FAQs

Q: What is the big news?
A: eBay is lowering by more than 70 percent the cost to list an item in eBay’s Buy It Now™ fixed price format. Sellers will now enjoy a flat rate of 35 cents for a 30-day listing period, up from the previous seven-day standard. The change, which takes effect September 16, 2008, is the most competitive pricing eBay has ever offered sellers. For more information on Basic Fee Changes, please click here.

Q: What do you expect to accomplish with these changes and how will this impact your bottom line?
A: Our goal is to be the most competitive marketplace on the web. By more closely aligning our success with the success of our sellers, our intention is to drive increasing abundance of great inventory from our sellers onto eBay.com. In terms of financial impact, this pricing change does not impact the guidance we have already provided to Wall Street.

Q: What impact will this have on listing volume and what have you done to prepare the site?
A: We are anticipating an increase in overall listings volume, and we’ve made significant investments in our search technology, and are extremely confident that buyers will be able to find what they want more quickly and easily.

Q: How is this being communicated to sellers and how are you helping them adapt?
A: Through pricing and incentives, we are encouraging our sellers to evaluate some of their practices with the goal of helping them to build more profitable, scalable and sustainable businesses on eBay. In addition, we are working closely with our the developer community to adapt their tools to best support sellers through this process.

We’re also providing an unprecedented amount of educational sessions to help our members learn how to take advantage of these changes, including several webinars, a Town Hall, and a number of information pages on ebay.com.

Q: How do you expect this to impact your sellers’ businesses?
A: The majority of sellers who list in the Buy It Now™ fixed price format will see an overall decrease in total fees. We have fundamentally rebalanced the cost to sell on eBay. For most sellers in this format, when they account for the extended listing duration and the fact that they can list multiple identical items for only 35 cents per month TOTAL, they will quickly discover that it will cost them less to sell on eBay – in some cases, significantly less.

This change will also encourage sellers to revise some of their strategies and best practices – and we are providing the policy, financial and technology changes to support them.

Each individual seller will need to determine the best method of optimizing and maximizing sales of their items. It’s important for sellers to understand the competitive environment and the buyer behavior in their category.

eBay provides some tools for this including item counters on the site and in various other tools. Sellers should experiment with different listing strategies, including using different keywords for their item titles, and also use Item Specifics and Pre-Filled Item Information to maximize their exposure to buyers. We also recommend reviewing top searches for their category, looking at competitors and running their own queries on the site.

Q: What does this mean for auctions on eBay?
A: We love auctions; they are at the core of what makes eBay great. At this time, eBay is not making any changes to auction-style listings. We believe fees for auctions are already a good deal, especially when you list with a low start price.

Auctions remain the ideal choice for sellers who are uncertain about the value of their item, have a scarce item in high demand, or are willing to start at a low price and let bidding determine the final value. Auctions are the best, most cost-effective format for sellers to discover the market value of an item. Also, auction-style listings continue to receive great visibility in search because they are sorted based on time ending soonest. Auctions will always have a place on eBay.

Q: Who can I contact for more information about these changes?
A: If you’re a reporter and need more information about these changes or eBay in general, call our media hotline at 408-376-7458 or visit eBayInkBlog.com.