It looks like eBay has figured out a way to get sellers to pay a final value fee (FVF) on shipping charged for an item.  Today on their pages and in an email message sent to sellers we learn that eBay is not finished trying to alienate sellers as it tries to turn the auction site into a fixed price department store.

A change that will cause seller uproar this time is that in the Books, Movies & DVDs, Music, and Video Games categories (at least to start with more will be added) there is now going to be a maximum charge allowed for postage and handling.  eBay has indicated that this is one of the primary complaints of the buyers on the site and they are trying to make the buyer’s experience more pleasant so there are a greater number of conversions.   Translated this means they want more final value fees.

On the FAQ found many layers deep… There is a question posed asking what if my actual costs are higher than the maximum allowed… The response:

• ” When selling a bundle or quantity of items, you can use the shipping calculator to charge actual shipping charges
• When selling via fixed price, include all or part of the shipping cost in the item price
• When selling via auction:
  • Continue to list your item with the same start price and a shipping price at or below the maximum shipping cost. Many of our sellers have success with auctions, even at free shipping, because their item looks more competitive to their buyers.
  • If your actual shipping costs are higher than the maximum shipping & handling cost, start the item price higher to cover your shipping cost. This technique will minimize risk that you will lose money on shipping.
  • Move your item to fixed price and include all or part of the shipping cost in the item price.
  • If you are selling a bundle or quantity of items, you can use the shipping calculator to charge actual shipping charges”

Any time you include shipping costs as part of the cost of the item eBay wins.  These charges now become costs that they get to charge a FVF.   So now sellers will have the privilege of paying eBay a fee for not only the listing and the sale but also for the shipping of the item.

The posting goes on to encourage sellers to make shipping free and as an added bonus, Powersellers will get double the discount bonus on their FVF fees for the allowed time frame,  you’ll get free Subtitle upgrades AND higher search rankings with best match.  Don’t forget now that someone pays for shipping somewhere so most likely you’ve included it in the price of your product and NOW as an additional added bonus eBay gets to collect the FVF as well.

As a final KICKER (translated – bend over and lets see how far I can bury my boot) eBay will no longer allow checks and money orders as a form of payment. “Checks and money orders no longer allowed: Beginning in late October, we will no long allow checks or money orders as payment methods on eBay. Only approved electronic methods will be allowed. In January 2009, all accepted payment methods will be integrated into eBay Checkout. For buyers, this change means a more consistent and secure payment experience. For sellers, it means faster payment and fewer unpaid items. (Note this policy will not apply to Vehicles and some categories in Real Estate, Mature Audiences, and Business & Industrial).”

Since the smaller sellers typically do not have their own credit card accounts this means that eBay through their Paypal company will also get a piece of the payment activity. 

Again, all of these changes are under the guise of an improved experience for sellers and buyers.  I suspect there is some pressure in a poor economy to continue performing for investors as well and if they can put a positive media spin on increasing the ways they can gouge their sellers for more of their profit then more power to them.

I’d love to hear your thoughts of these recent changes…

International business travel is bad enough!   Combine that with an airline that just doesn’t seem to care about customers and consistently applies policy inconsistently and I had a week of travel nightmares on WestJet.   This Canadian airline – that models itself after Southwest Airlines, in the US has an awful lot to learn about customer service and perhaps they need to take some additional looks at what and how Southwest functions because I will NOT be traveling with them again.

Let’s start with the outbound flight  I was traveling from my home, through Seattle to Vancouver BC on Alaska Air.  Once I got to Vancouver I had to change to West Jet.  Just like Southwest, there is no “codesharing” so once you get to Vancouver not only do you have to go through all of the hassle of Vancouver immigration (I will post a blog entry about that as well.) but you then have to go out to the ticket counter and re-check-in and GOD FORBID you don’t have your WestJet confirmation number.   I tried using their Kiosk with the credit card that I purchased the ticket with and it was unable to find my reservation.   Since I didn’t have the confirmation I had to find an agent who couldn’t look it up.   After multiple failed attempts I finally found someone that could issue me a boarding pass for my connecting flight.

When we get to Calgary – the flight was from Vancouver to Calgary and then Calgary to Regina, SK – we were informed that our outbound flight was going to be delayed due to mechanical problems.   Apparently there was a crack in the windshield.   The staff at the Calgary airport were very unorganized and they really did not keep the passengers informed of what was going on.   Since I knew there was another flight and I had all of my bags I just went to the new ticket counter and asked that agent if I could get on that flight.   They were going to charge me to make the change.  Turns out most of those that were on the original flight heading to Regina ended up on this new flight anyway.   We were delayed but it wasn’t too bad and I’d rather fly in a safe plane than one with potential mechanical problems.

Once our new flight was loaded we didn’t seem to go anywhere.  We waited and waited and finally we were told that we were waiting for other passengers that were on another flight that was delayed.  After waiting nearly 45 minutes on this plane we loaded maybe 6 or 7 passengers and then we were allowed to leave.   Now mind you I don’t have a problem waiting for people if we know they are coming.  I only bring this up as a point of reference for my return flight where they consistently were inconsistent in their application of policy.

My return was originally scheduled for a Saturday.   My business finished early so I had my travel office arrange for a Friday morning departure.  After paying the change fees and additional airfare I was good to go.   Entirely my own fault I was late getting out of the hotel in the morning and I arrived at the airport 30 minutes before departure.  I waited in the check-in line and when it was my turn I was within 20 minutes of departure.   Now in a large airport there would be absolutely no way you could make the flight.  In Regina, SK this is just not the case.   I wasn’t checking bags and their security line is virtually non-existent.    The check-in agent called the gate and the woman at the gate indicated that they would not hold for me and that I would have to make other arrangements.  As I argued with the agent about there being plenty of time, and she knew that I was there and I was on my way to the gate, etc. I ultimately had no choice but to finally pay another fee for them to get me out on a flight that was later that evening with no guarantee of connections in Vancouver, and since they don’t “codeshare” with anyone there was no way of them knowing if I could make any kind of connection on a different airline to get me back to Seattle.

I proceeded through security, and then to the gate area where I watched the gate agent load the last couple of passengers for the flight that I was supposed to be on.  I again questioned her about it and she said it was a judgement call and she didn’t think I could get through security in time for her to have an on time departure.   I was livid at that point.   Went back out through security back to the ticket counter, explained what had just happened and asked for a refund.  Of course no refunds are offered because I was “late”.   I canceled my reservation on the later flight that I had that day on WestJet and walked to the Air Canada counter next door and booked a ticket to Vancouver 1 hour later which still let me connect to my other airline and make it home.

Long story short… WestJet is NOT the airline for business travelers that will frequently make changes to their itineraries or expect at least a basic level of customer service.   The gate and ticket counter agents are rude, and for the most part unhelpful.   In this day and age of struggling airlines, customer service should be king and it is the airline that treats their customers well that is going to survive the shakedown.  Sure something can be said for price of tickets but I believe the ones that are going to survive are the ones that are competitive in price but at least friendly and courteous to their passengers.   I’m not a piece of meat to throw into a seat.  Bad move WestJet.  I will NEVER fly your airline again even if you are hundreds of dollars cheaper than the closest competition.  It’s not worth it to me!!!

The changes sellers are upset about include increased final value fees, sellers inability to post neutral or negative feedback about buyers, PayPal holding auction funds for up to 21 days on “risky” transactions, and the new search which apparently lists eBay’s “best” sellers first in the auction listings.   Many of the changes are in effect now and others are slated for roll-out in the future. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=24X-SlDmqKI

I know I have been playing at other sites (I hope to review these soon) and I WILL probably be participating in this particular boycott.  Now I’m not a powerseller,  but just in the past month I’ve noticed that my fees are higher than they used to be even with the reduction in listing fees.   I’ve also noticed that even though I charge ACTUAL shipping charges, ship the day of payment or the next day depending on when an auction closes that my Detailed Seller Ratings as posted by my buyers are not high enough in those two categories to ever qualify for any discounts or preferential search treatment.  I’m guessing the key to these number is going to be sheer volume.  Something we smaller sellers don’t have the luxury of.

I do know one thing…I’m just tired of it all.  I want to go back to the days when things were simpler.  I want to be a smaller seller on eBay and be able to make a little money and not be treated like I am a waste of eBay’s time.  What are your thoughts?  Are you an eBay seller or buyer that is “moving on” to other options?   Let us know your thoughts…  Click on Comment!

The first thing that I did once I heard of the increase is I started making comparisons using my typical transactions.  I was calculating things manually until I found a great little tool over on Auction Bytes.   If you go to their eBay fee calculation page you can do it right on the screen or you can play the what-if games on your own PC by downloading it as an Excel spreadsheet.  For me I found that on my lower end items that I always placed Gallery pictures on I will save a bit.   Higher priced items is where I find the FVF kills me… of course that would assume that I SELL the items since the FVF only effects those I sell.  The real determining factor on whether this is an overall increase is based on your sell through rate.

In just my brief playing around with the numbers and reading the announcement a few things came to mind

• eBay is going to be a venue with a lot more STORE items because they’ve lowered the prices for insertion… the FVF is still killer but you can at least get your items out there for people to see.
• The seller that is going to take the biggest hit is the higher value sellers with the larges amount of sell through.  
• Because the insertion fees were lowered the up-front risk is less and therefore I expect we will see the volume of items increase giving the buyers a better selection.   Perhaps eBay is trying to re-attract buyers with selection?
• Reserve has become expensive on the lower end items so you will see many more items that were previously reserve priced either NOT listed at all, or listed with a higher opening bid.  I suspect this will reduce the number of .99 cent starting prices that sellers often use to create a “buzz” around their items.

As I said previously you will need to decide if the changes are for the better or worse for you in your situation.  I know they will cause me to change how I list, and I think to some extent what I list as well.  Perhaps I will actually start looking at and USING some of the alternative auction sites that are out there…

Alternatives… YES there are alternatives to eBay.   Why not take a look at some of the following:

ePier , BidVille, HiBidder, WeBidz

If you’ve got experience with these or others please share!