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 July 2006 |
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***eBay Australia: A Business Update *** |
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20 July 2006 | 09:28AM EST
| Simon Smith |
A Word from Simon Smith…
Hi everyone,
I would like to take some time to update you on the progress of the eBay Australia Community.
With more than three million members in Australia - or over one in five of the adult population, and around four million unique visitors coming to the site every month*,
eBay has evolved into a marketplace where Australians can buy and sell practically anything. On eBay in Australia, a car is sold every 12 minutes, a laptop is sold every 11
minutes, a baby item is sold every 38 seconds and a toy is sold every 21 seconds.
eBay.com.au is committed to ensuring there is a healthy balance of buyers and sellers in the eBay marketplace. That is why decisions have been made regarding pricing
and the exposure of Store Inventory Format listings, as announced earlier today. I am very confident that the decisions made will have a positive impact on the eBay
Australia Community as a whole.
To ensure buying on eBay remains fun and easy for Australians which will ultimately improve business for sellers, eBay invests in advertising, public relations, promotions
and site enhancements.
What has eBay done to attract buyers?
eBay is one of the largest online advertisers in Australia. eBay advertises on some of the largest websites including NineMSN, Google, Hotmail and Yahoo. Our
advertising drives a large volume of potential buyers to the site on a daily basis.
This year eBay launched an advertising campaign in some of Australia’s most popular magazines and newspapers. I hope you have seen these ads which feature a range
of Australians showing off a wide variety of items they have purchased on eBay.
Another effective way to tell the eBay story is in the media and we’ve had great success in doing this. So far this year, our media team has generated almost 1500
positive stories in newspapers, magazines, radio and television across Australia.
eBay also regularly invests in buyer promotions including offering PayPal coupons to encourage further spending on eBay.
Improvements to the eBay site
On the site, eBay has introduced a host of improvements to make listing even easier, such as the new Sell Your Item form and for larger sellers the new Turbo Lister.
For Store sellers, eBay has expanded the number of Store categories from 20 to 300 with the option of adding sub-categories.
eBay is now becoming a top choice for buying or selling a car with over one million unique visitors to the Motors site in June*. To improve confidence when buying a car on eBay Motors, eBay has recently introduced Vehicle Purchase Protection which may provide coverage of up to $20,000 in the unlikely event something goes wrong.
eBay will always support our sellers with a range of initiatives to ensure their ongoing success selling on Australia’s leading online marketplace. eBay continually evaluates the site and makes changes to grow the eBay community.
We value your feedback and suggestions and have started a chat thread on the Round Table where
you can ask questions or provide feedback about today’s announcement.
More information about the price changes can be found on the Announcement Board.
Simon Smith
Managing Director eBay Australia and New Zealand
* Nielsen//NetRatings Netview
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***Changes to Fees for Selected Features and Store Inventory Format Listings*** |
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20 July 2006 | 08:04AM EST
eBay strives to manage our marketplace to deliver the best overall value for buyers and to maximise profitable sales volume for sellers. To support buyers and sellers it is important to maintain a healthy balance between listing formats on the eBay marketplace, such as Auction and Store listings.
Therefore, today we are announcing increases to fees for Featured Plus, Basic Stores subscription and Store Inventory Format listings on eBay.com.au along with a change in the way Store Inventory Format listings are displayed in search results. We have carefully assessed these changes and believe they are necessary to improve the buyer experience, which should ultimately improve business for sellers.
The fee changes will come into effect at 23:59:59pm AEST on Monday 21 August 2006 and will only affect sellers who use Featured Plus in certain categories, Basic Stores subscribers and sellers who list using Store Inventory Format.
The changes to the way Store Inventory Format listings are displayed in search results will start to come into effect on Wednesday 2 August 2006.
eBay has two listing formats:
- Core listings including online Auction and Fixed Price (Buy It Now) deliver the signature eBay buying experience: great prices and an exciting experience for buyers; fast turnover and strong cash flow for sellers. Listings in this format will not be affected by these fee changes, except those that use Featured Plus in certain categories
- Store Inventory Format listings allow sellers who subscribe to Stores to list stock which may take longer to sell. These listings act as a complement to Core listings. However, since expanding the visibility of these listings in February, the volume has increased dramatically as has the price of the items listed. This change has negatively impacted members' buying experience
Buyers have expressed a number of concerns to us regarding the large quantity of Store Inventory Format listings and the over-use of Featured Plus listings which have led to:
- searches producing too many results and creating a confusing buyer experience
- searches being less relevant, making it difficult for buyers to find what they are looking for
These changes are necessary to ensure buying on eBay remains easy and fun for everyday Australians by limiting exposure of Store Inventory Format listings and encouraging greater use of Core listings format, thereby rebalancing the marketplace.
We are confident that eBay will continue to provide a great value marketplace for sellers, with the changes intended to increase purchases among the over four million Australians who visit eBay each month (Nielsen/NetRatings Netview).
Fee Changes
i. Featured Plus listings – which give your listing a stand-out placement in category lists and search results
| Featured Plus
Listings |
Current
Fee |
New
Fee |
| Consumer Electronics (CatID:293) and
Camera and Accessories (CatID:625)
|
AU$19.95 |
AU$24.95 |
| Cars, Motorcycles and Parts
(CatID:9800) |
AU$19.95 |
AU$29.95 |
| Computers (CatID:160) |
AU$19.95 |
AU$39.95 |
The fees for Featured Plus listings in all other categories are not changing at this time.
ii. Basic Stores Subscription and Store Inventory Format
| Stores |
Current
Fee |
New
Fee |
| Basic Store Subscription |
AU$9.95 |
AU$14.95 |
| Insertion Fee |
AU$0.10 |
| Item Price: |
Fees: |
| AU$0.00 - $19.99 |
$0.10 |
| AU$20.00 - $49.99 |
$0.20 |
| AU$50.00 and over |
$0.50 |
|
| Multiple Item Listings | The insertion fee tier for a multiple item
listing is determined by multiplying the asking price by quantity of your items. The maximum insertion fee for a
multiple item listing is AU$0.50. |
| Final Value
Fee |
| Item
Price: |
Fees: |
| AU$0.00 -
$75.00 |
5.25% |
| AU$75.01 -
$1000 |
2.75% |
|
- 5.25%
of the initial AU$75.00
- plus
2.75% of the remaining item price |
| Over
AU$1000 |
1.5% |
- 5.25% of the initial AU$75.00
- plus
2.75% of (AU$75.01 to AU$1,000.00)
- plus
1.50% of the remaining closing price (AU$1,000.01 - closing)
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| Item
Price: |
Fees: |
| AU$0.00-$75.00 |
10% |
| AU$75.01 -
$1000 |
5% |
- 10% of the initial AU$75.00
- plus
5% of the remaining item price
|
| Over
AU$1000 |
2.5% |
- 10% of the initial AU$75.00
- plus
5% of (AU$75.01 to AU$1,000.00)
- plus
2.5% of the remaining closing price (AU$1,000.01 - closing)
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A seller’s Core listings will continue to appear in their Store and Core listing fees remain unchanged, except for Featured Plus in certain categories.
Changes to how Store Inventory Format listings are displayed on eBay
In February this year we expanded item search results to include all Store Inventory Format listings. Since doing so buyers have told us searches are producing too many results and creating a confusing buyer experience. Therefore, starting 2 August 2006, we will be reducing the number of Store Inventory Format listings which are shown in Core search results.
Starting 2 August 2006, when less than 10 Core listings appear in the search results we will now only include up to 10 relevant Store Inventory Format listings.
To help sellers maximise the success of their Stores and Store Inventory Format listings we will be doing the following:
- In response to many requests from sellers, we are changing the maximum number of listings for identical items that sellers may concurrently have from 10 to 20, effective 22 August 2006
- In August and September we will host online workshops to educate sellers on how to optimise their Stores and use them more effectively and to educate buyers on the benefits of purchasing from sellers with a Store
- In August we are launching new onsite education on Stores
- We will continue to include all relevant Store Inventory Format listings after all matching Core listings when the buyer clicks the Buy It Now listings tab at the top of any search results page
For further information on this announcement, please visit the Fee Changes information page.
If you sell internationally, we recommend you visit the Announcement Board for the site that you sell on to learn about any fee changes for that site.
These changes will benefit our Community as a whole and by balancing the needs of our buyers and sellers will continue to sustain and develop a thriving marketplace in Australia and around the world.
Regards,
eBay International AG
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***Clarification of eBay’s GST Policy*** |
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14 July 2006 | 05:48PM EST
In May 2005, eBay updated its GST Policy. Today we are announcing a clarification to an element of the GST Policy, relating to how it applies to final value fees. We have made the clarification as a result of some member enquiries and along with further discussions between eBay and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), eBay has added this minor clarification to one section of its GST Policy. This clarification relates to the question “How does this apply to final value fees?”
Some members have asked why it is that eBay’s final value fee charges continue to be charged on the final price of the item even when GST may not be applicable to the transaction, such as in overseas transactions.
Please note that the GST Policy only applies to those sellers who are required to be registered for GST, and accordingly, does not apply to those members who are not required to be registered for GST. Nor does it apply where GST is not applicable to a transaction.
In response to member enquiries, we have consulted the ACCC and further clarified our existing GST policy as follows:
How does the GST policy apply to final value fees?
Final value fees will continue to be charged on the final price of the item (inclusive of GST), which is similar to other companies that charge percentage-based fees on GST inclusive prices (such as credit card companies for department store purchases). That is, the calculation of the eBay final value fee for all transactions (including overseas transactions) is based on a GST inclusive price. In some instances a seller will refund part of the final price to an overseas buyer because GST may not be applicable to the sale. In such a case the final value fee is still calculated on a GST inclusive basis. This is because it is not possible for eBay to know whether the final price charged for the item has subsequently had any component refunded by the seller.
For more information, please refer to eBay’s GST policy. You should also visit the websites of the ACCC and the Australian Taxation Office for further information about GST.
Regards,
The eBay Team
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***Now Available: The New Sell Your Item Form*** |
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03 July 2006 | 03:15PM EST
We are pleased to announce that after a year of development and testing with the Community, the new Sell Your Item form is now available.
Here are the main benefits:
- It’s Faster. Sellers have asked for a form with fewer pages. Our new SYI form reduces the number of pages and fields required to list an item. For sellers who list a lot of similar items, you can create re-usable listing templates to save you time. In fact, in our tests with over 100,000 members, those using the new form finished 25% faster on average than those using the old form.
- It’s Flexible. All of the same features in the current form are still available, but you can customise it to hide the options you rarely use. Plus we’ve added new features, as well as scores of new fonts and colours that let you put together creative, eye-catching listings.
Over the last several weeks, we’ve received a lot of input from sellers who have helped us test, ranging from kudos to tips about bugs and needed enhancements. For example, thanks to comments you’ve shared, we’re working to make it easier to include HTML in your listing. We hope to have this finished by the time the migration is completed.
Here are a few the comments we’ve received:
“I think this is a wonderful new feature. Faster and more efficient when posting. Easier for the beginner and handy for the advanced.”
“The form was well thought out. I used to dread having to list many items, but this system is fast, accurate, and easy to use. What’s more, it’s logical and makes sense. I am very happy to see this improvement. I will be happier if it is permanent.”
“Being able to see the completed listing as it will actually BE (not just a description preview) was a great idea.”
Transitioning Sellers to the New SYI Form
We realise that any change to your business tools can impact you. Many sellers rely on the SYI form to list their items, making it one of the most important tools of the entire eBay site. For these reasons, we are committed to making the transition to the new tool as smooth as possible for our sellers.
Beginning July 3, we’ll be slowly opting in sellers who use SYI today to our new form. Over the following several weeks, we will gradually move over more sellers until everyone has been converted by early October 2006.
Please note that during the transition, sellers will still be able to return to the old version at any time, if necessary. You can do so by clicking the link near the top of the new Sell page. The old SYI form will be available indefinitely.
We would like to thank everyone for your support and input during this project. We hope you are pleased with the final result of the new SYI form. We’re interested in hearing your feedback, so feel free to post your comments on The Round Table discussion board.
Regards,
The eBay Team
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