This administrative email was sent to scharabo@aol.com based on your account at eBay.

eBay Announcement

At eBay, we're dedicated to providing you with the most dynamic marketplace we can. We invest a good deal in technology, marketing and customer support to help our buyers and sellers become more successful.

We are announcing a number of changes to the current eBay price structure. Effective Thursday, January 31, 2002 we are increasing Final Value Fees, adding a new Reserve Fee price point, charging a fee to use Buy It Now, increasing eBay Motors vehicle Insertion and Final Value Fees, and in late February, changing how we charge Final Value Fees for Dutch listings. Other Feature Fees and Insertion Fees, and fees for eBay Premier and Real Estate remain unchanged.

eBay.com changes:

Final Value Fees We are adding 0.25% to each Final Value Fee price point.

Values -> Current -> New $0.01 - $25.00 -> 5.00% -> 5.25% $25.01 - $1000.00 -> 2.50% -> 2.75% $1000.01 and up -> 1.25% -> 1.50%

Reserve Fee We are adding a new price point for Reserve listings above $200.

Values -> Current -> New $0.01 - $24.99 -> $0.50 -> $0.50 $25.00 - $199.00 -> $1.00 -> $1.00 $200.00 and up -> $1.00 -> $2.00

Buy It Now Fee A $0.05 Feature Fee will be charged for all auction-style items listed with the Buy It Now feature. The new fee will not apply to eBay Stores Buy It Now items.

Dutch Fee Impact The standard Final Value Fee schedule will be applied to each item sold, not to the total dollar amount of the items sold. Thus, the Final Value Fee for each item sold will be identical to the standard eBay Final Value Fees outlined above.

Motors Fee Impact (Only Passenger Vehicles and Other Vehicles) eBay Motors is increasing Insertion and Final Value Fees for Passenger Vehicles and Other Vehicles from $25.00 to $40.00. In addition, a $0.50 feature fee will be charged for all Motorcycle auction items listed with the Buy It Now feature and a $1.00 feature fee will be charged for all Passenger Vehicles and Other Vehicles listed with the Buy It Now feature. eBay Motors Parts & Accessories fees remain identical to the new eBay.com fees.

eBay Stores Final Value Fee Beginning in late February all fixed price eBay Stores items that are sold in multiple quantities to the same buyer will have Final Value Fees calculated on a per item basis. Final Value Fees for single item sales already are calculated on a per item basis.

We recognize that price increases directly impact our sellers, so we do not raise fees lightly or without considering the impact to our community. These increases will help us continue to build a vibrant marketplace by allowing us to invest heavily in technology, marketing and customer support, making it possible for millions of people to discover and use eBay.

More information is available at: http://welcome.ebay.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/mcp?p=044Uhz044Uiq4e2Qt012000m2rDe2rEb

Regards, eBay

eBay Home

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 18, 2002

Answers

P.S. Need help on finding something on eBay. When the heat and eat individual meals came out, like Lean Crusine, each package included an eight inch white plastic dish. Someone gave me several of them and they provided great for using in the microwave for one-person meals. However, after being nuked probably 1,000 times, they became brittle and broke. The one I have left is about to go also.

I have searched for them using a combination of the key words of microwave, dish*, plate*, 8" and eight inch without success. Any suggestions on other possible key words?

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 19, 2002.

I'm not having much luck finding anything either, Ken, searching on Google. I know exactly the plates you mean, I still have several myself. I take it these don't come with the meals anymore (it's been more than a decade since I bought any of them)? I bet now days they're those lighter plastic trays that seem to come in so many things?

So what is it exactly that you like so much about these plates? The ones I got have sort of "upturned" edges so that juicy stuff doesn't just flow off of them. That is one of the things that I like. You might be able to find some Pyrex glass dishes that would suffice. Or Fire-King, but since that is discontinued, you'd be paying whatever price you could find in an antique store or on eBay, unless you find some at a garage sale or flea market.

Here are some examples from eBay of the sort of thing that I mean:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1322660899
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1322455455
If you don't care so much about keeping a lot of sloppy stuff on the plate, you might try Corelle brand dishes. They're an opaque glass. [The edges do slope up and keep some juicy stuff on the plate, but not as well as the plastic ones do.] I see them in stores like Shopko, Walmart, etc., though sometimes only in 'sets'. However, the smaller hardware stores around here usually sell it 'open stock' -- you can buy just one bowl or plate, etc. I'm guessing luncheon plate is the size you would like (I find them most useful). Some of the patterns have a "soup plate" with a rim that might do the trick for you. They come in various patterns, but there also a plain white -- think it's called Winter Frost or Frost White or something similar.

Being glass, they are heavier than the plastic plates you had in mind, but they are so thin, they are pretty lightweight. You can microwave on them forever, put them through the dishwasher, etc. They can break, but I've dropped pieces on a vinyl floor and had them survive just fine, not even any chips. Dropping on concrete would do them in, however. We had them in our housekeeping resort for many years because they were so durable. I have the last of them. Many sets were sold off when we closed the resort.

Good luck!

-- Joy F {So.Central Wisconsin} (CatFlunky@excite.com), January 19, 2002.

I know I should buy an idiot book for selling on ebay!! I have set up both billpoint and paypal. I just don't see how people could make a profit selling something low like soap. Say you put a reserve of 1.99 on a bar of soap and it doesn't sell does it cost me .25 cents. Say it does sell at 2.25, does that cost me 30 cents. Now if I put 20 bars (not dutch) in different auction I will pay an insertion fee for all. I haven't tried because as it is you hardly get your costs back on soap! Thanks, Debbie

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), January 19, 2002.