Seller Feels Jilted by Ruby Lane over Pending Fee Hike

by: LDWCallsOut

This sounds like deja vu all over again!  I sold on Ruby Lane decades ago (circa 2002/3) and they were playing a similar game with sellers paying different fees depending on when they joined the site.  This is just my opinion, but if you sold on RL prior to August 2021 and then were invited back, your join date should be when you first were an RL seller.

I am banned for life from selling on Ruby Lane because I posted a humorous poem about the site soon after leaving on the old Auction Bytes Forums.  It was totally G Rated with no personal attacks, but the chorus was

''Ruiby Lane
O Ruby Lane
Your lemming I am proud to be.''

Another former seller had referred to the sellers who were unquestioningly loyal, no matter the changes to fees, as ''lemmings'' and I thought it was funny then.  Apparently, Ruby Lane still has its group of loyal lemmings?

by: Rexford

All of these sites are greedy as he**.  My guess is that if you leave them they will be begging you to come back (again) in a year or two.

Sounds like they have a caste system as it relates to their sellers. And 0 to $45 per month?   I would be out of there in a flash.

by: Gallery Girl

Well these special ''Legacy'' sellers from prior  to the new fee structure of around June 2021 evidently pay a flat rate every month of $54 for their first 50 items because they are usually high volume sellers or sell very expensive items. They pay up front but Ruby Lane in exchange, gives them a break on commission fees of 6.7% instead of the usual 9.9% that the post 2021 sellers pay. But now, with this new fee structure due to start in a few weeks, post 2021 sellers will be paying almost as much (at $45 vs $54) but not getting any kind of break on commission fees. Very unfair. It's a very prejudiced system. ALL sellers should have to kick in some to pay for Ruby Lane's ever rising costs of which they bemoan.  As far as some of the Legacy sellers perhaps being ''secretly pleased'' that their competition will be decreased as more sellers leave the site (as Ina had previously reported), we'll see how secretly pleased they are when no one is there to pay the bills forcing Ruby Lane to go under taking their shops too. I've always promoted Ruby Lane because I thought they were a step above this type of thing but they have taken a bad detour which I think will backfire on them. One can only hope.  

by: Chicago48

The Ecommerce sites are businesses.  LOOK around you.  EVERYONE whether EC or non-EC are raising prices.  In fact, if you go to restaurants they are passing their credit card charge to the customer!  
It's called "inflation" and people wanted higher wages, they got higher wages and higher prices.
I'm sure Ruby Lane has to pay employees, taxes, operation costs, etc.  It's the price of being in business.

by: Rexford

I don't agree Chicago48.  I'll call it greedflation.  I do get that businesses like restaurants have to raise their prices when the cost of their goods go up but when you see what these CEOs at the very top (especially at public companies) are making you know that somewhere on the chain that they are just raising prices to please Wall Street and pad their pockets.  And private equity financiers are the greediest.  USA pharmaceutical companies are right up there with them.  And how about when only 10 companies own 300,000 homes in a major USA metropolitan area--driving prices so high that home prices are of of range for new home buyers.  

Ecommerce companies have much lower overhead than brick and mortar companies.  Raising fees from 0 - $45 per month over night on a certain group of sellers certainly has the optics of greed.  Take a look at what the top tier of officers running Ruby Lane are making and compare it to what their employees and the sites sellers are making. It will be clear where the fees are going.

And any restaurant or business that passes the credit card charge to me won't have my business unless I opt to pay in cash and I am doubtful that I will do that.  

by: Gallery Girl

Amen Rexford! Someone once told me, don't complain about something unless you have a possible solution. Well here is my possible solution. They should have done things very differently imo. Number 1, they should not have sprung this new plan on so quickly. They should have given sellers at least 60 to ninety days to process this and make arrangements of moving their items out if they chose to leave. Number 2, if they were going to increase the monthly fee from $0 to $45, to lessen the blow they should have continued to have the rebate so sellers could at least recoup some of their money by listing new items. Perhaps raise the required number of new items listed from 15 to 20 as this would assure Ruby Lane would have lots of fresh merchandise. Or perhaps allow at least a partial rebate off the $45 if a certain number of new items was listed. As it stands, there's NO incentive to list new inventory. Number 3, ALL Ruby Lane sellers should contribute to help bail the company out. NOT just a select few which is very discriminatory. I cannot imagine a reputable company doing this.  Everyone should be required to contribute. In addition to increasing new sellers' fees, perhaps tack on an extra $10 or $15 monthly to these special Legacy sellers as these are high volume sellers and a small $10 to $15 increase would not be a deal breaker, unlike the smaller dealers suddenly having to dish out $45 per month. Also, ALL sellers should have to pay the same commision, either the 6.7% or 9.9%. Yes, Legacy sellers were promised a certain monthly fee and lower commission in 2021 but so were the other, mostly newer sellers they lured in with the promise of a low $25 fee which would be waived if a quota of 15 new items was met. Both groups were promised things but only the newer sellers are being punished with much higher fees. The whole thing was handled very badly.

by: Flyingpig

I just closed my store. I was going to wait until the end of the month, but figured they'd try to bill me for May. I became a seller there in August 2021 because of their plan ($25 per month or list 15 items a month and have no listing cost). I'd like to know how they decided on August 2021 as well, but my guess is that's when they encouraged new sellers to join. Nice site, but my year-to-date sales were under $3000. So I'd rather focus elsewhere.  

by: hoosiercollectibles

I have sold on Ruby Lane for over 20 years. I am on the new fee structure, I switched when it became an option. Under the original (grandfathered for sellers prior to August 2021), I was paying about $150 a month for maintenance and listing fees, plus the commission charge when that started. Under the new fee structure from August 2021-present, I was only paying the commission fees because I listed enough items every month to get the maintenance fee rebate. This has saved me an enormous amount of money. Raising the monthly fee to $45 and eliminating the rebate will be a hit, especially since sales are down, but it will still cost me much less than I was paying 4 or 5 years ago.

by: vintagejewelryrepair

Wondering if anyone has sent a complaint to Ruby Lane and if so, what was the response?
I am a seller on the newer program.  I don't mind raising fees a little, but an 80% increase is ridiculous! (From $25 to $45, assuming you don't get the rebate).
I am on a Facebook group for RL sellers and several are saying they are closing their shops.  I'm waiting to see what happens.

by: quirkyantiques

I left Ruby Lane after 13 years on there due to this type of nonsense. I left there 4 years ago and went to Etsy and could NOT be happier. Etsy has a huge customer base. Here is an example. After 13 years on Ruby Lane I had 179 people on my shop subscribe list. After 4 years on Etsy I have 1368. My sales on Etsy equal each year what my best year ever was on Ruby Lane. I wish I'd made the move sooner.