How eBay Coupon Campaigns Work for Sellers

by: Marie

I could not afford to participate in a 20% off promo of any kind as a seller.

by: angryllama

@Marie ...   Hear Hear !   I personally Could and Should do some price trimming, but there is a solid NO! to my electing to do an across-the-board 20% reduction on ALL 1,441 items.  
My way of seeing it is that only a DEEP POCKETED Seller who intentionally "over-prices" their entire list of items ADVERTISED via eBay would JUMP at this proposition.  
A second thought is still NO, but it would give rise to folks Front-Loading their PROFIT in the shipping and HANDLING costs..... given that only the TOP-LINE price for the merchandise would be discounted.
Third thought.... It would therefor be a much BIGGER "hit" to the Bottom Line of those who Merrily offer  FREE SHIPPING as that would mean that  THEY would be tossing away 20 percent of EVERY $$

Just another eBay NothingBurger and effort on their part to NAG those NOT in the offer to lower their own prices.
Last thought..... why, oh why would a CALIFORNIA company soooo anxious to be a GLOBAL sales platform set  start / stop times of day that are at ODDS with (most?) ALL the other limited time offers?  Waiting until 8:00 am PACIFIC time means that would-be buyers on the EAST COAST won't be ABLE to use it until 11:00 am EST  or 4 pm in U.K.    
This offer stinks on ICE.

by: Rexford

I'll let the Chinese sellers have this one.  No thanks.

by: pace306

165 sellers who fund their own promo..... WOW eBay is doing ALOT for its sellers!  NOT

Which idiot thought this was a good idea?

So what part does eBay do??? As usual, it does nothing. Great “partner”!

by: FeelingFroggy

This is no different than the seller who has a 20 per cent on their stuff with the exception Ebay broadcasts it. We do 20 per cent off on ocassion so YES we would.

by: geoffreymason

I am currently holding 20%- and 25%-off sales on ebay. It is the only way that I am moving my merchandise at all. Even so, sales are slow (which beats nonexistent). Ebay is no longer affordable for me.

by: eXtinctBay

Sure! I would do it in a heartbeat!! Sign me up!!!

But, first, let me raise my prices 15- 20% to absorb the loss.

Guaranteed this program is not offered to small to medium sellers. This is for certain.

by: Barbbie

I was not offered to me. I have about 4000 items. If it was just one day, I might have tried it.

by: hopeforthebest

Marie: Of course you couldn't give 20% off, but the typical methodology for these 'sales' is to increase the price 20% and then offer a 20% discount.

You see this all the time in retail, the regular price is already highly inflated, then they flood the market with coupons. Sometimes you get 20% off 'retail', sometimes 30%, sometimes 40 or even 50%.

Michaels, the arts and craft supply store is famous for this strategy. If you pay regular price, you're paying about 2X the going rate. But not to worry, you get a coupon or promotion virtually every single day!!! What a bargain!!!

by: Marie

@hoperthebest

Yes, I swear our local Safeway does that when they have those BOGO free sales.  But for an Ebay sellers, with larger quantities of listings, that would be a HUGE task.  But I suppose one could do it if it was that important to them to participate.

by: eXtinctBay

Safeway and their (sister store), Albertsons, have ''Buy One, Get 3 Free'' sales on meat all the time. When you go to the store, you find out that baby back ribs, for instance, are all of a sudden priced at $14.99 a pound.

BUT YOU GET THREE PACKAGES FOR NOTHING!! Since when do they ever sell them for this price? Do they really think people are that gullible??

Another retail marketing tactic like jewelry stores which ALWAYS have their items on a 50% off sale.  

by: Studiolines

Money Losers will be limited to a few and the rest will be OUT OF STOCK
The largest sellers have that option without penalty it seems

by: Ming the Merciless

Most states have consumer protection laws against jacking up prices and then offering phony discounts.

Once again ebafia's (il)legal department defies the rule of law.

Sellers with some time on their hands if there are any should check current prices with previous prices on The Chosen's inventory. If there are related discrepancies, file a consumer protection complaint to the AG's Office in the seller's state. Especially those sellers based in New York.

by: Ming the Merciless

@Pace

For the last two weeks, I'v e intentional kept my posts to a minimum, I've noticed fewer posts from you as well.

Did the number of anti posts decrease? No. So the next time these brand new user ID pro ebay posters attack some of us for being "negative" and "anti ebay," they are going to get blasted. Fair warning, Lithium and ebafia PR department.

by: redheadedlady

I was one of the people that did receive the note for coupons.  Right now I have a 35% off sale running on over 100 of my items.  The coupon only runs for 7 days and I will use it drive more traffic to my store.  I know I am not going to lose that much so why not try it.  My highest priced item is $19.95.
I'm curious as to how this is going to work.  I hope once people get in and see what I have they will want to come back and shop with me later.
Doesn't hurt to try at least once.

by: pace306

Ming - Ive just been busy - but I appreciate your noticing :)

After a few "entanglements" with our usual PITA - I took a break - and concentrated on real life (and business). He likes to bait everyone and to stop myself from answering his inane ridiculous posts - I just chose to not post as much.

I went to to CES (no eBay to be found), NY NOW (no eBay to be found) and set up appointments for NY Toy Fair (this weekend) (100$ says there will be no eBay yet again).

Ive also been dealing with the insane amount of Amazon returns (a column Ina hasnt gotten to yet) ....

As far as Lithium ... its a joke of a joke. They are vindictive bastards - and if you capitalize words - they use it as a pretext to ban you for a week, if you criticize eBay employees - they ban you for a month ... its just eBay trying to control the message. It wont help. People know eBay for what it is and is not - running around and banning people wont stop the bad news from leaking out .....

The only reason people sell on eBay is because they cant (for what ever reason) on Amazon (or dont want to).

best regards

by: geoffreymason

I finished a thirty-day suspension from the ebay seller discussion board (for having questioned the perspicacity of the ebay moderator), Then, a couple of days later, I used a bad word and was banned permanently. The bad word was "Amazon" (clearly, I forgot on which forum I had accessed),  

by: Toledo Maude

A few years ago, I was putting lots of items on sale using mark down manager with little success.  I quit using ''sales'' in favor of listing with a fixed price and the option to make an offer.  The sales volume is the same with more time to devote to creating new listings.  Listing new items appears to create more traffic and sales.  

So if my sales partner, eBay, offers to include me in this new sales campaign, I will be a non-participant.    

In my early years on eBay, I notice how heavily department stores used newspaper advertising prior to a summer holiday weekend.  I decided to hop on the ''bandwagon'' and list extra auctions to reap a bushel basket of sales.  After spending an extra 50 bucks on listings that resulted in no sales, I gave up on that brilliant sales idea.  

by: Whatever

Well I could have done it had I got the offer. That said I'm in a unique position where I actually own all my inventory and really would just like to eliminate it all and ship off to some exotic place to drink tequila for the duration. How many sellers can actually afford to do that? Not a heck of alot I think. BUT I never got the invite. Too bad eBay doesn't make the offer to more so more could decide wether they want to participate or not.  Why not ebay??

by: Whatever

Well I could have done it had I got the offer. That said I'm in a unique position where I actually own all my inventory and really would just like to eliminate it all and ship off to some exotic place to drink tequila for the duration. How many sellers can actually afford to do that? Not a heck of alot I think. BUT I never got the invite. Too bad eBay doesn't make the offer to more so more could decide wether they want to participate or not.  Why not ebay??