Prunesquallor's on eBay

I've got a set of 4 sealed Sabbat boosters up for auction, ending in a day and a half :

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261025972306

A couple of bits of news :

Not many new listings lately because I am preparing to move single card sales onto a non-eBay website. Recent fee and policy changes on eBay make it so I'd have to increase my prices and shipping there, which I am not willing to do.

I'll still be selling card sleeves, novelties etc there on eBay, and occasional lots and auctions.

Also, some postage increases in international shipping this year will be added soon to my listings. For international customers, browse and buy now, shipping will be going up by about $1-2 USD for the typical order soon.

Just a word of caution: If you move to a non-eBay site, your sales will likely drop immensely, based on what other such sellers have told me.

As a power-seller with a store, how is it possible that you don't feel you can afford eBay sales? You get lots and lots of free auctions every month. Are you suggesting that eBay's cut is too deep for your personal taste? I ask because I'm curious about people in your position and what they are thinking.

And what recent policy changes do you dislike?

Before I ramble on, here's the auction that I was posting here to flog
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261025972306

One of the main benefits of being a top-rated seller is that we get a discount on eBay fees while we retain our status. The main change is that (in the US) to retain that top-rated seller status, you have to ship nearly all of your packages with Delivery Confirmation from the USPS.

For single card sales, or sales of anything under 20-30 cards or so, that means the postage and shipping material total cost will double. You can't put delivery confirmation on a letter, and so it's a double whammy - have to use bulkier packaging so that it qualifies as a package, and then also put delivery confirmation. The latter can be defrayed somewhat by doing online postage, but then the packaging needs to be bigger to allow for the mailing label.

I've tried to distinguish myself on eBay by offering better service at a lower price than anyone else. The "lower price" part of that equation means taking every advantage of ways to keep eBay and USPS costs low that I can find, and passing that along by charging less or the same as competition while using better packaging and giving fast service. Essentially they are taking that low-cost advantage away from me if single-card sales remain more than 10% of my sales, unless I jack up the prices or shipping on single-card sales. If I jack up those prices, now I'll be charging more than US competitors who use cheap and unreliable packaging.

Yes, I realize sales will drop, but VtES cards are not the bulk of my business at the moment, so I'm willing to take that. I'll keep some presence there with selling lots and so on.

Oh, and with my seller status, I don't get free auctions, and I tend not to use auctions very much anyway. I do get cheap fixed-price listings, but I also have a hefty monthly fee for running a store. That was all manageable before, the change is on the percentage that eBay takes post-sale. I can avoid 20% of that post-sale fee with top-rated status, but to keep it I have to make all the changes I mentioned above. If I don't make the changes, that in turn would affect the fees I pay on all of my listings, not just single cards. Feels to me better to remove single cards, so that over 90% of my shipments are packages and not letters.

You are quite right. Ebay's new policy makes it impossible for seller that use 1st class mail letters to be Top Sellers. I have been all over the Ebay forums and sellers are fired up but Ebay has not indicated that they will change anything.

Wow, thanks for the very detailed information. Guess EBay is not making enough money and 'needs' to up the ante.

Wow, thanks for the info. Looks like eBay is the whore in bed with the pimp USPS.

Might as well close your store, add $2 shipping to everything, and make everything an auction. How ridiculous.