sun818 - 7:22 pm on Jun 19, 2007 (gmt 0)

eBay's attempt to control listing quality by fees has failed miserably. eBay started off as an auction site so their item sorting is based by default on time listed or ending time. The thrill of auctions are gone (what windorphins?) fixed priced listings are the new thing. What they need is to go back to a fee structure from five years ago and quickly transition to a search engine that reward sellers for providing stuff buyers want. Some search factors eBay should consider:

high sell-through percentage rate

High sell-through rate is a strong indicator that the seller is offering in-demand items and s/he should be rewarded for that. Many eBay users complained about duplicate overpriced items from data feeds. Favoring high sell-through rate means sellers that use data feeds are pushed down in the rankings.

high positive feedback ratio

All things being equal, I rather deal with a seller with 100% positive feedback ratio rather 97% ratio. This would kick in after the seller has reach 100 feedback.

distance relative to buyer

I rather buy from someone one state away rather than 10 states away.

Paypal

Favor sellers that accept Paypal.

This all goes against a "level playing field", but that mantra is keeping poor sellers and stuff no one wants online. The factors I mentioned above would work better than continuing to raise fees. I hope the summer relief of eBay fees is a indicator that fees will be permanently reduced.