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I've been following the changes that are going to take place on ebay but this just, finally, was shown to me. Here's what is going to happen: After March 30, members without a store will pay a straight 9% final value fee for auctions, but anybody who owns a store will pay 8.75% of the first $50 and 4% after that for their listings in the auction format.
For someone who sells a teddy bear for $250-$300 that will mean you will be paying about 40% more if you don't have a store! Higher if you have a bear go for over $300. A store costs about $16.00/mth. but if you are a fairly regular seller it seems this would be the only way to soften the steep final value fee hikes. Apparently ebay doesn't care if your store is virtually empty most of the time 
Bears by EdieAnd listings will be FREE - IF you start at 99 cents or less! And if you start between $50 and $199, as I do, you will save a WHOLE dollar over what you paid before!
I think this will be just great - IF your stuff doesn't sell!!!!! :crackup:
I'm glad I'm getting really close to quitting this and moving on to some new ventures!
Tickled Pink BearsI had been selling on eBay since about '03 and finally just gave it up. Way too many changes that
were not seller friendly at all. To tell you the truth, there was a time I didn't think I could give it up, but you
get to a point were the frustration is too much.
I'm just very happy I'm not dependent on it anymore. :clap:
Jac-Q-LynI have an ebay store which I used to list my bear making materials, I did this for a number of years, and used the auction format for my bears. I thought it was great until I found out late last year that because years ago when I registered to be an ebay member I had signed onto the .com site instead of the .co.uk site (I did not think at the time it would have made a difference, silly me!)that if I list an item for sale on .com it is a bit better and I get the offers that are available, but when I list on the .co.uk site (where my store is as they have recognised the address for this) I pay double to list every item and a higher final selling fee in the UK it is 20p per shop item in the US it is 40p per shop item, this soon mounts up when you have 100 items in your store. You can imagine the shock I got to find this out that other people who list bear making materials were paying a lot less than me, so I rang up ebay and what a joke it has taken 3 months for them to find an answer for me. After being told they could see the mistake that I was being overcharged for over 3 years, they would get their investigation team to look at it and give me back all my over payments, which is quite a bit of money. Well I bet you are not surprised to hear that after another phone call I had to make to see what was going on, I was told I was not entitled to any refunds I pay more because I list on .co.uk and that it would be cheaper if I listed on .com. I said but my store is registered to uk etc, they said they can see my point but even though I live in the UK I first signed up using the ebay.com page. To add insult to injury they then said if I was to close my store and my account and re-open on the UK site I would pay the right price, as if I was going to do that after all the feedback scores with 100% to throw them away, and all my favorite sellers. So with that I do not list my materials anymore and only put the odd bear onto ebay when I feel like it to use it as an advertising spot. I think ebay has caused us all problems in one form or another especially in the pocket, it is such a shame.
I have a question to ask if anyone can help, why do Charlie Bears get listed in the Artist section when they are not artist made bears? Shouldn't Charlie bears have a heading for themselves, because all us artists are getting lost amongst the shops listing every Charlie Bear they have.
Well back to my point...sorry waffled on a bit, just be careful when opening a store check you are on the right site that you originally joined.
Wishing you all a super weekend
Hugs
Jacqui
Boechout, AntwerpI have a question to ask if anyone can help, why do Charlie Bears get listed in the Artist section when they are not artist made bears? Shouldn't Charlie bears have a heading for themselves, because all us artists are getting lost amongst the shops listing every Charlie Bear they have.
I also agree with you Jacqui, I regularly check e-bay for artist bears, but because there are so many manufactured bears among them, I have given this up.
Now I only search on OOAK artist bears and even this category is tainted with limited edition bears, bear patterns (which I don't think belong there) and other stuff.
Hugs, :hug:
Peter & the bears
Bears by EdieEbay sets the categories but they really have no control over where people choose to list their items - although maybe if people complained they would remove the auction if it is clearly in the wrong place, I don't know! I collect antique dolls and continually see reproduction dolls listed there - even though there IS a category for reproduction antique dolls - I think the sellers think more people will see them if they are mixed in with the antiques or something!
Kenosha WisconsinYes,ebay is becoming a nightmare!Lets not forget about that nasty paypal hold they can throw at you anytime they want!I was placed on the hold(got my email notice on xmas eve!)and almost went into panic mode.This was going to effect all of my paypal account including etsy and website transactions.This was all the roar on the ebay boards and the etsy boards for a time.I decided I wasn't going to put up with ebays nonsense and started a store on ecrater,liking the fact they offered google checkout.I also looked into big cartel and wikilime,and signed up for these stores also.Then,out of the blue I get the paypal email that this was all a mistake(baloney!)this was to make extra $$$ for ebay to make them look good for their stock reports(or something to that effect).Now I have 3 stores,don't know which one to use yet...lol... and still realize I need to list occasionally on ebay to keep my name out there and hope to draw more collectors to my website,blog ect.Another thing to remember if we are not top rated sellers(selling 100 items per year)and our dsrs drop by even one,we are demoted in the search.To me,it feels like we are all in kindergaten and will have a time out if we don't comply to all their rules and regulations....ugh.What this all boils down to is what everyone has been saying,ebay wants the BIG BOX sellers ,be more like amazon.com and the smaller sellers will be unable to keep up with all these rules and standards.To be honest,I am still a bit afraid of listing too often on ebay because of the paypal hold.Still planning on what to do!~~~Sharie
Melanie,
Paypal will hold up a payment to a seller who has less than a 100 feedback number for 21 days. They can hold up payments for several other reasons such as with a high priced item. IT can be lifted if the buyer receives the item and gives a good feedback report.
Little Bear GuyJacqui you are so right. I use to look for artist bears and now there is so much crap in that listing that I don't bother anymore. I couldn't find anything if I wanted to and I use to check on it daily. I also find there is a ton of stuff by R John Wright , I am sorry but they are not artist pieces either, they are manufactured and they should be under the manufactured heading not under artist. I have a very hard time to find anyone's bears listed in there, It's a good thing the artist who have been using ebay for yrs have a great mailing list to tell their collectors they have listed something otherwise no one would ever find them.
big hugs
Shane
BrisbaneJacqui you are so right. I use to look for artist bears and now there is so much crap in that listing that I don't bother anymore. I couldn't find anything if I wanted to and I use to check on it daily. I also find there is a ton of stuff by R John Wright , I am sorry but they are not artist pieces either, they are manufactured and they should be under the manufactured heading not under artist. I have a very hard time to find anyone's bears listed in there, It's a good thing the artist who have been using ebay for yrs have a great mailing list to tell their collectors they have listed something otherwise no one would ever find them.
big hugs
Shane
I totally agree with you Shane and Jacqui. So much Junk in the artist section on ebay.com that I don't look there much any more. I have reported some junk stuff on the Australian site, it is removed, then a week later the same person puts it back in the wrong category.
---
Therese
Yes.... it is impossible to wade through everything in the artist category on ebay, so what I do is filter it by everything more than 1 bid and highest first.... it isn't a perfect method - I do miss some true artist bears, but it does save time.
Little Bear GuyI agree Melissa but I still can't be bothered. It's really a shame, I use to buy so much off of ebay but they have ruined it. Trust me they will be going down in a few yrs, they aren't getting the number of new members and the sales aren't great that's why they are upping their prices for the sellers.
Nikkel BearsWow! I haven't put any of my bears on eBay to sell yet, but after reading your posts, I don't think I'll bother.
Sounds like a bit of a rip-off these days 
and so far I'm happy just selling from my website and in person at shows (to tell the truth, I probably can't manage any more than that anyway!)
Hugs
Marg 
Funny, I got an email from Ebay Australia today- it was a survey about different pricing structures, so it looks like they are going to be whacking up prices and changing the way fees are charged soon too. All the pricing schedules were so hard to understand as well.
Most of their questions was about selling stuff you 'want to get rid of' huh real nice way to put it I thought.
They just love messing with what was once a good thing.
Little Bear GuyKaren I so agree, they just keep changing things. They have to get their money somehow as they are not getting new buyers to their site. It's always the seller who pays the price.
I've not listed anything on ebay in over a year now. The fees are so high.. Between payapal and ebay fees I might as well not bother selling at all. I prefer Etsy but the sales are not as good as ebay.
Hugs,
Melanie
Wild Thyme OriginalsI LOVED eBay until about a year ago.... I don't think I'll ever go back to selling there. I WISH it was more like it used to be. I HATE to bash eBay, as they were truly the reason I was able to put together such a lovely bunch of collectors/mailing list.... I just wish they hadn't changed everything.... 
artbyrjandreaeThanks for the heads up. I haven't really checked into the changes in the final value fee structure. I really hate having a store. I used to have one when I was selling my paintings. But I found that I couldn't sell enough things through it to make it worth my while. Now it looks like if I have a store my fees would be a lot less. Go figure?
Robin,
It's going to be ALL changed around. Now all the fixed price items in a store will automatically be listed in search and on pages, not just in your shop. This will probably bury auctions but ebay claims it will work out OK?! I will use my store just for cat/kitten accessories such as kitten pillows out of vintage velvet, needle felted mice and any special vintage items I find for the cats. But, mainly it will be just to cut my final value charges.
Jac-Q-LynHi Karen
You are so right, auctions are getting lost because of all the store items are now in the listings, this is already happening on the UK site. It has had a big effect as you seem not to get as many views on your item (well it might just be me LOL) or watchers as people have to go through to much now. I know you get your normal followers who search you out and add you as a favorite still, but we are always trying to attract new followers and if they are getting fed up looking through all the pages that they have to do now, it is a bit of a waste of time and money listing. I for one miss how it used to be with the Featured listing, those were the good ol day 
As mentioned in my earlier post about Charlie bears, I did a search myself under Artist Bears, and 300+ came up in the search out of 645 artist bears, fortunately only 1 was in the One of a Kind bit, but they are being sold as Artist Bears on Ebay and even at Hugglets yesterday, which is so mis-leading, I understand some are artist designs but they are still mass produced and not by the artist. Perhaps this should be another thread basically because of the alterations to eBay and all store items being shown Charlies are swamping us, and you are quite right Shane I have noticed the same about R John Wright, I do believe in competition, but these bears should go under their own category like Steiff, Deans etc as there is more than enough of them listed to qualify for one.
Ebay sets the categories but they really have no control over where people choose to list their items - although maybe if people complained they would remove the auction if it is clearly in the wrong place, I don't know! I collect antique dolls and continually see reproduction dolls listed there - even though there IS a category for reproduction antique dolls - I think the sellers think more people will see them if they are mixed in with the antiques or something!
Edie is quite right, I can understand this happening when people opt for a 2nd category for more exposure but as a main selling category its misleading and I thought eBay was keen to make sure items are listed correctly. Well I have had my moan AGAIN!!! sorry Karen for interrupting you thread for my moaning session :hug: I know Bearpile and Etsy are great but spreading yourself around the internet for maximum exposure is good, and thats where eBay has been good in the past. The trouble is one voice to eBay is no good, I have even thought a petition might help saying how much their changes are affecting us, not for the good as they so want to put over to everyone.
Its so sad that more of us have moved away from ebay, when we used to like using it. I used to love going on and seeing how many views my bear had and watchers and maybe the odd bid :crackup: it was a bit of excitement, gosh I must be a really sad person LOL!!!
Well I am back off to my hole again, Sorry again Karen!
Hugs To All.
Jacqui
Bears by EdieTo be honest, I think that artist teddy bears are SUCH a small part of ebay that they don't really care what we think or how their changes affect us!
Jacqui & Edie,
Believe me, I'm right up front and talking to ebay. For some reason they have been talking to me about us (actually, us, that rely on auctions). IT's a real division among some ebay staff. The major tide is with the push for large volume, lower fixed price stuff. But I think some are realizing that auctions are what Made ebay. Flip of a coin; I don't know if ebay can survive this whole change thing. I've yet to find anyone who fully agrees with it. And, yes, we artists are really getting lost in the whole process. I'll hang in as long as I and my collectors can stand it; hope for the best, and keep channels open to other sites. What I'll miss most of all is the connection to international collectors and artists.
Bears by EdieYou know, Karen, the weird thing is I have actually been selling BETTER on ebay the last month or so than I have for a while. I almost hate to say it and jinx it but everything I have put on lately has been selling - only one bid on each one and mostly NEW buyers for me - but at least they are selling! Have also sold a couple this month on Bear Pile too! The fact they are mostly new buyers is very encouraging too as that means collectors are finding my items - not just people from my email list.
Here's hoping your talks with ebay will bring some positive results!
Edie,
I'm with you! I hope for the best but the big changes don't take place in the U.S. until the end of March, wait that's April 1st! (how appropriate ;-) I just realized the date 
I hope that wasn't an ebay hint? Anyway, that's when all the store listing are transferred to the categories as fixed price listings. It should be a huge flood of listings in every category. And the final cost for auction sales will go from 3.75% to 9.00% unless you have a store. Should be interesting?!
desertmountainbearMy husband who does big business on ebay is telling me he thinks you have to have a $35.00 a month premium store to get the discount. Has anyone heard this?
Joanne
