eBay cuts some fees and offers a one-month storefront subscription credit

Facing rising discontent among sellers over issues including recently-announced fee increases, eBay is making some changes. In a letter posted to the eBay community on the site over the weekend, new eBay North America president Bill Cobb said eBay store sellers who operate a store in April would in May be credited with $15.95--the cost of a one month subscription to put a storefront on eBay’s platform.

While standing by its recent decision to increase final value fees on store inventory format listings, Cobb’s letter notes, “This increase has been difficult for some of our sellers.” According to the letter, eBay also has reduced minimum fees for inexpensive auction and fixed price items, as well as for two other categories from 30 cents to 25 cents–that’s 35 cents to 30 cents in California–effective as of Monday.

Cobb’s letter also states that eBay will shortly extend phone support beyond PowerSellers to make it available to all eBay store owners. eBay also over the next 90 days will shut down most of its automated e-mail responses to sellers to replace them with what he terms “real” e-mail responses to questions received. Auto responses will continue to be used to acknowledge receipt of spam or policy violation reports.

Cobb’s letter notes “the candor and passion” of the eBay community, saying such input “keeps this company focused on what’s right and what’s important.” Pricing in particular has become an issue following eBay’s earlier-announced fee increase, potentially creating an opportunity for competitive online auction such as Overstock.com`s auctions, which already had announced plans to lower listing fees as part of a specific promotion.

Retail Forward analyst Geoff Wissman says eBay’s moves to address sellers` concerns represent an effort to continue growing at historic rates and are evidence of “the instant feedback you can get from your customers over the Internet.” While Wissman says online auctions are not yet mature, “They’re a portion of the online business that is starting to mature,” he adds, noting that eBay failed to meet projections for the first time ever in its most recent financial results. “It’s a lot harder to grow in the way that Wall Street sometimes demands,” he says.