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TRS discounts reduced
 

I see Ebay are reducing their TRS final value fee discounts - they never give up do they? Robbing bar stewards

Won't be long until you have to pay them to be a TRS - LOAD OF OLD BO***CKS

Can't say i'm shocked at anything they do now, it's all about money, money and more money!

In all seriousness this is just the next step in their grand plan to be rid of private, small and mid sized business sellers.

Everything that they have introduced over the last couple of years is towards this end. THEY DON'T WANT US!

Their plan is to be the biggest online outlet for major brands and retailers who have the infrastructure to deal with customer complaints and returns without e/b and p/p's need to give "buyer and seller protection" and all the back room stuff and expense that it entails.

They can just sit back and collect their fees which you can bet are no where near the same structure as they are for your average Joe.

There is no room in their plans for the likes of us and time is growing short I fear. Before long there will be no 'incentives' to be a better e/b seller.

Why? because there will be no platform for our kind of trading.

Is this just in the UK? In the US the discount is still listed as 20%, and I couldn't find anything indicating it was changing. Only recent change was they eliminated the 5% powerseller discount a few months back.

UK definitely at present. Announced on the site today.

Been no power seller discounts here for a long long time, probably a year or so.

OK, so this is probably COMING to the USA in about 10 months or so...

What did they reduce the discount to?

by 50% pretty much across the board

Maybe but probably not before most of as are history

What needs to happen is someone creates a search engine for auctions so you type in your item search in the search box and it searches ALL auction listings from Ebay / Ebid / Amazon / Google / Etsy etc. You know like a 'Compare the auction' type service or something similar.

If something like that existed and was used by the majority of people to search for products then it would kill ebays domination of the online auction marketplace. That way you'd be able to list on whatever online auction site you liked and still come up in the search results.

However I'm sure ebay would find some way to legally boycott such a search engine and discourage people from using it. The problem is that consumers dont seem to like switching services once they've got used to using something. I seem to remember in the days before Paypal was compulsory I used to have virtually no problem having people make payments into my bank account for items I sold on Ebay, however since Paypal was made compulsory people have got used to it and have also swallowed all the brainwashing bull about how not using Paypal will result in fraud etc... What a lot of bollocks!

They just updated the US site. While they are not reducing the discounts for everyone, they ARE taking them away from some people altogether:

Starting in June, Top-rated sellers will need to have tracking information uploaded to eBay within their stated handling time on 90% or more of their transactions with US buyers. As of June 1, the 20% final value fee discount and greatest on average boost in Best Match will go to those listings from Top-rated sellers that include 1-day handling and a minimum 14-day return policy with a money-back refund option. Listings without these two services will still have the Top-rated seller badge and some boost in Best Match but will not earn the discounts or the highest average boost in Best Match.

So now, if you want the 20% discount, you must use uploaded tracking numbers and offer a minimum 14 day money back guarantee and 1 day handling.

I agree with u guys, but to an extent,
Try selling at other websites and see if you can compare to the profit of ebay. Not saying ebay is the best, but its deff not the worst
I don't know about you, but ebay is paying my bills

As it is for most of us but maybe not for too many more years I reckon.

Meanwhile, stack up your paper

Amen to that Brother!!:dance:

Most certainly, I will defo not go down without a fight aswell as many others, as long as we go legit they'll never drive us off fully :ballchain:

But as they say you should never put all your eggs in one basket especially on a volatile platform like eBay.

Definitely invest eslewhere, plenty of ways just online to make money without selling anything else, just need time and abit of work.

Let's hope one day we actually have a competing platform to match eBay, but i highly doubt it who wants to even compete and invest so much money againest the biggest marketshare holder at 80%+.

Fight who, e/b? I doubt that you or anyone can beat them if they decide to withdraw selling privileges to only those they allow to qualify. It's their ball park, their rules.

There are competing platforms but we are as brainwashed as buyers are. If sellers left e/b now and used other platforms buyers would follow.

e.b are not No.1 in every country e.g Austria and Poland have their own online auction sites that are far more frequented by locals than e/b

Don't let e/b dictate, use other sites no matter how small or low the traffic is because maybe some day not to far off they could be THE site in your region.

Just think where e/b would be tomorrow if every private, small and medium sized seller upped and went to another site.

That would certainly s**t on their plans and cause them ne end of financial loss.

Remember a business is built on it's customer base and many business have changed their customer base to a new 'level' leaving those that helped them build it behind. This is e/b's plan but customers can go of their own accord just as easily.

Why are we all waiting to be pushed? Maybe now is the time to JUMP

I think you should lead the movement lol we could start a REVOLUTION as of Today! YES WE CAN!!! =}-

It's in everyones power to do so. All you need to do is start using the other sites and bear with them.

Of source they're not going to do for you what e/b is right now but what about next year or the year after?

You never know

Every avalanche starts with one tiny rock moving and then that makes another move and another until the whole side of the mountain comes tumbling down.

You ar that tiny rock and e/b are the mountain.

I personally don't plan to stay on this mountain for ever there are other mountains to climb. Every rich person in the world will tell you something similar.

Read Warren Buffett.

All of the sentiments expressed on this thread have merit. IMO Ebays long term plan is indeed to do away with the small domestic seller. If you view it from outside the box Ebay are being as badly hit by the economic downturn as the rest of us. They will look at their income stream and evaluate how much they need to invest for each dollar earned in each category and from which type of seller. Their cost base algorithm is I suspect fairly uniform.

Much as we don't like it the large retailers who are now populating the Ebay listings cost them less in infrastructure costs than Ma & Pa clearing their garage.

Ebay is a cash generating business for the shareholders - they aint interested in what we think or what happens to us - all that's important is that the earnings per share increase year on year.

Buy combs boys - lousy times ahead

:noidea:

what granny is trying to say, is take as much from those greedy *******s as you can now!!

Yes . . . but because I'm older I use a lot more words than you:pound:

I love how everyone rants and raves here, yet every single person here is making good if not GREAT money off of eBay.

Its like a screaming kicking and crying baby who throws tantrums at his mother but at the end of the day comes is drinking milk from her breast...

Guess what...all of us are drinking milk from eBay's breasts, and that milk is greeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnn and filling my wallet :laugh:

On the bright side, how about the extra 5% we get up until June... :dance:

Of course, we have to expect eBay to do what is in their own best interests. Every successful busineess does that. To expect anything else would not be realistic. But I am not sure if that REALLY is in their best interests.

Most of eBay's recent growth has come from their international sites and PayPal. US sales have declined.

Back when it started, eBay was THE COOL PLACE to be on the internet. They had all sorts of stuff listed, most of it unusual and unique. There also were some commodity items that are so prevalent today, but they were always cheaper in price than anywhere else.

Now, all they are about seems to be commodity items. It is a shame, as I used to browse their site for hours on end, buying all sorts of stuff. Now, it looks like a low-rent version of K-Mart. All of the weird, unusual and unique stuff has either been banned, or they chased the sellers away. What is left? Cheap junk and counterfeits - and not always at the best prices, either.

I have to believe there COULD BE another marketplace that would work and be more like eBay WAS rather than what they have morphed into. But that would take a ton of $$$ and resources to start today.

No ranting and raving involved but realistic and logical assumptions based on the evolution of eBay's current business model and it's ever apparent morphing into something new.

Put your faith in e/b for your bucks in the future and you will come to regret it. You may be making good money now but in relative terms it's proportionately less than it would have been just a year ago and even less than two years ago.

WHY? Higher fees, less discounts, punitive suspensions, higher than realistic performance targets etc. etc.

All of these are self tightening noose. e/b don't need to kick us off their site they just keep upping the anti and we will all slowly fall to their unachievable standards.

Better have an exit strategy is my advice

I can agree that eBay increasing their fees will cause me to make less money...that is common sense. Fortunately, I was not an eBay seller before the current fees were put into place so it doesn't affect me.

After I got TRS, the 20% discount was like an awesome add-on bonus. I haven't been subject to their suspensions as of yet...but I am sure many people who have gotten suspended (a majority of this forum), it was in eBay's best interest...they don't want the liability of fraudulent or ⊗⊗⊗⊗ goods sold on their site. Completely understandable.

Their performance standards do not seem unrealistic to me. I have 5 stars across the board and no negatives with several hundred feedback growing by the day. You do not NEED to perform up to their TRS levels, but it will benefit you with TRS discount, the buyer with excellent service, and overall a positive experience for eBay.

I am not trying to suck eBay's d*ck or anything, but I haven't tasted the bad side of eBay yet and plan on doing everything in my power not to...and they are filling my pockets pretty damn well, just like they are most of you. Even though it may not be as much as it was in the previous years, it is 100% more than you would have in your pockets then if eBay didn't exist.

eBay/Paypal fees are CHEAP compared to brick and mortar business fees/expenses/royalties.

http://www.aspkin.com/forums/other-a...tive-like.html


Trot off to the above thread. Contribute to making that idea feasible.

Will that happen? I doubt it.

Professional ebay whingers in full cry :boink:

i dont care if ebay bans us all to make way for the big businesses.......

some other site will take its place:noidea:

everybody loves a bargain

Actual issue is what sellers will do.

Always the bottom line.

In life, when something is wrong, many still adhere to their comfort zone.:smash:

yeah true

but we evolve

there will always be similar sites to apply our trades

As you say you have no experience of how it used to be but many here have and are here as a result of the changes that e/b have imposed, we were not all sellers of ⊗⊗⊗⊗ goods.

Good luck with e/b I hope you continue as you are doing now but bear in mind what I have said.

I lost an 8 year old account with over 6k fb, TRS, the whole nine yards and did not sell ⊗⊗⊗⊗ goods, there are many others like me around.

I'm not bitter and twisted about it. I learned and moved on and play them at their own game but on my terms. They can shut me out of accounts or I can cut and run when I like and come back reincarnated when I feel like it.

It's not a case of if you fall foul of e/b and their fickle buyers but WHEN.

As I said it's a self tightening noose, slowly but surely it will choke you. So be prepared.

eggs-one basket etc

Good post NoneOther

NoneOther is posting some good stuff :thumb:

NoneOther is right.

Just around the time that Pierre Omidyar was about to turn eBay over to Meg Whitman, everything changed.

It used to be REALLY HARD to lose an eBay account. Even people committing fraud with dozens of negatives and a 20% positive feedback rating sometimes were able to keep accounts. Then, the pendulum swung in the other direction.

New rules came out almost daily. It was truly impossible to keep up with them. Whole categories of items were banned. eBay did not own PayPal back then. You could lose an account for putting the wrong size PayPal logo in your listing. Or using prohibited HTML code. Or listing your auction as "featured" if it no longer qualified. Or listing in what they considered the "wrong" category.

Often, what exactly was prohibied was NOT spelled out. The rules were written very broadly to give eBay leeway in applying the rules.

Back then, you would get an email from eBay stating they ended your item for violating eBay's policies. But they woulnd NOT tell you which policy you violated. If you questioned them, they would send a nastier email threatening to close your account if you kept violating their policies.

Nobody was safe. Sellers with THOUSANDS of positive feedbacks and 100% ratings had their accounts pulled. eBay would NOT accept any appeals and they would NOT tell you what you did wrong.

Counterfeits were not as much of an issue back then. Sure, there were SOME, but this was before the counterfeit wholesale sites existed. One person I know sold pianos. He had 100% positive feedback and had closed his local store because he preferred the freedom of selling on eBay. ONE email from eBay and he was done, despite paying them over $4k per month in fees.

Another woman, a single mom, started a service to clean basements and attics at a low fee, in exchnage for keeping some of the items. She sold them on eBay and got off of welfare. She was so proud and happy. She had extra money and was able to do more for her kids. eBay banned her, too.

So, nobody should assume that just because a seller was banned means they were selling counterfeits, stolen merchandise or were otherwise breaking the law. Very often, they just ran afoul of an eBay rule. Or maybe even an eBay CSR who was trying to help a competitor. Who knows?

Now, at least they will give you a GENERAL IDEA of why you were banned.

NoneOther your on fire tonight!! ;) *gets notepad out*

i would like to take this moment to apologize for my comment earlier about i`m not bothered

i am bothered if it affects my good friends on the forum

i am not a top rated seller so it wont affect me,although i will get affect one way or another

i am sure there will be something in place where you would be able to take your ebay reputation to another site which will be ebay's predecessor

ebay is not the be all and end all!

Such a site already exists

I hope you are not referring to iOf fer or hal f.com

No, Uk site eBid. Not that great but it's out there and been around for a while now. As I said before, you never know. one day.