posted on June 30, 2001 04:34:54 AM
I have seen several reports of two mil additional auctions listed and over 7 mil listings on the site due to free listing day - but that sure is NOT what ebaY's own pages show. If you go to
http://pages.ebay.com/buy/index.html
and tally up the category totals, the total number of auctions is 5144316 mil auctions - figure a 10% double category listing rate since double cats were free and you get a net total of approx 4.63 mil auctions. On 29 Jun 2000 ebaY had 4.44 mil auctions. So was this a COMPLETE FLOP??? -Rosalinda
posted on June 30, 2001 05:09:27 AM
Rosalinda: For every seller who is upset or unhappy with eBay and took advantage of the bread crumb eBay threw at them for a free listing day, I say: "Shame on them!"
Disgruntled sellers who grabbed this crumb are every bit as greedy, if not greedier than eBay itself.
For sellers who are not unhappy with eBay, then good for them for taking advantage of the peanut that was thrown their way.
So if the listings were down because unhappy sellers didn't post, then I would say the free listing day was a huge succcess. Alas, I fear this is probably not the case!
posted on June 30, 2001 08:02:11 AM
I don't know what the eBay pages show but the MedVed site is reporting an increase of about 2,500,000 listings.
But I don't believe any increased number is the measurement of success.
I personally listed a bunch of auctions and hope others that feel the same as I do were able to take advantage of the FLD.
Getting anything back from eBay is a satisfying experience in itself considering their recent actions.
And it will, hopefully, give me a little extra income so I can spend some time getting to know and listing on the new sites including the co-op, Internet Pioneers, which is opening Wed.
And what doesn't sell will "cut and paste" to the new venues.
And what does sell will give me an opportunity to send emails to customers mentioning the co-op.
While I don't wish any seller ill fortune, the problems caused by the overload made even more sellers aware of the added difficulties now that eBay is attempting to control the service sector of picture hosting, auction posting and sales mamagement. That just reinforces sellers awareness that other venues and competition must be supported if we are to survive.
So let eBay make of it whatever their forked tongue PR Dept. can envision.
It had to have cost them at least $800,000 in lost listing fees for the paid listings that otherwise would have been posted on Thur.,they helped the war chest so I can afford to support other sites, it created even more awareness of the need for (or is that anger and frustration demanding)competition and I don't see many "warm and fuzzy" postings being headed their way.
It would be interesting to know why they did it.
To boost numbers for financials reports? Most people know where the give-aways of the recent tech boom ended.
To appease large sellers and eBays other customers in general after the recent "suede jacket" protest? Yeah, right. (See 281 other threads for the depth of seller dis-satisfaction.)
To over-shadow the up-coming launch of new venues including the co-op? Guess that's working as nobody is even noticing the new sites.
To stop their numbers from falling below 5,000,000 listings? Make that postpone the retreat for several weeks.
To celebrate "Collectable Month"? That must be it. Listing 500,000 widgets made in China last week is a fitting tribute to launch such a grand occasion.
Out of the kindness of their heart? (Fill in your own answer. I don't want to be banned from this board for vulgarity.)
Other, more Machiavellian, reasons ? This is a real possibility as their marks for cunning and ruthlessness are way up in the 99th percentile.
Make of it whatever you will.
The real question is where do we go from here?
While I still need their Buyer base for awhile, out the door and down the road works for me.
posted on June 30, 2001 09:28:25 AM
Thanks for that info, Rosalinda. Are you still running TAGNotes?
RR, instead of sending your reruns to the free sites, why not list the good stuff there first, with a high minimum bid/reserve? The free sites make a good showcase for new items.
. Internet Pioneers
posted on June 30, 2001 09:36:32 AM
I do think it is overblown. I put on a lot of the same items for 3, 5, 7, 10 days and so did all my competitors. Now we will all sell more but proabably not as much as we always all hope for. And the bid prices will also be lower since there are multiple items offsetting these increased sales. All in all though I will take whatever they throw my way.
The biggest winner is eBay with its increased revenues and items listed for sale. In my opinion, this was done for quarter end reporting to show investors that there are more items for sale. An interesting question would be if they took all the listings fees into revenue this quarter but did not report the offset which is the refund of the listing fee.
posted on June 30, 2001 09:54:43 AM
Flop for whom?
I launched 242 listings that I had been saving up for a free listing day with about 20% with bids in the first 24 hours. These were all items that I had listed and then relisted without success previously...so I did not want to spend any more money on listing fees for them.
In the categories where I list there are usually about 500 new items showing in the "newtoday" category on a daily basis. By the end of the free listing day there were over 1500. Of course those numbers have already dropped down below "normal" since many sellers obviously listed earlier than they would have absent the free listing day.
posted on June 30, 2001 09:58:29 AM
Actually, twinsoft, I'm going to go one better.
I sell a lot of duplicates, MIB old stuff, and I'm going to list it below the eBay starting price.
And I'm going to list ten 1 cent items a week that I can afford to "contribute to the cause".
Unique items that I can't afford to give away will list on eBay. I need the money and don't want to scare buyers away with high starting bids.
I may try a few items with reserves but that hasn't been my listing style and I'm still a little uncomfortable adopting to that option.
All "cut and paste" won't be junk. Some items like LP's just have to wait for the right buyer. Things use to sit on YAHOO for weeks and then breakout into a bidding war.
Many buyers report that they are discouraged at new sites by the high starting bids sellers use.
I would like to do my small part in making them find bargains waiting and the resulting positive word of mouth advertising it will generate.
I'm in this for the long haul and giving buyers a reason to beat a path to our door is just good business sense.
posted on June 30, 2001 10:15:46 AM
I'm with you reston_ray.
I have a lot of nice items I have not listed on eBay yet, but bought at a real reasonable (cheap) price. I will be listing them low on the new site to attract buyers to a site that offers comparable eBay items at a reasonable price.
If I don't make a big profit on the items, so be it, it is worth the investment to get the buyers to take a look at what else is available.
