eBay discount vouchers spawn category spamming

Almost every time I’ve logged into one of my eBay accounts lately I’ve been greeted with yet another voucher offering a discount specifically from eBay Outlets. That the voucher is limited to Outlets is annoying, but what’s even more frustrating is that it’s limited to a small hand selected set of listings from Outlets, not even the entire Outlet range.

Offering 10% or 15% discount is great, but the current range of products hosted in the “” category is composed entirely of womens clothing and shoes. It may have escaped eBay’s attention I’m actually male and so the offers are of absolutely no interest whatsoever.

Another offer I received was for 10% off Outlet listings in the “” category. This promotion has expired but it’s not really a surprise to see a seller has jumped on the back of the promotion to fill the category with golf equipment hoping to cash in on unsuspecting buyers. If you were hoping to use your discount voucher to purchase any products currently listed as a special promotion you’re going to be disappointed as not only is the seller not an Outlet, they’re not even based in the UK.

If eBay are going to punt discounts for Outlets they need to do two things. Firstly offer a discount for any product from any Outlet to give buyers enough selection that they might find an item they’d like to purchase. Secondly they need to prevent other sellers from spamming the promotion categories with items that don’t qualify for the discount offers.