3 min article

Discounts Manager

Discounts Manager provides eBay Store subscribers with an easy way to set up special offers on eBay. Discounts can help you attract more buyers, clear old stock, increase average order size, drive repeat purchases, and even lower shipping costs by bundling more items per order.

You can set up five different types of special offers using Discounts Manager:

  • Sale events: Reduce prices for selected items or categories
  • Volume pricing: Offer tiered discounts to buyers who purchase multiple quantities of a single item
  • Coupons: Offer exclusive discounts to buyers by using a coded coupon
  • Shipping discounts: Offer free shipping for a limited period or under certain conditions
  • Order discounts: Offer discounts based on order size or the amount spent by a buyer. You can also create discounts such as a percentage off an additional item or a buy-one-get-one-free offer

For items to be eligible for Discounts Manager, your listing must be in fixed-price format with Buy It Now pricing. Items will appear at the advertised price, and the discount will be applied in your buyer’s shopping cart.

You can access Discounts Manager from the Marketing tab of Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab. Discover more about Discounts Manager in the Seller Center - opens in new window or tab.

Creating a sale event

Sale events allow you to group items together and offer potential buyers discounts for a set period of time. Sale prices appear in search results on eBay and on the view items page.

Here's how to create a sale event:

  1. Go to the Marketing tab in Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab and select Discounts.
  2. Select Create discount and select Sale event from the dropdown menu.
  3. Set the discount type (e.g. "Percentage Off," "Amount Off," or "Sale Event Only") and the % value.
  4. Set a duration and add details like a name for your sale event.

You can then add inventory by choosing specific item details, SKUs or categories. Here's how:

By item details:
  1. Choose Specific items from the Select item dropdown.
  2. Select Add to open the Add items page.
  3. Filter by price range, item condition, days on site and category to find the items you want to include.
  4. Use the Hide items that are already on sale filter to exclude items you've already put on sale.
  5. Check the box next to each item you want to include.
  6. Review and select Add items.
 
By item ID or SKU
  1. Choose Specific items from the Select item dropdown.
  2. Select Add to open the Add items page.
  3. Choose Select by bulk listings.
  4. Select Item IDs or Custom labels or SKUs.
  5. Enter the list of item or SKU IDs in the text box separated by commas and select Find items.
  6. Review and select Add items.
 
By specific eBay categories or specific store categories
  1. Choose Specific eBay categories or Specific store categories from the Select item dropdown.
  2. Choose Select categories to open the Add categories page.
  3. Select the categories you want to add.
  4. Select View items and exclude to view all the items that will be included in the sale and exclude items if required.
  5. Select Add categories.
 
All your inventory

Choose All inventory from the Select item dropdown, then use filters like price range and item condition to narrow down your selection if you prefer, or simply apply the sale event to all the items you have listed.

Select View items and exclude to view all the items that will be included in the sale and exclude items if required.

 

You'll see an on-screen confirmation message and can now monitor your sale event's performance from the Discounts page in the Marketing tab in Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab.

Editing a sale event

Once you've launched a sale event, you can edit the end date and sale name, but not the discount values. You can also edit the inventory in your sale event. Here's how:

For item-based sale events:
  1. Find your sale event on the Discounts page on the Marketing tab of Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab.
  2. Select Edit from the actions column.
  3. Here you can either add or remove items:
    • Select Add next to the Select items field on the right side of the page to open the Add items page. Select any items you'd like to add, then select Add items.
    • Select Remove next to the Select items field on the right side of the page to open the Remove items page. Unselect any items you'd like to remove, then select Update items.
  4. On the Sale event page, select Update.
 
For category-based or all inventory sale events:
  1. Find your sale event on the Discounts page on the Marketing tab of Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab.
  2. Select Edit from the actions column.
  3. Select Remove under the Select categories/ All inventory field on the right side of the page to open the Remove items page.
  4. Uncheck an item to remove it from the sale event.
  5. Select Update items.
 

Creating a volume pricing discount

Volume pricing lets you offer discounts to buyers who order multiple quantities of the same listings.

Here’s how to set up volume pricing:

  1. In Seller Hub, select Discounts from the Marketing tab - opens in new window or tab.
  2. Select Create Discount, and then choose Volume Pricing.
  3. Name your discount, choose your pricing tiers, and select Add Inventory.
  4. You can then select up to 500 individual items or copy and paste up to 500 item IDs or SKUs. (You can also create category rules with price filters, item condition filters, or brand filters or exclude up to 100 items, SKUs, or categories.)
  5. When you’ve finished, select Save and review to return to the main screen.
  6. You can edit your inventory by selecting Add or remove rules, save your discount for later by selecting Save a draft, or choose the date range for when it will be active and then select Launch.

You can create percentage-tiered discounts that your buyers will see in your listing. For example: Buy one T-shirt at full price, buy two T-shirts and save 5%, buy three T-shirts and save 10%, buy four or more T-shirts and save 15%.

Tip
You can also create volume pricing from the Seller Hub active listings tab or when listing an item.

Creating coupons

eBay store subscribers can create and share their own discount codes for buyers. Here's how to create a coupon:

From the Marketing tab in Seller Hub
  1. Select Discounts.
  2. Select Create a discount, then Coupons.
  3. Set the discounts and conditions of your offer and choose eligible items. You can also choose to set a budget and other usage limits for your offer.
  4. Add an image and a short description for the coupon.
  5. Schedule your offer or select Start Immediately.
  6. Review and select Launch coupon.
 
From your Active listings page:
  1. In Active listings, select one or more fixed price, multi-quantity listings.
  2. Select Add or review discounts.
  3. From the pop-up, select Coupon.
 
On the eBay app:
  1. Select the menu icon on the home screen.
  2. Tap Selling, then tap Orders.
  3. Tap Send coupon or Boost buyer engagement.
  4. On the Send coupon screen, tap Create coupon.
  5. Enter the details of your offer, including a description, duration, and image.
  6. Tap Launch coupon.
 

When you create coupons on the eBay app, the coupon code needs to be unique across eBay, and your campaign will begin immediately after you launch the coupon.

Here are some benefits of using coupons:

  • Send a printed coupon code in your order to encourage repeat purchases
  • Offer a discount to customers instead of adjusting the item price
  • Control your spend on discounts and protect selling your margins with options like minimum spend, expiry date, and budget

You can stack coupons with sale events and shipping discounts, however, coupons are not stackable with other discounts such as order discount and volume pricing.

If several discounts are running concurrently on an item, your buyers will get the best discount. If an item has a Best Offer or Offer to buyers, the offer takes priority, and the coupon cannot be applied.

Sharing coded coupons on social media platforms

When you create a new coded coupon, you have the option to share it through the following social media platforms:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Whatsapp
  • Email

When sharing a coupon, you can edit the caption (up to 280 characters), and a link to the coded coupon terms and conditions will always be included.

If you choose to share a coded coupon at a later date, simply select Share from the action list next to each active coupon in Discounts Manager.

Creating a shipping discount

The Shipping discount tool on the Seller Hub Marketing tab allows store subscribers to offer time-bound free shipping or conditional free shipping to buyers.

While we recommend offering free shipping, adding a shipping discount could be an option to offer reduced or free shipping at certain times of the year, or when your buyers are buying a number of items. 

Here are some benefits of using the new shipping discounts tool:

  • Drive sales volume – listings that offer time-bound free shipping and delivery within 1-3 days have a greater chance of visibility on the search results page on ebay.com
  • Schedule your discount– select a start date and end date for your offer. Discounts will only be applied during this time as long as the buyer has started the checkout process
  • Set purchase conditions – set your purchase requirements for the discount such as your minimum purchase amount or quantity

With Discounts Manager, you can create special offers ranging from “buy one, get one free” to discounted shipping.

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