EBay Lowers Insertion Fees in Media Categories by 38%-50%

[bargainbloodhound]

After doing it in Germany and the UK last year it was only a matter of time before they lowered fees in the US media categories.

Pompous Jay the Keyword Spammer is no doubt doing the happy dance tonight.

***A Message from Lorrie Norrington – New Media Category Pricing Effective February 20***

Lorrie Norrington
Hello...This is Lorrie Norrington, President of eBay Global Marketplace Operations. By now I hope you've had the chance to watch the Keynote and Executive Q&A webcasts from our annual eCommerce Forum held recently in Washington D.C. I can't think of a better way to start my new role than spending two and half days in discussions with many eBay sellers. I want you to know I'm committed to consistent communication, action and follow through. As a result, I'd like to let you know about our next steps:

1. To make immediate changes where we believe it benefits the health of our marketplace: We heard your comments about the need for media and category-specific pricing. Today, I am pleased to announce we are accelerating our plan to phase-in category-specific pricing for media. This fee cut will coincide with the site-wide pricing changes previously announced to take effect on February 20. In the Books, Music, Movies and Video Game software categories, we will be offering even lower insertion fees for the first three insertion tiers as follows:

$0.01 – 0.99 (auction-style only)
Original Categories Insertion Fee: $ .20
New Media fee: $ .10

$1.00 - 9.99 (auction-style and fixed price)
Original Categories Insertion Fee: $ .40
New Media fee: $ .25

$10.00 – 24.99 (auction-style and fixed price)
Original Categories Insertion Fee: $ .60
New Media fee: $ .35

2. To closely monitor the marketplace to ensure the changes we've made have the intended impact: We heard many of our sellers believe the shipping Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) needs to be re-examined. Also, we heard you when you said you wanted us to be transparent about participation in the PowerSeller discount program. Let me be clear: our goal is to improve the buyer experience so much that at least 50% of our PowerSellers qualify for discounts. We will run these changes as announced in Washington D.C., but we will closely monitor the data. If buyer trust in the marketplace is not improving as intended within the next six months, we will take action.

3. To stick with the changes we believe are right for the marketplace: We will proceed with our plans to evolve our feedback system and with the weighting of Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) in search, as announced. They are both central to our plans and will aid in providing a great buying experience from sellers buyers can trust.

Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you how excited and honored I am to be serving the eBay Community. You have helped us to build an incredible marketplace over the years. I passionately believe that great service will lead to great customer experiences in 2008. I'm very committed to helping the eBay marketplace to become even more successful for you in today's competitive environment.

We literally cannot do this without you. The changes we announced better align our shared interests. By rewarding and differentiating our best partners, we will together deliver more of the great shopping experiences found nowhere else but on eBay.

[mandy]

Kevin Harmon of InflatableMadness on the changes:

This is the first time eBay US has recognized that all eBay categories are not created equal and acted on it.  This is a very important action to me - it's a move that shows that eBay is listening to us, the sellers, and paying attention to the ecommerce environment as a whole.  It's the kind of move that signals that more changes may be on the way - possible expansion of category specific ideas, or volume discounts, or customized DSR measurements...

full article: http://startupnation.com/blog/entry.asp?ENTRY_ID=732