Ebay bans auction of digital goods

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=75050

KeithA

03-04-2008 08:28:54

http//www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2008/03/digital-downloa.html[]http//www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2008/03/digital-downloa.html

One wonders whether this will lead to further restrictions or issues with PayPal payments for intangible goods...

doylnea

03-04-2008 09:47:12

Free shipping, or electronic delivery of course, cuts money out of eBay's pocket...and you'll now note it costs much more to list a digital item. Whereas in the past you could list an eBook for $0.99 and list 100 for the same listing fee, you now have to list them as a classified item, at $9.95 per listing.

I don't like the majority of eBay's improvements, but I can certainly understand the rationale for them.

dmorris68

03-04-2008 09:54:52

The Feedback manipulation argument does make sense. I've seen it discussed on numerous sites and forums that an easy way to inflate your feedback is to "sell" recipes, electronic coupons, etc. for like $0.01 or so. What with the Feedback revamping going on (sellers can't leave negative feedback, etc.), it's obvious they're trying to get a handle on it.

The $9.95 Classified listing fee is for an entire month, though, and you can list multiple similar items under one listing, so depending on your volume you might actually save money.

I'm with you though, doylnea, some of the latest changes are a PITA, but are also understandable in most cases.

Twon

03-04-2008 09:57:50

Is there a classified category or just a classified listing fee? I wonder if people actually make money selling ebooks?

dmorris68

03-04-2008 10:55:32

[quote80d2c85850="Twon"]Is there a classified category or just a classified listing fee? I wonder if people actually make money selling ebooks?[/quote80d2c85850]
The Classified Ad section is not part of the auction system, but it does show up in Search results. So your listing would not be an auction listing, although I guess you could consider much like a fixed price Buy-it-Now listing. The only category is "Everything Else" so you can't break it up into more specific categories like auction listings.

And yes, people can make quite a bit of money selling eBooks. A couple years ago, either on this forum or one of the several others I frequent, I took a bullet for the team and bought one that was being discussed. It was about how to make money on eBay. ) It was only about $5 or so, and I expected it would be a "resell this book" sort of thing, LOL, but it was actually a pretty well-written eBook on how to bargain hunt and buy in quantity, find drop shippers, tips on ebay selling and dealing with customers, etc. Turned out to be well worth $5 for folks who were new to eBay. The guy had feedback in the tens of thousands as I remember, so he had done pretty well for himself.

There's also a lot of folks who have connections through vendors and suppliers or other channels, where they can get for example, large quantities of Dell 20% off e-coupons. They sell these on eBay for like $2 or so, which is a fair price when you're planning a $500+ purchase and can't find valid coupons through Google or the hot deal forums. I know I always see tons of free coupons floating around until I'm ready to buy something, and then I can't find any that aren't expired.

Mr. Gabriel

04-04-2008 21:19:39

Its been a problem for a while and now they fixed it. I was wondering when the issue was going to be addressed.