eBay is applying old world principles to its online business in the fee increases announced earlier this week. I think it’s losing its way. I am conflicted in my view because I own the Find It online classifieds business which is currently in beta. However, in the journey to build Find It we have learnt plenty about the cost of developing and maintaining a classified site. I don’t see any justification for the eBay fee rises – especially their 33% fee rise for motorcycles and 20% fee rise for motor vehicles. Bandwidth is costing less, services have not improved, customer service is no better. Why the price rise?
The online world has grown around a belief in and a commitment to low or no cost use. Fee increases for use of services like eBay fly in the face of that and it is natural that the community is angry. No wonder Craigslist is so popular in the US – it remains steadfast in providing a home for free classifieds and it’s 25% owned by eBay!
When we do start charging for classified ads at Find It – all ads are currently free – ads for items selling for $500 or less will ALWAYS BE FREE. Cars and motorcycles selling for $5,000 or less will ALWAYS BE FREE. This is our commitment to the community. eBay has forgotten its commitment to the community.
More than 1,000 newsagents are our retail partners in Find It. Already newsagents are bringing car dealers on with ads as well as real-estate agents. Once we start charging our newsagents get a clip from ads as well as profit share, once we are profitable. Find It is our way of bringing online revenue to the bricks and mortar newsagent channel.
“It’s interesting to me that most of the articles written about the fee increases are focused on the way they will affect the seller. ”
The fees increases equally affect the buyers as well. Why? Because the sellers need to increase their prices in order to make the same margin.