I just love to express myself.  Eventually this will be my blog area.

My SOAP BOX -10/03/2010

As you may know, eBay is once again changing their rules for auctions.  Their newest limitation is on the quantity of auctions a seller can have for “similar” items.  While I have never flooded eBay with numerous copies of the same auctions (most of my competitor do), I do like to have my auctions overlap so I don’t forget to relist an auction after its ended.  So this new rule will cause some minor problems for me.  Fortunately, it won’t impact me as much as it will impact some of my competitors that have over 200 listings for basically the same items.

In addition to limiting the quantity of auctions, eBay will no longer list new auctions at the top of the category.  Previously, when a new auction was started, the auction was escalated to the top of the category – thereby giving the new auction some extra exposure.  This was a great “perk” for adding an auction.  What eBay wants is for all shoppers to do searches by keywords. The searches will list auctions with free shipping ahead of those without free shipping.  That’s because eBay wants to earn their 12% commission on the shipping costs – in addition to the selling price!  Believe me, there is no such thing as free shipping.  It’s either added into the selling price or added to the selling price. 

This is a real sore subject for me because my two highest expenses are 1) shipping costs & 2) eBay fees.  I spend THOUSANDS of dollars each month to sell & ship my vinyl on eBay.  I’d much rather discount the selling price to you, my loyal customers, than to pay eBays fees.  Unfortunately the reality is, eBay is a large portion of my business and I cannot afford to “buck” the system.  So, I have been experimenting with several different types of auctions lately.  Different Quantities - Free shipping – Buy More/Save More – Freebies, etc…

During the coming months you’ll see that my auctions will be changing.  They will be geared more towards the “newbie” vinyl user.   I will also be selling my products in several different arenas. Therefore, in order to provide you with the best possible service, I’m asking you once again to PLEASE reorder from this www.VinylSuperStore.com website.