eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

March 10, 2009

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

By: Ina Steiner

Tue Mar 10 2009 16:19:57

eBay had a good news-bad news announcement today for sellers in the media category. The good news - eBay is extending the 5-cent listing promotion for fixed-price listings through the end of the year. The bad news - those sellers will have to compete with free listings from Half.com sellers.

eBay is opening its U.S. site to Half.com listings beginning in May, when it will launch a marketing campaign to bring buyers in these categories to eBay. According to the announcement, 60% of the Half.com inventory is not currently being offered on the eBay.com marketplace.

The move is an attempt to move toward a "product-based experience," such as on Amazon.com and Wigix, where there is one product page for each product where sellers' information appears. Half.com listings will show up on product pages only, while eBay Auction-style and Fixed Price listings will show up on both the product page and standard results pages.

Note that eBay sellers will not be able to create separate listings for Fixed Price items of the same condition.eBay also announced that the expansion box where Store Inventory Format listings appear now uses the same criteria as Best Match.

eBay has long been ambivalent about Half.com, which it acquired in 2000 and planned to integrate into eBay at that time. Abandoning that plan, it then tried to shut down the site in 2004, but eventually decided to keep the site open.

Update: To answer question in the comments, eBay linked to Best Practices where it states: "Got more than one of the same item to sell? Add to your Fixed Price listings—don't create new ones. You won't be able to create separate listings for Fixed Price items of the same condition."

Comments (19) | Permalink

Readers Comments

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: o.c.d.collectibles

Tue Mar 10 17:10:56 2009

OHHH! What a wonderful idea (sic).

I suppose ebay is looking around quickly to inject some fast & furious catalog listings into it's core, just as lizard Lazard told them they needed to do!

LOL! Like it's going to help them now...

(NOTTT!!) Lets all get out our marshmallows and wieners, it's going to be a big bonfire after the Q2 report comes out!

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Chris

Tue Mar 10 17:49:17 2009

What does this mean? "Note that eBay sellers will not be able to create separate listings for Fixed Price items of the same condition".

I did not see this mentioned in the announcement.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Ina

Tue Mar 10 18:10:48 2009

Hi Chris,
See update above to answer your question (with a link to page where they explain the restriction).
Thanks,
Ina

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: buriedbybooks

Tue Mar 10 18:19:09 2009

One more reason for media sellers to list elsewhere. EBay already charges higher fees than any other media platform.

And for those dismissing this as a media-only issue, beware: I have no doubt shopping.com will be integrated next.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: ebay=penny stock

Tue Mar 10 18:35:07 2009

Can anyone spell TARP.

Death to the whole corporation.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Ming the Merciless

Tue Mar 10 19:55:07 2009

The Ho once again demonstrates precisely why he is very much The Ho.

Ebay is prostituting itself to Wall Street which is absolutely clueless about ebay works though they arrogantly continue to believe they are both omniscient and omnipotent.

It's Wall Street and its Siamese triplet the financial industry that created these mortgage and credit derivatives, and they continue on with the same arrogant attitude and practices as it were business as usual.

Ebay got inself into the mess they're in today by kowtowing to b school wunderkind without a single day of actual retail sales experience.

Buyers don't LIKE Buy, buyers don't LIKE shoplet, and buyer don't like smartbargains.

What most ebay buyers like is the personalized service and unique items that small sellers offer. No buyer in their right is going to pay more for something on ebay than they can on the seller's or other retail or brick and mortar store.

The San Hosed should abandon the b school strategy, the haughty b school jargon, and and all the screw the customer strategies they learned working in various other criminal corporations and brokerages (remember, it was the now bankrupt Bear Stearns know it all cheerleaders whose advice drove ebay cataclysmic decision making for so many quarters) and LISTEN to their customers and then make HONEST changes. No more lies and distortions about the results of focus groups.

Ebay: your customers HATE you. Are you paying attention Lizards? Ebay management suffers from some sort of collective mental illness -- co dependency, denial, and borderline personality. Ebay is run by the mentally ill.

Death to ebay corp. in 2009.
NEG MEG (Whitman) in 2010.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Jessy S.

Tue Mar 10 20:00:58 2009

Here is what it says on the eBay page that Ina linked.

(Note: these are simply tips to help maximize your sales.)

* List multiple-quantity inventory in long-duration, Fixed Price listings and use product details to get 5 cent insertion fees and free subtitle. Your listings will show up in search results and the new product page.

** What it doesn't say: Don't list in auction format because Dutch Auctions are going away soon.

* Price Competitively! Price will be the main factor determining the position of your listings on the product page and in search results.

** What it doesn't say: Price may be the main factor, but so is cost of inventory, eBay fees, and shipping cost. You will not find a LEGO set for 99 cents unless it is the starting bid in an auction.

* Got more of the same item to sell? Add to your fixed price listings & don't create new ones. You won't be able to create separate listings for fixed price items of the same condition.

** What it doesn't say: This answers Chris's question. Simply put, sellers can put more than one item in one listing. It has been done before BD and helps since it frees the site from clutter from just one seller.

* Use Auction-style for unique or one-of-a-kind items. Auctions-style listings get an automatic boost in Best Match search results when they're about to end.

** What it doesn't say: What a crock! Best match only exists to help the diamond powersellers such as Buy, Smartbargins, and others. Unless you had perfect DSR's, fixed price and auction style listings will likely expire on page 400 of DVD Listings.

*Half.com listings only show up on the product pages; Auction-style and eBay fixed price listings show up on both the product page and standard results pages. That's double the exposure for the same great price. So experiment to find the best combination of formats for your inventory.

** What it doesn't say: There is a commission for selling on half.com, but selling an item for less than $50.01 equals a 15% commission. Since most sales are below $50, selling 45 items at $50 will cost the seller $337.50. What it doesn't say in Ina's report is if buy.com or another site will be using half.com's services.

The last two are self-explanatory.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: o.c.d.collectibles

Tue Mar 10 23:35:38 2009

LOL! Like I said before, the bonfire will be a really nice hot one! Who wants to bring the ketchup and mustard? I'll bring the relish and buns!!

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Jessy R.

Wed Mar 11 00:11:58 2009

Don't forget the hot dogs.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: dan

Wed Mar 11 08:05:45 2009

Remember, there are NO LISTING FEES on HALF.COM. So they are giving away exposure on eBay and watering down the site. With SIS (stores in search) they received fees.

Can someone explain the ROI of Auto and Collectibles sellers paying retail rates to subsidize eBay's give-away (loss-leader) to the Media category? Media people may buy other products if the other products are appropriately marketed to them but the platform is so glitched up its unclear anyone there has the capability of getting it right.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: ebay is odd

Wed Mar 11 08:26:38 2009

We received that ebay email too. It is confusing, maybe on purpose. We just finished an online ebay chat with Myra A. on ebay. She didn't know too much about it as it only started yesterday.
It is for NEW listings starting today, not inventory you already have on Half.com. So are 30,000+ items can not be transfered. Unless we deleted an item & then relist i suppose.
If it is trully FREE, i guess we will try it on any new listings we have on half starting now. I am skeptical as ebay doesn't do anything for sellers so i am pretty sure i will get screwed on this somehow.
That email from ebay on this half/ebay news is not Copyable or printable as we tried.
Yes, ebay is a whore with trying to get lots more listings but if we can sell some obsure book or an old video on Ebay that has been sitting on half for years, why is that a problem?

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Lisa

Wed Mar 11 08:32:10 2009

Sounds like eBay is adopting the Wigix strategy of not allowing more than one of the same item to be listed by any individual seller in a separate listing. The downfall of Wigix will be just that. I don't hear much about the progress of Wigix, just that they keep making changes. As a category expert on that site, I have not received a single listing to review, and I oversee two branch categories. I don't foresee a good outcome for that site until they abandon some of their rigid standards and relax a bit. eBay is once again, running up the side of the volcano as the lava is flowing towards them.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Walter

Wed Mar 11 09:31:28 2009

Gee... If I wanted to shop at Amazon,

I'd Shop at Amazon.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: confused

Wed Mar 11 10:58:26 2009

Here, on Half.com it says IT IS STARTING IN MAY:
Great news Half Sellers!

Starting in early May, your listings on Half.com can also be displayed on eBay. We've made the process for getting your Half.com listings on eBay as simple as possible. If you and your listings qualify,
all you have to do is opt-in. By opting- in, you'll get these benefits:

• Instant exposure of your Half.com listings in a whole new marketplace with millions of shoppers
• All your new qualifying Half.com listings will appear automatically, so there's no need to change your current listing process
• Payments for your items will happen automatically at the time of sale and be available to you immediately in your PayPal account. (Normal PayPal transaction fees apply.)

For more information on this program, click here.

Thank you,

Are we the only sellers that do not have this link on half.com that is suppose to say ... Sell On Ebay..? We cant find it.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Joyful

Thu Mar 12 00:03:47 2009

Maybe I'll take my half.com "shop" off vacation, which I set it on last year because all I ever sold there were books I'd already sold but somehow never got deleted.

Probably not, because you can list only books with ISBNs, and half the ISBN books aren't in the skimpy catalog so you can't list them, and above someone said only new listings would also go on eBay, but possibly, if I run out of other ideas for trying to pay the mortgage.

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: Mike

Thu Mar 12 09:34:49 2009

What everyone seems to be missing here is what I think is eBay's primary reason for doing this.

Unlike at HDC, the only acceptable payment method on eBay listings is PayPal, so Ebay gets another chunk of the sale with the PP fees.

I guess having the extra exposure is a good thing, but if the listings don't show up in search results, will anyone ever find the listings from HDC?

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: bo

Thu Mar 12 10:07:13 2009

Help, I am gagging. This is so disgusting. What other carpo are they going to tell us. Folks take the blinders off, ebay is for ebay, us little guys are nothing, you need a big name and if you don't have one then leave them and get a new life. There is a life after ebay!

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: AlternativesForU

Thu Mar 12 11:23:48 2009

It's long past time to drop ebay (& Paypal) and populate it's competitors (if you haven't already). ANY & EVERY site is BETTER than ebay!

bonanzle.com
amazon.com
webidz.com
etsy.com
epier.
com
ebid.net
onlineauction.com
blujay.com
wensy.com
wigix.com
ecrater.com
ioffer.com
webidz.com
atomicmall.com
auctions8.com
goantiques.com
upperbid.com
silkfair.com
ubid.com
hibidder.com
hoobly.com
bidderssite.com
yourhighbid.com
neoloch.com
ziing.com
alsoshop.com
onlineauctionexchange.com
swaptree.com

============================

http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites - (ebay owns 20+ % of craigslist & they are currently in lawsuits against each other)

DON'T GO TO: shopping.com, worldofgood or half.com, (they're owned
by ebay)!

eBay Opens Site to Half.com Books, Media Listings

by: shaver58

Sat Aug 29 23:15:52 2009

Half.com not only chrges the 15% but also takes a chunk of you shipping fees by charging buyers one price and giving sellers .85 lessper book

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