eBay Australia told sellers today its new fee changes are aimed at encouraging professional and business sellers to list more Buy It Now items in Stores. "The changes will also enable eBay to better differentiate and incentivise professional, business and consumer sellers." The statement included other good news for us "Final value fees will increase from 5.25% to 7.9%" (not that Australia is by far the cheapest location for selling on eBay, for more on eBay's pricing see our Fee Comparison on Toy Collector) and that eBay wants to "encourage more fixed price items on eBay.com.au consistent with customer demand". We believe this is what eBay wants their users to demand as part of its Amazonification drive and know it is not what collectible buyers and sellers want.

A few days ago The Independent wrote Traders claim eBay fees are killing business that small firms that sell their goods on eBay UK are being squeezed out of business by a massive rise in fees.  eBay designer watch shop Planetwatch is closing after nine years on the platform with the owner saying "They're taking too much money. My profit used to be around £4,000 a month, but now I'm lucky if I'm making £1,500, and in London that's not a lot to live on."Another antiques seller, whose company relies entirely on eBay, revealed that he has had to make two-thirds of his staff redundant in recent weeks as a direct result of the new price increases.

We think all of this is great for us and for collectors in the medium-term, since it leaves the marketplace wide open for a better platform!