"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
...
For all of us who shop at Ebay....

Auctions on eBay: A Dying Breed By Catherine Holahan
Tue Jun 3, 8:08 AM ET
big snip

I am an infrequent eBay user since about 2 years (50 feed backs, mixed buy
and sell, 100% positive). During this time I have noticed changes that
disadvantage small individual sellers in favour of large ones.

1) Insertion fee increase. 15% of $0.99 is a disincentive to insert
low-priced items.
2) Use of PayPal now compulsory. I have calculated that between the Final
value fees, PayPal fees ( effectively around 4 - 4.5% off not just the item
price but also shipping) and insertion fees *at promotion value of 5 cents*
eBay took a whopping 28.2% off the value of the purchase.

Not related to eBay policies but relevant, especially here in Canada, is the
increase in shipping costs. It is hard to convince anyone to pay $17
shipping for a $2 item.

The latter works against you both as a sell and a buyer: Outbidding someone
in the US is harder if you have to factor double or more shipping costs.

Still, eBay is the only game in town worth mentioning. But if history
teaches us anything, that is usually not a good thing.

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC