What Types of eBay Promotions Work Best for You?

by: Jim S.

Re: Do you let promotions influence your listing strategy on eBay? No, I do want I want to do when I want to do it.

by: Al G

The strategy is - list & take advantage. It all works at some point.

by: iheartjacksparrow

How about a promotion where eBay promises to show all sellers' listings to everyone (i.e., no rolling blackouts or second guessing what a buyer is looking for).

by: Frank Abagnale

The best Ebay promotion is the one where Shopify allows you to transfer your Ebay listings to their platform for FREE!!!

by: ConnecticutGal

My question is:  do the promotions for "private sellers" in the UK result in a lot of sales?   Or, are these promotions just meant to increase the total number of listings on the site?

by: Paul W

The promo that has worked for me was a temp discount on an anchor store upgrade, that spurred me to add a thousand or so new listings, and increased my sales by nearly 40%.  I'm still adding listings and my 31 days sales totals keep increasing.

by: comet

Ebay "allows"  me 20/20 Free listings--so that means if I SELL 20 items I cannot list NEW ones with out paying for them.  Now--if I DID sell them (as in days if yore)  I would not mind paying a fee TO list.  Part of doing business.  

However!!!!   It has been a LONG time since I could count on things selling in one or two go=-rounds;  now relisting over and over is the norm even for highly sought after brand names no matter what the price (I do NOT start stuff at 99 cents--ever!)  

Then there are the Promos.  These are great to spare my "free"  20/20 items;  however;  I feel I cannot actually list more than a few items anyways as the instant the Promo runs OUT if the item has not sold--I am stuck having to decide if it is WORTH either waiting to the next MONTH to list;  or if it is worth paying for (I am not big on paying!  Esp since we USED to get 50/50 FREE in all categories)  Thus--I now have 5 different accounts--on which I can still only list a FEW things and PRAY that they SELL.  

The IDEAL PROMO for me would be the EVERYDAY number of Free listings that we USED to have--and that were yanked out from under us last year--BACK.  This allowed for a reasonable number of listings for a small seller to be able to list and relist if needed and NOT run out mid month.  

With the 20/20 I can ONLY list around 7 items total--IF they do not SELL and I have to RELIST--I need that "wiggle room".  I don't really use the collectibles category much so this is a waste of time for me.

The Promos running NOW--I have gotten the 80 Free til Oct;  and the 1000 Free--but on that one  only SOME of my accounts got it;  however it makes NO sense;  one acct with only 3 FB got it but an older steady seller acct with about 160 FB has not gotten ANY promos;  and has not sold ONE item since--June.  

With ONE exception (of a highly specialized item)   my items--mostly colder weather stuff now--are being SOLD to the SOUTH--this also makes NO SENSE;  so I suspect that they are only being SHOWN to the South--stupid as I doubt that most Southerners want or need snow items.  So==-I conclude--they are NOT being shown equally.  Shorts that sat ALL summer sold;  snow boots---not.  

As some one posted above--SHOWING OUR LISTINGS---and making them available on the worlds searhc engines--would go a LONG way to getting SALEs.  

ebay however seems determined to NOT have sales and to UNDERCUT those of us who have items actually listed that people might WANT to buy.  

Stop with all these absurd promos and just give us the FREE listings us SMALL SELLERS HAD--and we would be much happier.  

by: IDKwhoIare

All these Promos mean exactly nothing to me or any other Seller on eBay. They are simply a way to gain fees on the front end or the back end of the sale FOR eBay or to get newbies to list more (same thing).

I applaud any private Seller who can make any sale on this site for whatever reason it happened.

I am waiting for the same Promo Jack & others are...The Search & Find Our Items Promotion

by: IDKwhoIare

Ignore the first paragraph above.  I obviously need to go to sleep.

by: comet

@IDKWhoIare--

Yes!  The "Search and Find Our Items Promo"!!!!

Now THATS the ticket!!!!

by: queenfloraday

Free listings on eBay should be the new norm. Charging for a listing is outdated. Other sites such as Amazon, Bonanza, eCrater... charge on the back side. The fees are hefty on Az but they don't get paid until the sale is made. At least you know that the fees you paid was due to Amazon doing their job and providing you a buyer.

On eBay it is more like gambling. Pay up and maybe you might make a sale. On eBay, a seller is not sure what they are paying for. I beginning to think I might have more luck with a spending my fee money on a lottery ticket.

by: Toledo Maude

Knock-on-wood!  This month, I exceeded last year's eBay's sales and margin.  

Ebay's promotion did nothing to increase my sales but maybe helped increase my margin but only by a few dollars in savings on listing fees.

In this month's promotion that reduced final value fees on sold items, the reduction in fees was nice but paltry.

I pay for the smallest eBay store with 150 ''free'' listings.  Usually in the fourth week of the month I do pay a few bucks for new listings and relistings.  Free listing promotions help but save only a few dollars.

The most significant reason for my increased sales and profits is that I am listing more expensive and rare items.   The rare hard to find items on their own drawn shoppers and buyers.  

That is until this past week when once again sales came to a halt.  

EBay once again limiting my sales? The anti-promotion?   Maybe........

by: comet

@Queenforaday---

I didn't "mind"  so much paying a small "Insertion fee"  back when my items were being SHOWN to the world--and were SELLING.  

After all if I had taken out an ad in the newspaper I would have spent money on it.

What I have a HUGE problem with is ebay taking money on ALL ends--the front;  the back;  the side (ie postage grab)   and NOT SHOWING OUR ITEMS to the world so they can be SOLD.  

I can distinctly remember the day (altho not the date)  when I looked at my screen as I was absent mindedly hitting RELIST=-==and seeing the $$$$ add up --and UP-- and deciding--I am NOT going to DO this any more!  

When it started to COST me more to re-=list items than they were worth--ie I would have to relist several times before I finally maybe got a sale--I decided to ONLY list using the FREE per month items--and opened another account to take advantage OF this--or to use the FREE Promos.  

Then ebay decided that to "Improve"  sales==they should TAKE AWAY 60 FREE listings per month!  Well!  How IS that working for ya ebay?  

Cause it's NOT working for ME at ALL.  And I see these desperate numbers of promo's--that over lap;  that are contradictory--and wonder--HOW MUCH ARE THEY LOSING--and HOW STUPID ARE THEY TO NOT SEE HOW TO FIX THIS????  

They tried to tell us that Wenig was going to be the Great White Hope of ebay--well sorry he is just a clone of The Ho.  

by: nordicgal

I have the smallest eBay store on the month to month basis so I get 150 free listings and then occasionally I'll get the random offers as well.

I find that when you can get 1000 free listings over a four day period that is pretty much useless.  I may take advantage of getting a few free but once I get the offer, which usually shows up a day late, I don't have time to list a bunch of items.

I typically list when I need to and if it happens to be free, great.  I would just as soon pay no listing fees across the board or pay for every listing as long as the listings are SHOWN, which they are not.  As someone just mentioned, I have had miniscule sales for the last week or so and then had one really good day on Saturday.  eBay flicked my rolling blackout/sales limit switch on March 1, 2015, though I know it was much earlier for many of you.

That is my MAJOR complaint.  As also mentioned above, since there are no sales, I am weary of relisting and relisting and seeing the fees add up for no sales results.  In that sense, eCrater or others with no upfront listing fees are a better bargain.

by: Rexford

What good is a promo when a company hides your listings, diverts buyers from your listings, and uses a damaged search engine that prevents buyers from finding your listings?

by: whathappened

I agree with all of you that state the best type of promo from Ebay would be to show our listings.  Very apparent to me when my listings went from being shown to in the rolling blackout mode.  With barely seventy-five listings on average my sales were near six grand a month (six months ago).    Now my sales are down 90% with the same products, same prices (actually cheaper), etc.

A couple of days ago on ebay community someone asked if the rolling blackouts were really true or was it just a conspiracy.  The poster answered back with this word for word "I worked formerly in a retail environment.  They were slow to the online selling mode.  Once we got the retail website up and going, I asked my manager why we would sell the same things on another site (Ebay), basically competing with ourselves and making less money?  I was shown a contract which guaranteed sell through rates and the starting sales commission was 3% and went down to zero based on the sell throughs per quarter."  

Apparently the poster asked the dynamic duo Jeff and Griff on weekly chat why this was so if all sellers were treated equal?  For asking this question he was banned from the forum for a week.

This confirms to me that rolling blackouts DO exist since Ebay has given so many BIG companies contracts for guaranteed sell through rates -- they have to hide us little sellers to accomplish their goal to meet their contract.

This was the final straw for me.  I am liquidating all my items off Ebay and changing venues immediately. The new venue will still be tons of hard work but hopefully they will give everyone a fair chance to sell their items.  Life isn't fair -- but Ebay allowing rolling blackouts limits myself and others on Ebay from selling to our full potential.  The worst part is we pay for this treatment?

So Ebay if you want to promote anything you might want to stop the rolling blackouts and you will not need to do all the promotions.

by: RKTOYS

I have to agree with the last few posts.  eBay's promotions are worthless.  There's no point in listing more when they're hiding and redirecting those listings.

But I will tell you this: all that's keeping my store open right now is moderate OCD.  After Christmas, that's over.  If eBay wants another cent, they'll have to deliver promotions _and_ sales.  Otherwise, they can pound sand.  

by: ignatz

I use the promos that offer free fixed-price listings, as everything I sell on ebay is fixed-price immediate payment required.

Had a store a couple of years ago - didn't see the benefit of paying $19 a month when there were enough free promos to accommodate all my listings.

by: Ebayseller

The problem with the ''free'' promotions is that we all have dollar and quantity listing limits and all the ''free'' promotions clearly state in the terms your selling limits still apply.  I have the small store (for about 15 years) and cannot exceed my maximum dollar in sales allowed nor my maximum number of listings allowed in my store. The promotions are totally worthless. Once I reach my limit on either, I cannot list anymore, even if I ''accepted'' the ''promotion'' offer.

Even if they changed those rules, the promos last like three or four days and would be worthless to try and get more listed as my listings take about an hour each to photograph, edit pics, write complicated listing details, etc.

What would work best is if ebay just let sellers sell list for free in auction like they used to and were founded on. You remember... Ebay the great auction site?  They would have more sales and more interesting items.  The site is totally flooded with Chinese companies offering a zillion varities of the same thing and major retailers who can no longer sell much in-store. So basically, they too are all selling Chinese products competing with the Chinese listings.

I'm about to open a brick and mortar, a website and sell through social media.  I've spent thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on ebay fees and am done.  There are too many other excellent, fair and easy ways to sell.

I won't be offering a 90 day return policy, which they make sellers offer this holiday season.