eBay Hikes Seller Fees Sky High & Calls it a Better Deal

eBay announced the new and improved fee structure recently, with the changes set to go into effect on March 30th.

Once again, eBay is presenting this fresh disaster as something good for sellers.

Good?

Hmmmm…well, not many eBay sellers consider an enormous increase in Final Value Fees as good.

These latest changes might not be all that bad for sellers who are amenable to giving their items away. For instance, if a seller lists an item for $.99 or less, there is no listing fee.

Of course, there will still be a hefty Final Value Fee of 9%, plus since eBay stopped allowing paper payments so as to ramrod everyone through Paypal, another fee to be paid there. So, theoretically, if you listed and sold an item for $.99, you would pay no listing fee as long as you didn’t set a reserve price or use any special features.

But by the time you paid Final Value Fees and of course “Paypay” fees, you would be out a nice sized chunk of the $.99 you made. Less what you paid for the item when you bought it to resell, and any packaging supplies you have to purchase in order to ship the widget.

All this will do is cause another rash of sellers who attempt to make their money on shipping and handling charges.

What is so upsetting about this latest fee hike is that as usual, eBay adds insult to injury by assuming that the average eBay seller has a brain the size of a BB and lacks even the basic skills of using a calculator to do the math and see that sellers will be paying more for less.

The announcement itself was priceless and so typical of FeeBay:

"Starting March 30, 2010 selling on eBay will be a better deal than ever!"

That’s true.

It will be a better deal…..for eBay.

Here is a copy of a chart posted on the eBay Announcements Discussion Forum showing how the fee increases will affect sellers who do not have an eBay store. Read it and weep:

A better deal for sellers? If you sell an item for $50, you'll pay 47% more in fees. A sale price of $100 equals an astounding 87% fee increase. $150 sale price means a fee increase of 106%!

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is NOT a better deal for eBay sellers. If you have an eBay store, your fee hikes aren't quite as bad, but still bad enough. The Catch-22 here is that to save a few pennies on Final Value Fees, you will have to subscribe to an eBay store. More money, more money.

eBay has its hand in your pocket either way.

Sorry, John Donahoe, you haven't fooled anybody except apparently the Board of Directors, who must truly be as dumb as you think eBay sellers are.