Promoted Listings ebay message

[cristian3_6]

hello
I received a message from ebay, I don't know if it came to me alone or to everyone.

Does that mean that you can't add more promoted lists by paying a few dollars like I do now?

the message says this

Soon you’ll be able to use Promoted Listings Standard for your auction and fixed price items

Starting April 15, 2024, Promoted Listings Express will no longer be available. Instead, you’ll be able to promote auction and fixed price listings using one of our other products, Promoted Listings Standard. This high-performing advertising solution has many great features that will help you create more impactful campaigns.

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Only pay for sales. Instead of paying up front, you’ll only pay when you make a sale on an auction or fixed price item.

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Simple setup. Get started in just a few clicks.

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Reach more buyers. Stand out from the crowd with listings in prominent ad placements.

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Powerful results. Use reports to monitor your performance and optimize your listings.

[mcdougle4248]

@gurlcat

@intuitive  

The ten auctions that I launched earlier this morning just showed up as eligible to promote and I was able to successfully add them to a current active PLS campaign.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@mcdougle4248 

Thanks for that update. Happy to see they managed to stay on schedule with this. (Of course, the Ads Team seems to be ebay's top priority team, so I guess it makes sense)

[gurlcat]

That's crazy, just an hour and a half ago when I checked (noon, Central time), there was no available promotion.  But you say you were able to promote this morning?  Must be a fast-gradual rollout.  @intuitive  do you see PLS available to you yet?  

Here's something interesting.  The suggested ad rate for vintage jewelry > collections and lots is lower than I've seen in years, for a BIN listing anyway.  So I played around with other categories, even really saturated ones like clothes, and none of them were over 9%.    I can't even begin to guess what that's about.  

[mcdougle4248]

@gurlcat 

I launched the auctions at about 8:50 this morning. At the time of listing, PLS was not available. I did not get back to my computer until about 10:30 and I noticed they were eligible to be promoted on my active listing page. So, I just went to my active PLS campaign and added them without issues.

I use Dynamic rates with caps for my PLS campaigns. I also noticed a drop in suggested rates today. Heck, one listing dropped from 11% yesterday to 3.6% today. Just taking a quick look most of my listings suggested ad rates have dropped 3% - 4% today.

[intuitive]

@gurlcat 

@mcdougle4248 

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

PLS is now available for auctions.   I was able to add Promoted Listings to my auctions that were already active.

It seems wrong to feel relieved about the availability of a program I don't want.

I added PLS to a number of auctions which under the previous PLE pricing would have cost me about $30.    Based on how I expect these auctions to perform, I estimate the price of PLS will come out to $70-$100.   It's either pay more for Promoted Listings (much more, IMO) or settle for diminished views/returns.

What I would like to know but doubt I can get an answer, is what PLS rate/percentage is equivalent to the exposure we all received under PLE for $1.99/$2.49?

[gurlcat]

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@intuitive wrote:

What I would like to know but doubt I can get an answer, is what PLS rate/percentage is equivalent to the exposure we all received under PLE for $1.99/$2.49?

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That's the million dollar question.  Also does apparent popularity of an auction (views/watchers/bids) increase its' visibility?  And is the Hot Auction badge really gone?   

[gurlcat]

Hang on, when you say most of your listings' SAR dropped today, do you mean including BIN listings?   Mine are all still at their double-digit numbers.  I don't use Dynamic though. 

[gurlcat]

@mcdougle4248 
@intuitive 

I might start an auction or two tonight, not sure.  But since you two already have some up and promoted, I'm very curious about one particular thing: does it appear that you can change the rate or end it completely if you wanted to?  

One of the things we were speculating about earlier in this thread is if PLS is as malleable for auctions as it is for BIN's, then there might be some advantage to manipulating it over the course of the 7 days.  

[mcdougle4248]

@gurlcat 

In my experience with BIN listings when a Fixed Rate is selected you can change the rate, remove the listing from the campaign, or end the campaign entirely. 

This morning I added the new auctions to an existing PLS Dynamic Rate campaign and it appears that the only option is to remove the listing from the campaign. 

Give me a few minutes and I will test out moving one of my auctions from a Dynamic Rate campaign to a Fixed Rate campaign and let you know what I see.

[gurlcat]

Thank you.  
Also did you see my other question (message #82)?   

[intuitive]

@gurlcat 

Even if eBay were to disclose the PLS rate that is equivalent to PLE exposure, I'm not sure I would put much faith in it.   The eBay Ad Team is in the business of increasing the company's share of our sales.   That reality, along with the ever-escalating "suggested" rates,  undermines my confidence in the system.   I'll use it out of necessity.   But as I have mentioned before, when I started using PLS for Buy It Now listings, the suggested rates were 6-8%.   Now I'm routinely being given suggested rates of 12-14% for BINs -- this on top of the 12-15% we already pay in standard final value fees.    If I were to apply those suggested rates, eBay would get nearly 30% of my sale.  What changed in the past year that the suggested rate should nearly double?   How many newer sellers are automatically applying the suggested rate without fully understanding just how big a bite will be taken out of their sales?

When I added PLS to my auctions today, the suggested rate was 9.4% for every listing.  

[mcdougle4248]

@gurlcat 

Yes, all of my BIN listing's SAR dropped 3% - 4% today. SAR for the majority of my listings were hovering around 13%, with a few up to 16%. Now most listing's suggested ad rates are 9%. There a still two listing's with 16% SAR and 2 listings's SAR under 5%.

[mcdougle4248]

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@gurlcat wrote:

@mcdougle4248 
@intuitive 

I might start an auction or two tonight, not sure.  But since you two already have some up and promoted, I'm very curious about one particular thing: does it appear that you can change the rate or end it completely if you wanted to?  

One of the things we were speculating about earlier in this thread is if PLS is as malleable for auctions as it is for BIN's, then there might be some advantage to manipulating it over the course of the 7 days.  

---

I successfully moved one of my auctions to a new Fixed Rate campaign. The answer to your question is yes, you can change the ad rate, remove the listing from the campaign, or end the campaign.

[gurlcat]

Alright, well at least there's one bit of good news to come out of this crock.  
I feel like there's got to be a way to use this to one's advantage, but it's tricky obviously because the goal is to maximize visibility but not have the winning bidder come from a "promoted view".  
Setting aside the specific % for just a moment, and thinking purely in a 'on' vs. 'off' mode .... I wonder if it would be better to have promotion on early but then removed later, or vice-versa.  I can see reason for both.  
Here's an idea, though it would take some time.  -Look at bid histories of past auctions and see how many were won by people who had bid back in the early days versus how many didn't bid until toward the end.  Ugh, but then again even if they didn't bid til the end, it doesn't mean they didn't SEE (and maybe watch) the auction from an early date.  

[mcdougle4248]

@gurlcat 

Yes, it could be tricky for you.

I do not run auctions too often.  I mostly run them when BIN sales are slow. For whatever reason running some auctions kick up my BIN sales. I never used PLE because it was too expensive for my low priced items. So, this whole promoting auctions is totally new for me.

Testing to see what works might be the way to go.