This raising of fees comes on the heels of mounting dissatisfaction with other aspects of buying and selling on eBay. Many collectors have been complaining about slower loading of eBay pages ever since eBay added more advertisements to the pages (especially when browsing completed auctions). Nearly all sellers and buyers bemoan the lack of customer service--despite the very real money that it costs sellers to use eBay, its nearly impossible to talk to a real person if something goes wrong.
Other eBayers have also been concerned with the dilution of the marketplace--so many dolls and doll items are listed at any one time that even great dolls can be lost in the shuffle and sell at very low prices. This has caused many sellers to start their doll auctions with higher starting fees and higher reserves than they would have used only 1 or 2 years ago, and more and more auctions are not completed successfully. Of course, the more this happens, the more that eBay starts to feel like a standard marketplace and not an auction venue. It sucks the fun out of the whole process, not to mention any possible profit from the sellers.
So, the question remains--is this the beginning of the end for eBay as the 800-pound gorilla of online auctions? Certainly, the eBay auction experience has been changing in significant ways, and this fee increase may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Online discussion groups, both on and off eBay, have been buzzing since the fee increase was announced. The eBay community discussion boards have been filled with an avalanche of posts on the fee increase, ranging from the rancorous to the nostalgic. Off of eBay, one new Yahoo Group calls themselves GreedBay--they formed on January 13, 2005 (the day of the fee increase) and they already have over 430 members.
Also off of eBay, competitors see an opportunity. Overstock.com has announced that they will give new sellers who sign up for Overstock on the day the eBay fees take effect (February 18) $10 towards listings on Overstock.
Many naysayers have claimed that eBay is a monopoly and that no newcomer can successfully challenge them in the online auction field. The naysayers also say there is no way for a competitor to attract enough buyers to make it worth it for sellers to list auctions anyplace but eBay. Yes, I think its an uphill climb for eBay competitors, but its not impossible--remember, eBay was only a few pages a day worth of auctions when it started in 1995--even in 1996, when I joined, you could browse the entire doll listings in one short sitting! The community and the buzz in the collectibles community made eBay what it is today. If another auction site comes along and can capture that excitement, I think it can capture the collecting community, both sellers and buyers alike. For doll collectors, it might bring the excitement and the profit back to online auction sites.
We can't turn back the clock--we can't make eBay the fun, informal, community-centric place it was 5 years ago. However, we can control our own online destinies. Perhaps the unhappy sellers and buyers will get eBay to listen and they will agree to dial back the fee increases and also address other eBay community concerns. If not, perhaps another company will come along and, with the help and support of the doll community, create a viable competitor for eBay for online doll auctions.
