I also contacted e bay about any selling promotions. I got a very vague reply about an invitation.

[kenbay12]

I also contacted e bay about any selling promotions. I got a very vague reply about an invitation. A few days later I got a message that 

I was sent a selling promotion for a WHOLE 5 items that I could list, not for free, but for 50% off regular cost of listing.  WAAAAHOOO!!!!

I took it as a joke and an insult.  Usually there are promos for 1000 items for free listing.  Seriously thinking of just closing e bay account.

[femmefan1946]

Promo is short for promotion.

It is not a regular thing, which is why the terms change constantly.

Some are also only 'by invitation'.

At the moment, you should be able to list 50 item 'free'. If you feel confident you could also list another 50 'free' on eBay dot COM, but that means dealing with Flat Rate Shipping. You would also face a cap on shipping fees for 'media' items like books.

Ancient wisdom was that at 54 items you would be ready to open a Store. Look on the Site Map for the Fee Illustrator  to see if this would be worth your while.

Stores also have 'free' listings, but there is a monthly charge.

[kenbay12]

Thanks for your feedback.  I know the promos are by invitation, but I think they forgot mine this month. lol  I've been with e bay for 

about 4 years now and for the last 3 years  I've been getting promo offers almost every month for usually 1000 items or so.  Was

just wondering if they quit doing it or what.  I only have 220 items I could list and relist, so I don't sell that much in a month that's

why selling promos are important to me and help me out with the cost of listing and relisting.  

[spinorfields]

Once upon a time listing specials were about once a year. More recently at least once a month. There are clearly changes in the works. Only time will tell what they are. Depending what they do certain items in certain quantities may or may not be worth listing any longer. Some will drop out, other adjust...and just when they have adjusted eBay will tilt the playing field in a different direction. That is one of the big frustrations here.

[hlmacdon]

I'm sure they've crunched the numbers on the conversion rates from free listing promo periods. Personally my opinion is that looking at the platform changes in totality (focus on reviews, structured data, merchant performance analytics, etc), they are moving away from trying to attract the general household items sellers and moving more towards targeting specific retail segments that dovetail nicely with the structured data initiative. My guess is you'll see more promos aimed at those segments specifically as that helps grow the SEO footprint and provides a large testbed for measuring the impact of the changes. Things like autoparts, consumer electronics, etc.

I still they there is a massive identity crisis and trying to appease to two distinct groups of sellers is problematic. Casual sellers want low risk, low cost listing. More retail orientated sellers want less noise to signal ratio and more incentive to drop a large catalog of products on site. Trying to sell everything under one roof is limiting both groups.