MSE News: Ebay waives listing fees (FREE LISTING DAYS 18th & 19th Feb)

JimmyTheWig

Does anyone have any evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) as to whether items listed during these promotions are less likely to sell or end up selling for less than those listed at other times?
My thinking is that if loads of people list during these two days then supply and demand means that the price will go down...

soolin

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Does anyone have any evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) as to whether items listed during these promotions are less likely to sell or end up selling for less than those listed at other times?
My thinking is that if loads of people list during these two days then supply and demand means that the price will go down...

I did surprisngly well last time but sometimes the stuff I expect to sell doesm't do well at all but then i just lower the price and use the relist credit facility later on to give it another go. On free days though I always list at the absolutele lowest I am prepared to take.

soolin

MSE_Natasha wrote: »

"The online auction site is waiving upfront charges for UK private sellers on most items ..."

Read the full story:
Ebay waives listing fees

These threads have been merged to avoid duplication. Thanks to soolin for the original post.

Can I please just suggest you add a disclaime to this bit in your article as it only applies to private seller and is above the line where you show exclusions for the free listing day:

If you list something between £1 and £4.99 the cost is 15p. All goods under £1 are free on any day.

TurkishDelight

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Does anyone have any evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) as to whether items listed during these promotions are less likely to sell or end up selling for less than those listed at other times?
My thinking is that if loads of people list during these two days then supply and demand means that the price will go down...

We always pick up a load of stuff for less than we would normally have paid, so possibly, although the stuff we're buying does fluctuate wildly, so it may be conincidence.

I don't list on the free days because of your supply and demand thinking though.

StaffsSW

heskpesk wrote: »

Can I schedule item to start tomorrow now and still gain from the incentive, obviously would expect to still pay teh 6p charge. Thank you

If you schedule the listing to start in advance of the freelisting day, you can then go into to edit it to start immediately on the days in question.

The schedule and insertion fee is only charged at the moment goes live, so you will not be charged the 6p.

StaffsSW

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Does anyone have any evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) as to whether items listed during these promotions are less likely to sell or end up selling for less than those listed at other times?
My thinking is that if loads of people list during these two days then supply and demand means that the price will go down...

In the past when I had a subscription to Terapeak I could see the average selling price by category over a given period. It was clear from that data that in Home & Garden, Clothes, Shoes & Accessories, DVDs & Music and Toys & Games categories, the average selling price dropped by around 25-30% for the 2 weeks following cheap listing days.
The overall sell through rate by category (items sold v number of listings) fell by a huge amount - about 60% if I remember, and took about 3-4 weeks to stabilise again.

I never did finish the number crunching on my own data (back in the days when free listings were offered to both business and private sellers), but it did look like it was worth avoiding these periods and paying the full fees but receiving better selling prices and more sales.

On the flip side, it does give people an impetus to list things they would not have otherwise offered, so in the case of private sellers, any income is a bonus, as long as they recognise that Final Value Fees are still 10%, and Paypal take their slice as well.

One of the key metrics that eBay herald to their shareholders and investors is "number of listings" and "Gross Merchandise Volume" - clearly more items listed for free will increase the first metric, and enforced free/inclusive P&P inflated the second metric. They're not daft these ebay strategists!

RonWooney

Why has the title of this thread been changed?

Wasn't it more accurate before when Soolin called it 'FREE LISTING DAYS 18th & 19th Feb'.

cally6008

It's changed cos MSE forum team merged the two threads together

soolin

RonWooney wrote: »

Why has the title of this thread been changed?

Wasn't it more accurate before when Soolin called it 'FREE LISTING DAYS 18th & 19th Feb'.

The MSE team choose threads to go out in their email. When they do that they automatically out their own link in the header of the thread so that there 'discussion' post shows first.

I do agree that the thread title is no longer as helpful as it might be, but I will bump it anyway in case people haven't realised we have free listing.

JimmyTheWig

stevew8975 wrote: »

In the past when I had a subscription to Terapeak I could see the average selling price by category over a given period. It was clear from that data that in Home & Garden, Clothes, Shoes & Accessories, DVDs & Music and Toys & Games categories, the average selling price dropped by around 25-30% for the 2 weeks following cheap listing days.
The overall sell through rate by category (items sold v number of listings) fell by a huge amount - about 60% if I remember, and took about 3-4 weeks to stabilise again.

What a great response! I never expected anything so detailed, researched and accurate.
Thanks a lot.