If you are an eBay Featured or Anchor shop subscriber, you should by now have received your monthly eBay packaging voucher.
Don’t forget to spend it, but also remember that you need to spend it in the new eBay shop and you’ll be able to choose from the new colourful branded eBay Packaging. The voucher won’t be valid if you try to spend it in the old eBay packaging shop.
Featured shop owners should find a £10 voucher waiting for them and if you’re an Anchor shop subscriber then it’ll be a £20 voucher. This isn’t a lot, but you may as well spend it seeing as you have it!
What can you get with your eBay packaging voucher
As an example you can get 25 Royal Mail Size – Small Parcel sized eBay colourful branded boxes (206mm x 156mm x 112mm) for £9.24. If you don’t use boxes you can get 50 plastic mailer postage bags (460mm x 560mm 40mm) for £9.19.
Is it just free advertising for eBay?
In a way yes! The question we should really be asking is whether you view this as a problem? If you have stuff in FBA then every box delivered to a home or office across the country arrives in an Amazon branded package and consumer view this as a sign of trust. There’s absolutely no reason why eBay wouldn’t want a similar influx of eBay branded packaging to arrive.
Many retailers tell me that they would much rather use their own branded packaging and there’s nothing wrong with this. However if you use unbranded packaging then why not use the free eBay supplies? It’s worth remembering that the average buyer hasn’t a clue who they purchase from and just say “I bought it on eBay” when questioned as to where they shopped. They don’t notice your eBay user ID and half the time (no matter how much you’d like to build your brand) they can’t recall your business name. Think about the last few things that you purchased on a marketplace – can you honestly name the retailer or recall the User ID of the supplier?
You’ll see eBay promoting their new #FillYourCartWithColour brand campaign everywhere from the new Christmas eBay TV advert to billboards, the sides of buses and even on Picadilly’s newly restored ultra-HD digital billboard lights. All these campaigns carry imagery of the new colourful branded eBay Packaging.
It might irk you that you’re helping build eBay’s brand by using their packaging, but then you are a part of the ecosystem and if everyone uses their eBay packaging vouchers then the cumulative effect will be massive.
Of course you do have a choice, the alternative is to ignore you voucher and simply not spend it but why would anyone really turn down free packaging which is included in the cost of your shop subscription? Go spend your voucher today.
18 Responses
Since when was it FREE? eBay increased the shop fee & included a £10 discount for this very overpriced packaging, which basicallt accounts for about £3 in real value.
All our couriers, DHL, FedEx & DPD all provide FREE Packaging, the only use we have the voucher is tape & tape guns when they where available.
I love the idea that this is free advertising for eBay.
If you think that its crazy they are actually charging sellers to advertise eBay.
“why would anyone really turn down free packaging?”
on principle?
because it’s not free?
not only is it not free, it’s well over-priced, for something that should be free or at the very least subsidised.
I actually find the whole thing insulting.
but hey, if you’re not smart enough to realise when you’re having the absolute p**s taken out you, then enjoy your colourful envelopes.
if you define “Free” as “costs £10” then sorry but you’re a mug.
would ebay be able to sell these at this price legitimately? no. so they basically dip the money out your pokcet. its disrespectful at the very least.
If amazon have too many alexa’s lying around, they just stick £150 on your amazon bill each month and tell you you have a free alexa to order? No, I don’t think so.
Has anyone noticed that they have removed the negative feedback sellers are giving them?
I would rather help the small guy out than ebay
I love the new ebay packaging. It arrived today and it is just beautiful. I cant believe that sellers would not want to use it because it says ebay on the side front. Is that not where our customers are buying from? i think it gives a good image and matches the TV advert. Whats not to like? People seem hung up on this seller fee thing.
I’ve tried the large letter size boxes (13.27” x 9” x 0.75”) and they do the job. They take a few seconds longer to put together compared with the ones we normally use, just due to the design. But even without the voucher the price difference allows for this, so will use them again.
On a downside, there was no VAT invoice with the goods. Surely, most of the shop owners using the vouchers and packaging will be proper businesses and a large number will be VAT registered. Automatically including VAT invoices will save us all the time and effort of asking for them.
Also I notice the position of logo needs to be thought about for some of the products. In the case of the large letter boxes we’ve used, the 6 x 4 postage label is always going to cover some of the logo, and the buyer gets a parcel that says “eba” Having the logo smaller and in the top left corner would be an option.
And as for the doom and gloom brigade, if you object to the principle of ebay logos, just use brown tape when sealing. Simples!
Alan keeps banging the drum about the free packing. If it is really free packing why can only only have £10s worth a month?
Yes I understand why they are doing it, if they want to make an even bigger impact and get more sellers using ebay branded packing to promote ebay why don’t they make it so cheap or even free for sellers.
I don’t mind using it and the company supplying the packing this month seem much better organised than the last shambles who have now closed their store which says a lot after only a few months. Packing was dispatched quickly via DPD with tracking.
@ Rob – your voucher is only £10 – so its £1- worth of free packing per month. The reason I keep banging on is folk seem not to be “getting it”.
Its a voucher – so there is a limit on it. If it were unlimited free packing (amongst other things) it would be abused and why should Ebay even offer it when idiots are suggesting to cover up the word “Ebay?”
I am glad we are not relying on a lot of the sellers on here for the future of Ebay lol.
@ Alan You say it would be abused, guess that would be a bit like what many sellers face on a daily basis from buyers claiming item not received or something wrong with it to try and get money off or avoid the cost of them paying the return postage. Which ebay don’t seem to want to stand up to some of these buyers and tell sellers it is just part of business being ripped off. Then they tell you after you have been ripped off to block them so they don’t do it again. Its then to late as ebay have already let them get away with it.
I do very well off ebay and have grown my business quite a bit on the site in the last few years. Something have got better, as few years ago you could not sneeze without getting a defect. Other good things are click and collect and global shipping which I have taken advantage of.
They do seem to make things up thou as they go along as you can ask them a question as a buyer about what happens if a return via an ebay label gets damaged and they will tell you they will cover the cost of the item. Yet when you ask the same question as a seller what happens if a return with an ebay label gets damaged they tell you tough luck and its a loss you have to accept.
I think all sellers ask for is an equal playing field between sellers and buyers.