Ebay email..anyone else get this?

[Grid]

A Message from Bill Cobb
>* * * * * * * * * * * * *
>
>Hi...For a little over a year now, I've had the pleasure of being
President
>of eBay North America. Through Town Hall events, eBay Live!, email,
and
>countless board discussions, you've told me and my team what's
important to
>you. Listening to our Community - and making sure eBay delivers
maximum
>value to you - is my job. And I want you to know how much we
appreciate
>your business.
>
>I'd like to start the year by making some announcements and filling
you in
>on exciting new developments at eBay. Thanks to the continuing input
and
>innovations of our Community, the eBay marketplace keeps evolving --
>creating new opportunities for buyers and sellers alike.
>
>====================
>2006 Fee Adjustments
>====================
>As you probably know, we periodically make changes to our fee
structure.
>We'll be making some adjustments to our fees, and I want to highlight
the
>most important ones. The following changes will go into effect on
February
>22, 2006:
>
> - For core insertion fees for auction-style and Fixed Price listings
on
>eBay.com, we're again lowering the lowest tranche fee (i.e. for items
with
>a starting price of $0.01 to $0.99) - from a quarter to twenty cents.
>
> - For feature fees --
> - We're making Picture Show and Sales Reports Plus free for
>everyone.
>
> - We're reducing the fees for the second and third tiers of
Picture
>Manager and increasing the storage you get at these higher levels.
>
> - And we're trying something that has worked well for us on
eBay
>Motors. For the first time, we're offering two new Feature Packs of
>optional listing features that can save you up to 39% per listing.
(Read
>here for details ==> http://click3.ebay.com/32721538.61553.0.83175 )
>
> - For final value fees for auction-style and Fixed Price listings on
>eBay.com, we are increasing one fee this year - the final value fee
for the
>middle tranche, which will increase from 2.75 to 3%.
>
> - There are no changes for eBay Stores fees.
>
>I encourage you to take a moment to learn more about the upcoming fee
>adjustments here ==> http://click3.ebay.com/32721538.61553.0.83176
>
>==========================
>Investments in Advertising
>==========================
>We know that bringing high-quality buyers to your listings is a
critical
>part of the value eBay provides. To make sure we keep delivering this
>traffic, we made significant investments in advertising in 2005 which
will
>continue throughout this year. This past holiday season we debuted the
"it"
>campaign, eBay's largest advertising investment to date. Through a
fully
>integrated marketing campaign including television, print ads,
internet
>marketing, catalogs, onsite merchandising, publicity and more, "it"
>spotlights the depth and breadth of products available on eBay. And
the
>campaign is working. "It" was one of the most-recalled ad campaigns of
the
>holiday season, according to Advertising Age magazine.
>
>"it" campaign ==> http://click3.ebay.com/32721538.61553.0.83177
>
>Also in 2005, with internet advertising costs spiraling, we put
>considerable effort behind developing new ways to bring more buyers to
your
>listings who use search engines like Google and Yahoo. Behind the
scenes,
>we've been optimizing our site content for this unpaid or "natural"
search.
>We've encouraged the Community to use About Me pages and a few months
ago,
>we launched Reviews & Guides. The content members create through these
>features not only makes the site a richer experience -- these pages
get
>picked up by search engines. This means buyers searching the internet
for
>product information or other keywords are naturally driven to eBay.
>
>===================
>Product Innovations
>===================
>Another important part of our job is staying in touch with your
changing
>business needs and developing innovative products that meet them. Last
>year, we delivered some important improvements like the Best Offer
feature,
>better shipping integration with U.S. Postal Service(R) and UPS(R),
>cross-promotion enhancements to give sellers more visibility to your
>listings, and many new features you asked for in Want It Now.
>
>This year, we'll continue to stay focused on products and features to
help
>you grow your business and improve your buying experience. For
instance,
>for eBay Stores, you've told us that 19 categories and only one level
is
>not enough. So this spring, we'll be releasing a new structure that
allows
>you to have up to 300 custom categories in three levels of categories
and
>sub-categories.
>
>I'm also pleased to tell you that we're soon introducing something
many of
>you have wanted for a long time: At the end of any eBay search, all
>matching Store inventory listings will be displayed. For sellers, this
>means much more exposure for your eBay Stores and Store items - for
buyers,
>every search will return many more qualified listings. It's a win/win
for
>everyone.
>
>You can read here for more details on the change to add Store
Inventory
>items in Search which will launch in a few weeks ==>
>http://click3.ebay.com/32721538.61553.0.83163
>
>========================
>Introducing eBay Express
>========================
>Finally, I want to tell you about a new specialty site called eBay
Express
>that will launch this spring. eBay Express will be an exciting new
buying
>experience, offering items that are available for purchase right away.
We
>think eBay Express will encourage more shopping among our existing
buyers,
>who today may only buy on eBay for certain purposes or types of
products.
>We also think it will attract new buyers to eBay who prefer a more
>conventional e-commerce shopping experience.
>
>While eBay Express will be a specialty site, it'll be part of the eBay
>marketplace, so Store and Fixed Price listings that qualify will
>automatically appear on both eBay.com and eBay Express - at no
additional
>cost. Many sellers will benefit from the additional exposure without
having
>to list their inventory twice, or change the way they sell. eBay
Express
>will offer quick and easy ways to search and browse, a shopping cart
(yes,
>at last!), and payments via credit card or PayPal. And because
payments are
>made at the point of purchase, sellers will not experience unpaid
items.
>
>We're consciously making the buying experience on eBay Express
different.
>And to deliver that experience, we'll be opening eBay Express to
sellers
>who have a positive track record on the site and who list items that
are
>available for immediate purchase. Only sellers with 98 percent
positive
>feedback or better - and a feedback score of at least 100 - will be
>eligible to sell on eBay Express. Sellers must also accept PayPal.
There
>are a few other requirements for selling on eBay Express. To learn
more
>now, please click here ==>
http://click3.ebay.com/32721538.61553.0.83178
>
>eBay Express is a complicated undertaking; we're now finalizing our
>planning and development work, and we'll have more details to share in
the
>months ahead. At launch, eBay Express will be available only for
US-based
>sellers, although we have plans to expand in the future to our
>international sellers on eBay.com.
>
>I hope this gives you a sense of what we're focused on as we head into
the
>new year. On behalf of everyone at eBay, thanks for being part of the
eBay
>Community. As e-commerce continues to grow and evolve, we look forward
to
>continuing to shape the future together.
>
>Please join me for my first Town Hall event in 2006 next week -
Thursday,
>January 26 at 2 pm Pacific time. My North American leadership team and
I
>will be answering questions about whatever is on your mind. I always
look
>forward to these sessions, and I hope you'll join us.
>Town Hall Details ==> http://click3.ebay.com/32721538.61553.0.56198
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Bill Cobb
>President, eBay North America

[longhornjunkie]

Yeah, I saw it in my eBay inbox, dunno if it came to me directly (at my gmail address) or not.

[alonzomourning]

I got it today as well. eBay is actually lowering the insertion fee price on auctions under $1.00. I never thought I'd see the day eBay lowered prices.

[Vince15Fan]

I got it...but it was too long so I didn't read it. Anybody care to offer some cliff's notes for me?

-JP

[cardtrader22]

They lowered insertion prices for stuff under 1.00, but they have increased one level of the final value fee from 2.75% to 3.00%.

Trust me, they're not going to "lower" anything without making sure they'll be getting more in return.

[PJKCards]

I got it as well. Yep, they arent missing any money, let me tell ya.

[jazz1232dc]

Just a way to sugar coat the .25% raise for final value fees. Power sellers will suffer the most.