eBay Sellers Not Happy About Fee Changes

Vendors who sell their goods on eBay are scratching their heads after the company unveiled a new fee structure in an effort to boost listings and maintain its share of the online auction market it helped start a decade ago.

While eBay Inc. says more than 60 percent of its sellers will save money with the new plan, several sellers have crunched their numbers and consider the rejigging a fee hike.

"We call it eBay math, it's a different math than most other people's math," said Randy Smythe, who used to sell music and movies on eBay from Southern California.

Under the old rules, for example, selling a purse at auction for $25 would have cost the seller $1.91, including 60 cents for listing the item plus eBay's commission of $1.31. Under the new structure, the seller would pay $2.74, including 55 cents to list the item plus a higher commission of $2.19.

Carol Hearn, who sells antiques on eBay from Washington state, said the fees are modest compared with the cost of selling items in person.

"It looks like what they are trying to do with the fees is make it more difficult and expensive to sell low-end items. The people that are selling low-end items are going to feel this fee increase the most," Hearn said.

eBay's commissions will rise on items auctioned for less than $1,000 or sold at fixed prices lower than $100, while eBay's cut on more expensive auction items will remain 1.5 percent. It will take less off the top of higher-end fixed-price sales: 2 percent or 4 percent, rather than 3 percent or 5 percent.

One of its main rivals in fixed-price sales, Amazon.com Inc., charges no fee at all to list an item, though it charges a commission as high as 15 percent.

eBay said the changes were designed to boost listings, which have stagnated in recent years. The company is accustomed to a 'vocal' and 'passionate' seller community, according to company spokesman Usher Lieberman.