Really eBay? Every Sale is Via Promoted???

[yellow-snapdragon]

I've been hobby selling on eBay for over a decade and have sold close to 2,000 items organically over the years. Just started to promote a couple months ago because sales got a bit stagnant. Now EVERY item I sell somehow sells VIA PROMOTED LISTING! This can't be reality. I would still naturally have some sales, not promoted? Right? Hmmmm....

[powell-memorabilia]

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@yellow-snapdragon wrote:

I've been hobby selling on eBay for over a decade and have sold close to 2,000 items organically over the years. Just started to promote a couple months ago because sales got a bit stagnant. Now EVERY item I sell somehow sells VIA PROMOTED LISTING! This can't be reality. I would still naturally have some sales, not promoted? Right? Hmmmm....

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 1) member for twelve years; 2) sold 2,000 items; 3) averaging 167 sales/year, 14 per month.  That's where we start.

You have sold 140 items in the last three months, averaging 47 per month - a nearly 250% increase to your average.  I'd say that promoting is working well for you, especially if you started promoting b/c sales are stagnant.  

[selsa84]

When I ended my promotion and we did it at 2% less my sales stopped.  If you stop using pls,  abruptly sales will tank. I believe that once you've started using pls u will be punished for stopping promoting. 

[mr_lincoln]

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@selsa84 wrote:

When I ended my promotion and we did it at 2% less my sales stopped.  If you stop using pls,  abruptly sales will tank. I believe that once you've started using pls u will be punished for stopping promoting. 

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@selsa84 

Bingo ... let me put this in a very clear perspective for you.  After years of using PLS it was great until early 2022 when PLA was fully launched, they changed the way Views are counted and magically doubled and tripled the ad rates for PLS.  Prior to that and for several years I ran ONE PLS campaign PER QUARTER for about 30 days, very regularly.  But when sales started to tank on PLS and BINs got buried between the campaigns I decided in 4th quarter last year to stop using PLS.  Since then (about 2 1/2 months) I have received the following:

(3) "We've missed you - try Promoted Listing Standards again."

(2) You have what they want (Promoted Listing Standard sales messages)

(1) "Your offer has landed" Offsite Ads beta message

Below are the messages ... the one that tells the story most accurately and to your point above is the "We've missed you - try Promoted Listings Standard again."

I am patiently waiting for sales to recover naturally.  That may or may not happen.

                  

[monster-deals]

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It is NOT a "money grab". 

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Puh LEEEZ

Paying more and more just to get your item seen is 100% a money grab and is THE revenue growth ebay has seen recently

[isaiah53-57]

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@theteamsetguy wrote:

@isaiah53-57 ,

As far as I’m concerned the way I look at promoted listings is eBay’s attempt to monetize their more desirable shelf space on their platform. Most other websites, including Amazon, Airbnb, Priceline, Hotels.com, Walmart.com, Target.com, and others charge their sellers or manufacturers promoted listing fees already. This is no different than grocery stores charging various food manufacturers slotting fees for eye level, or end cap shelf space. Have you ever noticed when you go into a grocery store certain brands are always at eye level and other brands of the same items are the bottom of the shelves. Usually the smaller brands are buried near the bottom because they don’t or can’t pay the slotting fees. Is this fair? Maybe not, but it is what it is. I have come to the conclusion that not everything is always fair in this world.

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I'm sorry but it is nothing remotely close to your analogy of shelf space - End caps are exactly that - There is a limited supply of them - And a store doesn't charge (within reason) one brand more than another for end cap visibility. The places you mention have tiered promotions with limits and regulation...With Promoted Listings, the site acts like "end caps" are infinite - They are selling the same "shelf space" over and over again without limit - If EVERYONE was promoting at 10%, who would get the end caps then?? The only way to get out ahead would be to promote at 20%, then 30% ...where does it end?

Promoted listing is CHAOS - There is no control - You can pump your promotions up to 100% if you want to! - Its left up to the discretion of sellers, some lacking any type of business acumen...some using it just for the sake of using it, because thats what the company "recommends"...but most  sellers who use it are fueled by desperation and paranoia which I believe is the driving force behind this wretched mess masked as an advertising program - And when people get desperate they are willing to pump up the rate to irresponsible levels in order to pay their mortgages - Thats like blood in the water for the site, but its blatant exploitation in my book...

Promoted listings pits sellers against each other like a dog fight - Biting clawing and scratching to survive like animals to get out ahead in the fight - Healthy competition is good - I see NOTHING healthy about this program...

[selsa84]

It is 100% a money grab. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

@yellow-snapdragon  

It can seem that way for sure.  I've been using PL's extensively for several years now, almost since the beginning.  They increased my sales by 3x, early on.  I promote everything & have for years.  The vast majority of my sales are from PL's.  At a glance, I'd say 70-80% PL, but I still have around 20% organic sales & I only typically have 1 Halo effect sale per month.  It's very rare.  

When I get non-PL sales, they usually go in a cluster.   I've had 94 sales in the last 90 days & of those 35 were organic sales & the rest were PL.  Don't have time to find the Halos, but I'm guessing 3, since I usually have 1 per month.  In many cases when looking down my list, the organic sales are grouped together as 2-4 in a row.   This has been my normal for a long time now.  

You may be getting all PL sales b/c it's so new for you.  It will likely level off to a mixture of all 3.  

[simply-the-best-for-you]

It can be both a money grab AND a marketing program that many co's use!  It's both.   eBay would have had to raise rates if they didn't put in the program.  I've heard employees say that.  But it is also a program that many co's use to increase revenue.   eBay's job is to increase revenues for their shareholders, so while I don't like that I have to use PL's, it's necessary in my category & early on, it helped a lot with sales.  Now, not so much b/c so many are promoting.  It's an option, it's not without its flaws, but it is still technically optional, even though it doesn't feel like it in some categories. 

[dbfolks166mt]

It can seem that way for sure.  I've been using PL's extensively for several years now, almost since the beginning.  They increased my sales by 3x, early on.  I promote everything & have for years.  The vast majority of my sales are from PL's.  At a glance, I'd say 70-80% PL, but I still have around 20% organic sales & I only typically have 1 Halo effect sale per month.  It's very rare.  

When I get non-PL sales, they usually go in a cluster.   I've had 94 sales in the last 90 days & of those 35 were organic sales & the rest were PL.  Don't have time to find the Halos, but I'm guessing 3, since I usually have 1 per month.  In many cases when looking down my list, the organic sales are grouped together as 2-4 in a row.   This has been my normal for a long time now.  

You may be getting all PL sales b/c it's so new for you.  It will likely level off to a mixture of all 3.  

     I have always been curious how sellers that use PL and claim that it increases their sales know for sure. How do you know for sure the item would not have sold organically without PL? 

[dbfolks166mt]

It can be both a money grab AND a marketing program that many co's use!  It's both.   eBay would have had to raise rates if they didn't put in the program.  I've heard employees say that.  But it is also a program that many co's use to increase revenue.   eBay's job is to increase revenues for their shareholders, so while I don't like that I have to use PL's, it's necessary in my category & early on, it helped a lot with sales.  Now, not so much b/c so many are promoting.  It's an option, it's not without its flaws, but it is still technically optional, even though it doesn't feel like it in some categories. 

     Agree 100% that eBay would have to raise rates across the board if they had not implemented the PL program(s). I don't use PL and never will but I am grateful for those that do since it has forestalled eBay from an across the board FVF increase. Agree that eBay's ONLY reason for being in business is to maximize their value to their shareholders. With regards to the early success of PL and those that were using it this is where it becomes a prisoners dilemma or a race to the bottom in some cases. To keep their PL advantage a lot of sellers continue to increase their PL percentage and eBay has even increased the recommended rates. 

     Either sellers absorb the additional cost out of their profits or the increase their prices to compensate for the PL FVF's. At some point absorbing those costs or increasing prices makes it unprofitable or the seller or puts them out of the competitive market price range. 

[oldwestgold]

Ahhh, that would explain why nothing is ever done by reporting counterfeits from China, brick-and-mortar info including outside eBay ph #, address, websites, and email addresses. If only eBay would enforce their own rules or operate under those same rules that we Bozo sellers have to.

I see they now have promoted stores showing up in the header of searches. I am surprised that eBay just doesn't bury the listings we post in the fine print at the bottom of the page requiring the Hubble telescope to be able to read them.

[oldwestgold]

The poster is actually correct. Large sellers get passes by inserting their brick-and-mortar store info like ph numbers, email addresses, websites, and physical addresses. I have been here 24 years and attest to that. Not a thing you can do about it.

[mam98031]

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@selsa84 wrote:

It is 100% a money grab. 

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No it is a TOOL, like several others offered on the site, that cost money to use.  It is the seller's CHOICE to use the tools or not.  No one forces you to use the tool nor is it a requirement.  It is simply charging you for a service rendered like so many other things in life.  If you don't like it, don't use it.

PL works great for some sellers and not so much for others.  Some sellers use the tool and others don't.  It is simply a decision for each seller to make for themselves.  

[iamalwaysright]

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@oldwestgold wrote:

The poster is actually correct. Large sellers get passes by inserting their brick-and-mortar store info like ph numbers, email addresses, websites, and physical addresses. I have been here 24 years and attest to that. Not a thing you can do about it.

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But @janet9988 said “any type of policy violation”. Who’s to say those large sellers you refer to didn’t already get a pass prior to having Promoted Listings? And what do large sellers have to do with what she said? She just mentioned having Promoted Listings regardless of your seller size. I have had Promoted Listings ever since the program was created, and I’ve been hit with some policy violations since then.

How are you able to attest to her claim, have you tested it out yourself thoroughly? If you are correct and proved me wrong, then there actually is something you can do about it: just put your listing into PL at a measly 2% and go buck wild with every policy violation in the book. You should be able to easily cover the 2% fee by making a few successful off site sales, selling banned items, or something.

[go-bad-chicken · Accepted solution]

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@yellow-snapdragon wrote:

I've been hobby selling on eBay for over a decade and have sold close to 2,000 items organically over the years. Just started to promote a couple months ago because sales got a bit stagnant. Now EVERY item I sell somehow sells VIA PROMOTED LISTING! This can't be reality. I would still naturally have some sales, not promoted? Right? Hmmmm....

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What you are experiencing is due to what I have termed as the "eBay Promo Wheel"

Here is how it works. For this example I used one of your listings to demonstrate the results.

A prospective buyer finds one of your listings organically via search.

They click on it and this is what they see.

Then on their way to your item description they come across 2 carousels of promoted listings. And if you the seller promote your other similar items that are the same as the one that the buyer found organically, then eBay will display one or two of your own promoted  listings on that listing. This is where the Halo effect comes into play. The moment that that buyer clicks on one of those (your promoted listings) the Halo effect has now been activated for all of your promoted listing moving forward for that buyer for the next 31 days.

Tricky eBay

And even if they dont click on your promoted listing and choose one of the other competitors promoted listings like the one on the bottom row 2nd from the right, what they will see in the first two promoted listing carousels on that seller's listing is one or two of your promoted listings, and this is generally due to the fact that they found d that listing from one of your listings. This is eBays way of trying to get that buyer to click on one of your sponsored listings in order to activate the Halo effect.

....AND IT WORKS. Buyer's are no longer spending as much of their time actually in search. They are now spending more of their time within the listing flow clicking from one similar item to the other. 

And that is why niche sellers like ourselves will see a larger majority of our sales attributed to Promoted Listings. 

Like many sellers here I have a love hate relationship with promoted listings. But eBay isn't going to change their minds anytime soon. Once I came to terms with their decisions I decided that I would try my best to use this tool to my advantage. What I've discovered is that when its deployed strategically, promoted listing do indeed open the opportunity for more sales versus fellow competitors.