Ebay has just announced their new special pricing for sellers.
Starting April 19, 2011, a seller can list up to 50 FREE EBAY LISTINGS per month. Listings must be auction-style rather than fixed price (also known as Buy it Now). Sellers can also ADD “Buy It Now” to these auctions for free.
This special pricing requires that sellers do not subscribe to a seller store, which already provides discounted listings.
If your item sells, Final Value Fees still apply to the full sale amount, including shipping. (Hint — since the Final Value Fees apply to the fee you put in your listing, you’ll want to make sure that you charge enough for shipping that you have enough left to actually ship the item; otherwise, part of the shipping cost could come out of your pocket.)
Starting July 6, Ebay will also reduce the Fixed Price Final Value Fee rate.
Ebay states that the 50 free auction listings per month is par of “the first of two seller updates for 2011.” This phrasing makes it sound as though the pricing will be permanent — at least for the time being.
Personally, I’m relieved to have these free auction listings because I’ve got plenty of stuff I’ve just been waiting to put up on Ebay. Since the slowdown of the economy, I’ve noticed that sales have been a lot harder to make. I’m not sure if this is because buyers are more selective about what they buy or because there are more sellers on Ebay.
I can’t think of anyone who couldn’t use some extra cash from selling their stuff on Ebay — and you might just decide it makes for a nice, semi-regular source of spending money. Fortunately, sales do seem to have been picking up since the beginning of the 2010 holidays. So whether you’re old-hat to selling on Ebay or a first-time seller, Ebay’s free listing offer is the perfect opportunity to dive right in!