% Promoted Listings

[daspotter]

What good does it do other than give eBay more fees.  How does it benefit the seller?  Is it worth the extra expense?   One person said they did 3%; eBay suggest 9,10,11%.  What does eBay do for you the seller for giving them 3% more?  Thanks.

[dbfolks166mt]

     The problem with PL is there is NO WAY to prove it does anything for the seller unless eBay is manipulating buyer search results to put PL items in front of buyers ahead of what may be a better value or lower cost for the buyer. 

     What it does do, an I guess you could call this a benefit, is forestall an across the board increase in FVF percentages for those that elect to NOT use PL. It also makes eBay look like the good guy since they can increase their revenue through PL but that is a sellers choice and is not mandated by eBay. PL makes eBay look much better than if they had done an across the board increase in order to increase their revenue. 

[gamersbaystore]

Promoted listings are totally worthless. I got a whopping 3 promoted views yesterday on over 650 listings that are all promoted, most at the suggested ad rate.

ebay cannot deliver any traffic with promoted listings, even if you bid the suggested ad rate. They have no shoppers left on this platform because the majority of consumers hate ebay and dont want to shop here anymore.

ebay lost millions of buyers over the past 2 years alone! It also doesnt help they have failed to invest in and enact effective marketing campaigns that actually work.

I dont see what the logic is in ebay telling sellers to promote their listings into thin air, but that's essentially what they're doing, as no one is here to view the items being listed to begin with.

Now ebay is also pushing offsite ads, in turn trying to get sellers to spend more money while getting nothing in return.

I don't have to pay a red cent to get visibility on Mercari, and virtually every listing I make there shows up in Google shopping. Never costs me a dime as its all paid for by Mercari. ebay is just super greedy and it shows.

[12345jamesstamps]

I promote my most expensive listings because generally those are hard to sell? I don't promote cheap stuff anymore....that stuff sells itself.

To get a buyer to your site to see your cheap stuff promote something you had for a long time. The trick is getting buyers looking at items for sale.

I do go over the recommendations of suggested rates...mine are over 10%-20%.

I had a good last month and sold high-end items. But I am also selling cheapie items.

However, the promoted fee is immediately taken out of any "available funds" pending.

I was in the negative a lot last month but made good money. I prefer items to sell and not sit around.

My unique items I promote...it was strange because a lot sold last month. And they were promoted since the summer.

Good luck.

[redlinear]

When searching after filtering you will see a few Promoted listings at the bottom of the page.
Example: search something, filter low to high, scroll to the bottom (the last few listings are for sure Promoted).
However, probably quite a few that are in your Low to High order are promoted. Maybe all?  They just harder to spot since they are in order.
Open up somebody's listing. See all those adds for similar or sponsored items? Those are Promoted listings.

As for normal placement in an initial search?  Promoted might get your listing there for a short amount of time, then it will switch to somebody else promoted listing.
It's all a time thing. Not everybody can be number one. Not everybody that promotes can be number one either.
SO, If everybody is promoting, is anybody really being promoted?

[ittybitnot]

What does eBay do for you the seller for giving them 3% more? 

@daspotter 

eBay suggests that your listing may be seen ahead of those that only promote at a 2% rate if you promote at 3% .  So if  your listing appears in a scrolling carousel of sponsored listings at the end where nobody looks,  or in the "See more/items you might like" at the end of another seller's listings there is a chance you will have the 89th spot instead of 90th on row 25.  So if you stick to 2% and a few thousand sellers are hitting it heavy at 10% or more, where do you think you listings will end up?  Clue: there are only so many spots even if eBay has a "see more" option. 


It is my understanding this will count as an "impression" even though nobody looked at your item (view).  

Those that feel this helps their SALES may have a different idea or interpretation different from mine.  

The question remains are buyers shown the BEST value, the best eBay has to offer? or are buyers shown those items with the highest promotional rates? 

I quit selling here before this program was implemented.  I do know I sold on etsy and as @gamersbaystore   indicated, my listings were also on Google Shopping within an hour of posting.  It was a good deal for many years until my platform awarded me with their new mandatory offsite add fees at 12% for life.  My good SEO was to be to my detriment had I stayed there. 

My good SEO is to MY benefit now.  I feel if I stayed here on eBay it would not count for squat unless I also paid to play.  I can submit my items to Google Shopping for free. 

Pay to play is a personal choice you have to make.  I figured if I was going to PAY, it would be for my benefit.  So far I have not paid a penny in advertising fees for my website, and it is progressing nicely at a cost now of about $90 a year.