I am a member of the eBay Bucks reward program and I am a big fan of it as a member and as a seller, because it has, so far, been a win/win way for eBay to encourage people to buy more on eBay without the sellers having to pay a dime extra. I’ve written about this program in the past here and here.
But we all know that eBay can’t leave well enough alone so, of course, they are mucking with it.
Here’s the general idea behind the email I got on late Wednesday (I couldn’t get the real email to post here, too many images and wacky HTML):
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(You can view this directly on eBay’s site here.)
Now, the way it appears so far is that eBay isn’t getting rid of the usual 2% back on every single purchase, but they are adding an additional percentage back on some items. As a buyer, I’m all for this. As long as you still give me my 2% back on all items, I am more than happy to also take any additional discounts you want to throw out.
But as a seller, I am a little miffed. Who are these retailers that were allowed to participant in this special promotion? They don’t appear to be diamond powersellers, as far as I can tell, but they are all big retailers. Did they open up this offer to only big retailers? As a seller in the beta program, I sure as heck wasn’t invited to participate.
Now I know money probably changed hands on this but even so, many sellers might have been willing to shell out some cash to try this new incentive program out. It bothers me that they are still playing favorites with big retailers instead of giving the same opportunities to everyone.
And as a buyer, I’m starting to worry if this is a reflection of where the program is going in the future. Might they get rid of the 2% back on all purchases in favor of a percentage back only for big retailers? I really hope not. I would rather they leave this as an occasional promotion and still leave 2% back on all items. But as a seller, I’m annoyed this opportunity isn’t available to everyone.
Buyer or seller, what do you think?
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Thank you for writing about this. I have not seen this analysis anywhere else – it is my thinking exactly. eBay just can not get their heads around how the continue to damage their reputation with the smaller seller.
JD continues to say how he values the smaller seller, but then they turn around and cut special deals only with larger sellers. I would have participated, even if I had to buy down the percentage myself. Interesting how eBay refuses to implement a coupon program that sellers can use… but they now let a few favorites into their own coupon program. Thanks, eBay. I continue to feel soooooo “valued”.
I know not everyone is in the Beta program so I don't think everyone knows/care about eBay Bucks yet but, I'm with you, its a worrying trend.
Thank you for reading!
Nice
Nice