The discount was an incentive for sellers to at least try what ebay considered to be important selling standards......hoping that sellers would see a competive advantage....in faster mailing/establishing handling times/return policies, etc. And in fact, many sellers (not all) now accept the necessity for many of things they fought so hard against several years ago.
Any company allocates part of a budget to promotions....so Ebay allocated so much for "seller improvement" via discounts, and when that goal was reached....they change the allocations....now we see allocation for $30 for Promotional listings .....which, supposedly, will reach everyone. After people have seen advantages or not ......that will be pulled and sellers who have found PL profitable will pay for them.
In other words, they are providing carrots to sellers for changing, for trying new things......because they realize only a few would "change" on their own. Do they expect everyone to stay with the same "seller standards" after the 10% downgrade?......probably not.....but the site OVERALL has changed to higher standards which is what they wanted. The ones that don't change are being left behind.......
Same thing is happening with free listings. Everyone gets the 50. With free additional ones, sellers can see if having more than 50 makes them more money. The ones can do that will eventually get a store.....and store owners will move up to the next level when/if they can see the advantages of even more listings IF they can sustain the inventory, etc.
Ebay is teaching people who have no background in business......business techniques.....business realities.......and while I certainly don't agree with everything they've done......I think it's a much larger plan than any one piece........
just my opinion.....
