Three-quarters of eBay sellers surveyed by AuctionBytes said that new fees coming at the end of March would result in increased monthly fees. Close to half (45%) of sellers said eBay's decision to do away with Stores Inventory Format would have a negative impact on their business, and over one-third (34%) said their sell-through rate would decline as a result of the elimination of the Stores Inventory format. Only 7% said the opportunity to list up to 100 auctions a month for free for items with a starting price of under $1 would have a positive impact on their business.

AuctionBytes conducted the survey to determine how eBay sellers viewed upcoming changes to eBay's fee structure and changes to Stores. We also asked respondents what, if any, action they would take as a result of the changes.

Once you have reviewed the survey responses, be sure and leave a comment on the AuctionBytes Blog.

Introduction
On January 26, 2010, eBay announced a series of changes impacting sellers. eBay did not make an across-the-board increase or decrease in fees. The impact on a seller's fees depends on his or her volume, format, category and type of item sold - and that was borne out by the responses to the survey. One respondent's comment indicates the uncertainty sellers felt in determining the impact: "I anticipate moving my store items to core will have a positive impact, but only to a very small degree. Probably not enough to offset the fee increase."

With the new eBay Stores pricing, it's much more expensive to list in fixed-price format for low-volume Stores sellers - sellers pay the same $15.95/month subscription fee, but rather than paying as low as 3 cents to list, they must pay a 20-cent insertion fee. However, all listings will appear in Core search results. Sellers can upgrade their store and pay a higher monthly subscription fee - almost $50 - and get insertion fees of 5 cents, but according to eBay, this works best for sellers who list over 250 items per month.

It will also cost non-Stores sellers more to list in Fixed-Price format: 50 cents instead of 35 cents; Final Value fees vary by category, for most categories the FVF increases from 8% to 12%. (And sure enough, category-based fees resulted in media sellers responding differently to survey questions than sellers in clothing, shoes & accessories, for example.)

While sellers are able to compare their costs of listing on eBay under the current and the new fee structure, they can only estimate the impact that "Stores in Core" will have on their sell-through rates, and therefore, on their bottom line. A respondent commented:

"Question 15 is the key to everything. I have enough information to evaluate the cost side of listing in core but have no data related to the result on sales. I know the investment but not the return on it.

"Fees do decrease when comparing core listings to core listings. However when comparing current expenditures to revised expenditures the fees went down for some but go up for many. Given that fees will increase for a number of sellers (even if the fee buys a better listing) eBay's approach to announce the changes as a fee reduction was a blunder that triggered much of the seller angst and animosity."

Overall Results
Over 1,100 eBay sellers responded to the AuctionBytes survey, which collected email addresses and eBay User IDs to qualify respondents.

We asked in which one category respondents most frequently listed, and collectibles and clothing shoes and accessories were the two biggest categories, followed by books, jewelry and watches, toys and hobbies, and home and garden.

• 63% had eBay Stores, 37% did not;
• 51% were Top Rated sellers, 49% were not;
• Of eBay Store owners, 31.9% typically had listed between 1 and 50 items in their store; 10.7% had between 51 - 100; 31.9% had between 101 - 500; 10.2% had between 501 and 1,000; 12.8% had between 1,001 - 5,000; and 2.7% had over 5,000 items typically listed in their eBay Store.
• Of all respondents who listed auctions, 79.2% typically had between 1 and 50 auctions listed; 12.7% had between 51 - 100; 6.5% had between 101 - 500; 0.5% had between 501 and 1,000; 0.6% had between 1,001 - 5,000; and 0.4% typically had over 5,000 auctions listed.

Survey results for all respondents are reported in the following table.

eBay announced on January 26 that it would change its fee structure at the end of March 2010. Please indicate what impact the changes will have on your business.
Under the new eBay.com fee structure, my monthly eBay fees will go down	11.4%
Under the new eBay.com fee structure, my monthly eBay fees will go up	75.8%
Under the new eBay.com fee structure, my monthly eBay fees will stay the same	5.5%
Don't know	7.2%
As part of its changes to its fee structure, eBay will change fees for auction listings; please indicate the effect on your business.
It will be less expensive for me to sell in the auction format	19.3%
It will be more expensive for me to sell with the auction format	53.1%
There will be no change in my costs of selling in the auction format	10.6%
I don't list in the auction format	17.1%
eBay will offer sellers the opportunity to list up to 100 auctions a month for free for auctions with a starting price under $1 (Final Value Fees will apply). How will this impact you?
Positive impact on my business	7.0%
Negative impact on my business	33.9%
Neutral impact on my business	46.2%
I don't know	12.9%
eBay is changing the fee structure for Store subscribers, please indicate the effect these changes will have on your business.
It will be less expensive for me to sell as an eBay Store subscriber	8.8%
It will be more expensive for me to sell as an eBay Store subscriber	54.5%
There will be no change in my costs of selling as an eBay Store subscriber	5.0%
I do not have an eBay Store subscription	31.7%
eBay is doing away with the Store Inventory Format - all fixed-price listings will appear in the core eBay.com search results. Please indicate what kind of impact that will have on your business, regardless of whether you have an eBay Store or not.
Positive impact on my business	25.4%
Negative impact on my business	44.5%
Neutral impact on my business	30.2%
Please indicate the effect you think the elimination of the Stores Inventory format will have on the sell-through rate of your listings, regardless of whether you have an eBay Store or not.
My sell through rate will improve	14.0%
My sell through rate will decline	34.3%
My sell through rate will not change	18.8%
I don't know	32.9%
Do you plan to make any changes to your business due to fee and/or policy changes announced by eBay on January 26, 2010? (Please check all that apply.)
I won't make any changes	14.4%
I will list more items on eBay	12.5%
I will list fewer items on eBay	44.2%
I will open an eBay Store	4.2%
I will close my eBay Store	16.6%
I will upgrade my eBay Store	17.4%
I will downgrade my eBay Store	2.2%
I will stop selling on eBay	15.0%
Is eBay's new pricing structure easier to understand?
Easier to understand	11.3%
Harder to understand	48.7%
About the same	40.0%

What Actions Sellers Will Take
The survey asked sellers, "Do you plan to make any changes to your business due to fee and/or policy changes announced by eBay on January 26, 2010?" The overall results of this question are posted above; we decided to also break down this answer by type of eBay Store they have, if any.

Do you plan to make any changes to your business due to fee and/or policy changes announced by eBay on January 26, 2010? (Please check all that apply.)
	I have an Anchor eBay Store (0.7%)	I have a Premium eBay Store (11.4%)	I have a Basic eBay Store (51.3%)	I do not currently have an eBay Store (36.6%)
I won't make any changes	20.0%	25.3%	7.9%	21.2%
I will list more items on eBay	40.0%	36.8%	11.3%	6.5%
I will list fewer items on eBay	20.0%	28.7%	43.3%	50.5%
I will open an eBay Store	0.0%	1.1%	0.9%	10.2%
I will close my eBay Store	0.0%	3.4%	30.5%	N/A
I will upgrade my eBay Store	0.0%	19.5%	28.7%	N/A
I will downgrade my eBay Store	0.0%	2.3%	2.9%	N/A
I will stop selling on eBay	20.0%	5.7%	12.0%	22.2%

Note that currently, eBay charges different Insertion fees and Final Value fees for Store Inventory Format, and also charges sellers a monthly subscription fee to have a Store ($299.95/month for an Anchor Store; $49.95/month for a Premium Store; and $15.95/month for a Basic Store), which entitles them to various features, such as email marketing. The Store subscription fees are not changing, but the Insertion and Final Value fees will change, depending on the level of Store subscription.

It's interesting to note that 40% of Anchor Stores (which made up less than 1% of all respondents) said they intended to list more, and 36.8% of Premium Stores said they would list more, but only 11.3% of Basic Stores and 6.5% of non-Store owners said they would list more on eBay as a result of the changes.

Survey Results - Tell Us What You'd Like to See
In tomorrow's issue of AuctionBytes Newsflash, we break down the results by Top Rated Sellers, GMV and category. We know there are lots of ways to slice and dice the data, so let us know on the AuctionBytes Blog what you'd like to see, and we'll post more data there as well.

Comments: What Sellers Had to Say about Changes to their Business
We allowed respondents to leave a comment for the question, "Do you plan to make any changes to your business due to fee and/or policy changes announced by eBay on January 26, 2010." Here is a sampling of the comments left:

As a REDOL/consignment seller, we may have to adjust our fee structure for our sellers.

I will probably list fewer auction style listings and more fixed price listings due to the fixed price insertion fee being lower than auction insertion fees, and fixed price listings will be searchable in the core search. I may also list more items starting at 99 cents.

Comments: What Sellers Had to Say Overall
We also offered sellers the opportunity to leave a general comment at the end of the survey. A sampling follows.

My biggest concern is for all the free auctions under a dollar. I am afraid it will bring in a lot of junk and flood the market over those of us who sell quality items.

Outraged that ebay try to spin this as a fee decrease, when in fact this will be a major increase for 90% of sellers.

Comment on the AuctionBytes Blog