eBay Seller Alert - Scam or not? You decide.
I was afraid this was going to happen, and it did.
I sell on eBay still pretty heavily, everything I have is merchandise that I just keep relisting, as one auction ends I start a new one.
The last several weeks eBay has had a promotion where they gave a free upgrade to have your item listed in the gallery (a little thumbnail picture). I never used that on the type of auction I run because it’s typically for cheap consumable merchandise, not something where a picture is particularly valuable to attract attention.
Like imagine you’re selling toilet paper (I’m not, but consumable so similar), would ypu pay an extra .35 to have an extra little picture of a roll of toilet paper visible, if you’re only going to make a dollar anyway if it sells? Me neither.
So I never needed or wanted or chose the gallery option. eBay just stuck it in as a freebie, thank you very much. My percentage of successful auctions didn’t seem to improve, but now the promotion is over.
As I started to do my robotic relisting this evening, I noticed after pressing the submit button that the fees charged were higher than they should have been. Sure enough, I checked my account and now they’re charging me for gallery at .35 per auction.
Neat marketing trick. They give you something you didn’t ask for, and the next time they charge you for what you never asked for.
Now I have to go in to every auction I’m relisting for the next week and make sure I uncheck the gallery option that I never turned on to begin with.
I know I should complain, and if I did I would probably get my $1.05 back because eBay customer service has always been pretty awesome once you get to a real person, but is it worth the time to jump through hoops for 30 minutes to get back $1.05. I have better things to do, like write a blog post.
Tags: eBay, Internet Marketing ideas
December 15th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Wow, I can’t believe they did that. But after reading your post, it makes sense. Get people used to something, and then assume they’re hooked!
eBay is like a drug dealer… “Hey, man, you want some Gallery? Primo stuff, here, have a Free Sample!”
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Gallery is free now. If you want the larger picture in gallery it’s 35 cents. Why don’t you read the listing before you post?
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
It wasn’t free at the time I posted this, Kim. Things change, you know.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Well since you took the time to write the first blog to complain why didn’t you take the time to write another one to say that things have changed?
July 24th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Hi, Kim, I don’t know why you’re so angry about this. The point wasn’t about whether eBay does (then) or doesn’t (now) charge for gallery. The point was that they gave people that didn’t ask for it a free upgrade and then when that promotion ended, they automatically added the upgrade to relisted auctions, and charged for it.
My point was it was a deceptive practice, and whether they stopped doing it or not isn’t the point. Many thousands, probably many millions of eBay sellers clicked on relist, had the fee added without noticing, and never wanted it in the first place.
I was writing about what happened then. Just because they no longer charge for that option doesn’t mean it didn’t happen when I wrote it. You don’t change history books because the times have changed, after all. You report history as it was.