How Much Is Ebay Fees ?

Lower the final value fee and charge a listing fee based on start price. NO FREE LISTINGS ! That would get the stock moving and discourage these over priced common stamp listings.

But alas, ebay is not purely philatelic. They can't be expected to cater to our whims. Stamp listings are but a guppy in a very large sea.

I'm always surprised when sellers, having failed to get rid of an item, immediately re-list it at the same price. I want to sell things, not have them sitting in the hall forever. If it doesn't go, I reduce the starting price until it does, or pull it and include it in a mixed lot. If they prove to be real drugs in the market - books are, in my experience - they go to the charity shop.

That may work for you personally, but not everyone sells the same way or the same kinds of material.

If it's a stamp from your personal collection or that you pulled from a lot where your sunk cost is minimal, your approach may work. However, if it is a high-dollar item that you paid for, the mindset of "just reduce it until it sells" doesn't always work.

Also, different sellers have different cost models, different amounts of overhead, etc. There very well may be a minimum amount that a seller MUST get out of an item. Now, there are certainly arguments to be made about cutting your losses, turning over inventory, etc., but the same criteria doesn't work for everyone. It's an individual decision.

Then there are the items that many sellers (myself included) may use as "attention grabbers" that serve to drive traffic to your other listings. Items that I'm willing to sell if I get the price I want, but otherwise I am perfectly content to keep it.

Some may complain that "that's not right!" or "that's not what ebay's for!" but at the end of the day, people use ebay as both buyers and sellers, in the manner that serves their needs the best.

IMO, far too many people get twisted in knots about how other people sell things. You can argue accuracy of listing, revealing faults, etc., and those arguments are perfectly valid ones. Complaining about what a seller has an item priced at or that they won't reduce the price is a nonstarter as far as I am concerned. Every seller has the right to price their wares at a level they see fit... and you as a buyer have every right to not buy the items. But that's where it ends.

Each to his or her own, but endlessly re-listing the same item at the same price seems to me to be the equivalent of the second-hand book or record shop leaving material on the shelves or racks for years, whilst waiting for the perfect customer. In the meantime, the other customers see stagnation and lose interest.