Monday, August 2, 2010

Free Auction Listings at Any Price

I see this as a sign of desperation.

http://pages.ebay.com/promo/ListFreeAuctions2010/


This is the third month in a row that eBay has run this promotion. The other two promotions lasted a couple of weeks, as I recall. This promotion is running for one month. I suspect that eBay will continue to do this to try to lure back sellers who have left.

I am taking advantage of the promotion in a limited capacity. I decided to run some quick one-day auctions. Since I do not have to pay a listing fee, I have nothing to lose. I relisted some books that did not sell in the last round. Of the auctions that have already closed, I sold four out of 10 lots.

What is most interesting is that the lots had close to the same number of views that they would have had if they had run for three, five, or seven days. Longer auctions are now a waste of time except for less popular items that need a longer run in order to have a chance of selling.

2 comments:

Brandi said...

The one thing I love about Ebay's free listings is that it seems that people list more books I'm looking for! :) That makes me happy!

Brandi

stratomiker said...

There has been a great increase in buying since this free listing business started. I can hardly keep up with it. It has indeed inspired buyers to look and buy. Who knows what it will do in the long run, but at least for now it has greatly improved things.

Mike