eBay UK Suspends Regular Fee Discount Promo For September 20-22 2024
eBay UK sellers are disappointed as regular 70-80% off Final Value Fee promotion appears to be suspended for the weekend of September 20-22.
The fee discounts are typically issued fortnightly and are aimed at private consumer/occasional sellers with the goal of stimulating more listing activity on the site, but the eBay UK community was flooded today with complaints that the expected promotion for this weekend was nowhere to be found.
Anybody get a selling promo for this weekend (21/22 September)? Usually I get one once every two weeks but didn't get one this weekend (2 weeks since the last one).
Just pushing me to sell more on vinted
Several sellers report being told by support that eBay has made the decision not to run a fee promotion this week.
Many are reporting no promo today, and a member contacted eBay Customer Support and received this answer:
'From time-to-time eBay reviews our ongoing promotional campaigns and may decide to suspend, change, or cancel them at any time. We have taken the decision not to offer promotions over the weekend of the 20th-22nd September 2024.'
Seemingly they are skipping this weekend's promotion but... just in case.... perhaps worth checking that Promotional Offer section from time to time, if it will be offered, it will be sitting there waiting to be activated.
That information was also confirmed by eBay support on Twitter.
Hi there, It has just been announced we have made the decision to not offer promotions over this weekend. I understand this is disappointing not to benefit at this time however we are still confident you can profit. ~Shane
— Ask eBay (@AskeBay) September 20, 2024
These regular fee discount promotions for the UK are in addition to the fee free selling in clothing categories for private sellers that was introduced in April - that was a permanent change and is still in effect, sellers have just not receive the additional promotions that usually apply across other categories as well.
Some sellers on Reddit suspected the reason for suspending the fee offer this weekend is that new iPhones are being released today, which could spur sales of old phones that eBay would rather collect the full fee amount on.
Probably because there be lots of people listing iPhones this week … wait 2 weeks for the 80% offer it will come back !
Any chance it’s due to the new iPhones and people are going to be listing stuff like mad?
Others believed it was likely due to changes set to take place October 1st that will lower the monthly allotment of free listings for private sellers.
Liz Morton
Some US sellers wondered why similar fee discount promotions are almost non-existent on the main marketplace.
Okay, I'd like to know why it appears other countries are getting 80% off fees and we never see anything like that around here...
...it is also discouraging to those of us that never receive anything-- even a teeny tiny perk of some type thrown out once in a while would help my mood.
That sentiment was echoed by business sellers at eBay Open UK last week where things reportedly got heated with sellers challenging eBay staff about private sellers getting perks and fee discounts while no such consideration is given to business sellers.
Liz Morton
One problem with these kinds of fee discount promotions is they have pretty much the same effect on sellers that the many sitewide discount sales ex-ceo Devin Wenig used to run in 2018-2019 had on buyers...human psychology kicks in and once users on either side get used to the idea that there will always be another discount right around the corner, they tend to hold off until that reward is offered.
Wenig was rightfully heavily criticized for the tactic as it created "one and done" or only occasional buyers who would purchase only when/if a discount was offered and the strategy was considered such a failure that current CEO Jamie Iannone felt the need to explicitly distance himself from it when speaking to investors in Q2 2021.
We've discontinued legacy tactics that led to low value, infrequent or one and done buyers. Our buyer base is starting to evolve based on this strategy. These high-volume buyers are growing compared to a year-ago and their spend on eBay is growing even faster. This higher-quality mix of buyers increases value for sellers and will lead to improved health of our ecosystem over the long-term...
..This is something that I laid out last July when we talked about the tech-led reimagination as being focused on turning buyers into lifelong enthusiasts on the platform and moving away from the tactics that we had in 2019 what was really just about the number of active buyers even low value buyers or one and done buyers.
Unfortunately, the same thing appears to be happening on the seller side, with many UK sellers saying they just won't be listing anything this weekend and will wait for next promotion instead.
That could lead to "one and done" sellers in much the same was as Wenig's failed discounting strategy for buyers, which wouldn't be conducive to eBay's need to show GMV growth to meet forecasts provided to investors through the end of the year.
And of course support has been tight lipped about when or if the promotions will resume their regular fortnightly cadence - leaving sellers possibly looking to branch out to competing marketplaces in the meantime.
How does not receiving fee discount promotions impacting your listing and selling activity on eBay UK? Let us know in the comments below!
