@countessalmirena wrote:
From the information I had, it seemed as though sellers were not aware of the eBay discount code, and also that sellers weren't paying any part of the discount.
The seller mentioned by the OP has the code and discount amount on every single one of their images, so it's very clear they are aware of it, and in advance because how else would they know to create and upload images with graphics that detail the discount and code (that's actually also asgainst eBay policy, at least for regular pleb sellers like myself - advertising "eBay" discount codes, I mean, either on images or in subtitles etc).
There's a shoe seller on here I've bought from a few times, and who also semi-regularly participates in these discount promotions. I bought the shoes I currently wear from them here on eBay. I saw recently, during one such 20% off promotion, that the brand and model I'm currently wearing was reduced to $50 (normally $200 - this wasn't a separate discount or sale, as such, either - they'd changed the regular BIN price). With 20% off, I figured I'd buy a couple of pairs and be set for a good few years. I added two pairs to my cart, then thought I'd go back and have a look at what else they had (because the brand itself was reduced from RRP quite significantly with a few other styles), didn't really find anything else I wanted and so went to checkout. But I couldn't, because the seller had withdrawn the item from sale (i.e. reduced the stock in the listing to 0, while i was looking at other things). I went back and did a search in their store for the brand name, and all but one or two styles were now showing, just the ones that weren't heavily reduced.
They would have no reason to do that during a discount promotion if eBay covered 100% of the discount. (I'm not saying their actions are wrong, BTW, that's very different from raising prices while a promo is running, and any seller has the right to withdraw an item from sale if they can't offer it at an advertised price, I'm just relating that to highlight that the discounts are facilitated, at least in part, by the sellers). I went to their website and bought them instead, since no matter which way you slice it, $50 for $200 shoes is a bargain.
Early last year, my son moved out and needed a fridge, so I figured that would be my housewarming gift to him, and did quite a bit of looking around online to get a good deal on one. I was looking at other online stores as well as eBay, and also put several fridges on my watch list in order to compare them. One of the sellers on the list is a well known electronic goods seller who particpates in lots of 20% off promotions, though one wasn't running at the time, and I didn't have the time to wait for one to be, however I ended up buying from them on eBay because eBay had a universal 5% off discount for any Aussie sellers, which made one from them the best, cheapest option.
I didn't take the fridges off my watch list afterwards, though, and noticed that the next time they were doing a "20% off" promo, the fridge I bought was, in fact, suddenly more expensive, and I wouldn't have saved much if I'd been in a position to wait for a bigger discount. I kept watching them, because my own fridge started having problems, and their prices do indeed fluctuate most... unusually.
Not all sellers do this, as you mentioned P o'K certainly doesn't and they regularly participate - their prices (at least on the things I'm interested in, like the Blunts 
) aren't even inflated here, like some other sellers who also regularly participate will do. i.e. Their prices don't rise and fall in line with promos, but since people now know they'll offer the 20% discount sooner or later and so will typically wait for it before buying, their original prices on eBay are often high enough to absorb it.
