Promoted versus Discounts

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

Until now I have resisted using any promoted listings and I have put my toes in the water. I have to consider is it better to drop a price by 10% or try a 5% PL instead. Any thoughts as to what is the best trade off here

[mycheaperstuff]

@ebeths_eclectic_collectibles that is going depend on your own market, the price sensitivity of your buyers.

It could be that a 10% price drop is not enough to win buyers  compared to the advantage of additional views.

Ebay is putting SO MUCH emphasis on promoted listings that it has lost focus on promoting what attracts buyers to the site: low prices and interesting stuff.

Your ideal solution is probably not either or, but do some of each.

[riftlakeaquatic]

---

@ebeths_eclectic_collectibles wrote:

 I have to consider is it better to drop a price by 10% or try a 5% PL instead. Any thoughts as to what is the best trade off here

---

Reference to your competition for a specific item, ask your self if a 5 % price  will make you more sales. If not, maybe promoting at 5 % will do the trick.  In other words, if you can't or don't want to match their price, then promote!  

[martin2001]

I also sell kind of unique items. I use both sales and PL, hard to say if there is any trade off using only one. I often run sales, minimum 15%. I think 10% will not excite people to buy based solely on the discounted %. I also use PL. Because my items are unique, there is not much competition, my PL rate is between 2-4%. About 75% of sold items show they were purchased as PL. Also, don't forget to use coupons from time to time.

I don't "drop"  prices, if you mean by that that you lower your prices (not via sales). If you drop the prices, nobody will notice.

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

I guess part of my thought process is that it is better on the bottom line to sell something at 5% PL than a 15% off sale. Thinking it is worth trying PL before resorting to a discounted price

[stuff4divas]

---

@ebeths_eclectic_collectibles wrote:

I guess part of my thought process is that it is better on the bottom line to sell something at 5% PL than a 15% off sale. Thinking it is worth trying PL before resorting to a discounted price

---

@ebeths_eclectic_collectibles   sounds like you decided what to do! LOL

[klhmdg]

As a buyer on any site I go right past the "promoted" items.

I have found promoted doesnt mean best price or lead time.

Im not sure about bottom line on selling but i would think that since fees are on the total sales price  10% off may make more money than paying an extra 5% total fee.

[chapeau-noir]

@ebeths_eclectic_collectibles  For me it would depend upon how much margin I have in my profit and how crowded my category is. I'm in a super saturated category and my margins aren't great, so I go for the PL.

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

I also think of the one marketplace that doesn’t do PL, Poshmark, and realize their answer is to relentless reduce prices to turn listings faster

[chapeau-noir]

---

@ebeths_eclectic_collectibles wrote:

I also think of the one marketplace that doesn’t do PL, Poshmark, and realize their answer is to relentless reduce prices to turn listings faster

---

@ebeths_eclectic_collectibles  They just started a promotional listing program.  I've tried it a bit but it's not worth it.

[western-supply]

Depends on your promo rate. 

If Ebay is 13% platform fee, promo rate is 5%, that's 18% fees. 

$10 order is $1.80 to Ebay.  (Actually 18% of $10 + 7% sales tax) $10.70, 1.92 in fees. 

Drop price 10%: now it's a $9 order, but at 13% platform fee, no promo. $1.17 to Ebay. (7% sales tax, 9.63 total) 

So actual, $1.25 to Ebay. 

5% promo net: $8.08

10% discount net: $7.75

Both cases will have a 0.30 transaction fee added. And assume shipping and part cost are same for both. 

That's for $10. A different amount or different promo rate changes all the numbers. I used 7% as an avg sales tax, but some states have 0%, CA usually around 10%.

If you ran 2 identical listings in this same scenario, eBay will try to sell the higher promoted price first and Burry the non-promo if the can sell it. 

Hope that helps. 

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

I sell a bit on poshmark but my issue with them is they ask you to do discount for multiple items and then on top of that they push you to offer a bundle discount on top of  the multiple quantity discount and, of course, they are the king of low ball offers

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

Of course part of the overall concept of Poshmark is that your listing get promoted by sharing them and getting followers

[coolections]

I would skip the promotion all together but at the same time drop the price 20% instead. That is what will get looker, watchers, and buyers. 10% is typically not enough to gather interest.