Why You Don't Get Invited to eBay Promotions

[pierrelebel]

By Ina Steiner
EcommerceBytes.com
March 15, 2013

Are you miffed that you've never received an invitation to participate in one of eBay's private free-listing promotions? Both you and eBay may be to blame!

eBay has been running such seller-selective promotions since the summer, and as we reported in January, some users are upset that they've never received any invitations to participate...

for more: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m03/i15/s01 

[lady.stark]

They quoted Raphael as a "she"...  ?:|

[diggergirlcaron]

Has anyone heard of one for March yet? I'm almost out of free listings 🙂

[pierrelebel]

We had one last week (March 4 - 8):

http://pages.ebay.ca/promo/2013/03_08.html 

[thebarterersdog]

Was this for store sellers or all?

[pierrelebel]

As usual: by invitation only. 

I do not have a store and received it on both seller IDs.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

"There is complete fairness in the promotions," Yereslove said. "We don't disclose the factors - everyone will get a promo - not the same promo, and not one user will get all promos."

"Complete fairness"? That is a lie. If it was fair, one would know when and why. As it is, those factors are hidden.

I really do not care as I have a store and regularly excluded. Price of the store. Fine with me.

Safeway has complete fairness in their specials. I know the routine, frequency, what to expect, when to expect it.

I believe they are moving towards ZIF and this is a way of testing it. It's an accident they are amping up anticipation about listing sales? No, they are playing games.

[femmefan1946]

Cui bono?

Who benefits?  What is the purpose of the promotions?

They don't benefit buyers- except perhaps indirectly by encouraging more listings of cheap items. But that would be offset by having to wade through thousands of stupid listings from confused or sketchey sellers.

They don't benefit sellers. To my mind, listing stuff that is not worth a 5 cent to 50 cent listing fee is probably not worth the effort. (And keep in mind that the minimum wage in Ontario is 17 cents a minute. How much money does your effort in listing cost you?) And again, increased competition for a seller means lower profits.

They do benefit eBay. EBay can show its shareholders that it is a popular venue for sellers (who are, after all, the customers-- the buyers are the customers of the sellers.). I suspect that most shareholders are unaware that eBay is giving away listing fees to sellers with little hope of actually paying eBay fees on their sales.

And fees are how eBay makes its money.

By the way, I would assume that all sellers (who actually sell stuff) are subsidizing those "free" listings with the FVF on shipping.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Femme, I hangout on boards down south. There are a lot of sellers, who's profit margin, IS the free listing.

There was a seller, just a few days ago, FB around 3100, who was buying for $10, selling for $20 and pretty much losing money on every sale. They were buying every upgrade, every enhancement, their fees were running 29% of gross.

I have a store, listings cost me a nickel. There are things I won't list as it is not worth my effort. A free listing suddenly changes everything? The nickel puts me over the top?

[valuestore]

Its interesting watch how dynamic of ebay is changing due to all these free listing promos, the main category I list in ive watched increase in listing numbers nearly 10 fold since they started the 'mass free auction' promos, but at same time I see less diversity of product, lots more new sellers(selling same widgets), more multiple seller ids.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Value, there were stats out of the USA for this last Xmas season. B&M stores were flat or up 1% over the previous year. On-line was up 22%.

Sales and/or listings, on mobile devices, are now over 50% of sales on eBay. Majority of reply emails, that I get, are tagged "from a mobile device".

Ya start rolling all of this together and it is a rapidly changing landscape.

Where is this going? I don't even think the pimply face nerd kids that run eBay have any idea. All they know is that business is ridiculously good:

For the full year, revenue increased 21% to $14.1 billion, compared to 2011. The company reported net income on a GAAP basis of $2.6 billion, or $1.99 per diluted share, and net income on a non-GAAP basis of $3.1 billion, or $2.36 per diluted share.

Over at Amazon:

Net sales increased 27% to $61.09 billion, compared with $48.08 billion in 2011. Net loss was $39 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, compared with net income of $631 million, or $1.37 per diluted share, in 2011.

On-line sales are BOOM BABY! It is only eBay that is profiting.