Food For Thought

[holdmygold2]

I used to be able to list 50 items for free via Buy it Now and add various features for free.

Suddenly that's changed to 50 free listings via Auction and then BIN can be added at no cost.

However, for BIN alone the cost is now suddenly 35 cents / listing.

How much money do you think eBay makes from unsuspecting sellers listing via BIN?

I'll bet the figure would blow us away.

The only justification I can see for that sudden switch is to trap/trick sellers into spending money they hadn't bargained for.

[katlover1952]

I think certain items are still allowed in the 50 free as BIN but I know that I sell mostly jewelry & collectibles and suddenly they weren't eligible. The reason was given that that category was more suited to auction. I used to use the BIN for some of my jewelry but then we got to list it free for 30 days with auction the maximum free would be for 7 days. I am sure it was motivated by bottom line - most things are.

[jt-libra]

---

@holdmygold2 wrote:

Suddenly that's changed to 50 free listings via Auction and then BIN can be added at no cost.

---

Actually, it's not a sudden change.  eBay announced back in April that the following categories would no longer receive free Fixed Price listings.  I sell in the Health and Beauty category so I am affected as well.  It does get a little tricky when the BIN price has to be 30% higher than the auction start price.  So, in those cases, I do pay the 30 cents for the fixed price and, up until recently, there were three automatic free re-lists, so it was cost beneficial.

Antiques

Art

Baby

Clothing, Shoes & Accessories

Coins & Paper Money

Collectibles

Dolls & Bears

Entertainment Memorabilia

Health & Beauty

Jewelry & Watches

Pottery & Glass

Sports Memorabilia, Cards & Fan Shop

Stamps

Toys & Hobbies

[holdmygold2]

Maybe they do announce these things along with a myriad of other endless details about how the site is changing etc.

It's a little like the piles of flyers they continue to drop at my door.

Who has the time or inclination to read all that stuff?

They know that and I'm sure they caught tens of thousands of sellers just like they caught me.

That must add up.

Money sellers didn't mean to spend in eBay's pocket because of the constant mucking around with fees etc.

[reallynicestamps]

The real question is:

Why are there Free Listing promotions?

The purpose, in my opinion, is to get new sellers to try the site, without much cost to themselves.

I suspect that most of those newbies will list a dozen items (badly) won't sell anything and will just go away.

The few survivors, who made a few sales and maybe some profit, will stay around.

I have to admit that if a business plan is based on not having to pay 'rent' for your business, and paying for the listing will put you out of business, perhaps you should be rethinking the plan.

On the other hand, 35 cents (a week? a month?) is a very high price for any option.

Wouldn't a Fixed Price listing be cheaper? If you have more than 50 items to list, a basic store would reduce the cost per listing, and if you use Good Til Cancelled, it would also reduce your labour (a cost many sellers overlook).