Another announcement from eBay UK today, that they’re making some changes to the bidding/buying process:
- Gallery pictures will appear on the confirmation page: hopefully it would take more than the click of a page for the buyer to forget what they’re bidding on, so I assume this is really to make Gallery a more attractive purchase for sellers. Cute, but unnecessary: Gallery is already the best-value listing upgrade there is, and practically compulsory if you sell in a “pretty” category.
- Accidental buy it nows: buyers will need to confirm they’re sure if they’re buying a second item from the same listing. I think this is a good idea: it happens, and its a nuisance for both seller and buyer to resolve.
- Buyers will get a heads-up if their bid is significantly below average selling price. I don’t mind admitting, this one had me spluttering indignantly at first, but it only applies to listings created with pre-filled item information. Now I don’t list in any category that offers PFII, but it seems to me that giving buyers a message to say “you’ll be lucky to get that DVD for 99p, you cheapskate, bid a bit more”, has to be good news for sellers. Or am I missing something: what do you think?
One Response
I like the idea of displaying an average selling price if the bid is significantly below the average selling price. It might encourage those thinking they can win a £50 item for 99p to increase their bid. The other thing that occurs to me is if you’re listing an item (such as say a *broken* laptop alongside used laptops) it might even help bump prices significantly 🙂