topic Re: Where are the free listings? in Selling

Where are the free listings?

comedy2114 — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 22:15:00 GMT

Does anyone have any theories on why non store sellers haven't got the free listings in a long time?

Re: Where are the free listings?

casbit33 — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 22:17:43 GMT

I guess ebay are waiting until the 1st November to give us free promotional listings. Too bad there won't be many sellers left to get them.

Re: Where are the free listings?

jenni200011 — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 22:23:50 GMT

Yes was really hoping we would get an offer today..Its difficult ithout them to list too many items especially with sales being poor lately and everyone seems to be only spending low.. November has all the new changes coming into effect they probably are unsure how many will keep selling or hold back ..Maybe they want to entice us more at that time rather than now

Re: Where are the free listings?

comedy2114 — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 22:26:56 GMT

Good point jenni.

Re: Where are the free listings?

pennyforum14 — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 22:29:04 GMT

I'm sort of leaning towards the thought that they may in fact give us an allocation today just to keep us here past Nov 1...LOL.

Re: Where are the free listings?

acenyg — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 23:12:15 GMT

Ebay are really P*****G me off! We wait and wait and wait for free listings which should be more regular. I'm hoping they do release some today or tomorrow at the latest. This is getting ridiculous!

Re: Where are the free listings?

the_rosey_review — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:22:44 GMT

Whilst I was also hoping for an offer today, I think perhaps one will come next week with a Halloween theme. You know how they like their happy, festive themes. Also, others make a good point about an offer arriving pre-Nov1 to keep us all listing into the dark zone. Best of luck everyone!

Re: Where are the free listings?

pennyforum14 — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:40:07 GMT

In all honesty, while I love the bonus free listings offers, I don't expect them as a given, and don't think they should be more regular. They are not part of the published offering for regular sellers, we are given a regular allocation of 40 free listings every month and we are not promised more than that. I am grateful for the extras, but they are just that, extras.

Re: Where are the free listings?

lalala-au — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 03:41:51 GMT

They are handy and and even though they aren't a given I still think they should do them once a month to make for their fees and policy changes. I personally think Ebay don't give enough to sellers overall. With even more changes going against sellers I think they shoud increase the 40 free listings a month to at least 50. It seems they keep taking from sellers and rarely giving, If there was another site just as competive as Ebay but with cheaper fees or the same with more listings there is no doubt we would all be there. Selling in the last 12 months, fees have gone up, harsher policy changes towards sellers and no one ever seems to be interested in sellers opinions, the only satisfaction I can get from Ebay is the free listings, otherwise their service towards me as a seller is pathetic. Maybe a Halloween theme although must say surprised with the spring racing carnival on in Melbourne that Ebay didn't do free listings to cash in on all the people looking for fancy dress, shoes, bags, hats, jewellery etc.

Re: Where are the free listings?

casbit33 — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 04:11:19 GMT

They should make all listings free. They make enough money from all their other fees etc. They don't need listing fees as well.

Re: Where are the free listings?

lousbloomingarden — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 04:40:56 GMT

They are actually losing money by not making them free...Sellers wait for those free listings as lets face it ...$1.50 to list an item....?

Who wants to pay that on top of eveything else...Bloomin stinks.

Re: Where are the free listings?

beallieblue-oz — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 05:50:22 GMT

USA site has had 50 free listings for ages. Not sure what UK has.

Re: Where are the free listings?

i-love-my-sheep — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 08:13:39 GMT

@comedy2114 wrote:
Does anyone have any theories on why non store sellers haven't got the free listings in a long time?

I wouldn't exactly call 3 weeks a 'long time'.

Re: Where are the free listings?

redneck2013au — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 11:02:28 GMT

lol i love my sheep

On the contrary 3 weeks is a very long time if you were one of the silly ones that used all 40 the 1st week and your waiting for

what might or might not come in free listings. We try to use 10 a week to stretch them out and if we get more that's great but if we

don't oh well. Last ones were on 24th of sept. and we missed them due to a family crisis and we had to shut down for 3 weeks.

I wonder when people will learn they are not guaranteed

Re: Where are the free listings?

cq_tech — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 14:02:01 GMT

@casbit33 wrote:
They should make all listings free. They make enough money from all their other fees etc. They don't need listing fees as well.

Absolutely agree. It would cost eBay nothing to remove listing fees altogether and if all listings were totally free people wouldn't be restricting themselves to their limit of 40 per month and eBay's income from FVFs would go through the roof. Most people are simply not prepared to risk $1.50 on listings which are unlikely to sell in this current slow sales climate, particularly when the item price is $20 or less, as most of them seem to be these days. At the very least, increasing the number of free listings to even 100 per month wouldn't disadvantage eBay in the least and could only benefit them in the long term.

Re: Where are the free listings?

justajunk — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 14:09:43 GMT

I agree that 100 automatic free listings a month would be a good idea. I don't think unlimited free listings are a good idea though -- it encourages people to randomly create listings for non-saleable items, which in turn clog up the website. Only a few months ago, there was someone selling a used MacDonalds cup on the site...

Re: Where are the free listings?

dotm2004 — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 21:10:46 GMT

Yes ... I think 100 free listings a month would be absolutely wonderful !!

I was receiving them regularly and now they've completely dried up.

When I rang eBay and enquired .... PLEASE, EVERYONE DO THAT 🙂 They told me that they are random and people are getting them all the time .... and to keep waiting (I have been waiting for weeks). I don't know anyone who's had any for some time now ... well, none this month.

My theory is that, as I purchase the items I sell and don't sell at a very high profit, to add another $1.50 onto every item, isn't worth while.

When the free listings are there, I list as much as I can AND CERTAINLY NOT RUBBISH ....therefore, I make more money and eBay benefit by the final value fees. Does that make sense to everyone? I just don't see their logic.

I have been a 'loyal' supporter of eBay for years, and work within their guidelines. I don't usually complain, but just lately I feel that selling has become a chore rather than an enjoyment (like it used to be).

I think it's important that we all let them know our feelings.

Fingers crossed for today ..............

Re: Where are the free listings?

chameleon54 — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 21:27:16 GMT

@comedy2114 wrote:
Does anyone have any theories on why non store sellers haven't got the free listings in a long time?

OP, I,ve got a theory for you. Many reputable computer boffiny type people ( on large profesional computer forums and news services ) believe that ebay has not spent nearly enough money on upgrading its computer service capacity to meet a growing customer base. If true this means it does not actually have the infrastructure in place to keep all of the listings it has now visible all of the time. Many very experienced store sellers have well documented cases of their listings not being visible to their customers at all times. This results in a lights on, lights off type effect where stores sell a number of items in a few hours and then nothing for a day or two. Many believe that sales for stores are rationed, making it difficult to increase total sales over an extended period. While I have no proof of this, my experiences suggest something "very strange" has been going on for awhile. Maybe this could be part of the answer to your question.

Re: Where are the free listings?

dotm2004 — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 21:36:42 GMT

Thank you chameleon ......

I think you've hit the jackpot !!

I have been wondering why my sales have dropped dramatically, when in fact I haven't changed a thing.

How can we find out whether we are not getting the coverage we should ??

And again ..... LET'S ALL COMPLAIN EN MASSE !!!!

Re: Where are the free listings?

chameleon54 — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 22:16:15 GMT

In a recent thread, Digital Ghost noted that one of her regular interstate clients had searched everywhere on ebay for her listings and they simply where not visible. As a regular, the client contacted DG direct by email and sorted her buying requirements out this way. I list my items for sale Internationally ( and pay for international exposure ) . A reasonable % of my sales come from overseas. Of these sales around 20% come from Norway. You cant tell me that Norway is that big a country to regularly account for 20% of my International sales. ( My products are generic in nature ). the only logical explanation is ebay give Australian listings more exposure to Norway than other countries. ( read, our listings are not always visible everywhere like they should be ) .

I regularly experience the "lights on, lights off" effect, selling 8-10 items one day then nothing for two days. I,m no computer expert, but the theory in previous thread would explain some of the strange things we see going on and account for ebays reluctance to allow us to list items for free. They simply couldnt handle the listing numbers with the rickety old, patched up, broken down, computer network that they have. This could also explain the recent push to discourage small store holders as it may be cheaper to reduce seller numbers ( keeping larger stores selling new items ) than to do a major, very expensive upgrade of a huge, obsolete, worn out, computer network.

As to sales dropping dramatically recently, some of this has to be because of Ebays disputes with Google. Google introduced a new search system several months ago, which works against some ( dodgy ) strategies that ebay where using to push our listings up to the top of searches. Noe our listings may not show up untill page three or four in google searches, behind a number of independant sellers.