ebay authenticity guarantee limits now 250/750

[Exhibitman]

We all know that eventually this will just be another skimming center for eBay fees. Sellers will receive that "we just did something great" email ramming this 'service' down our throats at a cost, and eBay will skim its 3% off the deal for processing payments for this 'service'. The proof that this is a proposed profit center rather than a legitimate effort to protect buyers is in the complexity of the solution. The vast majority of card buyers are familiar with what they are buying. If you want the buyer to have a chance to look over a raw card purchase, the answer is simple: give all buyers three days from receipt to review their purchases and hold the funds until the three days is up. if the buyer decides to return the item during the return period, the funds are there pending proof of return to the seller. It is called "escrow" and it doesn't cost eBay a dime: eBay is already processing and holding funds. If the buyer doesn't apply for a return, then after three days the buyer is SOL. And don't do it at all for slabs--they are already vetted. But nooooo, eBay prefers a solution where everyone has to be inconvenienced and put at the mercy of a third party's (possibly bad) judgment. Why? Because eBay can make money off that process whenever it decides to force the cost onto sellers by charging its funds processing fee on the cost.

Why unveil this now? Probably because in their recent earnings call, eBay cited Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) down 17% in the first quarter of 2022, year-over-year. Revenue down 5%. And the number of active buyers dropped 13% from 163 million in Q1 2021 to 142 million in Q1 2022. They are scrambling for revenue and imposing a new service and skimming yet another processing fee is a way to get it.

So when does the cost get imposed? I'd guess around Black Friday, just in time to force sellers to choose between paying the piper in order to sell into the holidays or telling eBay to get stuffed and scrambling for another platform.