Price Easing

[karecoope-95]

Just saw this new "feature" when listing using the app. In the part where you price your item, Ebay has put this price easing: lower your price gradually over time. If you opt in, it says "starting 10 days after listing we'll lower your price 5% every 5 days, until your item sells or gets to $12 (or whatever) notifying buyers who showed interest each time. Can they be serious?

Is this new or have I just not noticed it before?

I cant imagine anyone doing this. And the buyers will be bombarded with messages.

[countessalmirena]

Outside the asylum

[eol-products]

It's actually not a bad idea for those with stock they need to clear or is at its use by date. As long as a buyer is unaware the feature is active it would save having to manually drop the price every week.

[brerrabbit585]

I seem to remember when I first joined ebay you could only alter the price downwards when you relisted, never upwards. It was a while ago so I could be wrong.

[tazzieterror]

Potentially useful for some sellers for some items, but geez - if eBay automatically opt some sellers in - watch out!

[digital*ghost]

I would probably use this feature, or at least a similar strategy, if I was closing up shop and liquidating stock - and emailing buyers wasn't involved for every price reduction. One annoucement that prices will reduce periodically is enough. In saying that, liquidation strategies hardly seem conducive to a site that wants to be top-tier retail. Reducing until sold is essentially a reverse auction, and screams 'sell at all costs'. 

And the emailing of buyers is just eBay (and, by virtue, the seller) in the back seat of your car going "are you gonna buy it yet? are you gonna buy it yet.....?" 

I put an item in my cart a couple of weeks ago, and I've lost count of how many times I've received an email or SMS notification reminding me to checkout - in the past when I've left items in my cart, I got one (and one only) reminder, which is still annoying but only mildly. If I could reach into the back seat and give eBay that facepalm instead, I know I'd feel better for a few moments, even if I also know it wouldn't shut them the heck up. (Most people would probably just remove the item, I'll buy it eventually though, so I CBA  ). 

[jellybirddesigns]

I think this idea works better in the physical world than online.

We lived in Canada for a couple of years and once came across a fabulous home decor store that had everything from antiques to modern.

Each item had a tag with THAT WEEKS price on it.

Prices were dropped every week by a certain amount or pecentage and a new tag was generated.

The idea was that if YOU didn't buy it at the current price on the spot, then someone would probably come along and get it the next week when the price went lower, so there was definitely incentive for you to buy there and then as everything was one of a kind.

I guess it plays on people's FOMO (fear of missing out).

[clubesquire]

Yes.

Mel.