eBay Biz: Motor Fees Change, iPhone Apps, Alternative Sites By Vangie Beal
August 20, 2008
EBay plans to lower Motor Insertion fees but increases charges for Successful Listings, sellers say no to new merchandising module in testing, Terapeak will replace eBay Marketplace Research and eBay spruces up mobile applications. Plus, we take a look at what's new this week in alternative auction sites.
eBay Motors Fees to Change in September EBay Motors announced fee changes scheduled to start on Sept. 2. EBay will lower Insertion Fees for all vehicles in Auction and Fixed Price listings. While the Insertion fees will decrease, the Successful Listing Fee, which is charged only if a listing ends successfully with a winning bidder, will increase.
Next month all members will qualify for free insertion fees on their first four vehicle listings and the Successful Listing Fee for the first four vehicles will be increased to $125. Sellers who list more than four vehicles in a 12-month period will be charged a lower $20 insertion fee and a new, higher $100 Successful Listing Fee for the fifth and successive listings.
A similar fee structure is also planned for the Motorcycles, Powersports, and Powersports in the under 50cc categories. Note, however, that the actual listing and Successful fees differ from the Vehicles category.
Here is a break-down of the fees for listing in Cars & Trucks & other Vehicles under the new fee structure:
Fees on First Four listing in 12-month period (Cars & trucks & other Vehicles): Insertion Fee: (old) $40 (new) $0 Successful Listing Fee: (old) $50 (new) $125 Reserve Fee: (old) $5 to $10 (new) $7
Fees Starting with 5th listing in 12-month period (Cars & trucks & other Vehicles): Insertion Fee: (old) $40 (new) $20 Successful Listing Fee: (old) $50 (new) $100 Reserve Fee: (old) $5 to $10 (new) $7
While eBay has certainly made a big deal out of the lower insertion fees, the increase in the Successful Listing Fees will eat up the savings in no time, especially for those who already list and sell multiple vehicles on eBay Motors each year. For example, a seller who lists and successfully sells five vehicles in a 12-month period will pay combined eBay fees (insertion plus Successful Listing) of $620 under the new structure, compared to $450 under the old system. So, it appears likely that the benefit of the new fees will only be realized by those who list a vehicle that doesn't sell.
eBay Tests New Item Page Features In June, eBay redesigned the item page description section, however, newly announced plans include additional cosmetic changes that eBay says will be of use for sellers who use listing templates. EBay is also starting another two-month testing cycle in which a very small percentage of members will be randomly selected to see one of several new page variants that eBay is currently testing. One of the features being tested is a new merchandising module with seller opt-out. This module shows other seller's merchandise along the right side or across the bottom of the item page. EBay says that while this mirrors trends and shopping expectations on the Internet at large where buyers are offered more selections, sellers may opt out via preferences in their My eBay. When opting out of displaying other seller's relevant items, your own items will not appear on other sellers' listing pages.
We're pretty sure we won't be seeing seller "BUY" (Buy.com) with its 682,815 listings opting out of this new merchandising module, and consequently, in the eBay discussion forums very few of the posts offer any positive feedback on this specific feature. Sellers are vocal in saying that promoting another seller's items on their own item pages will not be of benefit to their own eBay business and sales. Also, Store sellers say that the new design for the item page will offer fewer links and mentions of their eBay Stores.
eBay for iPhone Users EBay announced that its mobile and iPhone sites will now be the default pages for those accessing eBay.com from their mobile phone. The mobile sites have been optimized for cell phone browsing and offer a basic search and eBay Login on the start page.
In other mobile eBay news, Apple recently approved the iRibbit Plus application. IRibbit Plus is a free app for eBay enthusiasts. It includes a countdown timer for bidding in the last couple seconds of an auction as well as a one-of-a-kind alert system to remind you of auctions ending. You can download iRibbit Plus to your iPhone or iPod Touch through the Apple App Store. You can read more about iRibbit in "Widgetmania: What's In It For You."
eBay & Auction Tools Roundup
Terapeak to Replace eBay Marketplace Research Terapeak, an eBay Certified Provider, will be offering its own Marketplace Research as an alternative to eBay Marketplace Research, which eBay plans to retire as of Sept. 15th. After this date, eBay members will have access to Terapeak's Marketplace Research tool right from within the eBay Web site.
Each day Terapeak analyzes and processes millions of eBay transactions enabling Marketplace Research by Terapeak to provide important and useful research for eBay sellers based on completed eBay listings. Terapeak plans to extend the range of reports and features that were available via the eBay tool with new features that include a greater data history, up to two years of category trends, seller-specific searches and dedicated customer support.
AuctionFloor Adds Support for OnlineAuction.com (OLA.com) AuctionFloor, a company providing tools that help sellers run auctions efficiently and conduct market reach, announced a new agreement with OnlineAuction.com (OLA.com). Through AuctionFloor's Auction Manager system, online sellers will now be able to rapidly upload their item listings for viewing on the OnlineAuction.com Web site. OnlineAuction.com will also now introduce live auction bidding across its platform for online sellers and traditional auctioneers.
Hits & Misses: eBay Alternatives & Storefront News Each week there is always news from the smaller group of eBay Alternative (define) sites, and this week is no exception. Some new sites are worth a look, even if only to bookmark and check in on at a future date to see how well they do. While we haven't reviewed the following sites and services, smaller and part-time sellers who use alternatives, or those looking for an affordable hosted storefront solution, can check out the following new updates and launches;
Recently launched is myAuctionNetwork, a site that claims to be a one-stop destination built on a "community of sellers, buyers and social visitors". Sellers at myAuctionNetwork.com do not pay listing fees and commissions are capped at five percent. The site offers free auction listings, a virtual gift center, blogs, forums and classifieds.
Money Auctionz, a new niche site dedicated to the selling and buying of all types of coins and currency has updated its auction script and added a new design. Money Auctionz is a rather new entry in the Alternatives group, showing only seven registered users and 129 live auctions.
YourEcommerce is offering online stores to small businesses not wanting to invest time or money in building their own e-commerce Web site. YourEcommerce claims over 300 customers subscribing to its shopping cart software, which is available to try freely for two weeks. The basic plan, which includes your own merchant account, SSL certificate, domain name, e-mail, technical support and a 2.29 percent selling fee is available for $44.00 per month plus a $175 one time set-up fee.
Vangie Beal is a seasoned online marketplace seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and avid online bargain hunter. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com.
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