Apparently it’s spring cleaning time over at EBAY again! More changes, but hey, life is change. I guess more than spring cleaning, it’s just reassessment time again!

Well…. Here is the text of the seller’s letter we received from ebay:

We know that online buyers pay attention to the total cost of an item–including shipping–when deciding what and where to buy. That’s why, to encourage low-cost shipping, starting July 6 Final Value Fee rates for Store sellers–Fixed Price and Auction-style–will be reduced and then applied to the total amount of the sale–including shipping.

The best way to minimize the impact on your overall fees is to take advantage of the available ways to reduce your shipping costs and charges.

New eBay Shopping Cart
Online shoppers are accustomed to adding items to a shopping cart–and they’re often motivated to buy more. That’s why we’re introducing the new eBay Shopping Cart that works with both Fixed Price and Auction-style items. Buyers can add items from multiple sellers and pay in one easy checkout–making it easier and more likely for them to buy more. It will become the way to shop on eBay before the 2011 holiday season.

New communications hub
Starting in May, you’ll be able to manage your communications with buyers from just one location within My eBay. View the emails that eBay sends to buyers after a transaction, manage your buyer-facing Automated Answers, or access your Store newsletters–all from one convenient page.

Category and item specifics changes
Category and item specifics changes are also consolidated with rest of updates. Find out if your listings are impacted and get details on the 2011 Spring Seller Update.

As always, thank you for selling on eBay. (aka thank you for giving us more of your profit margin. LOL)

OK – the takeaway:
Sellers that honestly charge reasonable shipping fees are getting a bum deal. Sellers that blatantly gouge on shipping fees should be banned from eBay anyway and make the world a better place. It is eBay’s lazy way of handling these type of sellers who use shipping to skirt paying fees.

Our store always charged reasonable shipping and in the past two months have readjusted 98% of our listings to reflect free shipping anyway. There are, however, a few things that irk me: 13% closing fee for books and media – give me a break! (In other words, if you’re still selling books on eBay, we’d just as soon not have you here.) Also ‘eBay will eliminate the current 5% discount for non-TRS PowerSellers’. See the new charts here on the AuctionBytes Blog (they do a great job of reporting these changes). Check out this blog post about the podcast with eBay’s Vice President of Selling Experience Todd Lutwak at radal.info.

As usual, I will see which parts of my store it affects and if possible, move those listings to another marketplace – namely Amazon.
Just another day in paradise!

Buyer Protection cases penalize eBay sellers even if resolved happily or false in the first place
(The Whine Seller Blog)

eBay sent out a seller update out earlier today and most of it was “Yes, yes. Fine, fine.” Then I got to this part:

New seller standard: Buyer Protection cases counted along with low DSRs. You’re on the right track!

Opening a case with the eBay or PayPal Buyer Protection program is a clear indication of buyer dissatisfaction, especially when the buyer tries and is unable to resolve an issue directly with the seller. That’s why, starting in September, “item not received” and “item not as described” cases will be considered along with low DSRs to evaluate and reward seller performance.

The “You’re on the right track” bit is because I currently meet this requirement.

Um…. I’ve been selling on eBay for many years now and I have had lots of buyers start “Item not received” or “Item not as described cases”. But here’s the thing, eBay. Of all of those, only five were actually buyers whose item didn’t arrive or wasn’t as described or who had a problem at all for that matter.

All the others. Let me repeat, ALL THE OTHERS were buyer who opened the case because, as they told me, “They weren’t sure how else to email the seller to ask a question.”

So if this is going to count toward my freaking DSRs, are you going to make it clearer what the process is for? Better yet, is there going to be a way for buyer and seller to amicably close the case if it was started under newbie confusion?

Read the ENTIRE article here.

Quick summary and thoughts on eBay’s Summer release (aka the 10.2 release)

Yesterday (April 27, 2010), eBay announced the set of changes that will roll out this Summer (July 27, 2010) – this is their second set this year and they are already talking about a third set coming in the Fall. I would classify this release as very incremental – nothing earth shattering here, but as a package there are some good improvements that have a (hopefully) minor impact on sellers and a large positive impact on buyers.

Read the complete article here:
Quick summary and thoughts on eBay’s Summer release (aka the 10.2 release)

Ok, a basic store is 15.95 and according to ebay’s hype, fixed price listings with basic store are .20 each. I could get a lower fixed price fee if I have a premium store. Since some of my (free auctions – NOT) didn’t sell, I though I’d list some fixed price items. Well, the two – check it – 2 items I was going to list were going to cost me 1.20 each to list. One has a selling price of 9.99 and one has a selling price of 39.99. $2.40 total. Old system – 2 store listings for less than .50. Yep, eBay is helping me out again! Wow! My fees this month are more than last month and I deleted 200 of my 325 listings. Yep, eBay is helping me out again! Wow! Thanks, John D. – you the man.

**NOTE** I figured out the problem – when you ‘relist as fixed price’ the template AUTOMATICALLY checks the box next to Gallery PLUS picture pack for $1.00. It also automatically check the box next to Gallery picture pack (free). If you just glance at the screen as you scroll down, you see the free one checked in the middle of the screen, but not necessarily the one on the left of the screen for 1.00. Just how many of those will they collect before everyone catches it? That is sorry people.