Value Pack eBay Promotion

It’s another day and here is yet another eBay promotion. This one is titled “Get Value Pack for just 25 cents”. It is a value pack of three upgrades, Gallery Plus, Subtitle and Listing Designer, rolled into one. It would normally cost 65 cents but between April 15th through 17th, it will cost you 25 cents.

There isn’t much to say about this since I just don’t see how this can have much affect on boosting the listing count for eBay. Is this a desperate attempt to scrape few quarters from couple desperate sellers trying very hard to hold onto some hopes of revived sales? I just don’t see how this three day promotion can somehow revive the sluggish sales numbers widely reported on eBay. Most sellers don’t see this as eBay doing something nice for the struggling sellers. They see this as a ploy with an unknown agenda behind it. Sadly it’s impossible not to be cynical when it comes to eBay. Quite frankly I’m scratching my head on this one because I just don’t see the reasoning behind this one.

eBay Australia Pushback

It looks like eBay Australia may not force sellers to accept PayPal as the only payment method. It appears Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will be investigating the pending policy change by eBay Australia. ACCC is basically Australian counterpart of United States’ Federal Trade Commission. According to this article, ACCC will review the changes and weigh whether the changes will have more benefits than the obvious downside for buyers and sellers.

I just had a chat with a friend in Australia and he tells me couple surprising facts. It turns out most of the transactions are done with direct deposit. Close second is a credit card transaction. Distant third would is PayPal. It appears eBay Australia is trying to make PayPal more “popular” by forcing it down buyers and seller’s throat. This sort of thing will not sit well with Australians.