I opened my email this morning, and I was greeted with following news:
eBay will be raising their fees. Beginning January 30, insertion fees for auctions under 10 dollars will go up 5 cents, and final value fees for for auctions ending between 25 and 1000 dollars will go up .25%. There will also be some increases for those who sell automobiles via eBay. For more information, I suggest logging into your “My eBay” page and reading the entire message for your self.
What does this mean? For starters, it means that sellers will have to pay higher fees for starting their auctions. And that means that buyers will eventually pay more for their products. (Sellers eventually pass costs to buyers…)
I think that this fee hike is a reflection of a much greater trend. I believe that INFLATION is setting in across the financial spectrum. Have you been to the grocery store lately? I keep a grocery-price list, and I’ve noticed a 2 to 5 percent rise, almost across the board, in the price of groceries. I wonder if the rise in the price of gasoline is finally being priced into all of the products that we are purchasing? Or maybe it’s the core cost of metals such as copper? Either way, there has been a definite upswing in costs over the last few years, and I think that it is leading to definite price hikes.
(One more thing about the eBay situation. I’m a capitalist, so I believe in the market. But, until someone big enough, and bold enough (Google?) steps up to the auction plate, eBay will have its way with consumers, both buyers and sellers.)