eBay Still Misses Out on Late Holiday Shopping

If you're still doing last-minute holiday shopping, you may skip eBay for fear there may not be enough time to receive the gift by December 25th. Yet rival Etsy is still sending marketing emails to attract holiday shoppers. How can Etsy do it? It promotes digital downloads for gifts that the shopper can make or print at home.

On Friday, Etsy sent an email with the subject line, "Etsy's top 100 digital downloads" with the message:

100 downloads to save the day

Feeling pressed for time? Our experts rounded up the best digital downloads for ready-to-go holiday presents, sure to delight everyone on your list. 

One of the products featured was a template for a fancy coupon that shoppers could customize and print out - for example, "This voucher is good for one Homecooked Meal" with space to write names (sender and recipient) and location in a size that fits into a standard #10 envelope.

Etsy also included a reminder for a promotion for shoppers to get 10% off an Etsy gift card "when you buy a gift card of $50 or more with code GIFT10 - for the easiest thoughtful holiday gift." (The promotion expired at the end of the day, but sellers can continue to purchase Etsy gift cards for instant digital download.)

We've pointed out before, but we'll do it again - eBay discourages sellers from listing digital downloads, while Etsy has made it easy-peasy for sellers - and buyers. In 2018, we wrote:

"Why ever did eBay ban digital content in 2008? eBay's Brian Burke explained at the time it was fear of sellers manipulating its feedback system (by listing thousands of the same item), as we noted in this 2011 blog post. How quaint that seems today, especially in light of the success rival marketplace Etsy has had with digital content."

The eBay Electronically delivered items policy currently reads in part:

- Sellers need to be eBay approved to list electronically delivered items outside of the Everything Else > Information Products category 

- Sellers not approved by eBay to list electronically delivered items need to list their items in the Everything Else > Information Products category in the classified ad format

eBay explains in this article that it acts only as a lead-generator for sellers it hasn't approved:

List electronically delivered items only in the Everything Else > Information Products category of the Classified Ad format.

The eBay Classified Ad format removes eBay from the transaction. The marketplace acts only as a lead generator, and the sale and delivery are negotiated between you and the buyer directly. The transaction is finalized outside of the eBay platform. Please note: eBay Money Back Guarantee does not cover listings in the Classified Ad format.

eBay's approach to digital downloads is a far cry from Etsy, which covers the topic in the Etsy Seller Handbook.

We noticed that, appropriately, a seller who sells a guide about top digital products to sell on Etsy makes it available as a digital download: "Top 77 Etsy Digital Products to Sell in 2025."

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