eBay promoted the fact that the insertion fee is low and the time extended but they didn't promote is many of the upgrade fees will cost you up to 3 times as much (also the final fee value is more)
Here is a listing of the upgrade fees
The first fee is for Auction Style, Fixed Price Format (3, 5, 7, 10 Days)
The second fee is Fixed Price (30 Days, Good 'Til Cancelled), Classified Ad
Value Pack
$0.65
$2.00
Gallery*
Free
Free
Gallery Plus
$0.35
$1.00
Listing Designer**
$0.10
$0.30
Subtitle
$0.50
$1.50
Bold
$2.00
$4.00
Scheduled Listings
$0.10
$0.10
Gift Services
$0.25
$0.75
Border
$4.00
$8.00
Highlight
$5.00
$10.00
Gallery Featured
$24.95
$74.95
Home Page Featured
$59.95
$179.95
List in Two Categories***
x2
x2
To see all the new eBay fees
Ebay, the online auctioneer, has asked the European Union’s antitrust chief to investigate companies that prevent retailers or sellers from offering their goods on Ebay or other online commerce platforms.
Tod Cohen, Ebay deputy general counsel, said he had raised concerns with Neelie Kroes over distributors of perfumes in France, sports goods in Spain, schoolbags in Germany and pushchairs in Britain, among others.
“We think there may be a number of anti-competitive and abusive distribution agreements that are prohibiting sellers in the EU from offering goods online. They are manipulating and controlling the markets beyond EU market rules,” he said.
The company has been locked in legal battles over distribution policies with a number of large brand manufacturers – from Tiffany in the US to Louis Vuitton in France – although they, in turn, have complained about online sales of counterfeit items. Results in national courts have been mixed.
Ebay’s call came after Ms Kroes said she would consider an investigation into whether manufacturers and service providers were using illegal practices to prevent online sales.
“There are a number of practices which are being used to restrict cross-border sales which I think require a closer look,” she said.
“I intend to look very carefully at these practices, and any others brought to our attention,” the commissioner said, as she called for views to be submitted.
The investigation is not formal at this stage, but a preliminary exercise to explore whether there are issues that need to be addressed. But Ms Kroes made clear she was ready to take further action if required.
“Consumers often find that the products they are looking for are not available to them ... If this is because competition rules are not clear enough, I will clarify them. If it is because the competition rules are not up to date, I will update them.
“And of course, if this is because the competition rules are not being respected, consumers and companies should know I will enforce them” she said.
Ms Kroes was speaking at the end of a high-level roundtable discussion by online commerce participants including Apple’s Steve Jobs, LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, John Donahue, chief executive of Ebay, Roger Faxon from EMI, and Sir Mick Jagger. The roundtable will publish a short report later this year, and invite further comments from third parties.
Brussels sees online commerce as a means of driving a borderless market and eroding local competition barriers.
According to recent studies, total e-commerce sales in the EU could reach 5-10 per cent of total sales by 2010. Ebay claims consumers in the UK, Germany and France can achieve price savings of about 17 per cent for a range of new products by buying online.
]]>Internet auction house eBay Inc. may begin buying companies with low evaluations as a way to boost its classified ad business, according to a report Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal said San Jose-based eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) will target classified-ad sites that have positions in market segments where eBay is not yet a player.
The company owns about 25 percent of online classifieds company Craigslist as well as sites in Germany and Spain.
The Journal said eBay's classifieds business generates from 5 percent to 10 percent of the company's yearly revenue, and eBay estimates about 82 million people visit its classifieds sites every month.
Also at midnight, and till end of the year, the special holiday promotion goes into effect for Books, Movies & DVDs, Music, and Video Games: Fixed Price Insertion Fees are 5 cents when you sellers use Pre-filled Item Information
Sellers upset with eBay's new ban on paper payments such as checks and money orders wondered what the US Postal Service (USPS) thought about the policy, since the ban extends to USPS postal money orders. So we asked. A USPS spokesperson provided AuctionBytes with a statement that it has been releasing to customers who ask about the change.
"Beginning in late October eBay will no longer allow checks or money orders as payment methods. Only approved electronic methods will be allowed. In January 2009, all accepted payment methods will be integrated into eBay Checkout. For buyers, this change means a more consistent and secure payment experience. For sellers, it means faster payment and fewer unpaid items. Visit www.ebay.com for more details.
"This is an eBay adopted policy that the U.S. Postal Service has no commitment, or control of, from eBay.
"The U.S. Postal Service will continue to provide Money Orders for customers. Postal Money Orders are a safe, convenient, and economical alternative to sending cash through the mail. They can be purchased from any Post Office(tm) locations in the United States as well as from any rural route carrier, available up to $1,000 each. A current government-issued or state-issued picture identification is required for money order purchases of $3,000 or more in a single day."
It looks cleaner and is easier to navigate.
More popular searches are displayed.
It's also showing popular internet pulse for popular keywords from well read blogs.
You will find the eBay Pulse page at www.pulse.ebay.com
]]>Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
They will also guarantee exchange rates on those currencies.
This is great for sellers who live in these countries or want to send things to their customers in those countries.
Enhancements to Overstock Auctions are also underway and will include increased fraud protection, checkout process improvements, more third-party integrated payment options and the addition of bid cancellation and retraction.
]]>A new factor in eBay's Best Match search algorithm is "Recent Sales," announced to sellers last month. eBay explained the concept of Recent Sales in a blog post to developers on Friday.
eBay's Best Match algorithm gives more weight to multi-item listings that have experienced some sales, and recommends sellers relist if there are any unsold items left over. However, it appears sellers would not get a relist credit for those items if any of the items had sold. According to the post, "If the listing has ended and ANY quantity remains (and the item has not been relisted before), automatically relist. You will not get a relist credit, but your recent sales score will carry over."
eBay explained to developers that it is encouraging multi-item listings for two reasons: a purchase from a buyer is a great way to measure satisfaction, and because the search experience is cleaner for buyers when there are not duplicate listings. The release date for Recent Sales is targeted for mid-September
A subsequent post informed developers that recent sales will start to factor into Best Match sorting in mid-September, but the tracking begins right away."If you start listing in multi-quantity now and then continue to relist those items when they expire, you'll start accumulating a "recent sales" score reflecting the recent purchases of that item. When the feature is turned on, you start reaping the rewards Forget to relist? Youve got a couple of days to get that item back up on the site and keep your score. Remember, you must do it as a "relist" to have your score carry over. And you can't make major changes to the listing (for example, changes to title, category, condition, increasing price, etc.)."
More than 300 round-trip flights are being auctioned off on ebay starting at 5 cents Phoenix - Too good to be true? Not if you time it right. For a starting bid of five cents, some lucky travelers started the ball rolling on a round trip ticket on JetBlue.
It’s hard to believe but with today's economy,the airline says it’s putting the price of spontaneous weekend trips this fall into the hands of its customers.
JetBlue is the first airline to use eBay to auction off more than 300 last-minute flights, as well as several getaway vacation packages. This particular promotion boasts more than 20 destinations, but none out of Arizona.
The tickets are for up to two people, roundtrip. The majority of trips we found on eBay are out of New York to places like North Carolina and Chicago. Bidding closes this Sunday.
AAA received an e-mail from JetBlue today boasting the promotion. Agent Brian Korgel says if this deal "takes off" other airlines might follow with a similar type of special. But the reality is that by the time bidding ends on Sunday, the ticket price will go back to being a full fare.
The removal plan
Starting the week of September 15th, the links to Bid Assistant will be removed from item pages and from My eBay, and buyers will no longer be able to create new groups of items within the tool. If you've used the Bid Assistant tool recently, or do so before September 15th, here’s how you'll be affected:
If you have an active Bid Assistant group as of September 15: You will still see the link to Bid Assistant in My eBay, and will be able to view your groups of items within the tool. The Bid Assistant tool will also continue to bid on the items within each group as scheduled. However, you will not be able to add or remove items from a group, or alter your maximum bids. Because these groups will essentially "lock" on September 15, make sure that you don't want to change anything within your Bid Assistant groups prior to that day.
If you have a closed Bid Assistant group as of September 15: You'll still be able to view your closed groups via the link in My eBay.
The Bid Assistant tool will then be removed from the site entirely in mid-October.
]]>eBay is modifying its Multiple Listings Limit policy according to a company moderator on the discussion boards. As described in the original policy on July 30, eBay began displaying only one identical item from the same seller in search results. On Wednesday, an eBay employee from "the Finding team" said beginning this week, the display of identical, fixed price, non featured items will be limited to one, but featured items and auctions will all display regardless of whether they have identical titles or not. Auction format and featured listings cost more for sellers to list.
The eBay employee wrote, "We're encouraged by the results we've seen in Fixed Price but haven't seen the same improvements in buyer metrics for Auctions. As such, we plan to make some changes to the implementation based on these insights."
It's unclear why eBay chose to release the news in a forum post rather than in an Announcement Board post.
SAN JOSE, Calif., Sep 03, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
12:11pm 09/03/2008
EBAY today unveiled a new ecommerce marketplace called WorldofGood.com by eBay, which offers products that have a positive impact on people and the planet, empowering consumers to align their social values with their shopping.
Whether consumers are looking to purchase products made from recycled or natural materials, buy organic or support artisan women in developing nations, WorldofGood.com brings a new level of confidence and transparency to the socially responsible shopping experience. WorldofGood.com is a one-stop-shop where the products, producers and sellers are verified by various third parties called Trust Providers -- like TransFair USA (Fair Trade Certified), Co-op America and Aid to Artisans -- to meet a core set of ethical and environmental standards.
"WorldofGood.com by eBay gives shoppers who care about making a difference access to great products that help people and the planet," said Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay Marketplaces. "Socially responsible shopping just got bigger and better."
People PositiveTM and Eco PositiveTM items offered on WorldofGood.com span 15 categories such as home and garden, art, jewelry, clothing and even food items. For example, socially responsible shoppers can purchase fair trade coffee, accessories and home dA(C)cor items made from recycled materials, organic clothing and animal-friendly beauty products on the site. Many products on the new marketplace are handcrafted by artisans across the world, positively impacting these marginalized communities in developing nations. All WorldofGood.com listings are also available on eBay.com, seamlessly bringing these socially responsible products to eBay's more than 84 million active users worldwide.
Shopping That Can Change the World
WorldofGood.com's unique GoodprintTM labeling system is like a nutritional label for each product on the site, allowing shoppers to see the positive social and environmental impact each purchase makes -- whether it provides economic empowerment to people, conserves energy, supports animal species preservation, or is made of recycled, organic and/or sustainable materials.
"We created the WorldofGood.com marketplace to enable shoppers to purchase socially responsible products with confidence," said Robert Chatwani, general manager of WorldofGood.com by eBay. "Regardless of the social causes most important to consumers, they can easily shop for items according to a variety of different attributes, allowing them to customize their shopping impact."
Collaborating for Social Impact
WorldofGood.com is the result of a collaboration between eBay, the world's largest online marketplace, and World of Good, Inc., a purpose-driven start-up dedicated to building ethical consumer experiences, by bringing its deep knowledge of the global ethical supply chain to mainstream retail partners.
The WorldofGood.com marketplace features a vibrant online community that convenes people, products, ideas and organizations all in one place. This facilitates an ongoing dialogue between consumers, producers, sellers and Trust Providers about ethical shopping through relevant blog posts, articles, discussion boards and Q&A forums.
About WorldofGood.com by eBay
WorldofGood.com by eBay an online marketplace which offers products that have a positive impact on people and the planet, empowering consumers to align their social values with their shopping. WorldofGood.com brings a new level of confidence and transparency to the socially responsible shopping experience by working with independent Trust Provider organizations that screen products, producers and sellers on the site. WorldofGood.com is an eBay Global Citizenship Initiative.
eBay UK have announced an update to their names policy, to finally ban all URLs and email addresses in user IDs and Shop names. URL-like IDs were banned for most users back in November 2001, but a few people were allowed to keep using names they were already trading under. As of October 2nd 2008, all of those exemptions are cancelled.
Anyone with a URL in their ID or Shop name will need to change it, even if that URL points back to their eBay listings. Website links in Shop headers are also not permitted, whether or not they are clickable: this isn’t a policy change, but its inclusion in today’s announcement suggests that eBay might start enforcing the existing policy more vigorously. Anyone who’s been getting away with it should remove it now before they get slapped with a policy violation.
]]>Sellers will be able to revise listings in three ways using eBay's tools:
Individually (listing by listing) using Sell Your Item (SYI) or your favorite listing tool.
In bulk using theBulk Edit tool, which is available in My eBay and Selling Manager.
You can revise 10 listings at a time in My eBay or up to 200 at a time for Selling Manager.
Bulk using Turbo Lister.
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
August 26, 2008
eBay updated users and developers in recent days on a number of previously announced changes. The company told developers that policy enforcement for its new return policy requirement, announced in June, would begin in late October. A new field specifying who pays for return shipping would be available to developers in mid-September.
eBay is not requiring that sellers accept returns. However, eBay is requiring sellers to specify a return policy in listings. Sellers who choose to accept returns must specify the time period in which the item may be returned, how the seller will give the refund, and who will pay the return shipping cost. Sellers who choose not to accept returns must specify "No Returns Accepted" as their return policy.
According to eBay, research showed that "difficulty in returning items" was the top shopping barrier cited by buyers and that "only a very small percentage of sold items are actually returned."
eBay also told developers that enforcement of the requirement that sellers specify at least one domestic shipping service when listing an item began August 25th.And enforcement that sellers include a specified handling time in their listings begins in October.
According to a published FAQ about eBay's new policies, sellers are able to change all of listings at once using Turbo Lister or Selling Manager Pro. "Bulk editing for active items will be available in early September, and bulk editing for ended items will be available in mid-October."
In its post to developers about the closure of eBay Express on September 15, eBay said it was "taking the learnings and the best features from eBay Express and integrating those into the eBay site. eBay Express is not needed as a separate site anymore, so we are closing it as of 9/15."
eBay also updated all users on its Announcement Board on Monday about several other changes. eBay has made the beta version of "My eBay" available to all sellers. And eBay is modifying its "Matching Products" module, a feature of its new "finding" experience. The module appears at the top of search results when a high percentage of matching listings are for a specific product that was listed using Pre-Filled Item Information. eBay advised sellers to list with Pre-filled Item Information whenever possible in order to get visibility in the "Matching Products" module.