eBay Reminds Sellers about Volume Pricing Options

eBay interviewed a seller about his use of a promotional tool called Volume Pricing, an option for those who sell multiple-quantity goods on the platform that may not be as well known as other selling features. eBay’s podcast host Jim “Griff” Griffith interviewed Jude Lugo of J&L Making a Difference several months ago and published the interview today, January 9, 2024.

eBay explains Volume Pricing on its help page where it says the feature gives tiered discounts to buyers purchasing multiple quantities of a seller’s items. A graphic on the page offers an example where a seller listed a mini rubber duck for $2.99, but offers discounts for buying 2 ducks (at $2.69 each); 3 ducks (at $2.54 each); or 4 or more ducks (for $2.39 each). “The improved item page experience makes it easier for buyers to buy more, so you save on shipping,” eBay explains.

Volume pricing can be used on any fixed price listing (the buyer-facing treatment will not show on single-quantity items). Volume pricing can be applied to 500 SKUs or item IDs per promotion. Sellers can use category rules or the All Inventory option, in which case volume pricing would be applied to all qualifying inventory.

While not initially available for variations, the help page on eBay currently states:

“Setting the flag means that the volume discount will only be applied when a buyer purchases multiple quantities of a single item in your volume pricing promotion, not when they purchase single quantities of multiple items in your volume pricing promotion. Purchasing two variations of an item is considered multiple quantities of a single item.”

(Note that a report came in to Ecommerce EKG yesterday from a seller who was having difficulty using Volume Pricing on variations, so keep an eye out if you’re using the tool.)

eBay had profiled Jude Lugo in 2022 (“This Gen Z Seller Turned a $1 Book Into a Thriving eBay Business“). The young man started exploring eBay to learn about the basics of entrepreneurship when he was 13 with the help of his mother. (He’s now in college.)

In the eBay for Business podcast posted today, Lugo told Griff about some of the advantages of using Volume Pricing. It boosts his profit margin when someone buys multiple items thanks to the savings on shipping. He said for fashion items, it might not make sense, but for office supplies that people constantly reorder, volume pricing works great, he said.

There’s another benefit to using Volume Pricing, he said – buyers feel more comfortable purchasing from sellers who have sold a larger quantity of an item than from sellers who may have only sold two. “I’ve always been a firm believer in that you don’t always have to make money on the first few of the item or on all of the items, but you wanna make money on that SKU as a whole,” he said.

eBay launched Volume Pricing 5 years ago – readers reacted to the new tool in this September 2018 EcommerceBytes Blog post; we haven’t heard much from sellers about the tool since then, so feel free to leave a comment if you’ve had experience using it on your multi-quantity listings. And let us know if there are other tools you’d like to see eBay make available to sellers.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.