Anyone market GC's on eBay?

[Xavs]

I started doing this a few weeks ago and just sold my first gift certificate at a discount. I am wondering if anyone else does this and how they've found it to be - helpful or not.

 

[Emilie]

Why would you sell it for that much of a discount?  You take your eBay fees out for inserting the item and the final value fees, and if they paid using PayPal, the PayPal fees, you're probably only getting about 50% of your fee. The only people I give discounts for gift certificates to are existing clients - they get the referral bonus since it's like referring someone. That sort of rules out eBay discounts for me

 

[M. G.]

Yeah...good question brought up.  Why would you sell it sub-value?? To me, that doesn't make much (business) sense.  Can you explain the reasons/benefits of selling on ebay if this generally ends up being the case? I mean the only thing I can possibly think how this might help is if you NEED money for your office rent or insurance or something that is a MUST for your business to stay afloat and so you're trying to find money anywhere during struggling times.Be well,Jen

 

[fizixx]

Americans love bargains. Every other GC on eBay was going for nearly 50% off the regular rate so I figured this was the norm thing to do.But you're both right (Melb & Jen) - it's probably too big of a discount to make much business sense.This is another reason why I love it here. You guys knock the sense back into me while also giving great ideas and advise for so many of the situations I've been in and many I hope to never experience.  I would still be interested in knowing if anyone else uses eBay for this reason and their opinions on the discounts and such.

 

[cupcake]

Well I'm certainly NOT saying don't do this. If you ARE going to do it, why not put a reserve price on it. That way, if someone is bidding on it that really wants it, they'll realize they need to keep bidding higher amounts until they meet the reserve price. It may or may not work but it's worth a shot.  Good luck on it if you try...Be well,Jen

 

[Muttlove]

If it mainly is marketed to existing clients, why even use eBay?   PayPal has some very  very easy to use mercahnt tools for free where you can either add "buy" a standalone item or shopping cart where multiple items can be ordered together and all purchased in one transaction.  If you put your storefront on your own site rather than eBay it will be easier for people to find and no monthly ongoing fee, regardless of how small it is, ongoing fees add up.I've used PayPal on my site for gift certificates - ridiculously easy to set up.