On January 13, eBay sellers received an unwelcome announcement from eBay. Fees were going up. Partly due to our tendency to "skim" messages and partly due to
way in which announcement was worded, result was widespread panic and threats of mutiny.
Many sellers started to "boycott" eBay, and began taking their business to places like Yahoo auctions, and Overstock.com. After issuing another email "clarifying" price increases, eBay finally sent everyone a "Message from Bill Cobb" on February 6.
Bill Cobb, who became President of eBay North America in December of 1004, stated that he'd been "taking it all in" and "thinking hard about how we can make sure eBay remains a fun, safe place to trade, and a prosperous home for our many dedicated sellers."
Cobb addressed issue of fee increases, and concerns about customer support, trust and safety, and frequency of changes to site.
Cobb also promised a number of improvements to customer service, a credit for store sellers and a reduction in minimum insertion fees for auction style and fixed price listings. He even gave readers his email address and invited comments, promising to read every one of them!
The Bottom line here is that most significant changes made will affect eBay Store owners. But Store items are offered at a price determined by seller, so increased costs can be passed along to buyer. This is what "real world" businesses do all time. The cost of doing business rarely goes down and Business people learn to expect increases in overhead.
