It appears that eBay is going to be instituting a new rule effective March 31st that will affect anyone who sells anything that can be digitally downloaded. All digital downloads will have to be listed using the Classified Ads format. eBay's reason for this is because digital goods are often reproduced at very little or no cost to the seller and this creates the potential for Feedback manipulation.
Using Classified Ads, sellers get 30 day listings at a fixed price. This solution will allow us to continue to sell our downloadable ebooks on eBay, but no feedback will be able to be exchanged.
I haven't used Classified Ads yet although I've heard of people getting great lead generation by using them. I tried to list my first item in Classified Ad format a couple of weeks ago and had a problem getting approved by eBay. The system told me I was eligible at the same time it told me I wasn't. (I should be, I met all the requirements) Customer Service told me they were dealing with a problem so perhaps it had something to do with them switching over to the new rules. I'll see what happens when I go to list something in Classified Ads again.
Of course, if you want to continue to sell your eBooks on eBay without using the Classified Ads section, then you will need to offer them on CD's or diskettes and actually mail them to your buyers. (does anyone use diskettes anymore?!)
I'd love to hear any of your comments about your experiences with Classified Ads.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
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7 comments:
This is the first that I have heard of this... but a couple of things come into my mind.
How does this affect someone who is trying to become a powerseller? 30 day listings? ... all fixed price auctions?...no feedback? ...how about current powerseller status? Some of these current "systems" that are used to make powerseller would be affected by this rule change. I know that eBay could care less about that... but I'm still curious about how the change would affect powersellers or wannabe's who sell strictly digital products.
I can half understand the changes.
What I don't get is why they want all of the eBook sellers gone...because that is the real message that I am getting.
Why don't they want our $50 a month for a store? Doesn't it serve their bottom line better to keep us selling on their site?
Personally, I am floored....to say it changes my business plan is quite an understatement
Didn't know ebay had a Classified section, will try it out & see how well it works, as to >>does anyone use diskettes anymore?!)
Yes I do, mostly for storing holiday photo's save space on my computer.
Though I did sell one through ebay, with assortment of information on, called it "Info Disks" my own idea & information.
I tried to change mine yesterday but there was no classified ad format choice in the options. Kinda hard to change it when they don't give you the option to do it.
I was going to go to live help and ask them but now am rethinking it. I will wait and read more comments and see what happens.
Hi Robin,
I can tell you the sellers at eBay's Seller Central forum are NOT happy about this change. Seems it affects a lot more than just those abusing the sale of eBooks for feedback. This affects all kinds of other sellers such as those that offer eBooks as a complement to their other products, and those that offer auction page templates, logo design, etc..
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the matter.
George
I asked God, "How much time do I have before I die?" He replied, "Enough to make a difference."
Unknown author
Robin:
Not to put too fine a point on it, but digital download sellers are pretty much screwed by the change ebay has made. Go to the discussion groups, Sellers Central and look for the threads on this topic. I didn’t think people could getter madder than they already had over recent ebay changes, but this is literally putting sellers out of business.
It is not possible to sell the CD version because some countries have a really high postage. No buyers would want to pay so much. The best option is to use any other auction site that allows ebooks.
http://www.auctionsinaction.com
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