Online auctioneer eBay Inc. (EBAY) said Wednesday that it would reduce the fees it charges to sellers to list fixed-price items on its virtual marketplace by more than 70%. The company noted that the pricing change in its "Buy it Now" fixed-price format reduces the upfront cost of listing fixed-price items on its site and bases fees primarily on the successful sale of items. The move, taking effect September 16, 2008, is expected to enable the company to better compete with competitors like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN).
eBay said that sellers will now enjoy a flat rate of 35 cents for a 30-day listing period, up from the prior seven-day standard. Additionally, sellers can list multiple quantities of the same item for a single listing fee of 35 cents, compared to the prior procedure of higher listing fees for multiple quantities.
The latest move by the company is seen as its acknowledgement that online shoppers cannot be bothered with auctions. The company intends to reduce its dependence on its auction business, which is growing more slowly than fixed-price sales. The move is expected to help increase the inventory of items for sale and attract more online buyers. The company's peer Amazon.com places emphasis on fixed-price sales and does not charge sellers anything to list items. The company instead charges a commission on sales.
Under the new pricing plan, sellers will pay only 35 cents for a 30-day listing, regardless of listing price or quantity of identical items. Prior to the pricing change, sellers paid between 35 cents and four dollars per item listed per week. The company noted that the lower insertion fees and longer listing duration will create substantial savings for many eBay sellers.
The San Jose, California-based company noted that the change is the most competitive pricing it has offered to sellers and is in time for the holiday shopping season. Final value fees have been rebalanced on a category-by-category basis.
According to eBay, the combined listing and final value fees paid by sellers will be lower and they can benefit from an additional discount by offering buyers free shipping. Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay Marketplaces said, "We aim to be the most competitive marketplace online, and this new, incredibly low pricing helps us achieve that goal. A 35 cent listing fee virtually eliminates the upfront cost for sellers to put more of their great inventory on eBay and creates more opportunity than ever for sellers to build successful businesses."
The e-commerce company stated that sellers can still choose to list items in its auction-style format, which, with a low start price, remains the most cost-effective way to offer many kinds of items. Auction-style listings will continue to be featured prominently in search, sorted primarily based on "time ending soonest" and appearing towards the top of search results as the listing comes to a close, the company said.
eBay also intends to move all transactions to electronic payment methods. Users in the U.S. will have to pay by credit card or Ebay's PayPal online payment service, effective mid-October. The company said that buyers who complete their purchase with PayPal will enjoy buyer protection. According to the company, PayPal will offer protection for the full purchase price and original shipping costs on eligible transactions paid with PayPal at no additional cost to the buyer.
eBay said that other improvements to the buyer experience on its site will occur in phases through November. The company added that pricing changes and improvements to the buyer experience will also take effect on eBay's Marketplaces in the United Kingdom and Germany during the same period.
In March, the company announced a global affiliate program for driving traffic to its website. The new in-house program will allow eBay to more closely align the program with the needs of its publishers and the eBay Community. eBay initiated the affiliate program for the first time in 2001 that continue to help affiliates and Web site publishers to be paid for all traffic driven to the online market.
For the recent second quarter, eBay reported a 22% increase in profit to $460 million from $376 million in the prior-year quarter, helped mainly by Marketplaces net transaction revenues and the expansion at PayPal, Skype and its global classifieds unit. Earnings per share for the quarter increased to $0.35 from $0.27 in the year-ago period. Net revenues grew 20% to $2.2 billion for the most recent quarter from $1.83 billion in the previous year quarter.
However, operating margins for the quarter, both on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, slipped slightly due to faster growing lower-margin businesses, like PayPal and Skype. The company's auctions business generated 57% of its revenues in the latest quarter, but the growth has slowed.
In Wednesday's regular trading session, EBAY is trading at $25.15, down $0.24 or 0.95% on a volume of 1,500 shares. The stock has been trading in a range of $23.52-$40.73 in the past 52 weeks.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.