Ebay has such a large share of the market it can function like a virtual monopoly. I'm not sure if the actual dollar amount is significant to each individual user. I could be wrong, but if the listing fee is $1.30, then that doesn't seem that significant.
I thought Yahoo always had charged a fee. Were they doing it without fees to build market share? I know Yahoo seems to be fee-happy lately, with adding fees in many areas that were previously free.
It didn't sound as if their posting fee (I think it's a quarter) has changed. This posting fee is always in addition to the commission fee.
The posting fee is one of the most annoying charges on Ebay. I would prefer they eliminated the posting fee and raised other fees 1/4 of a percent.
The posting fee allows you to post twice.
My husband sells books on Ebay, and he sells alot of books that aren't that expensive (the really good books he keeps for his collection.) He has lots of auctions for $5 to $10.
If he puts up 60 books (some may be 2-3 book sets) he will usually sell 30. He'll fiddle around with those 30, combining them with other books, lowering the price, etc. before they sell.
If he puts up 60 auctions every two weeks, that's $15 a month on things that haven't sold and may never sell. It's a nuisance fee, pure and simple.
eBay's insertion fee (aka listing or posting fee) is based upon the opening bid amount. The current schedule is:
$0.01 - $9.99 $0.30
$10.00 - $24.99 $0.55
$25.00 - $49.99 $1.10
$50.00 - 199.99 $2.20
$200.00 and up $3.30
I've listed hundreds of items on eBay and don't consider the fee a nuisance, but the cost of doing business there. The elastacity of the pricing model apparently supports spreading the fees evenly so that anyone who uses resources (e.g., creates an item for sale) pays some portion of the overall cost structure.
No, there are no free listings, but then again why should anything be free?
I was merely pointing out, George, that many sellers would rather pay $.50 more in commissions for the items they do sell if they could get excused from paying posting fees on things they don't sell.
It would be good marketing and promote good will on Ebay's part.
I never see a penny of the proceeds of my husband's Ebay sales. That's his play money, his hobby money, the money he uses to build his own collection (which is plenty big already--over 25,000 vintage paperback books taking up an entire room in the basement.)
Instead, I see all the expenses--$41 in charges from Ebay on our credit card last month (posting fees and commissions), all the mailing costs, $84 for cushioned mailers last month (well--that got 450 of them or so, 300 big, 150 smaller, and
http://www.uline.com is really inexpensive.)
So sometimes I look at all the charges and think--yuck!
I hear what you're saying, but I think the eBay position is that they shouldn't have to subsidize items that don't sell. In other words, they are the platform available to advertise your wares. What you do with that page and their traffic (which costs money to develop) is up to you.
In that way, they are very much like a newspaper. You can advertise something for sale, but your ad shouldn't run free if no one calls.