Ebay is raising the store subscription fees greatly. http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/features-fees.html Now they are introducing ebay branded packaging. You will get a $25 credit per quarter towards buying their branded packaging. New video game categories. Focus on mobile and mandatory mobile data.
...which are fucking expensive. And only 40% recycled. I'd rather someone sent me something in a reused box, personally. What's an Anchor Store? Sounds like it's not for everyone. $12 per quarter extra for a basic store doesn't sound that bad. The benefits kinda suck, though. A few more zero fee listings and $25 per quarter to spend on expensive boxes ($15.54 for 25 8"x6"x4" boxes). Do you HAVE to use their boxes? They're pretty restrictive on size. Yeah, the box thing is a joke. Hmm, I'm sure thousands of sellers said please raise the prices and make me buy boxes from you so I can promote you at my expense. Bullshit. http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-8x6x4-C...768709?hash=item2a26465045:g:q3MAAOSwjVVVy5VL Another seller does 25 for $10.49 shipped
While USPS gives out free shipping boxes, and why would you want to pay to advertise for eBay and not your own brand....or am I missing something?
WTF is wrong with eBay? And why the hell do people still use it? That company needs a whole blackout. Shit, makes Yahoo Auctions seem free, well it pretty much is until you sell something. Even then the rates are very fair.
With the boxes and eBay's logo on it, it kind of reminds me of Amazon and how they have the logo on their boxes. I think they want buyers to feel like they're buying from a big company like eBay instead of a little shop? I don't know.
The thing is that Amazon only have their name on the box if the item actually came from Amazon. I've bought plenty of stuff via Amazon that has came in a generic box.
Jeez, seems like the sellers keep getting screwed more and more. And I thought the fees on Amazon were excessive enough. Ebay seems to keep trying to one up them. (And there are still somehow people selling stuff for 99c on Amazon with Amazon's imposed standard shipping fee. How that's economical is beyond me) This stuff is all pointless now for anyone but people who do large volume (And now they seem to want to push them away too.) This is completely true.
Right. Because they want to distinguish it from other sellers, and quite rightly so. I see zero value in purchasing eBay-branded boxes. For medium to large sized eBay shops, they're going to already be buying shipping containers in bulk - a darn sight more than 25 at a time! And considerably cheaper, too. No seller is going to ask eBay to provide packing material. They don't even offer very many sizes, or anything convenient for items such as DVDs, books, carded items with a bubble... you know, something like Amazon's adjustable book box.
This is the problem with publicly traded companies. They must show growth all the time or the stock suffers. There will eventually be a much more nimble competitor that will kill ebay off overnight.
There needs to be one, because it seems eBay are getting too comfortable. No idea why PayPal and eBay are not linked any more either.