Smart Markdown vs rolling price cuts

DashVue’s repricer has two different ways to bring a stale listing’s price down automatically: an anchored markdown that settles at a fixed percentage of the original price, and a rolling percentage cut that trims a little more off the current price every cycle. This article explains how each one behaves, when to use which, and how the anchored version fills the gap left by eBay retiring its own Auto Price Reduction feature.

Two different ways to cut a price automatically

In Repricer → Rules, the strategy gallery offers templates built from two different kinds of price action. Some, like Smart Markdown and Deep clearance markdown, use the “Hold at % of original price” action. Others, like Clear stale stock, Quick clearance and Nudge slow movers, use a plain “Reduce price by %” action. They look similar on the strategy cards, but they behave very differently once a rule has run more than once.

Anchored markdown: settle once, then hold

Smart Markdown and Deep clearance markdown both use the “Hold at % of original price” action. Smart Markdown holds a listing at 90% of its original price once it has been unsold for 21 days. Deep clearance markdown holds it at 75% once it has been unsold for 45 days, both down to your price floor. The important part is what “original price” means here: the action always measures against the listing’s starting price, not its current price.

That makes the action idempotent. Once the listing reaches the target percentage, running the rule again on a later cycle does not cut anything further, because the price is already sitting at the target. For example, a £20 listing on Smart Markdown drops to £18 once it hits 90% of £20. On every later cycle, as long as the listing is still unsold, the rule checks the price against that same £20 anchor, sees it is already at 90%, and leaves it alone. The price marks down once and settles, rather than sliding a bit further every time the repricer runs.

Rolling percentage cuts: a little more, every cycle

Strategies like Clear stale stock use a plain percentage reduction instead. That action takes a percentage off whatever the current price happens to be, not off the original price, so it compounds. Take the same £20 listing on Clear stale stock, which cuts 5% each cycle once a listing has been unsold for 30 or more days. Cycle one takes it to £19. If the listing is still unsold on the next cycle, the rule cuts another 5%, this time off £19, taking it to £18.05. The cycle after that takes it to roughly £17.15, and so on, for as long as the listing stays unsold, always bounded by your price floor.

In other words, a rolling cut keeps sliding for as long as its condition stays true. An anchored markdown reaches its target percentage and then stops moving, even if the condition stays true for months afterwards.

Filling the gap left by eBay retiring Auto Price Reduction

eBay used to offer its own Auto Price Reduction tool, which stepped a listing’s price down automatically over time. eBay has since retired that feature. Smart Markdown and Deep clearance markdown are DashVue’s native replacement, built directly into the repricer rather than depending on anything eBay runs itself. If you used to rely on eBay’s automatic step-downs, an anchored markdown rule is the closest equivalent, with the added benefit that it settles at a firm discount instead of continuing to erode the price indefinitely.

Which one to use

Reach for an anchored markdown, Smart Markdown or Deep clearance markdown, when you want a listing to settle at a firm, predictable discount and stop there. Reach for a rolling percentage cut, such as Clear stale stock or Quick clearance, when you want the price to keep trimming down cycle after cycle until the item sells or hits your price floor. Both kinds of action are always bounded by whatever price floor you set on the rule or the individual listing, so neither one will push a price below the floor regardless of how many cycles it runs.

See the related articles below for more on building repricing rules and setting price floors.