I’ve made the decision to shut my eBay shop down.  Earlier in the month they announced changes in fee structures for shop owners.  Most of us smaller sellers have a basic shop at a cost of £6 per month, however from 25 September it’s going to go up to £15 per month.  Lately eBay have been making sweeping changes and it is the little guys who are losing out.  I know of quite a few sellers who have just had enough of eBay, or “fee Bay” as it is now being called, and are leaving it for other auction sites or are building their own shopping site.

Quite frankly, I feel that eBay has lost the plot, and that they are now just looking to keep the big time players on board.  I never did sell much from my shop, but rather from my auctions.  As I have my own site I tend to use eBay as a marketing tool, so I will continue to list my goods as auctions, but with a “buy it now” option too.  At £15 a month it isn’t worth me keeping a shop going.

It is going to cost me more to list and coupled with the fact that the cost of my raw materials and shipping have gone through the roof due to the rise in oil costs and soy prices, I will be raising my prices.  They won’t be drastic, but I can’t swallow the excess any more.  I haven’t raised my prices for 2 years but I’m hoping that there won’t be many more huge increases by my suppliers.  I will be working out my new price list ready for 1 October 2008.

Tags: ebay store, price increase

Trackback URI | Comments RSS