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lookielookies |
 Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:12:26
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When re-listing one of my digital items in my eBayshop, this message appears:
quote :
Starting March 31st, listings that contain content that can be digitally downloaded or transferred must be listed in the Classified Ad Format in the Everything Else>Information Products category only. All listings for digital items outside of that category will be considered a policy violation."
They can't be serious? This means I need to change the category for almost all my listed items... one by one
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reubenrock |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:14:15
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Oh wow, this will be a change for me as well. What is the pricing for classified ads compared to regular listings?
And what are the benefits/drawbacks to this new policy? I have never listed anything as a classified ad, so it's new to me. |
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nksurf |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:21:07
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| what are we gotta do? "one who have most gold rules" |
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lookielookies |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:26:13
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That classified ads section is new to me too.
From a quick search on the eay help pages, I learned a 30-day listing costs $9.95 
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Brian Cook |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:27:53
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Here's part of the message...
"Digital goods are often reproduced at little to no cost to the seller. On eBay, this creates the potential for Feedback Manipulation (both real and perceived). To preserve the integrity of the Feedback system, effective March 31 all goods that can be digitally downloaded or transferred electronically must be listed using the Classified Ads format.
Using the Classified Ads format, sellers receive a 30-day ad at a fixed price. This solution enables sellers to continue to market their digital goods on eBay; however, because Classified Ad listings are a lead generation tool and do not result in transactions that go through eBay, Feedback cannot be exchanged between buyer and seller.
Sellers who wish to continue to offer digital goods can do so by selecting the Everything Else>Information Products category in the Sell Your Item form and choosing the Classified Ads format (not auction-style or fixed price)."
I'm curious how this will affect sales!
Brian |
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John Gottshall |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:37:31
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yea this really stinks. I just found this out as I was trying
to relist an item.
I'm wondering if there is a way around this with dlguard?
John |
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Thomas |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:37:36
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Having an item located in a particular category doesn't mean it won't show up in a search for your keywords. (At least that's not the case for me!)
Tommy.
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lookielookies |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:42:26
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This is what a person at eBay live chat had to say:
quote : This is a new change that hasn't rolled out to the site yet, you can check the Announcement Boards for more details, right now, I don't have any other information regarding this change.
???? |
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Josh Anderson |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:48:45
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I see a huge opportunity here...
A decrease in competition in regular sections for those who are willing to sell their goods on disk. |
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Brian Cook |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 15:50:58
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quote : Originally posted by Josh Anderson
I see a huge opportunity here...
A decrease in competition in regular sections for those who are willing to sell their goods on disk.
Excellent 
Brian |
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reubenrock |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 16:01:06
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I'm willing to step up to physical disks for my newer products, but some of my old ones... I don't know. This will be very interesting to watch, and I guess it will impact my sales.
They get ya with the new fees, then they get ya with something like this.
But I suppose evolution is the name of the game. It's just unfortunate that I have 2 products almost ready to list for auction - and now a few weeks' work will need to be overhauled AGAIN.
Best of luck fellow ebayers!
Reuben D. Rock |
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Clive Praed |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 16:51:43
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Why am I not surprised?
In the past we have all found eBay to be quite steadfast in its efforts to put us out of business.
This would be part of their policy aim of driving away sellers with low cost items to cut down on administration.
Maybe if we started charging TRUE VALUE for digital products instead of following, like lemmings, the morons who list at 1 cent we would still have businesses that eBay was interested in.
I can, and do, still sell items on my my website for $17 up that don’t sell on eBay for $1.99.
To paraphrase - if you cater for monkeys you’ll only get peanuts.
TTFN
The Grumpy Old Chef {Grumpy to you} |
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workfromhome |
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sleepy |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 16:59:27
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Are listings of digital items in eBay stores also affected?
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Gary Rodrigue |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 17:55:29
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This change caught me by surprise but I do see an opportunity here that I was thinking of doing anyway, just have to speed up the process now I guess.
I too am curious if this will affect eBay stores as well, I can't see why it wouldn't. This change is going to hurt alot of people.
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Tim_Carter |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 17:56:15
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Sometimes I think EBay is trying to put itself out of business.
All the stupid decisions lately leave me scratching my .. er .. head. |
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buckapple |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 18:02:31
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I just noticed this also. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. I'm sure some of the ebook gurus will get an angle on it quickly and turn it into a $27 ebook. :)
The thing about a cd is for the people that want "now" the cd will not get it. But like Josh said, there could be something there.
I've used the ad format and it's $10 for 30 days and a lot less restrictive.
As far as the 1 cent guys goes, I assume they will have ads that say 100 ebooks 99 cents... Start your own business :)
Seriously, it may clean up the ebook glut on ebay..because at $10 a pop, you're gonna want your ebook to sell a lot or for a price that makes it worth your while, even with all the viral stuff...
It will be interesting!
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redandgold |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 18:16:48
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| I'm sure that ebay are doing this because downloaded products cause problems for them - think of the number of customers who complain and then get into battles with sellers, and the number of "fly by night" sellers in this market. Add in the copyright fun and games and as far as ebay is concerned this is just causeing them headaches - so they just find a way to get rid of it all without saying what they really mean. |
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e-mail2u |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 18:41:41
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Hi,
I have just e-mailed eBay, inquiring about eBay stores and how the new digital delivery rule will affect us. But looking deeper in to eBay a stores listing is not classed as a auction or buy now type listing.
How ever a way around it would be to list it as a normal auction/buy now. Create a separate e-mail address for this download. Give the buyer free delivery, in the delivery section of the auction ad say this item will be sent to you as an e-mail on completion of payment.
Set up this e-mail address with Pay Pal and use it in the send payment to box when you list the item. Unfortunately Pay Pal only allows you 6 e-mail address per account.
Now when they pay for the item Pay Pal sends a payment received to this e-mail address, set it to auto respond with the download details. This will then get sent to the buyers e-mail address.
Or you could just go back to the old method where we listed as free delivery and manually sent the e-mails out. |
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espacecadet |
Posted - 03/24/2008 : 18:58:13
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So now the thieves at eBay want their $9.95/mo but don't want to help us with OUR businesses? Why am I not surprised?
So can we REALLY sell ebooks on disc? It's considered a physical product but as they said:
"all goods that can be digitally downloaded or transferred electronically..."
The operative word in that is 'CAN'. They could begin to assume that it could be delivered digitally and not even allow us to sell it on a disc.
Bye Bye, eBay! They are getting dumber and dumber at doing business on ther internet...
Allen Farlow |
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research |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 02:34:16
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Will the current eBay Digital Product Delivery have a great impact on the eBook Marketing Business.
Perhaps this is really the end of the low, low priced eBook offers but at this stage I really can't see a flood of marketers going "back" to CD-R delivery. Quite apart from costs, there is the additional time involved . . . burning, packing and despatch.
There was . . . there is very little effort involved in digital delivery once the system is up and running.
Already I see suggestions on how to combat eBay's decision and I guess we will have to wait a few weeks and watch what happens.
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nascar2 |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 03:48:49
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you don't need ebays digital download...you can set it up that when you receive and email from paypal (the notification)your email provider sends out an email with the download links.
I know it sounds as though ebay is giving people who bring them money, ie, the powersellers
selling ebooks the finger.
But they are huge and nothing you or I do or say will make them change.
If you want to know how to do it, just PM me and I'll send a free ebook. |
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lookielookies |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 03:57:06
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quote : you don't need ebays digital download...you can set it up that when you receive and email from paypal (the notification)your email provider sends out an email with the download links.
You mean, 'the old way'?
Would this be allowed?
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James Dyson |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 04:04:29
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I'm with Josh on this one - huge opportunity for those
who take the initiative and reposition their content
into other formats like CD and DVD.
It is simple enough to setup through a service such as
Kunaki.com and could give you the edge in your niche
category on eBay.
Also, from everything I have read in the past, I always
thought your product could still show up when someone
searches for your keywords if you've used them appropriately
in your listing, so its just a case of ensuring you
do your research and find out what people are searching
for and optimise your listing accordingly
James |
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Andyhenry |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 04:45:59
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I don't see the problem.
Ebay forcing you to increase the perceived value of your product might require an adjustment, but why all the complaining that it's a problem?
If you don't think your digital product is good enough to charge for a printed hard copy, or a CD/DVD with the digital version on, that's probably a symptom you should think about.
If you have decent products, then this just means doing things a bit differently.
If you've been selling stuff for as cheap as possible in order to get sales from people wanting to boost their feedback by buying $0.99 products, then perhaps it's time to consider a new model.
Things change - just go with the flow and update your process or change what you're doing.
Bitching about it here isn't going to do any good.
Andy |
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tomw |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 05:58:51
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So... finally the back lash to the great information product swindle has well and truly got underway...about time:)
But for those merchants that sell products which are actually worth something it's surely a marvellous opportunity to make the step up to physical products and physical product prices!
This is GREAT news!
Even better is the fact that the barrier to entry for newbies, selling themselves as experts with rehashes of the same old crap, just got raised. I'm tired of seeing questions here and other places from such obvious newbies and then clicking through to their websites and seeing that they are selling yet another piece of crap, I'm an expert, I can make you rich in 60 minutes or less for just one low price of $47, I know I'm crazy all my friends think that I should be selling it for 1000 bucks. But that's not all, friend, I'm such a great guy and I really want you to make it big that I have included $100,000 worth of bonus items that your starving and about to be homeless kids just can't live without! But you better act fast because I only have 25 of these slightly damaged fire sale digital products left AND the price will be going up to $497 any day now.
Grrrr!
So I for one welcome this. Why? One word...
VALUE!
Too many people that can't afford it are desperately, often as a last resort, trying to make some kind of income online. Most of the time these guys blow what little money they do have on the worst information products. The inauthentic ones. The ones that are no help to anyone except the merchant selling it.
It's about time the online information product (especially the make money online!) business cleaned up its act. It seems the big boys feel the same. This is just the beginning.
If your products are actually genuine and add value to people's lives or businesses then you have no worries. In fact, quite the opposite!
Don't know why but more and more each day this business reminds me of the movie Tin Men:)
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rbussey |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 07:12:03
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Hello Fellow Warriors,
Well... I see this as both good and bad.
From a positive perspective it will weed out the 1 cent ebook sellers (which is a good thing in my opinion - unless your list building), but on the other hand it will force people to print up their material or burn it to CD, which raises costs for paper, ink, cd's, shipping etc.
Now, one way to solve the "I want it now" syndrome is to offer the product in hard copy w/ a separate digital delivery followed up immediately after the sale. This way, you are fully complying with eBay's terms and conditions, while at the same time satisfying the customers immediate wants.
It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out in the end.
All the best of success,
Ronnie |
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Reyo Tech |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 07:34:48
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| Will this ban the ability to sell websites, domains, etc? |
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DaveMcF |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 08:13:22
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| Yes it's all digital products including websites, domains, etc. |
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nksurf |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 08:46:22
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I am wondering how this will affect paypal down the line?
If ebay banned it then paypal might add the policy and enforce it later on.
now on the 2nd thought isn't this double standard because ebay itself is a digital?
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Dave Lovelace |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 08:53:15
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quote : Originally posted by lookielookiesWhen re-listing one of my digital items in my eBayshop, this message appears: quote :
Starting March 31st, listings that contain content that can be digitally downloaded or transferred must be listed in the Classified Ad Format in the Everything Else>Information Products category only. All listings for digital items outside of that category will be considered a policy violation."
They can't be serious? This means I need to change the category for almost all my listed items... one by one
Yes, the full statement can be found here:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803.shtml#2008-03-24125416
You have two options.
1. Continue to build your feedback using standard auctions by
putting your digital items on a data CD and sell as a physical
product. You can create an auto-run CD and have Kunaki.com
fulfill the CD for you. Costs $1.75 to wrap and package your
CD! But Kunaki charges you a flat $3 handling fee per order.
You can charge your customer this fee if you want.
The benefit of selling on CD is that you can charge more, your
customer perceives a higher value, and your profits can go up.
And by using Kunaki, you don't have to go through the hassle of
packaging and shipping yourself. And they ship internationally.
They also accept PayPal for paying your fee. So you accept
payment from youru customer via PayPal and turn around and
send Kunkai their fee. Simple.
2. Sell them on eBay's Classfied Ads. Cost $10 for 30 days.
Optionally, you can sell any ad on a recurring basis every 30
days (if you find you have a winning ad that's making you sales).
But there is no feedback with Classifieds. You know up front
what your fee is, no guesswork. Note: you're not accepting
payment on eBay' website with their Classifieds. Your
transactions are external.
If you're new to Classifieds, there's a webinar training course
that's re-launching in a few weeks at AuctionTrafficSecrets.com
by Powerseller Mike Enos. There are 4 sneak peek videos on the
page now.
Hope this helps!
Dave
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espacecadet |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 08:58:45
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Those who mention it's of no use to complain here are somewhat correct but opening your guts can help you mull things over. That being said, eliminating digital delivery will mean more work for those who want to continue selling their (formerly) digital delivery goods on eBay. Unless you want to give up a good part of your profit to companies such as Kunaki to do the work for you.
I see an increase in the padded mailer business and blank CDs and pearl cases. Wal Mart better stock up. And the U.S. Postal Service will certainly benefit.
But yes, I think it's good that it gets rid of those damned .01 ebooks! I hated scrolling through page after page of listings, mostly cheap books designed only to increase someone's feedback rating.
But quite frankly, that damned feedback rating BS is what created this mess in the first place. Why don't they just get rid of that stupid rating system? Just because someone is a powerseller does not mean they won't screw you over. I got screwed over by a powerseller, so I know it's a fact.
All we can do is work with these changes or just leave eBay completely. First the feedback ratings are changed, then their fee schedule is changed and now this.
Makes me wonder when they're going to begin making changes at PayPal!
Allen Farlow
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supremesales |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 09:52:52
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Whats up guys,
I've been browsing this forum for awhile and with this new ebay policy and seeing some remarks, I felt the need to reply.
It amazes me how most of you, who make alot of money online besides ebay, don't understand the .01 cent auctions. True some are just to gather feedback. However, alot of sellers use it to attract buyers to their main listings. Also, if someone is selling an ebook for .01 cent, then his intention is either feedback, or to almost give it away as inside the ebook is filled with their affiliate links. The more people who have your affilate linked filled ebook, the more probability that you will make money by them clicking thru those links in your little .01 cent pdf ebook.
To comment on this new policy. I too was affected. I sell 100% digital stuff on ebay. I make between $1,500 to $2000 a month and still growing. I won't say what it is but its not an ebook. Yesterday I got around it by relisting my auctions with free shipping instead of digital delivery. Anyway, when they pay, my server automatically knows and sends them an email to the download link. Before March 31st, I am going to list hunderds of 1 day auctions to take advantage.
After March 31st, I am going to list as classified adds with a link directing them to purchase from my store or outside of ebay.
Does anyone know if a classified ad expires once a purchase is made? Does this policy effect store items?
What about the listings that were listed before this policy takes effect but are still up after it takes effect, e.g. the 30 day store or 10 day auctions?
What about international ebay sites? I can list as from uk and or canada. Heck even Malaysia. Did you know ebay Singapore and Malaysia are free to list on and are in english?
I really have to find a way around this as my ebay income is nearly half of my total monthly. |
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magneticweb |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 09:56:55
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I couldn't agree more with tomw. I long ago abandoned any idea of trying to sell decent, genuine business information or software on eBay, as you would have to compete with thousands of one cent or 99 cent so-called info products sold by fraudsters to suckers who really believe you can find the secrets to wealth for less than a dollar.
eBay has been flooded with this stuff for too long. I can only see the quality of genuine business information available on eBay being increased as a result of this decision.
So, for once at any rate, hurrah for eBay! |
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Bearded |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 10:56:57
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OK. How about this. Take your info product and either sell it as an on-demand printed book (cafepress does this, so does amazon through booksurge) or as a shipped CD/DVD with your pdf and/or videos (ie kunaki).
Then offer as a "special added bonus" the ability to download the product immediately after purchase in electronic form.
After they buy say something like "your order will be shipped out in 24 hours, but in the meantime enter your name and email below to get the electronic version, and make them opt in to get it.
Would that work as far as ebay is concerned? I think it sounds like a pretty good business model.
Or you could even have a basic physical product (book or dvd), and upsell them to an online video version or membership site.
I'm actually excited about this. eBay may actually be a viable place to sell info products again, since we won't have as much spam to compete with (for a little while at least).
Joe |
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karvay |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 12:01:33
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"I am wondering how this will affect paypal down the line?
If ebay banned it then paypal might add the policy and enforce it later on."
Now that would be a scary thought. Imagine all of the companies that sell digital products and use Paypal as their payment system for downloads? Here's an older article and though it hasn't happened and hopefully never will it's a scary thought.
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic93.html
It starts about the 6th-7th paragraph down.
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karvay |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 12:04:19
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| There is a lot of talk on the eBay boards that this ban will include CD's. I'm not sure but they are saying that because the CD contains electronically delivered info (meaning the product is what is digital and ON the CD), that they won't be allowed either. It would seem crazy though. Does this mean they would ban music CD's also and make all of those items only available through the classified ads? |
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JohnMcCabe |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 12:14:32
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I may be posting from ignorance here. My ebay selling has been mostly limited to the odd DVD or CD my wife wins by entering sweepstakes.
I don't see the problem...
Penny and dollar ebooks for the sole purpose of generating feedback go away-- a good thing.
A $9.95 per month classified ad where you can give free information in return for an opt-in, with keywords that show up in ebay's search results-- what's not to like?
I thought the whole shtick of selling ebooks for a penny was to use them as list-builders because ebay didn't allow giving stuff away (and thereby avoiding ebay fees). Now you pony up your ten bucks and build away.
Those of you who sell products with real value have a reason to add price-increasing value to your offerings, with fairly simple implementation via vendors like Kunaki and Cafe Press. Again, what's not to like?
My guess is that as this policy takes hold, vendors will step up with automation mechanisms that will make shipping CD and DVD products as simple as digital downloads are now.
As for those of you who seem to think ebay is looking for ways to drive you out of business, get over your bad self. You might pay a few hundred or even a few thousand in ebay fees (which I doubt on cheap products), but digital sales look like a drop in the bucket next to the value of the physical products which change hands. And, as was mentioned earlier, digital products (especially cheap, worthless ones) probably account for a disproportionate share of ebay's headaches.
Switch sides of the table, and scan through this very forum for people bitching about problem customers and serial refunders. If you could solve these problems with a simple change to your business model, wouldn't you?
Sorry, folks, I don't see any pieces of falling sky here anywhere... |
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marley |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 12:20:42
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| I imagine things will evolve and ways will be found to get around it strange things are happening though is ebay having a mid life crisis? |
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seobro |
Posted - 03/25/2008 : 12:29:53
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Oh well, that's the ebay we all know and hate. Always making life difficult for the sellers.
One solution is to burn your software on to CD. Wait, I tried that, ebay was paranoid as usual and I had a hard time convincing them that I wrote the software. They seem to happy when they annoy sellers.
How about we all leave, they will be so happy then. I rarely use ebay anymore. It is such a hassle.
Look on the bright side, having your own store will free you from bondage to an irrational paranoid master. |
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| Topic |
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Listing Digital Items on eBay - Change Of Policy!!