topic Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection in Selling

eBay Plus Listing Selection

a_bee_c — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 05:26:15 GMT

Hi All,

I am courious about how ebay plus listing are selected.

I am a seller and would like all my listing to be flagged as ebay plus.

I chatted with an ebay representative about this and they could not shed an light on the situation.

The response was ebay plus listing are pick at random. Text from transcript "It's randomly picked as you have mentioned."

Example 1 Similar items

Item 223270123803 No ebay plus (Postage Extra) | Item 223270120969 ebay plus (Free Shipping)

Example 2 Similar items

Item 223112374061 ebay plus (Postage Extra) | Item 222808919939 ebay plus (Free Shipping)

I meet all the requirement below on all my listings.

"These are some of the criteria that will help your listings quality for eBay Plus:

The item is new and listed in fixed price format
The item is located in Australia
The item isn't heavy or bulky
The seller accepts returns
The seller doesn't charge additional postage for multiple items
The seller's performance rating is Above Standard or eBay Top Rated
The seller and the listing complies with the eBay User Agreement and all eBay policies (including our Selling practices policy)"

Soo basicly I could be disadvantaged sales wise if my competition has ebay plus and I dont for the identical item and they are randomly selected for ebay plus and I am not.

I cant seem to find any linking factors between selected ebay plus or not seletced.

Any extra light on this will be greatly helped 🙂

Thanks

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

shoppingbag* — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 06:50:40 GMT

Read the fine print. I did a while back and decided I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

lyndal1838 — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 06:57:07 GMT

The plus listings are choosen randomly by ebay as I understand it.

From a buyer's point of view I would not touch it but it may be an advantage for sellers.....you would have to read the fine print and decide for yourself.

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

a_bee_c — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 07:10:18 GMT

Why random though? Who gets to pick? What is the selection based on?

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

cezm — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 08:35:49 GMT

@a_bee_c wrote:
Why random though? Who gets to pick? What is the selection based on?

Please note that eBay may include or remove sellers from participation in eBay Plus at its absolute discretion.

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/selling-ebay-plus?id=4756

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

digital*ghost — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 09:14:22 GMT

@a_bee_c wrote:

Soo basicly I could be disadvantaged sales wise if my competition has ebay plus and I dont for the identical item and they are randomly selected for ebay plus and I am not.

There is no way the selection is random, as that simply wouldn't make good business sense for ebay - it may be impossible to guarantee items are selected, but there are some factors that will help. (Note, I have no interest in my items qualifying for plus, but I have had a bit of a look at which listings have qualified and which ones haven't, purely out of curiosity).

With my own items, I have a separate postage charge so none of mine are listed with 'free postage'. Most of my items range in price between $3-$50. The cheapest item eBay put plus on is $16, but every single listing I have that is above that in price has eBay plus (I offer free postage on all additional items - having additional postage costs resulting in listings not qualifying for plus is new, though, and I suspect it's because not long after it was introduced, there were a few sellers who figured out that if they listed an item at a certain price, with $8 postage but the postage cost accruing for each item purchased, ebay would cover the postage cost for plus members, so they advised people to join and then buy. This allowed them to list items at a very good price, and make a killing on the postage component, because they were letter rate items. They listed highly desirable items and when I looked at their sales history, let's just say they did more in a week or so than my entire annual turnover - I actually kind of felt bad for eBay, for once).

Another seller who has items in the same category as me, with items ranging from around $5-$40, has Plus on every single one of their listings. they key difference is that they offer free post.

We both accept returns, and we both have an extremely low rate of returns.

If you go to any eBay category and just look at the main results, take a look at the number of items available in total, then refine it to only show items with ebay plus. Then refine it to only show items with free post. I found roughly two thirds of plus listings were already free post. Another thing you can look at, though it's a bit harder, is to show only eBay plus items, and have the sort order as price + postage lowest first. Do this in your, and other, categories, and take not of the cheapest item pricfe where postage is a separate cost.

For your items specifically, I suspect due to the higher initial postage cost, the items may be deemed "bulky" by eBay's standard. Your $17 postage ones don't qualify, but your $12 ones do.

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

a_bee_c — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 11:52:19 GMT

Digital*ghost, wil have a full read tomorrow of you reply as it is not easy on my phone.

BUT regarding your last comment.

“For your items specifically, I suspect due to the higher initial postage cost, the items may be deemed "bulky" by eBay's standard. Your $17 postage ones don't qualify, but your $12 ones do.”

I thought about this and tried to make a few changes to my postage options to see what reaction I got, with no change plus or no plus.

And the examples I gave in the initial comment both are of low value and the one with higher value shipping cost added on to the sale has eBay plus and the lower cost shipping add on does not. Doesn’t make sense.

Hence my confusion still.

But will comment more tomorrow. 🙂

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

digital*ghost — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 12:34:25 GMT

@a_bee_c wrote:

And the examples I gave in the initial comment both are of low value and the one with higher value shipping cost added on to the sale has eBay plus and the lower cost shipping add on does not. Doesn’t make sense.

On the first example, the price is under $15, on the second example, the price is over $15 (which I mention because $15 seems to be around the dividing line from my observations - as I mentioned, item price definitely makes a difference when there is postage listed separately. If it's free post then there's no part of the cost ebay has to cover, so item price plays less of a role if you have free post.

If eBay has to pay for postage on a plus purchase, they probably have data to support the price range they decided on, eg maybe people think more carefully about $15+ purchases, or are less inclined to return them for whatever reason.

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

shoppingbag* — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 22:56:39 GMT

Personally, as a buyer I don't care a hoot about whether the item is marked "eBay Plus" or not, it makes no difference to me at all, I never notice or look for this. If I want to buy something I do.

As a Seller, I don't offer free postage and don't want returns, I think that any buyer who goes out of their way to choose Ebay Plus, may be just the very ones I would like to avoid....eg..the ones who expect everything for free, and if they don't like the product or change their mind, expect the Seller to pay to get it back, which I believe can be up to 30 days later, (after they have used your item, damaged your item or whatever) The rule to have to offer no extra postage on additional items, leaves me speechless, so the seller should be out of pocket for this? I don't believe any of these schemes set up by eBay are any benefit to Sellers, but that is just my opinion.

Take the one "guaranteed delivery in 4 days" and "guaranteed posting in one day" I coudn't even contemplate those without a very good and reliable crystal ball. The only thing "quick" that I can see, is a quick way to get into trouble with eBay for failing to deliver on these.

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

cezm — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 01:33:47 GMT

@shoppingbag* wrote:

As a Seller, I don't offer free postage and don't want returns, I think that any buyer who goes out of their way to choose Ebay Plus, may be just the very ones I would like to avoid....eg..the ones who expect everything for free, and if they don't like the product or change their mind, expect the Seller to pay to get it back, which I believe can be up to 30 days later, (after they have used your item, damaged your item or whatever)

I am one of those buyers you would like to avoid because I choose Ebay Plus - but would consider myself a good buyer and choose Ebay Plus because of the advantages it provides to me not because, as you suggest, I expect everything for free, and if they don't like the product or change their mind, expect the Seller to pay to get it back .

Most of the items I have purchased since I joined in August have had additional postage - paid by Ebay - thank you Ebay.

In 17 years buying online I have made one request for a return (this year). The fault was with the product and Ebay paid for the return not the seller.

Ebay Plus will benefit some sellers (by making making some products cheaper for buyers with Ebay picking up some of the tab and therefore potentially raising sales) and benefit some buyers (by reducing the outlay). It's a marketing strategy by Ebay and to brand all buyers who choose it as expecting everything for free is a bit harsh (I think).

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

digital*ghost — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 02:53:22 GMT

I think eBay Plus (at the very least) has the potential to attract a variety of customers, just like online shopping in general does, since there's a variety of factors and benefits to it (from a buyer's perspective) and different types of people will find different factors important / appealing. I wouldn't presume the majority of them will be problematic in any way, but I also think it should be 100% up to individual sellers whether or not they want eBay Plus on their listings, because at the end of the day Plus still supports, if not encourages, certain behaviours that I as a seller would rather not have supported with service standards provided through my store / items.

Sure, in some ways, because I choose to list on eBay, some of how my items are marketed / perceived is out of my control, but service standards and benefits of buying my items over anyone else's should be. I don't really have a problem with Plus, or Plus buyers, in and of themselves. I do have a huge problem with not having a choice over whether my items qualify for it (but, I am glad for this thread, I don't want to disable returns, but perhaps if I charge 50c extra postage for the items eBay have put plus on, it'll go away, it'll kinda ruin a big part of my marketing strategy, though - I was actually holding out to see if eBay's distribution centres would tie in with Plus, like Prime does for the other site, and it would become opt-in instead, but this may solve the issue beforehand).

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

lm-entertainment — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 03:42:07 GMT

like digi has said - when i look at all of your items, all the ones with "free postage" have ebay plus marked on them - as well as those with postage of $12 or below. i think digi is on the money with anything over that price being classed as "bulky" and probably excludes that item from ebay plus.

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

shoppingbag* — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 03:48:11 GMT

You may be a good buyer, but some are not. Some are impossible to please even when you do everything above and beyond what is humanly possible, I just would not want to encourage any further demands by offering eBay Plus.

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

a_bee_c — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 05:40:07 GMT

Im-entertainment, I thought about this hence the two examples I provided.

The more expensive shipping has eBay plus and the $3 shipping is not eBay plus. I have also tried to change other listings to have cheaper shipping to see if that changes anything but but has no change.

Even changed to the same shipping policy that has eBay plus but that doesn’t effect it either.

I can’t find any method to the madness.

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

digital*ghost — Sat, 08 Dec 2018 06:24:16 GMT

@a_bee_c wrote:

I can’t find any method to the madness.

See post #8

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

shoppingbag* — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 05:41:14 GMT

@cezm wrote:

to brand all buyers who choose it as expecting everything for free is a bit harsh (I think).

What is "harsh" is to be wrongly accused because you either did not read or did not understand my post.

I have not used the word "ALL" anywhere. This is a typical example of what Sellers have to tolerate every day. People who simply do not read the words, or do not understand what they read, or like to put their own interpretations in, even though the words they are comparing have totally different meanings. I realize that not everyone in Australia has English as their primary language, and with that in mind I make every attempt to use simple everyday English words. Do you not understand the difference between "may be" and "all" ?

Re: eBay Plus Listing Selection

brerrabbit585 — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 20:35:25 GMT

@shoppingbag* wrote:
@cezm wrote:

to brand all buyers who choose it as expecting everything for free is a bit harsh (I think).
What is "harsh" is to be wrongly accused because you either did not read or did not understand my post.
I have not used the word "ALL" anywhere. This is a typical example of what Sellers have to tolerate every day. People who simply do not read the words, or do not understand what they read, or like to put their own interpretations in, even though the words they are comparing have totally different meanings. I realize that not everyone in Australia has English as their primary language, and with that in mind I make every attempt to use simple everyday English words. Do you not understand the difference between "may be" and "all" ?

But you did say you think that "any buyer" who prefers ebay plus may be one you want to avoid - the word any denoting all in this instance.

"As a Seller, I don't offer free postage and don't want returns, I think that any buyer who goes out of their way to choose Ebay Plus, may be just the very ones I would like to avoid...."

Why is a buyer branded as a possible trouble-maker just because they choose to take advantage of a system that allows them to get an item cheaper? Just because a few people use Plus as a 'try before you buy' system doesn't mean they all do.