Ebay plus - meh

[p9games]

Does anybody see any value in Ebay plus?

As a buyer you get express post and free returns.  I buy an item to keep it not to return it so the returns aspect (as a buyer) seems of little to no value.  And express post is of low value (to me as a buyer) because I'm buying random stuff not life saving medication.  This is not worth $50 a year which probably explains why so few customers have a Ebay+ subscription.  I just ran a recent sales report and from 5,000 rows of sales data not a single Ebayplus member.  Zero.   Zilch!

As a seller, I actively avoid qualifying for Ebay plus because the idea of giving away free express postage is not very appetising. If sellers avoid it, it further reduces the attractiveness to buyers because no item is Ebay plus.

Time to revamp this system or scrap it.  It offers buyers little to no value and it costs sellers money so we actively avoid it.

[padi*0409]

p9, even when ebay plus first came out and I was buying a lot more on eBay than I am now, it certainly wasn't worth me subscribing to it. So obviously it's even less attractive now for me.

Cancelling ebay plus is one of the more common questions/gripes that come up on the boards, that gives an indication of how both buyers and sellers see it.

I can't see eBay either revamping it or scrapping it, revamping would kind of indicate they got it wrong (shock, horror) and scrapping it would do the same thing and lose them all those subscriptions (more shock and horror).

There are certainly ways that eBay could make their platform more attractive to both buyers and sellers, but they have their own agenda and rarely listen to members anyway.

[papermoon.lady]

I never even started the trial because my interest for eBay Plus has always been non-existent. 

And PayPal offers free returns too if you register (for free) - I think up to $40 per return, which is reasonable.

[justkidzbiz]

Yes that’s right. PayPal will reimburse up to $40 postage for returns.

[padi*0409]

Nope guys, it's $45.00 and a max of 8 returns a year.

https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/returns

[padraicpaul91]

As a seller I will not employ ebay+. I would need to increase my prices to accommodate the increased costs, particularly returns. This will put me at a disadvantage with my competitors, most of whom do not offer it. 

I think ebay+ is best suited to high margin, high volume sellers.

As a buyer, I do use ebay+, mostly materials for my business. It has been of value.

[papermoon.lady]

Yes, for people who buy a lot of items for their business, it might be useful, but not for buyers who like rare items (and sellers who sell rare items don't use eBay Plus anyway).

[springyzone]

Does anybody see any value in Ebay plus?

For me personally, no. I'm a buyer.

The main reason I have never bothered is I don't buy that much on ebay any more. I tend to shop online a lot, mind you.

Most of the things I buy on ebay are either 'free postage' or else if they include extra for postage, that item is not an ebay item in any case.

And a big turn off is that only a few things seem to be ebay plus items. They are definitely in the minority.

[p9games]

I go out of my to ensure my items DO NOT qualify for Ebay + because it has zero value for me as a seller and forces me to make a loss on express post.  It seems most other sellers also avoid it.  So you have to hunt pretty hard to find items that are Ebay +

Zero value for sellers = very few Ebay+ items = zero value for buyers

Ebay needs to provide some incentive for sellers.  That would lead to more items having the Ebay+ logo and might lead to more subscribers.