Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

eBay - Special Duration Fee + Seller Hub

4487 views
15 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Southeast Texas
  • 5,449 posts
Posted by mobilman44 on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 5:05 AM

Well, I figured out how to list and view in the new environment, but this morning all the "sale" pages show up with an "apology"...........they won't load.   I'm sure they will fix it, but not having it perfected before installation is just wrong.

ENJOY  !

 

Mobilman44

 

Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central 

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Monday, May 10, 2021 11:32 PM

SeeYou190
 
richhotrain
Navigating the My eBay page has changed dramatically since the beginning of May. 

I do get irritated when they mess with the "My eBay" page.

The last majot overhaul of the page made it much harder to use, and many of the features I liked became well-hidden.

That is increasingly a problem with eBay. More and more features seem hidden and are very difficult to find. Also, you can now only find your sales over the past 90 days, nothing earlier.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, May 10, 2021 10:43 PM

richhotrain
Navigating the My eBay page has changed dramatically since the beginning of May.

I do get irritated when they mess with the "My eBay" page.

The last major overhaul of the page made it much harder to use, and many of the features I liked became well-hidden.

It took a long while to get used to it.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    March 2011
  • 1,950 posts
Posted by NVSRR on Monday, May 10, 2021 9:23 PM

Doughless

 

 
richhotrain

 

 
Doughless

The fee for listing an item for a less than a five day auction has been in place for as long as I can remember.  The switch to Managed Payments was not the genesis of it 

 

 

Douglas, I am sure that you are right. I just had never used the 3-day auction before, so the $1.00 fee did surprise me.

 

I didn't mean to suggest that the fee was new as part of Managed Payments. That said, I only realized that I had paid the $1.00 fee a few weeks later following my call to Customer Service about how to intepret the various reports associated with Managed Payments.

Rich

 

 

 

A few auctions of interesting items have closed with the final bids on used items being over original street discounted price of the item when it was new.  One item went for over MSRP when new.

I won a different auction.  Between sales tax and seller mandated "insured" shipping charges (BTW, I have never had an issue with any carrier losing or mishandling a package. All of my shipping damage has been solely due to sellers not packing the item properly), I paid $30 over the price of the item.

The prices and final costs on Ebay are becoming noncompetitive with the big internet retailers, IMO.

 

 

at least with the retailors, I fit does get lost, it can be replaced easily.  Not on eBay.  I find I only visit if I seek something not in production any more or a difficult to find odd ball  eBay is really working to shrink sellers and buyers there  it seams

 

shane

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel

An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel

A realist sees a frieght train

An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Heart of Georgia
  • 5,406 posts
Posted by Doughless on Monday, May 10, 2021 12:20 PM

richhotrain

 

 
Doughless

The fee for listing an item for a less than a five day auction has been in place for as long as I can remember.  The switch to Managed Payments was not the genesis of it 

 

 

Douglas, I am sure that you are right. I just had never used the 3-day auction before, so the $1.00 fee did surprise me.

 

I didn't mean to suggest that the fee was new as part of Managed Payments. That said, I only realized that I had paid the $1.00 fee a few weeks later following my call to Customer Service about how to intepret the various reports associated with Managed Payments.

Rich

 

A few auctions of interesting items have closed with the final bids on used items being over original street discounted price of the item when it was new.  One item went for over MSRP when new.

I won a different auction.  Between sales tax and seller mandated "insured" shipping charges (BTW, I have never had an issue with any carrier losing or mishandling a package. All of my shipping damage has been solely due to sellers not packing the item properly), I paid $30 over the price of the item.

The prices and final costs on Ebay are becoming noncompetitive with the big internet retailers, IMO.

- Douglas

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Monday, May 10, 2021 10:10 AM

Doughless

The fee for listing an item for a less than a five day auction has been in place for as long as I can remember.  The switch to Managed Payments was not the genesis of it 

Douglas, I am sure that you are right. I just had never used the 3-day auction before, so the $1.00 fee did surprise me.

I didn't mean to suggest that the fee was new as part of Managed Payments. That said, I only realized that I had paid the $1.00 fee a few weeks later following my call to Customer Service about how to intepret the various reports associated with Managed Payments.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Heart of Georgia
  • 5,406 posts
Posted by Doughless on Monday, May 10, 2021 8:57 AM

The fee for listing an item for a less than a five day auction has been in place for as long as I can remember.  The switch to Managed Payments was not the genesis of it.

- Douglas

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Sunday, May 9, 2021 10:10 AM

mobilman44

Good grief, the process has changed in the last 3 weeks since I did the bulk of my auctions.  I sure miss the old versions of screens, for they were easy to view and easier to use than what I see today.

Navigating the My eBay page has changed dramatically since the beginning of May. It looks entirely different. You can no longer find the Selling link under Activity on the left side of the page. To find it, you have to quickly click on the Selling link as a drop-down when you click on My eBay at the top of the page. If you don't click quickly, you might never find the Selling link. It now appears under the heading Seller Hub.

When I try to navigate the Seller Hub, I feel like a member of the Board of Directors of a Fortune 100 company. I am presented with a series of bar graphs, line graphs, and bar/line graphs. There are tabs for Marketing, Performance, Research, just to name a few. Under Performance, for example, there are links to Traffic and Service Metrics.

The entire Seller Hub is designed for a high volume commercial seller. It is not designed for, and not intended for, someone like me. I sold two used golf clubs in April. Yet, I am swamped with reports on Cost Analysis, March Sales versus April Sales, etc.

I'm not sure where all of this is headed, but the little guy, the occasional seller of used items, is getting crowded out. Maybe eBay needs to set up a separate site for the little guy who occasionally sells a used item or two. Treat it like the flea market site that eBay began as so many years ago. Call it FleaBay.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Sunday, May 9, 2021 9:50 AM

oldline1

And there are those here who get testy when some of us call it FEEBAY! 

Wonder why that name has stuck?

oldline1 

I'm not ready to call it feebay. After all, under the new Managed Payments system, eBay has eliminated the nearly 3% PayPal fee, and eBay does provide discounted shipping fees to the seller. eBay does charge a 10% fee for a successful sale, but that is worthwhile and reasonable to reach a nationwide network of potential buyers.

That $1.00 Special Duration Fee is no big deal. It is just that I find it perplexing to charge a fee for 1-day or 3-day auctions but not for 5-day, 7-day, or 10-day auctions. eBay's reasoning for the $1.00 charge makes no sense to me. According to eBay, "Charging this fee will help discourage the use of shorter durations where they are least successful."

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Huntsville, AR
  • 1,251 posts
Posted by oldline1 on Sunday, May 9, 2021 8:43 AM

And there are those here who get testy when some of us call it FEEBAY! 

Wonder why that name has stuck?

oldline1

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Southeast Texas
  • 5,449 posts
Posted by mobilman44 on Sunday, May 9, 2021 6:01 AM

I've always preferred 7 day auctions, but these days, many don't seem to get any action until the last 24 hours.  That said, I was unaware of the short time fee.....

On the subject of Ebay, I'm in the process of listing structures and misc. detail items.  Good grief, the process has changed in the last 3 weeks since I did the bulk of my auctions.  I sure miss the old versions of screens, for they were easy to view and easier to use than what I see today.

Thankfully all of my previous listings closed before the major changes.  And now my intent is to get all of the remainder in place within the week, so as to avoid having to deal with managed payments - which I was told is a must by the end of May.

Seems like Ebay is playing with a series of "self destruct" buttons, and its really disappointing and discouraging.

ENJOY  !

 

Mobilman44

 

Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central 

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Sunday, May 9, 2021 5:27 AM

SeeYou190

Most bids seem to come in the last day. I think most people have their searches set up for "ending soonest" rather than "newly listed" like I do.

That seems to be the case, in my experience. I got tired of watching my 7-day auctions go nowhere until Day 7 when the number of views really heats up. So, I went with 3-day auctions instead. If you are not getting Views, no one is clicking on your auction listing.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, May 8, 2021 8:02 PM

richhotrain
I have continually noticed that the number of views dramatically increases on the final day of the auction.

I have all my saved searches set up so I see new items the day they are listed. I am usually the first bidder on every item I am interested in.

Most bids seem to come in the last day. I think most people have their searches set up for "ending soonest" rather than "newly listed" like I do.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, May 8, 2021 11:20 AM

I have no idea how long the Special Duration Fee has been around, and the $1.00 fee isn't going to break the bank. I was just surprised to see it when I dug deep into the eBay statements.

I have always used 7-day auctions, but I have continually noticed that the number of views dramatically increases on the final day of the auction. So, in this case, when the 7-day auction didn't produce a bid, I went with a relist and a 3-day auction.

I will say this. eBay keeps the Special Duration Fee a well guarded secret. It is not obvious when you create a listing, and trying to find it in the eBay Help section is almost impossible.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, May 8, 2021 9:45 AM

I always used 7 day auctions, and I timed them so things would end on Wednesday evening between 9 and 10 PM Eastern Time.

One time I wanted to add some items to a weekly batch, so I was going to use a 3 day auction starting on Sunday, so they would all end at the same time.

That is when I found out about the fee for 3 day auctions.

That was quite a while ago, so the fee is not something new.

Pokemon cards would reach full value in 3 days with no problem. Maybe other items did not. I guess charging the extra dollar helps eBay get some additional money back from the lower final item fee.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
eBay - Special Duration Fee + Seller Hub
Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, May 8, 2021 7:54 AM

I was in the process of posting a reply to another forum member's thread that raised the issue of eBay's new Managed Payments system. After I posted my reply, I signed on to my eBay account to look further into the way that eBay charges fees. Much to my surprise, I came across a $1.00 "Special Duration Fee" that I was charged on an auction listing. Say what? I always set up my eBay listings to avoid the various listing fees. So, what is a Special Duration Fee?

I couldn't find the answer on eBay's Help site, so I Googled 'eBay special duration fee'. Turns out, eBay charges a $1.00 fee for selecting a 1-day or 3-day auction listing rather than a longer auction listing like 5-day, or 7-day, or 10-day.

Why? Because, according to eBay, "Charging this fee will help discourage the use of shorter durations where they are least successful." Hmm, so why even allow 1-day or 3-day listings?

Well, guess what. I had previously tried twice to sell an item using a 7-day auction listing. No luck. Very few views and most of those views took place on the final day of the listing. So, I re-listed again, this time using a 3-day auction, and the item sold with multiple bidders. Go figure.

By the way, to check on your prior sales, you now have to navigate a new section of eBay called Seller Hub (see later discussion).

Rich

Alton Junction

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!