Raising Fees

The problem is where would they go? The closest thing to ebay I think is Yahoo Auctions, and that even doesn't have the power of how many people are using the site.
Unless a major new auction site comes up with a lot of traffic we're pretty much stuck with ebay.

Yep, I jsut got the e-mail...it's pittiful. It hardly makes selling low cost items worth it anymore.

It's not as if ebay is having trouble making money. In fact, their margins are huge. In 2005, they reported Net Income of almost 24% of revenue. That's unbelievable - my employer reported a similar metric of about 8% for 2006, and everybody considered it a great number.

I'm not sure I'll sell much anymore on ebay. Maybe a DVD or two but thats it.

Personally, I think ebay has a monopoly at this point in their business, and should be regulated as such. If everyone is using them, and they have no overt competition, then it qualifies as a monopoly. If there was any REAL competition, you'd see their fees go way down, or even disappear completely, until the competition was driven out of business. So, I would like to impose a ceiling on their fee percentages. That would force them to grow their business through increases in volume and new services, instead of fees.

We all need to support Yahoo NOW if we want to see any changes - they are the only real potential threat to ebay at this time.

It's no wonder that many sellers have high postage costs. It's not only to cover the cost of postage, it's to cover postage, ebay fees and to make a profit. Making a profit on the actual item itself is simply icing on the cake.

I have many hundreds of error coins that are quite collectable. Given the time it has taken me to find them, if I were to sell any I would like to think I could get at least twice their face value each. However, there is simply no point in putting them on ebay. I've got too much noodling to do to worry about advertising, waiting on payment, packaging, and having an inevitable negative feedback from someone who was expecting a choice uncirculated from circulation.

I know! I'm simply not going to sell them. I'll hoard them and let my kids worry about what they want to do with them. Payback's a beach.

On a serious note: I know that there are sections of this forum where one can sell or trade. Could we have a section where a coin could be offered for sale by tender? One could post a picture of the coin, post a closing date and ask for (private) offers. Basically, it would be an invitation to treat. The buyer could remain anonymous. The price achieved could be published.

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It's no wonder that many sellers have high postage costs. It's not only to cover the cost of postage, it's to cover postage, ebay fees and to make a profit.

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Almost to the point that it's getting rediculous. Sellers shouldn't be complaining at all. It's the buyers that are feeling the heat and paying for the fee increases, and them some! My last purchase I was charged $6.00 for s/h and upon arrival I noticed that the package actually cost them $1.30 to send!!