The new eBay fee structure went into effect on February 2oth 2007. And I can say that I am not happy with it. For the seller’s that sell items priced below $25. They will pay 8.75% when the item sells! And this is before PayPal fees. They do offer rebates to PowerSellers with high DSR (detailed seller ratings) which can be significant.  This confuses me because I thought eBay wanted to attract more casual buyers and sellers. The person who is selling just a few items per month is going to be squeezed out. eBay representatives have been stressing that this is on par with Amazon’s fee structure but products sell for higher prices on Amazon. eBay’s population are usually bargain hunters.

The feedback changes are also interesting. Buyer can only receive positive feedback. This is ok if buyer pays on time, but I have been doing eBay long enough to know that some buyers will try and take advantage of this. They know that your feedback is very important and they try to extort a few extra accessories from you. I hope eBay has some way to combat this.

Feedback Changes
The eBay Feedback system was designed to provide a simple, honest, accurate record of member experiences. Focusing on customer service includes doing everything we can to grow customer confidence in our sellers.

• Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback.
• Positive repeat customer Feedback will count (up to 1 Feedback from the same buyer per week.)
• Feedback more than 12-months old won’t count towards your Feedback percentage.
• When a buyer doesn’t respond to the Unpaid Item (UPI) process the negative or neutral Feedback they have left for that transaction will be removed.
• When a member is suspended, all their negative and neutral Feedback will be removed.
• Buyers must wait 3 days before leaving negative or neutral Feedback for sellers with an established track record, to encourage communication.
• All Feedback must be left within 60 days (compared to 90 days today) of listing end to encourage timely Feedback and discourage abuse.
• Buyers will be held more accountable when sellers report an unpaid item or commit other policy violations.