Are eBay Promoted Listings Worth It?

[funfinds122]

I sell collectible items as well as a mix of others that come my way. Some of  my items sell as promoted, while others don't sell as promoted.  Promotions sometimes double the FVF. 

I currently don't have a store but consider subscribing to maybe a starter level. 

I was wondering if promoting your listings is worth it.  Thoughts?     

[stainlessenginecovers]

Since you sell 1 of used items; not for you. 

[jeansjewelry]

Depends on what you sell - you just have to try it - I didn't think it worked but 75% of my sales come from promoted listings.

You can't really know without trying it.

Best thing is you don't pay if items don't sell.  I pay up to 7-9% of sale price and factor in the fee as part of selling costs.

[jayjaspersgarage]

You have 16 active listings so you don't need to spend money on a store.  I am downsizing my store after ten years to a Starter Store and slashing 3000 listings by the end of this month.  I will keep listing in certain categories but need to devote more time to my other three businesses where I am outdoors getting paid to exercise.

I tried promoted listings earlier this year with mixed results.  As long as you raise the price the same level you promote at it can't hurt.  In fact it will probably being a few more views.

I don't have the stats on my promoted sales but I had some items sell through PL.  If they don't move while promoted just end the promotion by revising.

[theteamsetguy · Accepted solution]

It depends on what you sell. If you sell items that have a lot of other sellers selling identical items it is probably worth it if you items are not showing on the first page of search results. Your prices also have to competitive. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter if your item is seen but others in the same search results have lower prices.

If you are selling one of a kind items in my opinion it doesn’t pay to promote. I would spend time including as many key words to help buyers find your items in item specifics. 

[coolections]

Just my opinion but NO, promoted listings are not worth it. When 99% of buyers change the default to ending soonest or lowest price they do not care about your promoted listing.

[buyologist-3]

Oh..No.............I love your shop!  See you later today.

And good advice, too.  I hope they take it.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

It depends on your category more than anything else.  I sell one-off used items & PL's well over doubled my sales b/c it's a very competitive category.   Of my last 30 sales, approx 25 are PL's.   It was a huge game changer for me.  YMMV.   

One tip, I had experimented with trying it, without much luck until I promoted ALL my listings.  That made a big difference to me.  I just use standard PL's, not the Advanced. 

[theteamsetguy]

You are a perfect of example of who should benefit from promoted listings since you sell clothing one of the most saturated categories on ebay. 

[paulhua3]

In both of my stores I sell mostly MQFP, even if only one shows available (because it's easy to add quantity), and I use PL on most items at 1%.  I find many of my items sell through PL, so I keep doing it.

[bimm_corp]

@funfinds122 

>I was wondering if promoting your listings is worth it. Thoughts? 

The PL playing field may change in the future when eBay's bean-counters get enough data to prove how much more money PLA is making for eBay over PLS. When that happens I fully expect PLS to go away, making pay-per-click the eBay standard for Promoted Listings.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@theteamsetguy wrote:

You are a perfect of example of who should benefit from promoted listings since you sell clothing one of the most saturated categories on ebay. 

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Yes, I agree & I def do, but that was against the original wisdom.  Original wisdom was that sellers of new, multiple quantities of the same widget would benefit the most.  I don't think time has borne that out.  At least not in my experience.   You CAN sell one-offs & PL's can benefit you greatly.  None of this 1% stuff though in a competitive category though 🙂

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

"The PL playing field may change in the future when eBay's bean-counters get enough data to prove how much more money PLA is making for eBay over PLS. When that happens I fully expect PLS to go away, making pay-per-click the eBay standard for Promoted Listings."

I really don't expect to see that. ebay has admitted that PLA is really only valuable for some sellers with certain types of merchandise (mostly new, multi quantity stuff), whereas PLS can be useful for anyone (including as a supplement to PLA for those who use PLA). 

[flo_mingo]

I promote listings at 1% when ever I have 24 hours without a sale, It seems to give my store a boost. I remove the promoted listings as soon as I have a sale. Although I have to say that since yester day I have been getting charged 7 % on my sales and even though I have removed promoted listings from my items about 6 times over the past 48 hours using the bulk editor. Still item still populating into the 7 % listing category.  I have to say even though I am trying to remove the promotion without success, sales have been great, more that 10 sales today 4 of them international. 

[chapeau-noir]

I sell clothing, so a supersaturated category, and use promoted listings - it helps just because I'm such a small seller who can get overwhelmed.  This site has gotten so big that it's almost impossible to come up in some searches anymore.