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.

•
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.

•
Simple setup. Get started in just a few clicks.

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

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

[gurlcat]

Well last night my final 2 auctions with PLE closed.  😫

I immediately started 2 more auction lots very similar to the ones that just closed ...... but with no promotion at all, for the first time in ... a couple years?    I feel so naked, LOL!!!   -But so is everybody else, those running auctions anyway.   
I'll report how these 2 do in comparison to their predecessors.  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@gurlcat  Yes, keep us posted...

[gurlcat]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques  @valueaddedresource  
This being a unique week where no auctions are sponsored, I decided to check if any are shown in any of the down-page modules.  Turns out, YES I see some in the "You may also like" module.  They're not in any of the others, but no surprise because those all state that they are sponsored.  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@gurlcat  Yes, I noticed the other day that a fixed price item of mine (not in a PLS campaign) was showing up in one of the modules on a competitors listing page. I am not sure just how is determining when to show non promoted items on listing pages, but it does seem to be happening. 

With any luck, you may find you don't really need to promote your auction lot listings.

devon@ebay Can you shed some light on this: ebay appears to be showing non-promoted listings on listing pages, a space once reserved only for promoted listings. How does ebay determine whether to show non-PLS listings on listing pages? 

[isaiah53-57]

---

@gurlcat wrote:

Kind of goofy to plan a 2-week gap in any kind of promotion like that, I mean it's lost revenue for them too.  My only guess would be it's to avoid any confusion from overlap between auctions running on the two different kinds of promotion. 

Whatever.  I'm still pretty bummed about this.  More to the point I'm at a loss for how to approach it.  I'll still want to use the auction format for the specific type of item listing I've traditionally used it for, but I can't figure out what % rate I should use -the same, more, or less, than what I apply to my BIN listings.    I can't even suss whether the difference in number of days listed is a factor or not.  And it feels like it might be one of those things where it should be fairly obvious but not to me because I'm blonde and I don't math good. 

---

Has nothing to do with being blonde - With the way this despicable program is designed, how can anyone know what rate to use - In my opinion, they designed it like that for a reason.

Part of that reason would be to use their "recommended" rates I'm sure - Who would know better than the company what rates should be used right?

Problem with that is, they are "recommending" promotion rates of around 15% 0f the ENTIRE TRANSACTION - Add that to the 13.5% FVFs of the ENTIRE TRANSACTION and you are pushing 30% of the ENTIRE TRANSACTION in fees!

30% of the entire transaction can easily equate to 40% to 50% of the ITEMS SELLING PRICE - which of course is the only profit bearing figure in the transaction - And the company is "recommending" this!! - Are there so few people seeing the "emperor has no clothes"??

[the_backyard_bear]

So... you ended an Express format for Auctions... and now want the auctions to compete with Buy It Now listings for ad space in each category... making it more expensive for EVERYONE and less chance of visibility for all. 

Gotcha... great idea.  I'm sure everyone will love it.

[kdubyaa]

Yep. It’s awful. This was such an amazing thing, and I am also surprised it lasted as long as it did. I would even be ok with a higher fee like 5$ or 10$ or even up to 20$. 

With PLS how can I know how much I want to spend on an ad when I don’t know what the item is actually gonna sell for?

I recently sold a book for $1000. I normally run around 10% on buy it now listings. Had no idea the item would go to $1000. 

Anyway, EBay gonna EBay. Great PR behind this making it seem like it is a good thing for sellers. 

With so many sellers using buy it now listings nowadays, I really thought this was something they were offering to make auctions more attractive to sellers. Maybe won’t run as many auctions as I have been? The one auction I have running now seems to be getting plenty of traffic though. 

[gurlcat]

Welp, only 2 days left on these 2 non-promoted auctions.  And it is looking soooooo bleak.  Anybody else might look at the views/watchers/bids and say "well don't worry too much, there will probably be lots of last-minute bids."  And I know that is possible, but it's just not how my auctions tend to go.  For whatever reason I tend to get steady bids throughout all 7 days, and usually not a lot of fireworks at the end.  Right now one has only a few bids ($3 higher than starting) and the other has NO bids.  Ughhhh.....

[intuitive]

So eBay nukes Promoted Listings Express on April 15 after announcing that we have to use Promoted Listings Standard from here on out.   Then April 16 comes and ... GOTCHA!    They don't have ANYTHING in place to allow us to promote our auctions.   I called eBay and the representative was like "We know it's a problem and we're working on it."   He said a lot about upgrades and technology and etcetera but when I pinned him down about exactly when we would be able to promote our listings again, he said "I don't know."   Then he went back to talking about upgrades and opening a ticket and the "team will be in touch with me in 3-5 days."  Yes, and the check is in the mail.

Meanwhile, my listed auctions are doing about 50% as well as they were when I was using Promoted Listings Express.   Translation: I AM LOSING MONEY.  They got about 60% of views (vs. PLE) on the first day, then went right over a cliff.   Five or less views per day.  Bids haven't budged in two days.  My stuff is no longer featured in the promoted areas of the listing page, no more "Hot Auction" labels, nothing.

WHY did eBay eliminate the previous method of promotion BEFORE the new one was ready to go?  This makes zero business sense.  We're losing money, eBay is losing money.

At the very least bring back Promoted Listings Express until you work the bugs out of PLS!   Or better yet, re-implement Promoted Listings Express and leave PLS for the Buy It Now listings.

[gurlcat]

Read messages 28, 29, 30 of this thread for that info.  Supposedly we'll have PLS tomorrow.  The gap was planned, not a bug.   The CSR didn't know because they don't know anything.  Almost any answer you could ever need, you are more likely to get here in the Community than by contacting CSR.  

[gurlcat]

@valueaddedresource
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Results in.  Not as grim as my wildest horror fantasies, but definitely significant in 'worseness.'  
So as I said before, I purposely made the 2 non-promoted listings as similar as possible to the 2 previous PLE ones, since title and thumbnail would be the only kind of draw possible for clicks.  Had I made these last 2 bigger lots and/or with bigger designer names, it would not be a legit comparison.  I also ran both pairs Sunday-to-Sunday.  

Here are the PLE promoted ones that ended last Sunday (4/21).  Funny enough, they're actually a pretty good illustration of how a lot more views and bidders does not necessarily mean a much higher winning bid, in fact there's a $5 inverse relationship here.  

*************-------------------*********************-----------------******************-------------------------------



*******************-----------------------**************************---------------------*****************************

And here are the ones that ended tonight (4/28).   Compared to the 2 above, I think these illustrate that view numbers and bidder numbers do matter, even if they're not the be-all-end-all.     



*******************--------------------************-------------------------********************-------------------***



And not to toot my own horn .... okay I'll toot ..... I've gotten very good at making attractive mixed lots for auctions, as far as what collectors and other resellers are looking for.  And apparently I have a following of buyers -no idea if any of them get notifications when I post a new auction, but I reckon it's helpful somehow.  What I'm trying to say is, as not-horrific as these unpromoted ones did, it's probably due to my titles, thumbnails, and maybe followers.  I did a search last night of 'vintage jewelry lot' and refined by auctions only .... and oh my god was it a bleak scene, SO many closing with no bids, or much lower bids than they really should fetch.  I was pretty tempted to use some of my Paypal credit to snap some of them up.  And it's still tempting.  I already have so much inventory that just needs listing, but I know .... I am missing out on crazy good things for crazy cheap, and so is every buyer who isn't seeing many auctions while they're less visible than promoted BIN's.  

[intuitive]

It was simple enough for eBay to mass-mail a notice that Promoted Listings Express would soon be extinct, but what about the 2-week gap?     I gather you learned of it via the eBay AdBlog.  That's the only mention of it I've seen (and I saw it only because it was cited here).  

It's not like I'm a newbie -- I have been selling on eBay since the 1990s.   I usually have a firm grasp of new developments (harkening all the way back to the legendary "Discuss Newest Features" board).   I never would have listed my current auctions had I known of the two-week gap before I listed.  

As for the big roll-out, it's already the 29th and there's no sign of auction promotions being available yet.  

Sorry about your diminished auction views -- you're right, PLE did make a difference.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@gurlcat  Well, the results might have been higher with PLE, but it looks like you did pretty well regardless. I'm not sure PLS will really be necessary, but you could always experiment with it, starting with 2% and working up. Or just continue to list without PL. Maybe set a specific time to list the auction lots (you can always schedule them) and send out a weekly newsletter reminding your followers, etc, that new lots go up every Sunday night at 8PM PST or whatever....I don't know how effective newsletters are, but for something like this, they might be at least a partial substitute for PLE.

I think the key is---you ARE good at figuring out the right mix for the lot, the right starting price, good photos etc. And yes, you appear to have a following. Maybe even put something in the description field encouraging people to follow you so that they can get the weekly newsletter with auction updates?

Anyway, best of luck, however you choose to handle this ebay change.

[gurlcat]

@valueaddedresource 
@intuitive is right -there's no PLS available yet today, for new auctions.  Color me shocked.  🤣

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@gurlcat 

Yep. ebay adhering to a schedule seems to be less and less possible.

And keeping us informed about any schedule changes? 

Even less likely.