eBay Inc. said Tuesday it will cut by up to 50 percent the fees it charges sellers to list their goods online, in an effort to boost listings and keep pace with other burgeoning e-commerce sites.
To balance the fee cut, the company plans to increase its commission on items that do sell - a method eBay says sellers prefer because it lowers their risk if items do not sell.
eBay will also increase fees on some items, including auctioned goods selling for less than $25. EBay's fee for those transactions will rise 67%, to 8.75% of the final sale price.
Incoming Chief Executive John Donahoe told a gathering of 200 of eBay's top North American sellers in Washington that a majority of sellers will see their fees go down, and that the new fee structure is going to be driven by the success of sellers.
"eBay is at a crossroads. To maintain our leadership position in e-commerce, we can no longer make incremental changes. We need to redo our playbook and we need to do it fast. We need to take bold action to meet the expectations of buyers and sellers around the world," Donahoe said.
As part of the changes, photo fees also will disappear. The fees were considered a deterrent to sellers posting pictures of their goods, a feature buyers have come to expect on e-commerce sites.
The new fee structure goes into effect Feb. 20 in the United States. More pricing changes are coming shortly in Britain and Germany.
Along with changes to the fee structure, eBay said it will change how sellers show up on customer searches. Those with high rates of customer dissatisfaction will get lower exposure in a search, the company said.
eBay's top sellers will also receive a discount.
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