A little explanation on that ebay ad...

We don't normally sell on ebay as the seller fees are high and reduce our margins.

The ad was auto-generated six months ago by our ecommerce site and posted as an experiment to see if it would draw attention from ebay game buyers who don't frequent forums and aren't as familiar with ColorDMD. The ad mirrors the product page on our site which is why it didn't specifically call out ColorDMD in the title of the product listing.

The flash sale that happened yesterday came as a complete surprise. Although being an ebay member for many years, I didn't even know that was a thing. The ad hadn't drawn much attention and to be honest I forgot it was even running until we started getting multiple hits late yesterday.

I didn't find out about the flash sale until it was almost over and am still puzzled how ebay was able to offer such a large discount. Half the discount came from seller fees we were charged but the other half seems to have come from ebay directly in the form of an economic stimulus package.

Congrats to those that were able to get a great deal!

As stated earlier, ColorDMD doesn't generally sell through ebay due to the high seller fees.

The vast majority of our sales are direct, but we do use resellers and alternate distribution channels to extend service and/or reach. We've tried using ebay a few times in the past for "advertising" to reach new customers but it generally hasn't worked out very well. The previous listing was ineffective at reaching new customers, and has since been retired.

We don't believe ebay's current strategy of stimulating short-term traffic on their site provides a lot of long-term benefit to businesses and may actually hurt those that use multiple distribution channels.

ColorDMD's retail/reseller pricing is set with an expected target mix that meets our overall margin targets. We don't resort to "sales" as a selling practice because they aren't conducive to a long term stable business, and disrupt other distribution chains. When retailers derive a large portion of their business from "sales," retail prices must be increased to meet the same target objectives.

Although we don't have "sales," there are a few established ways to get a discount on a new ColorDMD:
1) Exhibit a ColorDMD display at a show and help promote ColorDMD.
2) Buy 3 Ship Free! Purchase three or more displays through our website and receive free shipping anywhere in the world.
3) Price breaks for direct sales on large orders (10 or more) for personal use only. Based on availability. Contact us for details.

For those who are participating in the ebay sales, we hope that you can use your purchases to support other companies doing innovative things for the hobby!