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Two Schools of Thought on Why eBay Is Re-Running FVF Promo

Ina Steiner
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eBay logoeBay ran a 3-day promotion giving sellers a 25% commission discount from September 1 – 3rd. Now it’s running the same promotion for 6 more days, from September 4 through the 9th. Both promos were by invitation only, and it appears there is some overlap in whom eBay invited to participate.

A reader said facetiously (we think) that there were two schools of thought on why eBay decided to re-run the promo: one was, “WOW! That generated a lot of business,” and the other was, “OMG! Nobody’s paying attention to the promo!”

Here’s an (identical) excerpt from the promotions:

“Invited sellers (“Sellers”) who activate the offer and then create a listing in the fixed price, auction-style, or auction-style with Buy It Now format, will receive a 25% discount on final value fees (collectively referred to as “Promotion”) for up to 100 sold items that are listed during the Promotion Period as defined below.”

Interestingly the promotion does not apply to insertion fees.

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If you’re invited to participate, be sure to read the fine print, and note that you must activate the promotion.

Ina Steiner on EmailIna Steiner on LinkedinIna Steiner on Twitter
Ina Steiner
Ina Steiner
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

4 thoughts on “Two Schools of Thought on Why eBay Is Re-Running FVF Promo”

  1. I never received an invitation even though I always have before. Maybe the invitations never went out because their IT idiots do not know how to run a mailing list.

    eBay = Dead Man Walking

  2. Generally, only the people you see on their 25% promo lists are their big sellers or special people. Probably quite a few are eBay employees I would think.

    Never had a request to be part of one of these, but my three other accounts all get the same offer. “Get 10% eBucks up to a maximum of $100 on a single transaction. 5 transactions are allowed during this period”

    Go figure, it’s the same period as the other promo. Not buying a single thing.

  3. I received an invitation to the first one, but not the second. However, I was invited to a similar FVF sale a few months ago. While I am, of course, happy to have a discount on FVF, I noticed a significant drop in sales (almost down to nothing) immediately following my opting in to BOTH of these similar sales. I have no way to know that the FVF sale and the drop in sales are connected, but with the same thing happening the second time, I wonder what the chances are that it’s just a coincidence?

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