What products would you buy from a Daily Deal?
7/11/2009 at 11:54
There’s little doubt that two offers today on the Daily Deal were a success, they were both sold out within three hours. Nice to see Benthams back up there again, this time with a Philips home cinema DVD player instead of the Pogo Printers.
With just 509 available though they were snapped up in hours, as was the Don King Boxing for the Nintendo Wii from The Hut Outlet which sold 1276 before running out of stock. With sales this fast, eBay’s expansion of the Deals program to include Weekly Deals does make sense if they want to ensure buyers logging on specifically for the Daily Deal have something to look at.
I’m not sure I would have bought either of these deals, although quite obviously there are plenty of people who did. Definitely a mix of deals appeal to different groups of people, and that’s a good thing as it’ll keep buyers checking in daily so see what’s on offer each morning.
So what have been your favourite deals so far? How many have you purchased and what type of products would tempt you to buy in the future? If you could choose a daily deal tailored for you what would products would you select?
DBL says
12:05 pm on 07/11/2009
I bought the crayola colouring things for the kids for Christmas and a few various other items on DOTD but I can’t say what as they are also Christmas presents.
The kids don’t read Tamebay just yet although they could read the word ‘eBay’ before anything else, don’t know why that is…
Richard says
1:30 pm on 07/11/2009
Getting a bit fed up of daily deals, outlets, and TRS’s getting so much promotion to the detriment of every other fee paying seller. It’s getting more than a little rediculous when there’s millions of other items on eBay from many other sellers.
…and eBay wonder why so many sellers are actively winding down listing on the site.
whirly says
1:41 pm on 07/11/2009
Overall I have been happy with my purchases and there have been quite a few
However, as some of you may have seen on Twitter I am getting spammed to hell by one outlet seller, and to top it off this morning they started spamming my letter box at home.
Not impressed with that and I doubt eBay are all that thrilled about it either.
Chris Dawson says
3:21 pm on November 7th, 2009
It’s pretty poor that a high profile seller is breaking eBay’s spam rules to such an extent.
For anyone that’s unsure the eBay User Agreement states “You may not add other eBay users, even a user who has purchased an item from you, to your mailing list (email or physical mail) without their consent.”
As both you and they have agreed to the eBay User Agreement, by adding you to their mailing list they’re breaking the law
whirly says
3:28 pm on November 7th, 2009
It’s very annoying Chris.
That particular email account is just for my eBay biz, never gets spammed, only a few people know it.
Really cross about it tbh. And so should eBay, I don’t know if you saw my twitpic earlier on twitter, 4 leaflets & brochures in the post this morning, all with discount codes for there website, not a mention of there eBay shop on any of them.
Chris Dawson says
3:39 pm on November 7th, 2009
Write to them and charge them a fee for your time and inconvenience. Point out that they’re breaking the “The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003” as you’ve explicitly NOT given them permission to communicate with you as defined by the eBay user agreement and send them a bill.
whirly says
3:49 pm on November 7th, 2009
No way, I’ll be naru’d by Wednesday
ebuyerfb says
12:41 pm on November 8th, 2009
Most of my eBay related email addresses are spammed regularly (I’m talking the pill and casino spams). The only way to know about some of these addresses would be to make a purchase from me. I often wonder if that is behind some of the bid and run schemes.
northumbrian says
2:31 pm on 07/11/2009
we have bought a quite a few too
as richard says its probablly because its so easy and in your face
10 quid for that 20 quid for this
a few more quid on other things but all you do is click and its delivered to your door ,and after whinging about how long it takes ,those pogo things arrived the next day,
no buggering about in the shops, wife and kids sorted for christmas, I think its the mutts nutts
Richard says
2:43 pm on November 7th, 2009
That’s exactly the problem North, people are going no further. What about a link to shops on the home page for starters.
I’ve no doubt these deals are good value for money. However, if the average buyer is doing what someone of your experience is doing that’s no good for anyone.
northumbrian says
3:59 pm on November 7th, 2009
Richard we agree your point is very valid daily deal must be hurting the normal seller
we spend so much time sourcing stock off ebay, we are not the normal ebay buyer, if its stuffed under our nose at the right price ,we will buy it, but we dont go looking, so in a way we are drawn in by daily deal, and extra to the normal
whirly says
4:28 pm on November 7th, 2009
I’m the same Norf. If Daily Deal didn’t exist I wouldn’t have bought any of the items.
Typical purchase will involve me sitting down for a cup of tea, eating some eggs and checking on overnight eBay activity, I take a quick look to see if it looks any good, if not, back to work. I never look at the eBay site again until the following day.
Bunchy says
6:21 pm on 07/11/2009
I have bought 4 things so far from the daily deals promotions. For the latest purchases, it’s been just over 1 week and with zero communication or delivery from 2 of the sellers I am not impressed so far.
I bought a digital video camera a few weeks ago and as I have not had the chance to test it yet due to it being a Christmas gift and the intended recipient never being very far away, I have not left any feedback yet. The seller has requested feedback no less than 5 times. Not so happy with being pestered in this manner. As a seller I would NEVER request feedback as you never know when it may backfire.
One of the sellers I purchased from uses marketworks checkout. Won’t be buying from them again in a hurry for that sole reason.
All-in-all these transactions have just been pretty average and nothing makes them spectacular or outstanding in any way. I am quite happy for ebay to continue these deals as they have brought my attention to products for gifts I wouldn’t have thought of normally and for reasonably low prices.
board_surfer says
9:21 am on 08/11/2009
I have never bought a single DOTD.
Its a tad hypocritical to complain about them when your buying them dont you think?
whirly says
10:00 am on November 8th, 2009
I don’t know, I pay eBay money and complain about them daily.
Bunchy says
4:00 pm on November 8th, 2009
Chris Dawson says
9:28 am on 08/11/2009
Oh hell, have you seen the X Factor Jedward twins t-shirt on the Daily Deal today?
Anyone that buys it has to be a fruit loop!
whirly says
2:37 pm on November 8th, 2009
Who made up the R.R.P.
Talk about decepting the public.
whirly says
2:38 pm on November 8th, 2009
Who made up the R.R.P
It’s just ripping people off.
Richard says
2:51 pm on November 8th, 2009
RRP = some fantasy figure that in this day and age means bugger all. The only thing they’re useful for is making up daft savings percentages.
Sue Bailey says
4:54 pm on November 16th, 2009
Not looking so good for them…
http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1100274734&start=19
Debs says
6:13 pm on November 16th, 2009
Sue, could you give me the gist of the thread? I tried to read it, was made to login to eBay and got the message that I do not have “permission to view the requested forum or category”
whirly says
6:18 pm on November 16th, 2009
I get that all the time.
Sue Bailey says
6:20 pm on November 16th, 2009
Sorry Debs! The most important bit of the thread, from someone who’d bought a Jedward t-shirt,
Paid on 08-Nov-09
Dispatched on 16-Nov-09
Ouch.
Debs says
6:23 pm on November 16th, 2009
I’m sorry – I find it hard to have any sympathy for someone who would actually by any Jedward merchandise!
Sue Bailey says
6:37 pm on November 16th, 2009
Well, indeed Debs. One might think that non-receipt of a Jedward t-shirt was a blessing in disguise.
whirly says
6:41 pm on November 16th, 2009
Well, I for one can’t wait to see the look on the wifes face when she opens up the box on xmas day.
John says
9:46 am on 08/11/2009
Jedward t shirt today !!!!!! Tacky tack tack
Joe says
10:20 am on 08/11/2009
Well I certainly won’t be buying today’s ‘Jedward’ T shirt.
I also wonder if the official X-Factor merchandise license holders would be interested in VeROing that T shirt.
Richard says
1:35 pm on November 8th, 2009
OMG You really couldn’t make this up, not sure whether to laugh or cry.
Bigpoppa says
5:07 pm on November 8th, 2009
I thought theHut was part of Asda?
Richard says
5:37 pm on November 8th, 2009
No just a supplier of media product who supply several others with that type of product s well inc. the new woolworths site.
ebuyerfb says
12:35 pm on 08/11/2009
I once bought three bags of jerky. I think TameBay got an ePN credit for that one.
Debs says
2:04 pm on November 8th, 2009
What’s an ePN credit?
whirly says
2:57 pm on 08/11/2009
Still, I might get one for the Wife for xmas, punish her for burning my pork chops on Wednesday.
John says
3:56 pm on 08/11/2009
A Wii console would be nice
Wigsy says
6:02 pm on 08/11/2009
I don’t understand todays thehutoutlet daily deal. They are selling t-shirts for £4.89, with “free” postage. After paying out for the cost of the t-shirt and printing, vat, postage and packing costs inc labour they will be left with around 25p to pay royalties (?) and fees to eBay (?)
I thought maybe its a loss leader to get people to buy from their ebay store but all the shirts in the store are only 10p more. It cannot be clearance stock, “Jedward” have only been around for 2 or 3 weeks..and all the other designs are current, what’s the point??
Sue Bailey says
6:15 pm on November 8th, 2009
Obviously can’t speak for that particular seller, but to answer your point more vaguely -
~ I think you’re overestimating the cost of the t-shirts.
~ bankrupt stock and similar is plentiful right now (think of the million fruit pies from a canx supermarket order…)
~ if you sell enough things at pennies profit, it’s worth doing (300-odd t-shirts probably isn’t enough though)
~ loss leaders.
~ potential future marketing (wouldn’t have thought this was quite the product, although the demographic is probably interesting)
~ test run for a “better” DotD?
~ eBay-initiated, lacking anything better.
~ how long can they realistically last? (that’s a genuine question; I’ve watched the X-Factor once in my entire life and Chris will tell you I wasn’t impressed) I can’t think this is stock you want to hold on to.
My theory is – well, profits are made when you buy, not when you sell. So start with the stuff at the top of my list.
Richard says
7:33 pm on November 8th, 2009
My guess is they’re dumping stock while there’s still a market for it. John and Edward will soon be forgotton history, please don’t vote for them……… Not that I actually watch X-Factor you understand.
Sue Bailey says
7:37 pm on November 8th, 2009
My guess is they’re dumping stock while there’s still a market for it.
I’d've said that too – but it does raise the question of why on earth you’d buy that stock in the first place!!
whirly says
7:47 pm on November 8th, 2009
Feedback.
Wigsy says
7:53 pm on November 8th, 2009
Thankyou Whirly
Richard says
9:37 pm on November 8th, 2009
You’re making the assumption that they bought the stock, they could be shifting it on someone else’s behalf. Either that or they got it at a really stupid price, and I’ve seen some really stupid trade prices in recent weeks, there’s tons of product out there if you know where to look or the have the right contacts that can be bought for silly money.
Sue Bailey says
1:04 am on November 9th, 2009
You’re making the assumption that they bought the stock,
Well, someone bought the stock. Unless they’re printing on demand – which is a pretty expensive way to make shirts.
Wigsy says
9:50 am on November 9th, 2009
They need 5 working days to ship so I would guess they are printing to order
Richard says
11:19 am on November 9th, 2009
I doubt it or the number available would have been a silly high number rather than something so specific. I suspect but could be entirely wrong that they have them on sale or return from someone, which is what I was getting at with the assumption that they’ve bought the stock.
Personally I wouldn’t be seen dead in one of those t-shirts, but each to their own.
Steve Antony Williams says
6:52 pm on 08/11/2009
The Hut is nothing to do with ASDA, they are a white labeller company which tends towards home entertainment sites. They are also quite close to me and a nice bunch of guys.
Harry Roberts says
11:24 pm on November 8th, 2009
Yes Steve, The Hut is nothing to do with Asda is it, oh, apart from running their entertainment ecommerce shop that is!
Always a pleasure to see your industry knowledge shining through,
Cambridge_Blue says
9:51 pm on 08/11/2009
I havn’t bought anything from DOTD or DOTW either although I monitor them out of interest.
The RRP scam with these is simply a joke and frankly rather insulting but you can never underestimate people’s desire to believe they have got a ‘deal’.
It would be of great interest to know how many views of these eBay pages come staight-in, bounce across from within and perhaps most pertinently where do they go too.
The key issue for me is whether the vast majority of viewers who land on the DOTD pages go straight out again or stay within eBay.
The ‘stickiness’ issue is key for all sellers – is the extra traffic stying on to view or not?
Perhaps someone can find out from their ‘friends’ in eBay what is really going on here.
pip pip
Lino says
8:04 am on 09/11/2009
From what I can see, Daily Deals are great if you’re happy to buy items you never thought you wanted at ‘discounted’ prices.
But I still don’t think they help my business, or the millions of other sellers like me, who don’t get preferential treatment.
Jimbo says
11:42 am on 09/11/2009
Just to add to the speculation: somebody could have ended up with a specific number of blank t-shirts being held at a screen printers which they needed to clear & thought lets do something topical at a silly price so we can clear the stock, we can put up all the stock we have but will only print what we need
.