Free listings? Are they a scam?

[henrymillonplus]

Free listings?
Is there such a thing.I look at my listings the first 10 pages out of 40 odd get looked at .The last pages with the so called free listings do not get looked at.Is this a e-bay scam ? Or am I being paranoid? Since the 1st of May the sales have disappeared,SO e-bay installed free listings to console the frustrated sellers. What is the point are we really that stupid?Possibly I am I still am here .What about you?

[extra-keen]

I don't think there is an intention by ebay to scam its sellers. However I do know how frustrating it is to find your own listings on the last pages, because mine tend to be in the middle to the end and in my categories there are thousands and thousands of listings world wide. (I have a store and that doesn't seem to help in search ranking).

I do also think there is a general slow down in activity that is not related to ebay.

However here are a couple of things I do to help, who knows you might be able to use these techniques or it may help you to develop some new techniques to bring your items forward in searches.

1. Have a mixture of buy it now, and auction style listings.

2. Be active with listing every day (try to edit, or create at least 3 listings per day)

3. Look for outside methods of promotion - like Facebook - you can put a link to your items on ebay. Local notice boards at your shopping centre often work.

4. Ebay is not the only place to sell, have a look at the other sites around, some of them actually work better depending upon what it is you are selling. (Having said this, ebay still seems to generate the most visits).

5. Your photographs are tremendously important. Make sure they are good (I haven't looked, so if you are already doing this please feel free to ignore). The photograph is usually the first thing a buyer sees, make sure the impression is good.

There are probably others, but I can't think of them at the moment. Time for some sleep I think. LOL

Good luck!

[*sparklz*]

The idea of a scam is to make money.

Free listing and no sale means no money for ebay so doubt it can be labeled a scam.

[zelly888]

The only ones that are getting scammed on the free listings are ebay they are the ones giving sellers the chance to list for free so a seller would be crazy not to take up the opportunity to list for free even if you don't make a sale because it's a no brainer,free listing or $1.50.

[*crikey*mate*]

I wouldn't call them a scam, more a marketing strategy. But eBay are definitely making money from them.

The more products that are listed, the more choices there are for customers which leads to greater traffic for the site.

Greater traffic for the site means that eBay can attract larger advertising accounts, anybody noticed the increase in advertising on here lately? The types of people advertising? I think I've got realestate.com.au as one of my banner adds somewhere = not sure what they have to do with eBay - so thinking it is purely for advertisement purposes.

Also, eBay don't seem to mind people having several selling accounts to take advantage of the free listings. Makes it look like more members - makes the company look more attractive to shareholders, stakeholders and potential advertisers etc.

There's more, but you're getting the idea... But eBay is definitely making money from this, perhaps indirectly - they're a business - that is the goal of a business. More than likely though, whilst individual sales are down, across the board, you will probably find that sales have increased (as far as eBay's bottom line is concerned) - they're just spread over more people now.

[joz*garage]

i have a feeling ebay are cleaning up on shonky sellers

noticed a lot of sellers are restricted to list if there accounts have just a few negative feedbacks and a poor DSR

and rewarding good sellers with free listing offers.

mebbe theyre looking at building a good reputation, & a safe place to buy?

[zelly888]

I have noticed that if I go onto a website say like gum tree then all the banners on my ebay page are to do with gum tree has anyone noticed this on their site,talk about pushing the advertising,could have something to do with ebay owning gum tree

[xena-and-alex]

" I think I've got realestate.com.au as one of my banner adds somewhere = not sure what they have to do with eBay "

I can't verify it but I've read on the boards recently that realestate.com.au belongs to ebay.

[bluelillypilly]

Am I the only one happy with the free listings? I have recently made a big effort to sell all the stuff I have sitting around,plus a load I was given to sell. I am not a store,nor ever intend to be, just a private seller. So far it is going well and I do not have to factor in fees for items not sold. Just maybe Ebay realised that they were losing sellers to other sites and have made it more attractive to the Mums and Dads who just want to make some pocket money.I am sure I am not the only one who skims over obvious store listings or BIN and just looks at Auction items unless I am seriously looking for something (and then I would Google web sites anyway) For a lot of us it would help if there was a store only list . Ebay used to be more private sellers and a lot liked it that way - a bit like trawling a market from home.

[henrymillonplus]

Thank you for your positive answers,it helps to bring the spirit up .I am probably being paranoid ,and am looking for reasons for the instant drop in sales .Good luck for your sales and thank you again for being so positive.