Guide to eBay's Latest Changes

By Ina Steiner

eBay has once again announced a host of major
changes to its site this year, leaving sellers to
figure out how best to adapt their selling strategies
in light of the changes.

In addition to changing the BIN Fixed-Price format
fee and duration, eBay announced a new
electronics-payments only policy prohibiting sellers
from accepting checks and money orders. The policy
states that beginning late October 2008, all items
listed on eBay.com must be paid for using one of the
following approved payment options:

Direct credit or debit card payment via a
merchant credit card account;
PayPal; ProPay;
or Payment on pick-up.

Overview of Changes on eBay.com
eBay's Buy It Now (BIN) Fixed-Price format is
changing to a 30-day duration with a 35-cent
listing fee and Final Value Fees that vary
according to category.

Sellers are no longer able to accept paper
payments - only merchant credit card accounts,
ProPay, and PayPal will be acceptable,
effective late October - see exceptions here.

eBay is suspending selling activity on accounts
that fall to 4.3 in any of their Detailed Seller
Ratings (DSRs).

eBay is changing the mix of inventory on the
site and will score fixed-price and auction
listings separately in Best Match, but display
them together on the search results pages

eBay will also create a new factor for its
Best Match search algorithm for fixed-price
listings only, called "Recent Sales." This
will reward multiple-quantity listings that
have had recent sales over single- and
multiple-quantity listings with fewer or
no recent sales.

eBay is putting limits on Shipping & Handling
charges in the Media category, effective
mid-October.

eBay will give incentives to sellers to offer
free shipping in all categories. It will give
items with free shipping more exposure in search,
and will offer additional discounts on FVFs
(Final Value Fees). The discount will apply to
individual listings, so sellers can choose which
listings, if any, on which to offer free shipping.