Yesterday I was reading the eBay chat boards to see what new travesty eBay has up it's sleeve for their sellers. Lo and behold I was not disappointed. Check this out.

***A Message from Stephanie Tilenius -- The International Site Visibility listing upgrade for US, Canada, UK and Ireland sites***March 31, 2008 08:01AM PST/PT Stephanie Tilenius

Hello everyone…This is Stephanie Tilenius, General Manager for eBay North America. The ability to sell internationally is a key benefit of doing business on the eBay marketplace. I'm pleased to announce an exciting new listing feature upgrade that will give sellers in North America the option to get full visibility for their items on other eBay sites, initially eBay.co.uk, enabling them to reach many millions more buyers. How International Selling Works Today

eBay's global marketplace opens the door to international business for many sellers. Traditionally, US sellers who want to attract buyers in the UK and elsewhere have had two options:1) They can list on eBay.com and choose World Wide Shipping or other international shipping options. In this scenario, their items only show up on another international site in the few cases when buyers specifically look for international items using Advanced Search features.

Or –2) They can create a separate listing on another international eBay site (and pay all the same fees that other sellers pay to list there).Coming Soon: International Site Visibility Listing Upgrade In May, we're giving sellers who list on US and Canada sites a better option for international exposure by introducing the International Site Visibility listing upgrade. With this listing upgrade, sellers will be able to list on their local site and pay a small upgrade fee so that their listing also shows up in the main default search results to buyers across the Atlantic on eBay.co.uk – two sites for a great price.

In the US, the fees to use this optional upgrade are as follows:

Start Price$0.01 -9.99 International Site Visibility Listing Upgrade Fee10 cents

Start Price$10 - 49.99International Site Visibility Listing Upgrade Fee20 cents

Start Price$50+International Site Visibility Listing Upgrade Fee40 cents

The International Site Visibility listing upgrade offers sellers who want to expand their international business a great value – items with this upgrade show up by default for international buyers in the market selected in addition to the buyers in the seller's own market.

This makes international listing economical and easier to manage than listing separately for international sites.Data shows that depending on the category and start-price, it only takes one or two extra bids from international buyers to make up the cost of the International Site Visibility fee.

For PowerSellers, using this feature also ensures that these UK sales are counted towards their Final Value Fee discounts.UK, Ireland, US and Canada International Support Only At launch, the International Site Visibility listing upgrade will only be available for eBay UK, eBay Ireland, eBay Canada and eBay.com. US and Canada sellers have the upgrade option to list on eBay UK, and UK and Ireland sellers have the upgrade option to list on the North America sites. We'll be adding support for more international markets in the near future, so stay tuned.

A word about testing – US-UK Collectibles Over the past six months, we've been running tests in the collectibles-related categories on eBay.com and eBay.co.uk, looking for optimal ways to display international listings. These tests will be concluding as we introduce International Site Visibility as an upgrade available for almost all categories to US and UK sellers.

We're excited about the new opportunities for the members in our communities to do even more trade together. International Site Visibility helps sellers reach international buyers – and helps increase the value and selection available to buyers! We'll update you again once International Site Visibility is launched.

Sincerely, Stephanie Tilenius, General Manager, eBay North America

Here's the bottom line. International buyers are smart enough to log into eBay US to look for the goods they want. Sellers don't need to pay extra fees for this exposure. What eBay is doing is picking the pockets of it's sellers again. I'm willing to bet that if not enough people opt for these extra fees that eBay will somehow find a way to charge it's sellers extra for each international transaction.

There are alternatives out there. Join Specialist Auctions which provides worldwide exposure on the internet through it's site, automatic google base upload every Monday for set price items and the ability to list your items in any currency you choose. In addition there are no listing fees at Specialist Auctions and free stores. You simply pay 3% of your final price achieved once your item sells. That's right. WHEN YOUR ITEM SELLS.

It's good business to diversify. Why not make Specialist Auctions the solution to your problems?