eBay.com is increasingly keen on coupon promotions, it seems. Yesterday, they ran another with 15% off billed as “15% Off Everything!*” Shoppers could enter a promo code at checkout to get the discount. A previous coupon offered 20%, so this wasn’t as generous, but then that discount event suffered some problems, so they are, perhaps being more cautious.
As they said on the promo page (where you can examine the full Ts & Cs) for the coupon event:
The Coupon is a 15% discount off a minimum purchase of $25, valid from 9:00 AM PST March 20, 2018 until 7:00 PM PST on March 20, 2018. Discount applies to the purchase price (excluding shipping, handling, and taxes) of eligible items on eBay.com, cafr.eBay.ca and eBay.ca and will be capped at a maximum discount value of $50.
– eBay.com
Several things spring to mind at seeing another decent sitewide coupon being issued. So, the first is that sales figures might not be what they should be as we approach quarter end which comes as March finishes. eBay has to report on sales figures each quarter and coupons are an effective way to generate a boost in sales if they have been a little soggy. That’s not unusual in Q1.
Secondly, maybe another voucher promo is coming to the UK soon too (we’ve seen one in recent days, although the scope was less wide.) It’s always good news for sellers and hopefully another one is on the cards.
Thirdly, it seems that eBay is just generally more keen on coupons than it was in the past. And that makes sense. When it comes to examining marketing spend and the budgets available, there are a finite number of ways to spend the money that deliver a direct and unambiguous return on investment and coupons are an interesting case to consider. Because not only do you release budget to offer discounts, but that money is then reflected directly in sales. That’s certainly not true of advertising, say, via Google Adwords.
