Why does Ebay want to change/decide everyone's calculated shipping settings?

[suzysemporium]

Just received an email from Ebay stating that on May 15 they are going to change shipping settings for everyone who uses calculated shipping. They have decided that it is our best interest to offer our shipping discounts to our buyers directly. This will attract more buyers to your listings. You have to use Ebay labels though.

That option has been there for a long time already. I thought about doing it previously, but decided against it.

Hold on dear overlords. Why couldn't you just treat all sellers as if they have some sense. Send an improve your listing message instead. I get those to become a top rated plus by having 1 day handling time. A message with a link to the setting would have been much nicer. Maybe not every one knows there is a setting or where to find that setting to make the change if we so desire. Instead our dear overlords decided to give an opt out option, or you could change the settings back later on.

I opted out. I figure there are sellers who already have that option turned on. Buyers can choose, and wonder why my shipping is higher. If they want what I have to sell, and the overall cost is reasonable they will buy from me. I guess I should be grateful that our dear overlords decided to include that option even though they seemed to want to hide the link. It is in the 3rd paragraph down within the first sentence click "let us know here".

I remember two of the reasons. 1) You use shipping to compensate for handling and shipping fees. 2) You do not always use ebay labels. 3) I forget the the third reason, and can not go back to see it 4) other

I'm sure they are collecting data on sellers shipping habits with this opt out form also.

[chapeau-noir]

What are we paying fees for, then? Exposure, advertisement (not great, I admit), admin, etc.

Maybe it's because I come from a background of virtual contract work, but virtual properties are as real as desks and chairs, and are hardly 'sunk costs' - the updates and maintenance on even the small server farm I helped manage were considerable.

[thenewhopeworldbazaar]

I would encourage all sellers to opt out.  I had always interpreted the  carrier discounts that Ebay facilitated for sellers as a measure that Ebay took to help sellers mitigate selling costs.  Now that they are asking us to pass this on to buyers through a quasi mandate is not good news.  They create a situation as to where those who opt out could see their views and traffic throttled by way of a non human algorithm.

,  

We all know that carriers are capitalizing on the explosion of online commerce.  For example, USPS has never seen the volume of usage of their service prior to things like Ebay and other marketplaces.  Yet, they cry poor mouth and continue to raise their rates with alarming frequency.   I believe that Ebay could twist their arm a bit more and facilitate even better discounts for sellers.  USPS is illegitimate as a business.  They are a government agency.  They claim to receive no tax dollars but it is not legitimate for them to follow a private business model that seeks profit.  I think that we can all agree that their rates are outrageous.  We never saw these kinds of rate hikes back in the 70s, 80s, 90s, early 2000s and so on, yet their service is used more than ever due to online commerce.  Ebay should put their feet to the fire or threaten to end it.

If Ebay wants to continue to justify charging final value fees on shipping and tax then they should be doing what they can to help sellers mitigate those costs.  I know that there is a lot of back and forth about this but the ultimate truth is that sellers make the marketplace, not buyers.  There is no chicken or the egg question that needs to be answered.  Buyers can want all that they want.  I'm a buyer too, just like every Ebay seller is also a buyer at some point.  

If Ebay's bottom line is being is not what they would like it to be, I can assure you that sellers (who are not multi billion dollar businesses), feel the pain.  If Ebay expects people to go thrifting, attend estate sales, purchase storage units, dumpster dive, buy, haggle and do whatever else it takes to obtain items even before you clean, prep, photograph, upload, write descriptions and finally list items for the kind of profit that remains after FVF and outrageous shipping costs?  They have lost their way.  I rarely comment here but I must say that Ebay is stripping the joy for both seller and buyer.  Opt out of this new proposal.  Even if you believe it won't effect you, opt out. 

There is no reason for Ebay to do this when it was already an option.  They are desperate.  They are out of touch.  Look, I lived in the Bay Area for 18 years.  Understand the caliber of people working at Ebay.  Many are in their 20s, know nothing of business and have seriously wacked out perspectives on life.  Ebay is a great thing and I'm glad it's here.  However, it is gone seriously awry in how it is treating it's hard working sellers who provide the product that the buyer wants.  Often times, the buyer doesn't even know what they want and that is the point.  

[bossesale77]

I just tried opting out on my multiple eBay accounts (each one has a different email address/log-in) and after opting out on the first account I was told that the "survey" could only be taken once a day when I tried opting out on the other accounts. Does this mean that when I opted out on the first account that all my accounts were opted out or that I can only opt out on one account per day? If it's the latter then that's just idiotic.

[dbfolks166mt]

What are we paying fees for, then? Exposure, advertisement (not great, I admit), admin, etc.

Maybe it's because I come from a background of virtual contract work, but virtual properties are as real as desks and chairs, and are hardly 'sunk costs' - the updates and maintenance on even the small server farm I helped manage were considerable.

     You pay fees for the service eBay provides. EBay uses those fees to attempt to cover their costs. Since eBay neither makes or manufactures anything a large percentage of their costs are sunk as opposed to variable. A sunk cost is defined as one where an investment has been made and the cost can't be recovered. They include things like software, equipment, research, salaries/benefits and facility expenses. Variable costs are those that change with increases/decreases in volume. They are often also called cost of goods sold. 

     EBay could potentially have variable costs associated with their cloud services or Software as a service where eBay's cost would vary depending on the utilization of the cloud services or the software.  

[kayomi@ebay]

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@bossesale77 wrote:

I just tried opting out on my multiple eBay accounts (each one has a different email address/log-in) and after opting out on the first account I was told that the "survey" could only be taken once a day when I tried opting out on the other accounts. Does this mean that when I opted out on the first account that all my accounts were opted out or that I can only opt out on one account per day? If it's the latter then that's just idiotic.

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Hi @bossesale77 , thank you for flagging this issue. When you opt out, you are opting out for just the account you are logged into when you take the survey. The survey has now been updated to accept more than one response per day. Please retry opting out and let us know if you have further issues. 

[farmalljr]

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@monica-sells wrote:

all that was required was the email address....

if you did not give some identifying information, how would they know who you are to opt-out?

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I want you to REALLY think about what you just said for a second.... Are you analyzing what you said? Did you think on it ?

Why do you need to give ANY information? You are ALREADY signed into your account...... I do not need to give ANY information if I am signed in to change any of my settings.  But to "opt out" I need to? 

eBay knows if you log into your account on your phone on your friends WIFI, they do not need ANY information from you when you are logged into your account, to know who is opting out. I could not "opt out" without filling in ALL the boxes. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

What are we paying fees for, then? Exposure, advertisement (not great, I admit), admin, etc.

Maybe it's because I come from a background of virtual contract work, but virtual properties are as real as desks and chairs, and are hardly 'sunk costs' - the updates and maintenance on even the small server farm I helped manage were considerable.

     You pay fees for the service eBay provides. EBay uses those fees to attempt to cover their costs. Since eBay neither makes or manufactures anything a large percentage of their costs are sunk as opposed to variable. A sunk cost is defined as one where an investment has been made and the cost can't be recovered. They include things like software, equipment, research, salaries/benefits and facility expenses. Variable costs are those that change with increases/decreases in volume. They are often also called cost of goods sold. 

     EBay could potentially have variable costs associated with their cloud services or Software as a service where eBay's cost would vary depending on the utilization of the cloud services or the software.  

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I use a certain imaging editing product - the company that develops this product sells me access to it - I don't have to actually go to the store and purchase a physical disc to obtain this access, it's virtual. That's what they sell me.

[thenewhopeworldbazaar]

I believe that the real concern here is whether or not Ebay will quietly throttle you if you choose to opt out.  They are in a total position to do so and they will never be honest.  Even if you get through to one of their overseas customer service reps you will hear a repeated script hinged on denial.  There is no reason so force sellers to pass on any kind of savings when it is already an option to do so.  If this was a government taking this action people would be up in arms.  Ebay is run by children.  Most of them are left wing ideologues.  This includes the greed mongers at the top.  They have zero insight into who the sellers who make their company are.  None.  Sellers make the marketplace.  Buyers are born into need and want because they are human.  Humans will always experience want and need even without the marketplace.  Sellers are the cure for that want and need and sellers make the marketplace, not buyers.  Buyers will always be.  That is the point.

[ittybitnot]

There is no reason so force sellers to pass on any kind of savings when it is already an option to do so. 

@thenewhopeworldbazaar 

Still trying to figure it out.  There is rarely a change made that does not involve some monetary gain for the platform.   The only redeeming feature is that the users are at least being TOLD about it in advance, as opposed to waking up and finding your preferences set to YES after the fact, and producing the usual discussion as to whether some anomaly is a glitch, intended change, test, or a new feature. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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kayomi@ebay wrote:

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@bossesale77 wrote:

I just tried opting out on my multiple eBay accounts (each one has a different email address/log-in) and after opting out on the first account I was told that the "survey" could only be taken once a day when I tried opting out on the other accounts. Does this mean that when I opted out on the first account that all my accounts were opted out or that I can only opt out on one account per day? If it's the latter then that's just idiotic.

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Hi @bossesale77 , thank you for flagging this issue. When you opt out, you are opting out for just the account you are logged into when you take the survey. The survey has now been updated to accept more than one response per day. Please retry opting out and let us know if you have further issues. 

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kayomi@ebay 

Hello Kayomi, Can you confirm if this will apply to ca sellers too. There has been nothing in the way of messaging  or a "survey" on the Canadian platform about being opted in and then needing to manually opt out. Discovered this discussion entirely by accident. With the number of current issues with eBay labels on ca this would be the last thing that we would need to figure out by accident. 

Thanks,

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

[lakefor94]

One would be surprised as to how many sellers will not even notice the change even if they are not passing on the lower shipping price to the buyers at this time. Many won't even read the notification.

All the new sellers to come will have to find the toggle by themselves.

Just a play by eBay to display lower shipping prices on a few hundred million listings thus creating more eBay revenue and picking up some new buyers in the process.

I have been passing along the lower rates in my listings with calulated shipping.

I can opt in or out at any time....

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@lakefor94 wrote:

One would be surprised as to how many sellers will not even notice the change even if they are not passing on the lower shipping price to the buyers at this time. Many won't even read the notification.

All the new sellers to come will have to find the toggle by themselves.

Just a play by eBay to display lower shipping prices on a few hundred million listings thus creating more eBay revenue and picking up some new buyers in the process.

I have been passing along the lower rates in my listings with calulated shipping.

I can opt in or out at any time....

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@lakefor94 

Unsure what US sellers see as far as it goes for a difference (What buyer paid vs cost of label) but majority of Canadian buyers have had access to minimum level 1 discounts (varied discounts per service + access to a quicker service for the same price as slow) for years with Canadapost. Sellers could have an account directly with CP very easily. The more you ship the level goes up...2 to 3 to 4. If a seller chose to add handling this was also factored in to the difference after creating a label. (Difference went to covering things like seller fees and shipping supplies.) So we have been seeing that difference forever. As long as you were using calculated shipping. 

It took Canadian sellers several months longer to have access to turning on showing the applicable discount. Applying a % never worked because discounts vary per service. Being able to turn on discount has been a biggest improvement we've received in years. 

It should entirely be the sellers the choice as to whether the buyer sees the discount or not. But it is to a sellers advantage to do so.  Not something that you should be willy nilly dropped into and then have to figure out if you want or can opt out. One size fits all rarely is a perfect system!!!

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

To date there has been nothing in the way of a survey for Canadian sellers to respond to or any notification. Like most things eBay many changes are usually discovered by complete surprise. Especially on the Canadian side of eBay. When it has been tested prior to implementation?.....a major miracle!!!

[kelekt]

"Sellers make the marketplace.  Buyers are born into need and want because they are human.  Humans will always experience want and need even without the marketplace.  Sellers are the cure for that want and need and sellers make the marketplace, not buyers.  Buyers will always be.  That is the point."

well said!

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@ittybitnot "Still trying to figure it out.  There is rarely a change made that does not involve some monetary gain for the platform."

ebay is betting that lower shipping prices (admittedly, resulting in lower ebay fees per transaction) will nonetheless result in higher sales velocity, enough to more than offset the lower per transaction fee due to more transactions. 

ebay might be right or wrong about this. It is a risk they are taking, but if they are right, and this increases overall sales ebay could finally see increases in GMV (which they have been promising stockholders) and increased revenue, but ONLY if the sales velocity increases at a sufficient rate.

My guess is, ebay has done the math, they have a pretty good idea of what they need to see in terms of sales velocity, and they are going to push to achieve that. Hopefully, this will not require them to remove the option entirely and force everyone into passing the savings to buyers. But we've already seen that trying to persuade sellers to make the change did not result in enough sellers making the change, so the auto opt in was the next step. I am hoping they don't follow it with requiring us to pass on the savings, but this is ebay, so that's still a very real possibility.

Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'll continue doing what I've been doing as far as shipping is concerned.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@ittybitnot "Still trying to figure it out.  There is rarely a change made that does not involve some monetary gain for the platform."

ebay is betting that lower shipping prices (admittedly, resulting in lower ebay fees per transaction) will nonetheless result in higher sales velocity, enough to more than offset the lower per transaction fee due to more transactions. 

ebay might be right or wrong about this. It is a risk they are taking, but if they are right, and this increases overall sales ebay could finally see increases in GMV (which they have been promising stockholders) and increased revenue, but ONLY if the sales velocity increases at a sufficient rate.

My guess is, ebay has done the math, they have a pretty good idea of what they need to see in terms of sales velocity, and they are going to push to achieve that. Hopefully, this will not require them to remove the option entirely and force everyone into passing the savings to buyers. But we've already seen that trying to persuade sellers to make the change did not result in enough sellers making the change, so the auto opt in was the next step. I am hoping they don't follow it with requiring us to pass on the savings, but this is ebay, so that's still a very real possibility.

Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'll continue doing what I've been doing as far as shipping is concerned.

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

@ittybitnot 

Unsure if eBay considers this a moot point but not every seller uses eBay labels to ship. Sellers may have better or worse shipping discounts that they prefer to use that work better for them. Then you can throw in situations where sellers have received revised charges after being paid for a label. There is no way to recover any upcharge after the fact. In Canada we have floating fuel surcharges which make flat rate shipping extremely messy.

-Lotz