eBay targets entrepreneurs with fee cuts

Internet auction website eBay is radically altering its fee structure in order to lure more dotcom entrepreneurs and secure more customers.

The facts:

Buy it now fees – paid up front by eBay businesses when they upload new fixed-price items – will be slashed, but fees for successful sales of items will go up. eBay says it will encourage more entrepreneurs and get a wider selection of goods for sale on the site.

Analysts say eBay wants diversify from its auction house roots to become an all-encompassing shopping website, with equal emphasis on fixed-price and auction sales.

Sellers will also have the chance to earn better listings and further discounts on fees depending on the volume of items they list and levels of customer service. But this has drawn criticism from industry experts who say it will benefit eBay’s big retail partners more than small traders.

eBay has nearly 180,000 people regularly selling items as a primary or secondary source of income. The internet auctioneer sells £30bn-worth of goods every year and two-in-three internet shoppers use the site.

They said:

"We've been on this path for the last few years," said Clare Gilmartin, director of marketplaces for eBay.co.uk. "There's no doubt this year has seen some very, very bold changes - necessarily so and entirely reflective of what our buyers and sellers want."

"I don't think anything can surpass eBay in terms of choice. But e-commerce is now mainstream. We see our competitive set as a broad one - anywhere where a buyer can buy stuff online. That might be Amazon or the more traditional bricks and clicks [large retail chains with online brands, such as Tesco and Dixons].

“But the big advantage we have is choice - mums sitting alongside entrepreneurs, sitting alongside big retailers."

We say:

eBay has had a tumultuous year. For starters it lost a court case against Louis Vuitton, which banned the sale of fake LV gear on the website. Analysts recently questioned the website’s capacity to grow.

This shake-up is its response. It’s great to hear that eBay thinks entrepreneurs will be the ones to give it a boost; we just hope that the new measures will not have the opposite effect.

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By News Desk  on   Aug 20,2008

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Keywords

eBay    online    ebay business    ecommerce    shop    small business    Tesco   

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