Ebay fee increases on May 1st

Another great reason to visit your booth at York!

 

Ed

Beth,

 

Thank you.  I'm passing your message on to other modelers, but am including your name so that you get the credit/acknowledgment. 

 

It is frustrating. I realize that times are tough, but I wonder if ebay's profit has been shrinking so much that the managers feel that this was a necessary move? From my understanding, ebay has been doing quite well. 

imo it might be better for companies to boycott the bay and concentrate more on selling on their own site.

Now I know why they call it "fee-bay".

Wow...that will finish any "seasonal" selling I have done in the past.  That's insane.  It was already bordering "not worth it" status with the Ebay and Paypal fees.  This would definitely finish it.

I always thought Ebay was a auction for used unwanted items,at least that is the way it started out. Somehow over time it has become a market place for retailers. I also understand they are charging sales tax so it gets pretty expensive. Is there any comparable competitor for Ebay and has anyone filed an anti trust suit? Seems like competition would limit prices.

 

Dale H

recently i have been treating eBay like any other storefront.  i see items for sale by retailers, go to their website, offer them 9% less than their listed retail price (sort of cancels sale tax) and they usually go for it.  with free shipping everyone wins, ...well except for eBay.

For fixed price sales, the Amazon affiliate program.

Such a sad thing with them...it was fun at one time but not any longer.  Thats just too much $$.

 

Chris

Beth Thanks for the heads up.

Hello guys and gals.....

 

Thank you Beth, its good to know ahead of time but i will stick with good old mail order. I guess we can call it "Greed-bay"

 

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,623

Tiffany

It's hard to comment about sources for postwar Lionel, which is a preference for many, but when I see the cheap prices for modern trains from some of OGR and CTT's advertisers, (which usually run much better and are far less hassle in the short term) I do wonder about the functionality of eBay. Some item's suggested auction prices or lead-in prices people expect for stuff I would pass on at a yard sale at any price, really shows how eBay seems to be winding down its usefulness as a supplier of good stuff at very reasonable prices. Having said that, bargains are still to be had on eBay when one spends enough time and uses tools like Goofbid, etc., to place last minute bids.  

Hey Beth, I "showroomed" €6@¥ (the Forum Fuhrers have deemed this word as being verboten) by looking at your listing for an Atlas SP Alco RSD-15 with TMCC. I then called your store and bought 2 of them for less than what you were asking on "that website". It's a good marketing tool for you.

quote:

 I can not really understand why folks by from us on ebay, when it's always cheaper on the website, other than it's easier, or folks want to take advantage of the ebay extended payment plan.

 

A lot of folks seem to believe that they automatically get the best price on Ebay. I have found that the best prices are often found elsewhere.

I am amazed at the number of people selling Lionel parts on Ebay. The listing prices are often high (I guess they have to make up for the fees), and some sellers will not combine shipping.

 

Another poster mentioned sales tax collection.

It sure looks like the law is going to pass.
According to one article I read, even Republicans are getting pressure from their constituents to pass the law. States will be responsible to provide free software for businesses. Some are predicting increased business for Amazon and EBay, as small businesses look to leverage their tax collecting services.

Buy locally, if possible.  If not, support those advertisers and sites that support the hobby...Beth is one of them.  

Back when eBay started, there were a number internet auction sites. eBay survived and grew...the others are history. For the average person, eBay beats paying for a flea market table and sitting all day, only to pack up 80% of it for the trip home (or paying a large commision to a auction house). For the small business person, it beats renting a store and paying for staff and advertising.

That is another reason I dropped e-Bay like a hot potato and opened my own web pages and started my virtual flea market booth at Bonanza.

 

I did a ton of research and found no other viable alternative to e-Bay sadly. Most start up on line auctions either fail due to poor traffic, or e-Bay buys them up.

 

With my alternatives, the web pages and Bonanza. It takes a while for the web pages to get caught up in the search engines, and you'll have to promote your Bonanza booth as much as you can until you get a decent following. Bonanza will seed your booth page to the search engines. I've been with Bonanza now for about 2 years. Sales are a little slow, but then again I don't have 200 items either, just my extras and duplicates etc. Listing there is like e-bay, you put in a title, select your category, fill in the description, add photos and set the price and shipping type and your set. You can set it up for PayPal if you wish and Amazon check out if you wanted to go through their personal info interrogation. Their fees are extremely low, and reasonable. The web pages do well, and I do advertise in club news letters such as the PCA etc., and network with other web stores selling similar items, and that brings in more traffic. Then you also have the Buy/Sell boards here, but after the initial interest of some items passes then things get stale and your listing gets buried.

 

Gandy

 

aka OldToyTrains on Bonanza.

I wind up selling stuff on there that doesn't sell here on OGR first (always rather give you guys first pickings) but the fees have gotten way out of hand.  The fact that they include shipping price in the total final value fee is really stupid

I got tired of trying to guess, should I start the price at the lowest I would be willing to accept at a flea market, or, start it at $1, only to get $5, and have it not worth my effort to take just one stinkin' box to the post office, because NOW, with PayPal, you really have to ship the next day after you receive payment. Or it might not sell. So you don't even know if you have to plan for the PO.

 

To the point of, I have thrown trains in the garbage rather than deal with it.

 

There are other reasons why, but the above is the main reason.

 

I just joined TCA January, they have something, both in the newsletter and something on line I never checked out.

Just the cost of doing business in a tax happy environment. Pass it on.

 

One has to consider, where can you reach millions of potential buyers with overhead of 15%?

 

Price to protect your profit margin and add the overhead. That's what's happening everywhere. Inflation caused by taxation rather than a shortage of goods.

Their fees were high enough before this upcoming hike. I think most will be very selective on what if anything they sell on eBay. If you look there are more buy it now items than actual auctions. It has become more of a store front or market place than an auction site.

I have been paying ebay about 20% for sometime now. It's still the only & best way to go.

eBay and paypal charge the little guys a minimum of 12%.  Heck, even breaking even in these times with small sales is tough in this market.  I can't imagine selling anything on eBay after the new sales tax takes effect.  I'll just go to flea markets to peddle my stuff, and hope the tax agents aren't prowling around there. 

 

Tax the pennies on a dead-man's eyes.

I am on the fence with ebay, I agree The audience is there. I sell alot on ebay to keep a supply of spend money. Fees are getting crazy and thanks to sellers who did the Buy it now item for .99 cents and charged $800.00 to ship it they caused the fees on shipping.

 

True 20% is high to sell but as stated above it beats paying for a table and sitting all day at a flea market.  Pittsburgers are cheap and Craigslist buyers waste your time. so I sell on ebay.  

 

I sell vintage collectibles and my best buyers are in California.

 

I also sell at fleamarkets once a month $25.00 for a table but peoples collecting tastes have changed and pries are down.    

 

There has been talk about having to collect tax at the fleamarkets too.

Now the OGR Forum prices will go up, too.

Economics

Protection and professionalism.  The first purchases I made from smaller online train retailers were fiascos.  The first one never returned emails, waited four weeks to ship and only did so after I filed a Paypal claim.  The second was "having financial trouble" and actually asked me to let him keep the money and ship me nothing.  Paypal had to recover that for me.

 

I've also seen BIN prices for an item on eBay, visited the retailer's website and made very reasonable offers (~10% off) on multiple purchases--and gotten no response.

 

After thousands of easy and successful eBay transactions as a buyer and seller since the late 90's, my first forays outside that world were pretty unsuccessful.  It will be a while before I try again.

First on the sales tax, unless you are selling a million dollars a year, you will not have to track it and report it, I do not think anyone on this board gets near that, I don't most LHS's with an internet presence do either (C.Ro and Nassau others may be close)

 

As for the new eBay fees they seem to be aimed at the storefronts not the individual sellers of occasional stuff.

Here is more info: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m03/i19/s01

or

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerin...te2013/overview.html

 

 

There has been talk about having to collect tax at the fleamarkets too.

 

Talk, heck here in Utah that has always been the case at any train show I go to, the sales tax form is usually sitting on the table when I set up. When my friend was selling belt buckles in Sturgis a few years ago he was woke up every morning by the city Tax Collector beating on his door. You ought to be glad you are not paying taxes now at fleamarkets

Just a note regarding the on-line taxes.  The bill in congress specifically states that the internet tax will be collected from those retailers selling more than 1 million dollars of merchandise per year on-line, so I think the toy train industry is safe for the time being.  There is always a May 1 surprise from eBay, has been for years.  Anyone can still list 50 items per month for free, and the fees have been consistently 9 - 10%(depending on the category) + 3.5% Pay Pal final selling price.  Regarding the OP, my fee on a $500 sale as an occasional seller would be $63, so you are still better off having an eBay store, at least you are getting more exposure. 

Actually the tax thing starts at 200 transactions or 20,000 in sales not a million.  Reach either of these milestones and you get a present from Paypal called  1099.  The tax proposals that are currently being kicked around are different from these and are aimed at all retailers whether they have a presence in a certain state or not.  Currently no tax is collected if Company A is located in New Jersey and sells to you in Utah because he does not have a presence in Utah.  However if Company A had another store in Utah you would be charged tax.   The new proposals will collect tax no matter what presence is in play. 

Ben, wouldn't a 1099 report income, not sales tax filings?

If you look at the articles about the  Marketplace Fairness Act you will see there is an exemption for online store with under 1 Million in sales from collecting sales tax. But like you said for those who go over that limit, they would have to collect even with no physical presence in a state instead of not worrying about it like it is today.

I would hate to be a business who is close but not quite hitting that 1 million limit, because you would have to decide if you are going to break that the following year. If you under estimate and end up breaking it and you haven't collected all year, that is a big problem, however if you collect and fall under the cap wounder what happens then? Free 6%-10% profit from collected but not having to report sales tax?

http://www.pcworld.com/article...es-tax-proposal.html

 

I do see how this is aimed at all companies, regardless of them having a physical presence in the state. The Utah lawmakers have been demanding this for awhile, plus each year we are reminded that we owe sales tax on out of state purchases on our state income tax for (which I ignore)

Thanks Beth. I'll be going the website/E-mail route from now on with more expensive items.

Agreed.....I will admit I use ebay for used items and some parts that are hard to find. But new I almost always go to my 'local' hobby shop or online retailers.....some OGR advertisers some not but well known in the hobby. 

 

ebay is a classic case of a good idea growing beyond it's inventors wildest dream and then the current owner trying to kill the golden goose. It boils down to greed. They make changes that drive away customers and then they raise fees to recover lost customers. A never ending circle until it gone.

 

I have had VERY good results buying and selling (one item!) here on OGR. Maybe a OGR commercial section would be an idea......Vendors could post sales and inventory. I know some of this goes on now....but a section might attract more commercial sellers.

Unfortunately for part-time sellers like myself, I don't know of any other place that gathers so many potential buyers under one site as e-bay (and buyers who are willing to pay fair prices at that). E-bay is the only place I know of that can find buyers for uncommon items. The fees are already high IMO. Competition is needed, but it would take years for any other site to gain the audience e-bay has.

I have only used ebay a few times and now with new price increases I definetly will not use it again!

I am mainly using www.choochooauctions.com  for my train buying and selling. The guy is from Cape Canavaral, close to Daytona Beach, FL.

A couple of times I used the 'for sale' feature on here.

 

Just read that Amazon.com is being hit with sales taxes.

 

Lee Fritz