EBay - New Feedback Rules Mean Fees Will Rocket

Looking around some "eBay friendly" websites today I noticed a pattern. The thrust of several messages being posted was to suggest the planned changes being made by eBay will result in lower fees for most sellers. I believe this is VERY misleading and they are either unable to see the trap being laid or they're banking on sellers being fools.

To explain why believe this, let me ask sellers a few simple questions:

Unless you are selling at powerseller levels you do not qualify for any fee discounts. So for smaller sellers, with the basic final value fee being charged by eBay rising from 5.25% to 7.5% in the UK and 8.75% in the US, do you expect your eBay costs to rise or fall becuase of the modest listing fee cuts?

If you expect the typical buyer (now they do not need to worry about feedback) to start being a little more critical in their rating of sellers, do you expect more 3s or 4s than 5s as the DSR norm given? If so the sellers concerned will not reach the 4.6/5 threshold and will not qualify for any discount. With no discount - and despite the modest listing fee cut - will your like for like invoices be higher or lower as a result of the final value fee changes?

If these fee changes will produce a cut in most sellers invoices as claimed then eBay could do something popular now and scrap all the fee changes in response to the sellers outrage. If they genuinely believe the claims that these changes are cuts then they will be better off....wont they?

For those sellers choosing to stay with eBay now I strongly urge you to keep a note of the current fee structure. In a few months time, after the changes have settled in, look at the invoices you are getting and calculate the difference. Then you will know exactly what it is that eBay say is a cut in your costs.

You must think about the crucial link being created. Buyers are going to be immune from feedback AND those same buyers will have their finger on the trigger when it comes to fee discounts. How many need to pull the trigger to blow away any hope you have of a discount?

In my opinion anyone who seriously expects to see a cut in the eBay fees they will be paying soon must be looking at a different fee scale and discount qualification combo than I am.