Overstock Auctions To Introduce O-Subscription Pricing Plans For Listing

[bargainbloodhound]

EDIT-The initial 3/1 roll out of subscription plans is for existing subscription plan users only.  Subscription plans will be rolled out to everyone else later.

Dear Overstock.com Auctions Seller,

We are pleased to announce our new O-Subscription plans. Effective March 1, 2006, Overstock Auctions will offer subscription plans featuring 25 to 7,500 concurrent listings at a time. We are excited to be one of the only auction sites to offer a value-added pricing program. The new plans will enable you to get up to 75,000 listings on the site for one low price. In fact, the most you'll ever pay per listing is 3 cents!*



    *  Select a Plan: You may choose a monthly plan or purchase a bulk plan in 3, 6 or 12 month increments.
    * Bulk Plan Discount: The 3, 6, and 12 month bulk plans will receive a discount (5%, 7.5% and 10%, respectively) off the total purchase price. See above chart.
    * Concurrent Listings: You will be able to list up to the maximum number of concurrent listings allowed on your selected plan without incurring any insertion fees. Concurrent listings are the total number of listings active at the same time.
    * Additional Listings: Should you exceed your allotted listing level, all additional listings will be charged according to our regular fee structure.
    * Closing Fee: As with previous plans, a closing fee of 5% will apply to all sold items.
    * What's Not Included: Please note that upgrades and other additional fees are not included in this new subscription plan.
    * Activation Fee: A one-time activation fee of $15 will apply to begin the plan.
      If you sign up for a plan by April 1, 2006, we will waive the activation fee.
    * Plan Changes: If you decide to change your plan level or duration, you are subject to a $5 plan change fee. If you are suspended from your plan and we allow you to subscribe again, a $5 reinstatement fee will apply.
    * Cancellation Fee: The cancellation fee for bulk listing subscription plans will be equivalent to 30% of the total subscription rate.
    * More details are available in the plan overview, plan agreement and contract, which you will receive shortly.

As a special thank you for listing on Overstock.com Auctions, we are extending your current subscription level through February 28, 2006 at 11:59 PM MST.
During this time, please review the plan levels above and determine which one best fits your needs. A Seller Relationship Member will follow up with you shortly to assist you in finalizing your decision. In the meantime, should you have any questions, please email our SRMs at xxxxxx@ overstock.com. You can also call our TOLL FREE seller hotline at xxx-xxx-xxxx

Kind Regards,
The Overstock.com Auctions Seller Relationship Management Team

Email: xxxxx @overstock.com
http://auctions.overstock.com

[bargainbloodhound]

Update.  Just as I thought.  The 3/1 roll out is only for sellers who are already on a subscription plan.  Subscriptions will be rolled out to the rest of the sellers at a later date.

The information about our New O-Subscription Pricing Plans was only sent out to those who are already on a subscription pricing plan. We must set this up in phases. (We can't set everyone up at once.) We will make it available to the rest of the sellers once we have completed setting up the existing sub-pricing plan subscribers. If you are not already on a subscription pricing plan, please be patient and watch for updates.

http://forums.auctions.overstock.com/vie...138#165138

[rossellini]

I'm stuck between picking 8 or 9.  When I compare the savings with these plans over their regular listing fees it is a no-brainer to go with a subscription.  $15,000 monthly or $39.95. 

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=rossellini link=topic=2673.msg9612#msg9612 date=1140208424]
$15,000 monthly or $39.95. 
[/quote]

That's the part I like.  We haven't paid listing fees there since January 2005, and if they hadn't introduced these new supscription plans we were planning on cutting our listings waaaaay back when our free listings ended this month.

I'm stuck between picking 8 or 9

We almost chose 7, but then noticed that the music CD category has fallen to under 1000 listings and decided now (March 1) might be a good time to start listing CDs there...so we chose plan 8.

[bargainbloodhound]

A. the new subscription pricing plans start today

B. [rumor has it] many sellers upgraded the number of listings included in their subscription plans from the level of the free subscription plans

C. [rumor has it] Overstock's invoicing system apparently isn't caught up with changing the number of listings included in plans so it might be advisable to wait until 12 Noon MST today if you plan to list more than the number that were included in your free plan.

D. Now I must go cry at the thought of paying listing fees (even if it is only $0.00133167...yes 1/10 of one cent per listing) for the first time since January 2005. 

[amy]

The old volume discount plan was eliminated on March 1st.  The old volume discounts gave high volume sellers discounts of 2%-7%--the new subscription plans give discounts of up to 99%.  I prefer the new plans. 

The 5% discount for Club O members and 10% discount for Club O Gold members are still in effect.

Dear Overstock.com Auctions Sellers,

Effective March 1, 2006, Overstock.com Auctions made changes to the following programs. Please make note of the changes listed below.

1) Elimination of One-Day Auction Listing Capability: We are excited about this change because we think that it is going to improve the safety of our site and give sellers a better chance to increase auction views.

Improve Fraud Screening: Many fraudsters conduct one-day auctions in an effort to avoid our content review screens. Taking away the one-day auction functionality will make listing fraudulent auctions much more difficult for these nefarious characters trying to fly under the radar.

Increase Views per Item: Our research shows that listings have a much better chance of selling when they are up on the site for a longer period of time. By requiring our sellers to run 3, 5, 7, or 10 day auctions, listings will likely get more views.

2) Eliminating Volume Discounts: We are eliminating the current volume discount program. We are in the process of replacing the existing volume discount program with a new subscription listing program. We believe the new subscription listing program will provide a better opportunity for you to tailor a selling plan to fit your needs. An announcement will be made shortly providing the details of this change.

[amy]

The 5% discount for Club O members and 10% discount for Club O Gold members are still in effect.

I spoke too soon. 

Changes to Overstock Auctions O-Subscription Pricing Plans Effective May 3rd

1. Club O and Wholesale Club (AKA Club O Gold) discounts will no longer be applied to the (5%) FVF fee amounts.  <--guess who won't be renewing their club O membership this year

(Club O and Wholesale Club discounts still will be applied to listing enhancement fees though.)


2. Listing Fee Only credits can now be applied towards subscription fee charges.

[amy]

Overstock tips on using their subscription plans. 

How to Use O-Auctions Subscription Plans 
Greetings,

To avoid incurring unnecessary fees by overlisting on your subscription plan, we request that you review the best practices highlighted below:

1) Know your concurrent listing limit: If you exceed your listing limit at any time you will instantly incur a standard listing fee for each auction that is over your limit. Make sure that you know how many listings you can have active at any given time.

2) Monitor your active listings on Overstock.com Auctions: To check this figure, log in to your Overstock.com Auctions account and click the link that reads “My Active Auctions.”

3) Schedule your listings appropriately: Keep track of the timing of your listings, and how they will affect your total number of active auctions. This suggestion generally applies to sellers that use a third party listing provider (e.g. ChannelAdvisor, MarketWorks, Zoovy).

4) Give yourself some leeway: We recommend that new plan users start listing below their maximum threshold to avoid going over the specified limit. Once you have a good gauge on how the process works, then you can move closer to the listing maximum.

http://forums.auctions.overstock.com/vie...hp?t=12981

[thentavius]

Hey, this is pretty cool! I might have to start listing on the O again.

[sneakymagenta]

Bump because I feel like it.  ;D