I just saw a message from the 18th with a new promotion: list items for sale between May 22 and May 24, sell them by June 12, and get a coupon for a discount on buying one item -- 10% off if you sell over $100, 20% off if you sell over $200. I'm feeling lucky that I saw the message close to the start of the period, rather than (as usual) after it already ended. The offer says the coupon will be restricted to the terms on the coupon, specifically expiration date and (presumably) maximum value. That's annoying. If it's going to have a one-week expiration or a low max-value limit, it makes the offer less appealing. But if it's the typical "up to $100" or even "up to $200", it becomes more tempting to list and dump one load of junk silver at close to melt, then use the coupon on a close-to-melt gold eagle or something like that. Anyhow, anybody else see this?
So I called up eBay last night, spent ten minutes on the phone with a rep, and got NO additional information. The rep wasn't able to tell me anything about how long the coupon would be good for or its maximum value. So, I tossed up a couple of silver lots at a bit more than the going rate as BIN/BO, figuring that I'll drop the price if it turns out that the coupon is worth pursuing. (The rep did promise to get back to me.) I also put up a really classy set of gold-plated State/Territory quarters in a luxuuuuurious display cabinet; for reasons I don't understand, such sets sometimes bring in more than $200 all by themselves. We'll see.
I received a similar offer from May 18-May 24th. I never got around to listing anything though. Here are the details. The Promotion Listing Period will begin on Wednesday, May 18, 2016, at 00:00:01 PT (12:00AM plus one second), and will end on Tuesday, May 24, 2016, at 23:59:59 PT (11:59PM plus 59 seconds), for listings on www.ebay.com. Invited sellers ("sellers") who create listings during the Promotion Listing Period, complete one or more bona fide sales, and receive payment in full for the item(s) from the buyer by 23:59:59 PT on Sunday, June 12, 2016, will be eligible to earn an eBay Coupon. The value of the Coupon will be 10% of what you sell, excluding shipping, handling, and taxes, from items listed during the Promotion Listing Period that sell by June 12, 2016, for a maximum Coupon value of $50. For example, if the total value of the items listed during the Promotion Listing Period, that are sold by June 12, 2016, is $43.56, a $4.36 Coupon will be issued. If the total value of the items listed during the Promotion Listing Period, that are sold by June 12, 2016, is $600, a $50 Coupon will be issued.
Interesting! That's actually a different offer from the one I received: Clicking on the terms and conditions link reveals this: In other words, "you'll find out what the coupon is good for when you get the coupon, and not a minute before." I do hope that the limit is higher than $50, though. If I find out it'll be that low, I won't work terribly hard to sell my silver at current prices.
Yeah, ebay is always offering different people different deals (it seems to be totally random). I typically get the 4x or 5x ebay bucks offers that they run maybe once a month, and are usually good for 48 hours. Those deals cap out at $100, but they still allow someone to get foreign gold coins at or even under spot (when listed in the world coin category, not bullion of course). At least the ebay bucks deals explicitly spell out the terms, conditions, exclusions, and limits. Your offer is a mystery.
"Moot". And it's not, at least for me. I got my three listings up last night, with prices a bit above the going rate, so I don't expect them to sell immediately. If I find that the coupon conditions are to my liking, I can drop the price on one or more of my listings to a point where it will sell quickly. I have until June 12 to register the actual completed sale(s). So, for example, I've got 40 silver Kennedys at about $340. (Some rolls have gone for $170 each or higher lately, but most go lower.) If I found out that I could get a coupon good for up to $200 (20% off $1000) maximum value, I could afford to drop the BIN price to $240, where they'd sell instantly, or somewhere in between to sell them a bit less rapidly. If I found out that the coupon was limited to $100, I'd be less inclined to drop the price that far. If I found out that the coupon was limited to $50, I'd probably just let the listings ride as they are, and let them expire without selling. (Of course, if someone wanted to take that luxuuuuurious cabinet of gold-plated quarters off my hands...) BTW, I'm trying to be vague enough here that no one will interpret this as an ad for the auctions. If I decide to advertise them here, I'll use the For Sale section as I'm supposed to. Mods, please let me know if I need to make my posts less specific.
I called them Tuesday evening. Wednesday or Thursday, I got an update message saying "we're still trying to get the information for you." Tonight, I received this: [BOLD emphasis mine] Ah, if only I knew which categories. I won't be particularly surprised or disappointed if Bullion is excluded, but I really hope (and expect) that the rest of Coins will still be fair game. If I knew that were true, I'd drop the price on those Kennedys, dump them pronto, and start prowling to see how much gold I could get in one buy below melt. But I'm still uncertain, so I won't be terribly aggressive. Yet.
Luck, and the favor of the eBay powers. Those powers are capricious and inscrutable. (In other words, even they don't know what they'll do next.)
Well, it's now officially more than two weeks after June 12, and no sign of a coupon. Guess I'll have to call up Customer Service and rattle some cages.
Sent an email reply to my last message from Customer Service, and got an autoreply saying that I should call in. After fighting my way through a menu tree that does NOT offer a "something else" option, I eventually got to a CSR. The CSR was not able to find any record of the promotion. No messages in my eBay folder (duh -- the message disappeared without warning shortly after the promotion period expired; nothing sinister there). I pointed to the message (that is still in my folder) from the other CSR confirming that it would be a 20% coupon with no upper limit on the discount amount. Tonight's CSR said he would take that information to his supervisor and "hopefully" be able to provide me with a coupon, "but no guarantees". I'm cool with that, as long as they're cool with my ensuing fervor to spread the word that "eBay only honors promotional offers when they feel like it". But I do hope it doesn't come to that. Glad I didn't sell any more stuff at a loss in my effort to land a possibly-nonexistent coupon. And, from now on, I guess I'll be saving screen captures of anything eBay sends me.
Followup: the CSR I spoke to on the 28th said I should hear back in 24-48 hours. I've heard nothing. I've been meaning to escalate, but it's been a very busy time; maybe next week. At this point, I'm pessimistic about seeing a coupon at all.
