up to 7.5% on sales valued at up to £29.99. From £30.00 up to 599.99 it will rise from 3.25% to 4.5%. I won't mention the sales valued at more than this, simply because the average type of eBay sales are covered by those I've shown here. As a rather weak gesture, eBay has reduced the insertion fees by up to 33% across the board for the general seller, and up to 40% for power sellers. Now while this may seem generous, it is far from it when you care to work it out, but then eBay rarely does anything that benefits the seller.

Oh, and by the way, don't knock sellers, because without them and what they have to put up with, most of you simply wouldn't be able to stumble upon and bid on those bargains you hope to find on eBay.

I don't know about you, but a 33% discounted from 10p can hardly be seen as a means to tempt sellers to place more items on eBay, especially when at the end of the day, it will be gobbled up within these new final value fees of 7.5%. In truth, eBay hasn't given the seller anything. Of course, if the item placed doesn't actually sell at all, it is of very little consolation to the seller to have paid slightly less in their insertion fees.

Come on eBay, if you want to be truly generous and caring about those who use your service, drop the insertion fee charges if the sellers goods do not gain any bids. You know, at the end of the day, and since eBay is trying its best to drop the ordinary, or casual seller in favour of power sellers and shops, the value of this auction service to bidders will drop through the floor like a heavy stone. Prospective bidders will have difficulty in finding those absolute bargains and long forgotten family heirlooms, because the source of these wonderful items will simply no longer be available to people like us from the individual seller. eBay is gradually pricing itself out of, and off the market, and when it does, it will be too late as sellers will have gone to one of many other internet auction sites, taking their goods and money with them.

eBay, the people's market place, or a means to rip us off?


I'll see you all again next week. Bye all....

Bob (Standing in for our friend, Froggy)