New eBay policy, effective March 31st, you will not be able to auction an ebook or list it as a Fixed Price listing.
The new policy will not only affect ebooks but all digital downloadable products. No digital music, no digital artwork, no website templates. You can still have a store and sell them through classified ads on eBay, but will that work? A store with inventory that never uses the normal eBay Fixed Price listing or Auction style attracts very little traffic.
If you’re not familiar with the eBay Classified ads, here’s a brief summary. You can list an item for around $10.00 a month, flat fee. There is no PayPal button at the bottom, because the purchase cannot be completed on eBay. You have to have a link back to your website to complete the sale. Of course this means no eBay Final Value fee, it also means no feedback ratings. The Classified Ad is just that an advertisement. All sales are conducted after the buyer leaves the eBay site thus no sales information is captured by eBay.
This should make for an interesting couple of weeks.
Many Powersellers have built a large, profitable business selling digital products, some for several years.
What Now? Will they switch over to the classified ad format? What about the huge number of sellers that don’t have a website to send a buyer to? Will there be a rush to get a domain? Will they just close up shop?
Has eBay put the last nail in the coffin?….
Stay tuned for more, same dot channel, same dot time.
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