eBay

threebears63 · ‎09-25-2014

Hi all,

I decided last September to take a month or two off from ebay and it somehow turned into a year ( a gloriously relaxing year).

Over the last few days I have been trying to get back up to speed on all of the updates etc, and thought I would get some listings ready, as I still have some lingering items to sell. I didn't think it would be so hard to pick up where I left off, I thought it would be like riding a bike, you get off, then you get back on, but it is feeling more like trying to get back on a bike that is in motion.

Anyway, I received the new listing promo for 10000 items and was hoping for some clarification. I don't remember promos before having quite so many exclusions and conditions.

The promo reads:

Sellers who create a listing in the auction-style format, auction-style with Buy It Now format, or fixed price format in select categories (see exclusions), pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth herein (“Qualifying Listing”), will pay no insertion fee per item listed and no additional fee for adding 10-day Duration to these listings ("Promotion") for up to 10,000 listings during the Promotion Period (as defined below). All existing selling limits on your account (as well as category and item limits) still apply.

What I would like clarified is this, the list of categories in the exclusions list, are they excluded from FP listings only, or from the entire promo? If you are allowed to list in those categories for this promo, then does the part about category limits mean that you could only list 100 auction style listings in any of those categories?

I feel like I've been away for about ten years.

Thanks for any help!!

Cheers, Heather

pierrelebel · ‎09-25-2014

Good morning Heather.

Welcome back!

I have not been invited to the latest "invitational promotion". That is three promotions in a row where eBay decided not to invite me; I can only guess someone at Head Office is not happy with me! So I cannot test it.

However, the way I read it is that auction style listings will be free while fixed price listings will not be in those excepted categories.

It will only take you one minute to test it.

List one item at auction in one of those categories and check your "Selling Manager" or "my eBay". eBay will tell you if the listing qualified under the promotion and, if so, will show 9,999 still available.

rose-dee · ‎09-25-2014

Hello, and welcome back to the leaner, meaner eBay. So much happens around here in any given month that I can't imagine being away for a year and then trying to get back into the stream again, but best of luck!

I think this might help you (from the "Restrictions" section on the info page for this promo -- you have to scroll right down to the bottom to find this):

"The Promotion excludes the following categories for fixed price listings only: Antiques (20081), Art (550), Baby (2984), Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (11450), Coins & Paper Money (11116), Collectibles (1), Dolls & Bears (237), Entertainment Memorabilia (45100), Health & Beauty (26395), Jewellery & Watches (281), Pottery & Glass (870), Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop (64482), Stamps (260), and Toys & Hobbies (220)."

Here's the link to the whole promo page (you can also access it by clicking on the link in the promo description on your seller Summary page:

http://pages.ebay.ca/promo/2014/09_24.html

As usual, this promotion excludes two of the most important categories I sell in, but this has been the pattern with most of the fixed price promos. I think I recall only one (last March or April I believe) that was more or less an "open" fixed price promo. Sometimes I bypass this problem by listing at auction with BIN, which to me, if properly priced, is effectively equivalent to a fixed price listing with Best Offer.

Have fun!

triber · ‎09-25-2014

I guess they are unhappy with me too Pierre, I didn't get it. I did get the auction one, but I rarely list on auction, so I didn't use it.

73rhc · ‎09-25-2014

I didn't get it either. But on the upside, my first 6 vehicule listings will be free!!!

rose-dee · ‎09-25-2014

I thought sellers might be interested in my most recent promo experience.

During the last promo (auctions only), I listed a number of items at auction with BIN, and took advantage of the promotional free subtitles. I also checked off the box that popped up on the SYI form which said "list 3x for free". Now, I expected that I might get charged for all those subtitles the next time the items auto-relisted, and I was prepared to have to revise them all out, but apparently that's not the case. None of them have shown up on the fee breakdown on my current seller account at all.

So, I don't want to make erroneous assumptions from this, but it appears that if you're invited to a free promo and are offered the "list 3x for free" option, that it really will repeat-list those items exactly as they were, with the original free upgrades, completely free of charge for the 3 relists. If this is in fact the case, these promos are a lot more valuable to some sellers than they may at first appear.

Has anyone else tested this? I'd be curious to know.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎09-25-2014

re: Auto Re-list:

Here is an answer from Raphael from the July 30th Wednesday Board. He mentions providing a future update about monthly listing count, but I didn't find one.

The feature you are asking about is called Auto Re-list. Using Auto Re-list, is 100% free, up to and including any extras you originally put on your listing, no matter if the original listing was part of a promo or not. So using Auto Re-list never creates additional charges, although the "re-lists" may count against your monthly listing count if you have Seller Limits in place (not sure about this one, I'll check the facts and update this post when I know the answer). File Exchange doesn't support AR and likely won't in the foreseeable future.

HaHa - I tried posting it as a Cut & Paste from the Board Hour, and had to hyphenate Re-list because the bots said it was invalid HTML

realjazz-123 · ‎09-25-2014

Hi: I remain a bit confused. If I use the promo to list , say 100 items and use the automatic relist, those 100 items unsold will be relisted 3 times. But normally I have only 50 items a month that I can list for free. Will I be charged a listing fee for the additional 50 automatically relisted over my limit???

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎09-25-2014

No, they don't count at all against your free listings. I have tested this with a few listings, some of which are now in the third re-list as 10 day auctions. They have automatically renewed, and have never counted as part of the 50 free listings + 50 free auction-only listings in the now-restricted categories. The only "limit" that counts is your selling limit, or if you have any restrictions/limits for certain categories, which some sellers have.

pocomocomputing · ‎09-25-2014

@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:
re: Auto Re-list:

Here is an answer from Raphael from the July 30th Wednesday Board. He mentions providing a future update about monthly listing count, but I didn't find one.

The feature you are asking about is called Auto Re-list. Using Auto Re-list, is 100% free, up to and including any extras you originally put on your listing, no matter if the original listing was part of a promo or not. So using Auto Re-list never creates additional charges, although the "re-lists" may count against your monthly listing count if you have Seller Limits in place (not sure about this one, I'll check the facts and update this post when I know the answer). File Exchange doesn't support AR and likely won't in the foreseeable future.

HaHa - I tried posting it as a Cut & Paste from the Board Hour, and had to hyphenate Re-list because the bots said it was invalid HTML

When you cut and paste from another web page, you will get the invalid HTML message. Then all you have to do is post again and it submits with the invalid HTML removed. You can't see what HTML was removed. Often nothing seems changed. Make sure the post still looks good before clicking post the second time.

This has worked for me most times I get the invalid HTML in posting a reply.

I read this in the eBay.com forums somewhere a while ago and so far okay.

I do not think relist and re-list was the problem, just posting again cleaned it up.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎09-25-2014

Thanks poco, you always have great computer advice.

threebears63 · ‎09-25-2014

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your help and as always great tips and advice. I will try to get some listings up before the promo ends.

Cheers!

Heather

rose-dee · ‎09-26-2014

@maggiebvintage2010 wrote:
Here is an answer from Raphael from the July 30th Wednesday Board. He mentions providing a future update about monthly listing count, but I didn't find one.

The feature you are asking about is called Auto Re-list. Using Auto Re-list, is 100% free, up to and including any extras you originally put on your listing, no matter if the original listing was part of a promo or not. So using Auto Re-list never creates additional charges, although the "re-lists" may count against your monthly listing count if you have Seller Limits in place (not sure about this one, I'll check the facts and update this post when I know the answer). File Exchange doesn't support AR and likely won't in the foreseeable future.

Thanks 'maggie' for reminding me about this. I remember that question being asked on the Wed. board, but at the time I hadn't had any promo listings with the 3x-free relist option, so I wasn't thinking about promo upgrades being an issue.

However I'm trying to understand his statement: "is 100% free, up to and including any extras you originally put on your listing". The way I read this is that, for example, if I list a regular fixed price item (outside a promo), and pay for a subtitle and Gallery Plus, as well as, say, bold, that I won't be charged any fees at all for the 3 relists. Is this how you understand Raphael's comments?

I just don't want to pay for an expensive listing and then find that the listing fee ($0.22 Cdn) itself is waived 3 times, but that I end up paying for the upgrades 3 times.

As I said, I've been keeping a close watch on the promo listings that had upgrades when they come under the 3x-free relist, and so far none have appeared on my seller account. But I haven't experimented yet with upgrades on regular listings.

You know, I sure wish eBay would provide far better details when they introduce these features. I only knew it existed because a little flag popped up one day on the SYI form.

maggiebvintage2010 · ‎09-26-2014

Raphael's explanation seems to indicate that you would pay for those upgrades the first time you listed, and not have those fees for the 3 relists.

However, here is eBay's "relist your item" page, which indicates otherwise:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/relist.html

Some of my own relists were from promos that had a 10-day auction option for free, and I have never been charged the additional fee for 10 day listings when they auto-relisted. Yet, 10 day duration for auctions is considered a listing upgrade - here's the page:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/fees.html#optional

All in all, it's as clear as mud.