Seller boosts prices when vouchers start

[mark.wooba]

An Item was increased in price $10 at the same time that an eBay $20 (off $100 minimum spend) voucher was offered. Seller covered his part of the discount with a price increase, so actually gave no discount. This is sharp practice, illegal in normal retail trade. I unfortunately fell for it and bought it, then saw that his feedback showed others paid $10 less before voucher started. What can one do about this?

[mark.wooba]

Disagree. How come A can do it in the UK, which is much further from China (higher shipping costs), also unionised etc. Amaz. have their own business model, vast bulk buys, lots of automation, which is why Bezos is about to become the richest man in the world (see Guardian article)
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/02/jeff-bezos-amazon-founder-worlds-richest-man-bill...

[lyndal1838]

Well we will see who is right when they do start up, bearing in mind that there will probably be plenty of loss leaders at first to get established.   Only after 6 months or so of trading will we really see how competitive they really are.

[digital*ghost]

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@mark.wooba wrote:
Disagree. How come A can do it in the UK, which is much further from China (higher shipping costs), also unionised etc. Amaz. have their own business model, vast bulk buys, lots of automation, which is why Bezos is about to become the richest man in the world (see Guardian article)
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/02/jeff-bezos-amazon-founder-worlds-richest-man-bill...

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You're only looking at a very narrow perspective, though.

Are you considering all of the things a business considers when they price things?

Will A's warehousing, insurance, import and workforce costs in Australia be comparable to those in the UK and / or the US? Will their delivery costs be comparable? Do you think Australians will put up with the work conditions they have to in the US, for minimum wage? (A are known to have a high turnover of staff, because they work them under poor conditions, for long hours, often until they're sick and have to quit - will Aussies accept that?). 

You also realise that A isn't just a market unto themselves - the site is populated with millions of sellers just like eBay is, do you believe all the Aussie sellers jumping on board will lower their prices for A? As I said before, I won't, it would result in an across the board increase if I sold there - especially if I opted into fulfillment by A, as then there would also be additional costs in getting my stock to A. 

They are not coming here to save the day. They are coming here to make money, and it's going to cost them to do that here, more than it does in the US, that's for sure. 

[springyzone]

Just a general reply, not specifically for DG or anything.

I was just wondering-How much do ebay voucher codes influence people to buy? or buy on impulse.

From memory, I can only recall ever being offered 3 voucher offers, the last one being $15 off if I spent more than $100. (I think that was it, anyway.) It expired on 31st May because I really didn't have things on ebay I was sure I wanted to buy. I did get that,'Oh boy, where was that offer when I could have used it a few weeks back" feeling. But that's life.

The point I am making is (for me at least), if i used a voucher it would probably be on something in my watch list and I don't clear that out very often. So.. if prices did a lot of fluctuating up & down during/after voucher offers, I would probably notice.

I can't say i noticed any differences on my watched items during the period of the sale. That's not to say it doesn't happen with some sellers as my watched list is not all that long. And my watched items are usually smaller things.

I'm guessing here but I would say most buyers don't spend $100 at a time, so they would not be eligible for a discount.

The only sellers who could pop their prices up in anticipation(during that voucher promotion) would have been those with items over the $100 mark. So that would cut out most sellers.

[lyndal1838]

Springy, I ONLY buy during discount voucher promotions these days.

I have a list of Wants for several people....CDs and DVDs for family members mostly.  They want them but not at full price.  I have time to get the best deal for them.

If the promotion calls for spending $100 you don't have to buy one item at that value.  Every promotion I have ever seen will allow up to 10 items to be bought...from the same seller OR different sellers.

Edit....I have just discovered a situation completely opposite to the OP.

I have bought a couple of external hard drives from a seller who is listed as a seller in the current promotion.  I paid $175 less discount last time I bought one.  This time the price is $160.  A very nice drop in price.

[*tippy*toes*]

The seller I bought the fridge from the other night with the frenzy had actually dropped their prices that day. So with their own price reduction, coupled with the 15% off that I got, it came in at nearly half price of what it would cost to buy it locally. Their prices went back to normal the next day, so it looked to me like they were encouraging buyers to use the vouchers and buy from them. At over 200,000 feedback with 100% positive, I think they know what they're doing. Looking at their sold items for Thursday afternoon/evening, it paid off for them. Lets just say they would have been very busy on Friday posting everything out. They've got a B&M store and I think several people would have had to dedicate themselves to posting for the entire day.

Other times when I've used vouchers the sellers had reduced the price (actually reduced the price, not put them on sale). It makes more sense to do that because people are going to use their vouchers with them. I'm very close to unloading more money at the EOFY sales on here, just trying to decide if I can justify it. What I can get it for from Peters at Kensington is about half the price I can get it for locally. They have the items on sale, plus they are part of the 20% EOFY sale thing.

[lyndal1838]

Peters prices on here are always the same as on their own website.  If you take advantage of the extra discount you will get a really good deal.

[brerrabbit585]

springy, I've found that I don't use a voucher they usually offer me the same one again a couple of weeks later, sometimes almost straight away. I've learnt that if I don't want something at the time it pays to wait for the next one in case one of my favourite sellers has something I'm more interested in.

At the moment I've got one for $20 off with a $30 minimum spend. That's 66% off if I only spend the minimum. I had one of these a couple of weeks ago and didn't use it because I didn't have the time or energy to think about it, so I was really pleased they offered it again. I got one of these last August but on a different ID.

[*tippy*toes*]

I feel cheated now, I've got a $10 off with a minimum $20 spend, that's only 50%. I much prefer to sound of your 66%! I got it on one of my non active accounts. I've only ever bought one thing on that account, when it got a really good voucher last year (25% or something). Speaking of which, it expires tonight. Mr Tippy had a DVD in the watch list for $22, so I'll probably get that for him.

[davewil1964]

All I've got is 10% off, twice, for my birthday.

I suppose it's something, but I would have expected 3.