Military Collectibles: EBay Losing Niche Markets?
Posted on February 11, 2008
Filed Under Cool News
Challenge coins, pins, patches and other great niche markets may be in for a little change of pace as eBay opens fissures in the collectible markets when it comes to low priced items. How many times in the last couple years has eBay bent the forever forgiving sellers of niche markets as they drove store and core auctions to record high fees in? The answer is every year since its inception. Many sellers call this “Nickel and Diming” and that’s what it amount to when you sell $10 and under.
2008 posses many new changes from the inability of sellers giving honest feedback through neutral and negative feedback, lowered insertion fee but raised final value fees, and tighter Paypal restrictions on a 21 day hold of funds for certain transactions. When it comes to $10 or less eBay is not interested in helping out the little guy that might want to sell a pin or a military patch. We will use this niche market as an example of the overall scheme since this is what we know from our angle. We did a comparison on our forum not to long ago and we broke information down as:
100 listings on eBay using 2007 rates
100 listings like the attached screen shot: $85.00 upfront
This is all I pay if I don’t sell anything…
If I sell:
100: $85.00 upfront
25% sold: $13.00 total final value fees
Paypal Fees: $16.25
Shipping: $1.48 FC 2oz through paypal: $37
Federal Tax: 15%-28% (we will leave this out for now)
Cost of Coin Avg: $3 (assuming you sell a decent coin): $75
Total Cost: $226.25
25% Coins sold at $9.99: $299.75
Shipping you Charge: $2.00 (because this is the right cost any seller should charge according to eBay): $50
Your Profit: $73.50
You can see by the above example how some sellers are starting to say why when they know there is such a massive change coming. In the event of the major changes many new alternative auction sites are popping up everywhere with better deals, better community, and more options. Challenge Coin Auctions .com is no different in the grand scheme of things. Offering a feeless atmosphere and support in this niche has become a #1 concern that sellers are truly taking to heart.
Sellers and buyers will benefit from new grounds not only in military collectibles but in many other areas too. The kings and queens of the eBay flea market sales will be driven out as the cost does not outweigh the benefit in 2008 and beyond.
