eBay Coupons: The Myth
23 January 2009It seems like very year around the holidays, people start looking for eBay coupons. I can understand that. You want to save a little money. You want to get the best bang for your buck.
But, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
Let me see if I can explain here. eBay is the marketplace, not the merchant. Think of it as a giant online flea market (which it really is). The company that owns the land the flea market is on (the eBay website) isn’t selling anything but booth space. They have very little control over the prices that are charged and how each booth holder or merchant handles things like returns and custom orders.
And most importantly, in this case, they can’t issue a coupon code or discount code for the flea market since they will then have to reimburse the merchants for the revenue lost.
This is why eBay Coupons are very seldom issued. And when they are, they are issued to eBay users that are active. They aren’t a free-for-all coupon code. And the merchant will still be expecting to get the full price that was paid. Any discount that the coupon affords will have to be taken from eBay’s fees or straight out of eBay’s pockets. It doesn’t make very good sense for eBay to issue coupons very often.
So, if you’re looking for eBay coupons or eBay discount codes, you can keep looking if you like, or you can accept that in 9 out of 10 instances, if you haven’t been notified by eBay about a code, you won’t be finding one.
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January 30th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
You’re right, you wont find a coupon code unless ebay sends you a message in your inbox. I bought something this way during the holidays and I’m sure the person I bought it from did not take the hit. Ebay takes the loss in order to promote people to buy from them. I think you would need to be a registered ebay user in order to even get it. If you’re not even registered, then forget finding anything. I love the way you describe ebay as the big land owner of the flea market, it is soooo true! boy does that booth cost alot!
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
they have certain days of the year when they lower the listing fees which help but then your competing against everyone else listing those same days so i’m not sure if it helps much in saving. ebay is good though for picking up coupons for other places that people are selling, though i find with the gift certificates you dont save enough to make them worth buying
February 5th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Thanks for the info. As someone just getting into the whole ‘eBay craze’ any helpful information, such as this, is very appreciated – thanks.
February 7th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I have been on ebay for 10 years, and I have never heard of coupons! why is ebay hiding this? thanks for the insightful post!
February 24th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
The only ‘coupons’ I’ve seen are discounts when using certain payment methods, in which you receive ‘cash back’ for signing up for a payment service.
March 26th, 2009 at 1:23 am
I actually got one from Ebay and used to buy a new camcorder a while ago, but as far as searching online and finding on in a search, there’s no way in hell!
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 am
Wow. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as an Ebay coupon. I thought it was just a myth.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Yeah there are a TON of fake “coupons” out there. What I like to do is just ignore those and go with the specials that eBay has going at the time. They always have something going to try and up the number of listings on the site.
Free Shipping and you get to add a free subtitle, that’s my favorite. Helps you with keyword searches on eBay.
May 17th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
On my accounts on eBay I use to buy or sell, I never get coupons.
On my accounts on eBay I use not to buy, but well for a myriad of other purposes, I get tons of coupons.
The coupons I’ve heard only work for individual accounts and that seems to be my findings as coupons don’t carry over for other accounts.
May 31st, 2009 at 8:24 am
I got an ebay coupon code in my mailbox for 15% dvd’s, books and video games. I won a textbook for $76 + 8 dollars shipping and only paid $71 dollars total. It showed that the seller received the full amount. I think I received it because I had sold a lot of books, dvd’s and video games on ebay…
July 6th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
On my accounts on eBay I use to buy or sell, I never get coupons.
November 29th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I am a Ebay member and I have not taken advantage of…well i will just be honest I have
never heard of these copupons or codes. Any help in learning these techniques will be well received.
I have not been active in Ebay lately…Just trying to deal with this changing Economy.
Just getting back into things…with your help
it won’t take that long
Aloha from Hawaii….