It’s the first year that I can ever recall eBay not having a free (or at least a cheap) listing day between Christmas and New Year. For every year for as long as I’ve been trading on eBay they’ve held a post Christmas promotion to encourage people to list their unwanted Christmas presents on eBay but this year it didn’t happen.
For starters cheap listing days are irrelevant to business sellers. Any seller who has an eBay shop is on a permanent cheap listing day paying as little as 1p to list fixed price items, most are paying 5p with a featured shop or at worst 20 with a basic shop. There really isn’t much more eBay can do to incentivise businesses to list more on the site.
Private sellers also have permanent free listings for auctions with a start price of 99p or less. Being as that’s the best listing format to attract the highest end price again there are few incentives eBay can offer to attract more listings.
It seems a shame though – free or cheap listing days do more than simply bump the number of listings on the site. The very fact that an email arrives in users inbox with a promotion reminds casual sellers that eBay is here and that they should be selling. The bump in listings (although often a pain for businesses) means that there are some great bargains for buyers – I know I’ve often had a browse after a cheap listing day just to see what deals that have attracted few bids I can snap up.
Is this the end of cheap or free listing days in the UK? Or do you think price promotions can still play a part on eBay? Are you relieved that the annual post Christmas listing promotion didn’t happen or would you like to see it revived next year?
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