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I just waded through a very confusing “Weekly Chat” on ebay. The topic was “private offers” in Auto Parts and Accessories. DON’T stop reading LOL—-There was a LOT of confusion, but at the end it seems ebay was saying private offers are available in ALL categories (although not for multi variation listings). Sign up and watch this short (about 8 minutes) video tutorial: https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/6321519347874170625
The tutorial is aimed at Auto Parts and Accessories sellers, BUT ebay is claiming we can do the same type of thing for non auto parts stuff.
IF this really works the way ebay says it works, it is, IMHO, great news for sellers (and I’m at a loss as to why ebay didn’t shourt this from the rooftops at the Spring Release, but that’s neither here nor there).
PLEASE watch the video and let me know what you think. Remember, this will supposedly work for our stuff too, not just auto parts.
Just one example: buyer asks me a question (through ebay messages) about an item. Not only can I offer him that item at a lower price if I want to (which we’ve been able to do for a long time), but I can also offer to bundle items, even items I don’t currently have listed on eBay….and can put together an invoice through ebay messages….no need to create or change listings, no need to send a separate invoice, and so forth. To me, this is the best thing ebay has done in a long time.
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Jay, I guess I’m already registered with them…didn’t see that as any big deal.
I really think this has a lot of potential for sellers. I get the impression that ebay will be doing more to get the word out to the seller community, and not just the auto parts folks, so hopefully there will be a regular YouTube video in the near future. I gather there was a discussion about this on ebay radio lately, I’ll have to check into the Radio Archives…
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This is really surprising because it is going to set eBay up to lose money. If we don’t list, they do not get to charge us for a store, fees for going over the number of listings we are allowed, the final value fee for each listing, promoted listings fees etc. In addition, the eBay website (and therefore their offerings) will diminish greatly if people do not list but instead add items to what they have listed. Something doesn’t sound right about that.
Ultimately, this could move people off the site and to private sales which would leave eBay out of the financial loop. eBay has stringently fought against this and even implemented more rules about any activity off of eBay, so it is hard to imagine that they would open this door to all sellers. Moreover, eBay messages will become a complex maze to get through just for the seller and eBay to benefit from this strategy which makes one wonder why they would open this door.
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AdventureE, I’ll be happy to use this, but I’ll continue to list. Why wouldn’t I? Buyers still have to find something they want from me, and if I have no listings, they can’t find it. Sure, a few sellers will try to use this to limit their listings, but even so….that just means ebay gives up the listing fees….the unlisted items that are sold through a private offer are still assessed an FVF, which is where ebay really makes its money, not listing fees.
I don’t see this turning into a complex maze either. In most cases, it would be pretty straightforward.
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While, I do not have data, store fees and listing fees are a huge money maker for ebay (and possibly even a way to recoup money with there being thousands and thousands of sellers). This is most likely why they keep uping the anty and changing their configuration, so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
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Nope, store fees might be pretty important,especially to lend some stability, but it has been years since individual listing fees made up the bulk of ebays revenue…FVFs are the lion’s share. In the early days of ebay, ebay made most of its money from listing fees, which is why ebay didn’t care whether stuff sold or not….just keep relisting, sellers! But that changed years ago….FVFs are king now. I don’t have stats handy, and don’t have time to hunt for them, but if you want to, go ahead.
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