eBay offers user incentives

Listing goods on eBay is to be made up to 33 per cent cheaper for regular sellers as the auction website looks to reward its most prolific users.

The company will also offer sellers who give the best service more prominence in search results. Quality of service will be measured by detailed seller ratings left anonymously by buyers over the previous 30 days’ trading.

"We're introducing a series of changes, based on feedback from sellers and buyers, that will provide clear incentives and rewards for sellers to continue offering good service, and give buyers even greater confidence to come back more," said eBay's Mark Lewis.

And according to eBay, sellers soon won't need to pay any listing fees until the items are sold.

From 20 February, "the majority of fees will now be payable as a Final Value Fee, only if and when an item sells, aligning your total fees much more closely to your selling success," eBay said.

eBay has already made it compulsory for buyers and sellers to use PayPal in certain categories and from 20 February will extend this to include other categories, including jewellery, mobile phones and consumer electronics.

Lee Markham of rival auction site Tazbar said: "The changes at eBay are confusing and could bury smaller sellers."

He also said that Tazbar would treat all of its sellers the same, promising "equal treatment and profile for all sellers irrespective of whether they were hobbyists or businesses".

www.ebay.co.uk