eBay is running an auction listing promotion this week, but if you did not receive an email invitation, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are prohibited from participating, as one EcommerceBytes reader discovered this week.
The latest promotion gives invited sellers the opportunity to list up to 300,000 auction listings, with 3, 5, 7, and 10-day listing durations included in the offer.
An eBay seller who did not receive an email invitation told EcommerceBytes he noticed the promotion advertised on his My eBay account page in the “Promotional offers” box. The reader said he hadn’t previously noticed the box, which is located at the very bottom of the account page, and wondered if it was new. Since he has his settings set to receive emails, he was surprised when an eBay rep told him the company doesn’t always send an email notice about invitation-only promotions, and the rep recommended he keep checking his promotions box.
“So,” the reader advised, “for those people that always say they were not invited, they may want to move their promotional box from the bottom of their My eBay page to the top so that when they do go to their My eBay page it will be the first thing that they see.”
Interestingly eBay customized the invitation that it emailed to some participants. One seller received a generic invitation that said, “Make this your best selling season ever. Millions of shoppers are bidding now! List auction-style free for up to 300K items.”
Another seller received the same invitation, but it said, “Millions of tech buyers are bidding now,” substituting “tech buyers” for “shoppers.” It also highlighted different products. The generic invitation stated, “What sells for the holidays and every day,” while the invitation to the seller of tech products stated, “What’s selling in tech right now.”
Both invitations included a link to the 2013 Holiday Selling Guide where eBay urged sellers to offer “hassle-free returns” and offer “Fast ‘n Free” shipping for up to an 11% increase in sales and automatic 5-stars for shipping cost DSRs, along with a boost in Best Match search results for Fixed Price listings that offer free shipping, and included a link to learn more about eBay Seller Protection.
This latest promotion kicked off on November 9th and runs through November 16th. Invited sellers who list in the auction-style or auction-style with Buy It Now formats pay no insertion fee. Sellers that are invited to participate will have received an email and/or a message in My eBay. The promotion is activated with the seller’s eBay User ID and is not transferable.
Sellers who have been invited to participate in the promotion will automatically receive the promotional rate when they list items in the auction-style or auction-style with Buy It Now formats through the Sell Your Item form, eBay Seller Tools, eBay mobile applications, and most third-party tools.
All other fees apply, see eBay website for details and restrictions.
