topic How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ??? in Selling

How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

annieoakley2000 — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 22:25:43 GMT

I'm a bit lost since the introduction of 30 day fees for "Good Til Cancelled" listings as I still keep getting the sell for free invitation emails with either free listings/free FVF or whatever, but I don't know how this relates to the now very precious 40 Free listings per month.

I don't want to start experimenting with "free" listings, in case they somehow get deducted from the monthly 40 free listings or at the end of the month there is going to be a massive accumulated rollover that can't be accommodated with 40 free listings per month, so what gives ???

I'm already struggling trying to stop older listings from rolling over as I used to list in drips and drabs, so I have to keep a constant eye on every single group of listings, when exactly they are going to roll over, so for starters I can't stagger listings anymore, unless I stay on E-Bay 24/7

Next you have to end the overflow of 40 listings every month and relist them some other time, providing you have some listings left of your now precious 40 free listings per month.

It's a silly big unneccesary administration and a total pain in the a..., unless there is a simple solution that I don't know about ??

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

kopenhagen5 — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 23:15:19 GMT

When you go to promo's you will see all the offers there.

You then need to accept any offer you want.

Some offers are for $1 or 75% off FVF but are not free to list so they will come off your 40 freebies.

Grab any of the the free to list with no FVF. They are a striaight bonus on top of your 40 freebies.

But if you select fixed price be sure to remember to end them before they relist next month if it will exceed your freebies.

Or you could list them as auction with 7 or 10 days.

(That's what I suggest with some of the promos as it makes it easier to keep track of how many GTC at any given time)

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

annieoakley2000 — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 00:55:51 GMT

Thank you so much !!

Will see if I can work it out (here's hoping !)

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

oz-e-seller — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 02:08:31 GMT

If you list them during the promo using the Quick Listing tool they'll renew for free and not use your freebies.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

merfar2107 — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 02:28:28 GMT

I tried the quick listing tool yesyerday and when none of the pretty pictures that they put up matched my item and i selected 'Create your own listing', it reverted to the advanced listing toll. Going to be even more people caught out with re-list fees.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 02:57:59 GMT

It's really easy to monitor when gtc listings are due to roll over. Sign in every morning and see how many are due to roll over that day, bulk end them, then sit and wait for the next unlimited promo. Takes 5 minutes a day to check and end any before they roll over.

If you've got a promo for unlimited listings, eg. weekend promo, bulk end all the ones that are due to roll over in the next week and bulk relist them, with either bulk relist or bulk sell similar. Again, only takes a few minutes.

If you sort your active listings page by time left the ones that are due to roll over next are always at the top and it only takes two seconds to work out which ones need ending.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 04:19:52 GMT

How free are your plugs?
how free are your plugs?
That's all I need to know
cause eBay has a whole world of fees
When they said they would be free

They're charging you and me

Sorry

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

davewil1964 — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:26:07 GMT

Here's hoping. I realise it's a lot of extra work keeping tabs on a whole 55 listings.

I can manage 2,500 without too much trouble, but I treat eBay as a business and never rely on them to do my work for me.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

imastawka — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:35:20 GMT

I particularly like the hand mirror 'that's never been used'

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

davewil1964 — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:40:21 GMT

“The mirror crack'd from side to side
"The curse has come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott”

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

kopenhagen5 — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 12:31:40 GMT

Something interesting has happened.

I just had GTC listings renew but they didn't come off any freebies or promos ?????????

Is eBay giving a grace period perhaps ?

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

davewil1964 — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 13:55:31 GMT

Dunno.

I ended all mine last week and put my store on holiday. I didn't bother with this account as I rarely sell through it.

The upshot is when I get home later this week and activate my store and relist everything on my other account, in a month I will let you know.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

annieoakley2000 — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 22:16:50 GMT

I am changing the majority of my listings to auction for now.

Not that I particularly like auction selling, but it is a safer solution at this point than the rampant "good til cancelled".

I do have a lot more listings than what is showing at present; I have new listings waiting to be listed and removed a lot of listings into unsold until I am sure what exactly I should do.

Having said that; I have nowhere near enough listings to ever warrant a store, so that is not an option either.

I still like to know how all these so called "beneficial changes" are enhances the selling experience for me and the "buying" experience for the buyer, if I have to fiddle with my listings all the time; eg removing/relisting every 30 days; it all seems very counter productive and silly !

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

oz-e-seller — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 00:55:48 GMT

Kopenhagen5 - Did you list them using the quick listing tool? Ebay is now saying that if you use that tool to list GTC when they renew you don't pay insertion fees and they don't deduct from your freebies.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

*tippy*toes* — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 23:24:31 GMT

I can't even find the quick listing tool. Nowhere to be found.

For the last however long, I've been getting the $1 weekend promos. All my listings start on a weekend. Any that finish during the next week are ended and relisted on the weekend. I do that every weekend. Takes less than 5 minutes to end and bulk relist. The $1 promos don't come off your 40 freebies. I couldn't tell you the last time I used any of my 40.

I will keep doing this until eBay remove the $1 weekends (which they will). I'll then set everything to auction with 8 free relists, with a note in the listing saying I will end the auction early if someone doesn't want to wait.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

davidc4430 — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:25:25 GMT

for a long time ive had the free to list 40 items per month,

then there is the list as much as you like and only pay $1 fees which comes out on weekends,

then there has been the once a month offer to list as much as you like and pay no fees.

i havent used any of the 40 free listings in ages. as they incur fees on the sale.

i relist using the $1 fee each week unless my items are listed with no fees offer.

i wait until the no fees offer is about to expire then relist everything with the $1 offer.

i did this last sunday as the no fees offer ended on tuesday.

there has been no new no fees offer yet since that one ended.

if it does pop up i'll relist all my items with it.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

brad_and_el_auctions — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 08:29:28 GMT

I don't get the $1 weekend promos, they would be handy!

DId you read the changes to the auction relist fees tippytoes? If you're using the advanced listing tool you have to set duration for less than 5 days now to get the 8 free relists.

You can find the updated info here https://www.ebay.com.au/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/relisting-items?id=4147

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

brerrabbit585 — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 07:46:39 GMT

I'm afraid you've misread part of that info. You have to set your auctions for 5 days or MORE, not less, if you want the relists. This has been the case for some time and that part hasn't changed.

The other change is interesting though. All those people who changed their BIN listings to auctions are going to be spitting chips.

Re: How Free Are "Free Listings" Nowadays ???

geckos2325 — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 07:42:06 GMT

I am suddenly getting listing fees for items that used to be free to list up to 8 times. I just removed most of my listings as I am not selling enough and making enough profit to afford these extra fees. I started selling a year ago and it was very enjoyable and I made a bit of money, nowadays it's too stressful and sales have declined and with the increase in fees it's just not fun any more. Next!