posted on January 28, 2001 06:37:03 PM
Instead of eventually charging a fee for sellers to list using BIN....ebay might instead refund basic listing fees for any auction that closes with a BIN.
It just seems to me that BIN sales suit their interest in getting auctions on and off the servers fast, so why not actively encourage it?
posted on January 28, 2001 06:54:00 PM
I think you are dreaming!
I think the logical way to go is to charge only if the auction ends with BIN. That way the seller can factor the cost into the BIN price. That is the only way I'd continue to use it if/when a fee is implemented.
posted on January 28, 2001 07:01:25 PM
...or how about this. Make BIN the standard format and charge the quarter extra only if an item goes the auction route instead. That way they reward people who sell faster and get the items off their servers quicker. That would actually be more pragmatic from the standpoint of Ebay. That's not to say I am in favor of such a change. I'm not...I rarely use BIN. It just would make more sense on Ebay's part---but I suspect their charges to us aren't based on THEIR costs at all.
posted on January 29, 2001 06:23:40 AM
Ebay's revenue model is based on making their money on the front end. (listing fees) As stated above, the only logical way to charge would be "as used" since it is not a listing enhancement but a method of sale.
This certainly occurred to Ebay and was most likely part of why they have delayed charging. First, they needed wide-spread use so that sellers would see enough benefit to justify the additional (up-front, non-refundable) fee for its use. Second, they needed a way to justify charging for it whether it was used or not. They needed it to be classified as a "listing enhancement" that would theoretically attract more traffic to your auction. They have done this by adding the BIN icons to the search results and listings. When they begin charging for the BIN "listing enhancement" (as they will refer to it) they will quote statistics showing that auctions with the BIN icon get 8% more page views than auctions without the icon.
In fact, on the "Sell your item" page, it has replaced the gift icon section. Coincidence???
