AND THE LUCKY WINNER IS?

[awishingwell]

Did you get the message on your mobile in regards to the 20% off coupon? 4th of July special.  214 selected ebay sellers only.  Wondering if it's a good thing I wasn't on the list or not. How did those lucky 214 vendors get on the list anyway? nd what the heck is all that Shop for $5 items all about????? Who are the stupid people participating in that? Do the math! Guess their all from china

[luckythewinner]

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@awishingwell wrote:

 Who are the stupid people participating in that? 

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Apparently they are people who got you to promote their sale on a public forum. 

[awishingwell]

well that wasn't much of an answer but thanks for participating - I actually really want to know what the guidelines or qualifier was for that promotion because I've looked up a couple of the vendors and their certainly not perfect sellers so what is the deal?

[awishingwell]

FYI - the sellers never sent me anything - it came thru ebay

[livadia]

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@awishingwell wrote:

Did you get the message on your mobile in regards to the 20% off coupon? 4th of July special.  214 selected ebay sellers only.  Wondering if it's a good thing I wasn't on the list or not. How did those lucky 214 vendors get on the list anyway? nd what the heck is all that Shop for $5 items all about????? Who are the stupid people participating in that? Do the math! Guess their all from china

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@awishingwell. eBay has been running "pop-up" sales quite a bit lately.  There was another one a couple of days ago that was 15% off anything on the site (not from selected sellers).   Usually, the sales will be "advertised" either on the eBay home page or lately there's been a small "ad" at the top of all eBay screens on a navigational tab.  My point being, you may or may not get an email about it, but most of the time, any special sales/offers are advertised on the site.

As far as who is invited to be in either program (selected sellers or the "$5 Shop" )  I don't recall ever seeing an announcement about it nor does there appear to be any info on eBay.com.  My guess is that both are "by invitation only."    If you look at the "Selected Sellers" they tend to be manufacturers, large retailers, etc. that have the ability to fulfill a large number of orders of identical items and perhaps are wiling to sell them at an agreed upon price, with free shipping, and/or returns.  They also may be paying an additional fee in order to be featured.  Who knows?    But, small sellers like you or I are never going to be on that list due to the kind of factors noted above.

There's been a lot of discussion here on the forums about the "$5 Shop."  As you noted, a lot of items are from Chinese sellers.  eBay obviously thinks the concept is a good idea.  Personally, I think it contributes to the impression/opinion that many people hold these days, which all eBay sells anymore is cheap junk. 

 IMO, eBay would have been better off creating a separate site with its own unique name/branding for such items/pricing.  But, it's their railroad, and they can run it off the tracks as often and how ever they want to while the rest of us just shrug our shoulders and shake our heads in disbelief.

[abfabvintage]

@livadia

Morning, Liv. I didn't get an email about this 20% off coupon that ends on 7/3, but on ebay main page after you sign in there is this PARTYINUSA big as life at the top left you click on. It shows mostly brand new items with really large pix, then below is a large alphabetical list of sellers in blue with caption: Sellers for coupon redemption. 

[livadia]

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@abfabvintage wrote:

@livadia

Morning, Liv. I didn't get an email about this 20% off coupon that ends on 7/3, but on ebay main page after you sign in there is this PARTYINUSA big as life at the top left you click on. It shows mostly brand new items with really large pix, then below is a large alphabetical list of sellers in blue with caption: Sellers for coupon redemption. 

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Yep, already saw it earlier today, @abfabvintage.  Thanks.  I was hopeful it was an all-site sale, but it's another one of those "selected seller" deals which I rarely have an interest in.    😞

[abfabvintage]

@livadia

Me neither. Would just like to know how anyone gets on that list, not that I would ever lolol. And another thing, forgetting this coupon thing, if I have listed an active item or just searching for a particular item, the main page will show "recommended sellers" then show comparables (which are never comparable). Is this is where sellers have paid for promotions and that is how they are seen on the main page? I never see any of mine (like my vintage Wrangler jackets). Oh well. Have a good day. Going to be 100 here in the shade. 

[awishingwell]

Hey Liv - I'm right there with you - I think the $5 business is just horrifying - I actually found a vendor based in the USA not china. How the ehck that works for them is beyond me. It only works if you can get the volume and even then just crazy - let me know if the math is wrong 

item sells for $5 - ebay gets $.50  - Paypal gets $.45 - USPO gets $2.66 (min) so we are down to $1.39 and we didn't include the cost of the item - packing material - gas to get to the post office or the time it took to create the listing and manage the shipment.

I did volume for years - sold over $15,000,000 retail (yes that's right) but I gotta tell you I got alot more than pennies on the dollar. And these are the "quality" buyers ebay is attracting? I guess I'm glad I'm not included in the newest promotion

[livadia]

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@abfabvintage wrote:

@livadia

Me neither. Would just like to know how anyone gets on that list, not that I would ever lolol. And another thing, forgetting this coupon thing, if I have listed an active item or just searching for a particular item, the main page will show "recommended sellers" then show comparables (which are never comparable). Is this is where sellers have paid for promotions and that is how they are seen on the main page? I never see any of mine (like my vintage Wrangler jackets). Oh well. Have a good day. Going to be 100 here in the shade. 

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@abfabvintage,   as I said up-thread, I believe those on the "Selected Seller" list are there by invitation of eBay much like eBay's Concierge program works.  IOW, you're "picked" by eBay because you meet some sort of criteria they have come up with that makes the seller "eligible"  or a likely candidate for that program.

The "recommended seller/comparables" thing?  My guess on that one is that what's shown is a by-product of eBay's notorious "Artificial Intelligence" and catalog-based categorization efforts.  Since vintage items are difficult to make fit into a catalog-based format which eBay is imposing on the site, that may be a reason why vintage items don't appear or appear very often as "comparables" because you simply compare vintage items as easily as you can a brand-new item that has a unique/universal UPC code, etc.

Right there with you on the "heat thing."   We've been stuck in a "Heat Dome" for most of the last week.  I was supposed to go to an outdoor band concert in a local park Friday night, and it was just "too darned hot!"   The heat index here today is supposed to be close to 110.  Needless to say, the A/C is running non-stop and I'm not venturing outside at all if I can.   Be sure you and everyone else out there where the temps have skyrocketed, take care!  

[luckythewinner]

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@awishingwell wrote:

I actually really want to know what the guidelines or qualifier was for that promotion  

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eBay has all the information they need to identify the sellers that would be a good for for the promotion. I suspect that they contact the sellers and ask them to apply to participate, and there is a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from discussing publicly.  

I would also assume that the seller need to prove they have sufficient invetory to handle the anticipated demand, and it could even be that those sellers have agreed to foot the bill for some (or all) of the discount. 

[livadia]

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@awishingwell wrote:

...How the ehck that works for them is beyond me. It only works if you can get the volume and even then just crazy - let me know if the math is wrong 

item sells for $5 - ebay gets $.50  - Paypal gets $.45 - USPO gets $2.66 (min) so we are down to $1.39 and we didn't include the cost of the item - packing material - gas to get to the post office or the time it took to create the listing and manage the shipment.

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@awishingwell yes, definitely a math issue.  And, here at least when it comes to China-based sellers is the reason why:  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-the-usps-epacket-gives-postal-subsidies-to-c...