Changes are soon to be put in place on eBay that have a great deal of impact on eBay sellers and to a lesser degree; the buyers.

These changes also include Paypal and the money you take from an eBay sale.

At first, one may be led to believe there is only good news here and it is certainly the marketing angle that eBay are using, titling it “fee reductions”.

eBay reduces upfront costs such as listing fees, which will drop from a starting price of $0.20 to $0.15 for traditional auction listings, and makes gallery photos free.

Sounds great, but sadly this is only the tip of the iceberg.

eBay is adding more costs to the back end for many sellers with higher final-value fees, the commission eBay takes after a sale. Top sellers will be rewarded with greater visibility and protections, but - in perhaps the most controversial aspect of the shake-up - sellers will no longer be able to leave negative feedback for buyers.

So, breaking it down, what are the changes that are set to impact sellers?

• Buyer can give negative feedback, the seller is only allowed to give positive feedback.
• Final value fee set to increase. Depending on the amount you sell the FVF doubles from 33% to 66%.
• If your feedback percent drops to 95% then your listing(s) no longer appear in eBay’s search results.
• Once a sale is completed Paypal hold any money from a sale for up to 21 days pending feedback from the buyer, so technically this could be longer if the buyer forgets to give feedback or if the sale runs into any problems.

There will be seller rewards, but you’ll need to be making a lot of money to benefit (15% discount for those that do). Something like, only seven of the top sellers on eBay are likely to benefit from this new scheme whilst many other sellers are left paying for it.

The changes themselves, which will be rolled out in eBay marketplaces worldwide, will become effective in the U.S. on Feb. 20th.

Member Rebellion
The reaction from the eBay community has been such that a sellers strike and buyer boycott has been scheduled for 18th-25th of February. There is also a post within the eBay community forums encouraging members to sign their pledge to strike or boycott as a clear message, directly on eBay’s own website.

For many of us eBay is a place where we get our toys! It seems they have taken things a bit too far. Please join in the strike to send a message to eBay that this is really not acceptable!

Read More here:

eBay community forums - Sign the pledge.

Printable Leaflet

ebayfeehike.com

auctionBYTES

CNNMoney.com

The Year Of The Rat

People born in the Year of the Rat are noted for their charm and attraction for the opposite sex. They work hard to achieve their goals, acquire possessions, and are likely to be perfectionists. They are basically thrifty with money. Rat people are easily angered and love to gossip. Their ambitions are big, and they are usually very successful. They are most compatible with people born in the years of the Dragon, Monkey, and Ox.

1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996

Happy New Year! I am also celebrating Chinese New Year this year as the western New Year wasn’t so good as I was sick for 3 weeks.

I’m Rooster! Find out what Chinese Sign you are here.