EBay China to waive transaction fees amid stiff competition
BEIJING (AFX) - The Chinese unit of US online auction service eBay will scrap all sellers' transaction fees from today, amid market pressure from local competitors offering free services, including Yahoo-invested Alibaba.com, the Financial Times reported.
The move by unit eBay Eachnet, which will continue to charge users small fees to list goods for sale on its website, highlights the stiff competition the US company faces in China, the report said.
On Wednesday, eBay said it would raise the fees in the US by 9 pct for goods worth between 25 usd and 975 usd.
Ebay China had repeatedly waved aside challenges by Alibaba to withdraw its charges, saying in October that 'Free is not a business model'.
However, its Chinese auction website sharply reduced its charges last year and recently began waiving transaction fees for the use of local escrow or PayPal services, the report said.
From today eBay Eachnet will scrap transaction charges while requiring sellers to settle deals using those payments services.
'Each market is different...Chinese people are very price-sensitive, perhaps more than any other market,' Lillian Liu of eBay China was quoted as saying.
'It is very important for us to lower the cost for sellers and to encourage them to offer safe payment,' she added.
In China, eBay's transaction fees were previously charged as a percentage of the value of completed sales, ranging from 10 yuan for a sale worth 500 yuan to 115 yuan for one worth 20,000 yuan.
(1 usd = 8.1 yuan)
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I personally have never sent anything to China. Is this an opportunity for US Sellers?
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Dr. Arcane, revelator of mystical secrets
http://www.drarcane.com
Got questions about the secrets of the universe?
posted on January 22, 2006 02:06:29 PM new
One can only dream.... That one day ebay would lower or eliminate fees for insertion or FVF in the US and only charge us or the buyer for payment with paypal.
posted on January 25, 2006 11:55:38 AM new
The title of this thread is in-correct. What the artilces state is that eBay has dropped final value fees in China. Not insertion fees.
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Many misleading tricks in 2006. The new Demomoron slogan.
