All you Ebayers out there should have gotten this email already, but in case you missed it, here's a rundown:

1. Fees for listing an auction have decreased.
2. Fees for listing a BIN have decreased.
3. No fee for listing a BIN for $0.01-$0.99.
5. Fees for listing a Store item have decreased.
6. No fee for listing a Store item for $0.01-$0.99.
7. Gallery Feature is now free!

Sounds great right? Well...

8. All Final value (auction and BIN) fees have increased from 5.25% to 8.75%
9. All Final value (Store items) fees have increased from 10% to 12%

I wonder why Ebay even needs to charge a fee on the sale price, and then also charge a fee on the Paypal transfer. I would hope that someday the Fee on the final sale price would not apply if the transaction is done using Paypal.

In Addition, there are some other changes not relating to fees:

1. Search results will use a qualifier based on the reliability (DSR) of the seller.
2. Power Sellers must retain a minimum DSR rating of 4.6 to retain that status.
3. Power Sellers with a DSR of 4.6-4.7 receive a 5% Final Fee discount.
4. Power Sellers with a DSR of 4.8+ receive a 15% Final Fee discount.
5. Paypal offers Buyer Protection to any address instead of just Confirmed Addresses.
6. Paypal lifts the $5,000 annual coverage limit for Buyer Protection.
7. Paypal Buyer Protection will be mandatory for listings with the following qualifications:

a. Risk Categories (ie Computers or Cell Phones)
b. If the seller has 5% or greater of negative feedback
c. If the seller has less than 100 feedback

8. Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback <--- wtf?
9. Repeat customer feedback will count max 1 per week (this is totally new!)
10. Feedback more than 12 months old will not count towards the Positive Percentage (helpful for those of us who got bad feedback years ago when Ebay was new)
11. If a buyer does not pay for an item, they cannot leave negative feedback.
12. When a member is suspended, all negative and neutral feedback are removed (I wish I had this back in the day)
13. Buyers cannot post negative or neutral feedback until 3 days after the auction ends.
14. Feedback time limit has been reduced from 90 days to 60.

More information here:

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/update08/basic/...x.html?ov=004KO
http://pages.ebay.com/sell/update08/reward...x.html?ov=004KO

eBay is getting greedy. They make it sound good with lowering some of the listing fees hoping people won't read below and find out they're getting shafted in the behind on the FVF. Also, I take issue with their PayPal policies as follows:

1) YOU as a seller cannot make the buyer pay the PayPal transaction fee because you're a merchant. However, eBay (being a merchant to you) has full rights to charge you the transaction fee? We don't need double standards, one standard is just fine

2) eBay tried to rail me saying I had to accept eChecks as payment. Every eCheck I've been sent was delayed from 3 days to 2 weeks for clearing, which is why I won't accept them anymore. PayPal says I don't have to accept any kind of payment. eBay OWNS PayPal. Does the right hand talk to the left?

This is just another attempt by eBay to gain more 'business' by giving the buyers a 'better deal' while sticking the sellers in the butt.

I wish someone would go up against them and be successful with it.

So, basically, they removed fees that they offer for free half the time anyway, and only cost a few cents to begin with, in exchange for charging almost an extra 3% at the end? Sounds like we're getting screwed more through this deal...

that fee structure doesnt even make sense... ok, so it works if your item doesnt sell, but um, your not really a seller then, are you? greedy greedy phukkers, thats all.

no negative feedback pissed me off at first, but as a seller, you can choose not to accept bids from certain bidders (0 feedback, negative feedback, etc.) so I can live with that. but thats not exactly helping out new users when the sellers weed them out to begin with.

ebays really shutting a lot more doors here than opening. not a good start to the new CEOs reign here.

You can't charge a fee that you have to pay because its the law dude. Those fees fall into your overhead. You can get around it by charging an extra buck on "shipping and handling" but that's about it. It comes down to the fact that most people on Paypal use a credit or debit card for their accounts. Have you ever read the Mastercard or Visa merchant agreement? Those fees are expressly for you for providing that service, To charge that fee is credit fraud. I report people who try to charge me that fee, and they get instabanned from Ebay. Don't be a fool if you are a seller. You need to read all those things you agree too, and all the policy changes too!

BTW, here's a little hint for you. Any store (online or otherwise) cannot enforce a "minimum purchase price" policy on sales. This is something that stores try to use, example "you can't use credit card or Paypal unless your price is over x amount" to make sure they make a profit over the fee that they get charged for accepting that type of payment. No store has the right to make such claims. If you use a Visa or Mastercard (credit or debit) you are free from this type of policy. If any store refuses to allow you as a customer becuase of this illegal policy, you can either demand they provide you with a copy of their merchant policy which allows this (which they cannot) or if they continue to refuse, you can report them in violation of the terms of service to Visa or Mastercard. Since Paypal must follow these rules to provide the service, that merchant can be placed under review or get their merchant account suspended/terminated. You can't get around that fee. But don't forget, if you bring in more than $500 a year gross in sales in any given year you can write off those fees on your tax return.