eBay have some interesting changes to their listing promotions which we thought were worth a mention. We don’t know if they’ll ever come to the UK, but if they do make sure you’re aware of them.
No selling fees promo
The first is a new style of selling incentive, currently eBay are running a (including PayPal fees) if you’re willing to accept an eBay voucher instead of a cash payment. It’s an invitation only promotion but it comes with some strings – even the postage element is paid as a voucher so you have to pay shipping from your own pocket and if you have to issue a refund then that’s also from your own pocket.
It’s attractive though, with eBay fees running at 10% and another up to 3.4% going to PayPal, if you sold something for £100 it would mean you’d keep the entire £100 to spend on eBay and not end up with only £86.60 in your PayPal account.
It’s pretty obvious that most business sellers need actual cash revenue, that’s why we sell on the site. However if you were planning a purchase and were a casual seller it’s well worth considering if it ever comes to the UK.
Promotions you have to activate
So you’ve received an email from eBay, but you don’t get the free listings or added features until you decide to .
The idea behind this is that you don’t waste your listing promotion when it could be better used for different listings. For instance you might want to list a load of products at a couple of quid and only activate the promotion when your ready to list items with a start price of £100 or more. If it’s a limited quantity promotion you’d definitely want to use it where you’d save the most fees.
The downside is of course, currently if a promotion is on you get the benefit whether you realise it or not. If you had to activate a promotion you might miss out entirely if you don’t spot the email within the relevant time frame.
Will these promos come to the UK
eBay are always trying and testing different things. We have absolutely no idea what promotions are planned for the UK and if we’ll ever see the two described above. Definitely interesting ideas though, I like them both but at the same time have obvious reservations about both. What do you think?
