Trending rate for promoted listings is lying? Please read.

[brettyg599]

I just did this test on 2 different items. I relisted the item and clicked "trending rate" for the promoted listing on a revise item page.  Then I immediately click view listing, click revise again, then go to trending rate and it has increased. I went from 2% to trending which was 4% and now it says trending is 5%. I did all of this in under 1 minute.

I did this for 2 separate items and it did this for both items. Is it ok for them to lie to us about the trending rate so that people will click it and they make more money? Can others please test there items and if so we need to seriously get this fixed.

[mr_lincoln]

@brettyg599wrote:  "... Is it ok for them to lie to us about the trending rate so that people will click it and they make more money? ..."

____________________________________________

What does your gut tell you?  I never bother with the trending rate since I figure its probably subjective and unless they give me all the data to prove how they arrived at it then its meaningless.  I normally run one Promoted listing Campaign per quarter and my approach is to simply put ALL GTC listings on it for around 30 days and pick one % of promotion for all items then let 'er rip ...

[chapeau-noir]

'Trending rates' are exactly that - trending, and they change depending on prevailing rates in a category - they are going to be going up and down constantly depending on listings coming on line and their promotional rate because it's a game of averages.  I expect that the rates will swing more depending on the number of items in the particular category averaged. 

I experimented - the rate actually DECREASED from 8.4 to 6.7 then to 7% then back to 6.7% and then to 7% on subsequent revisions. 

[luckythewinner]

---

@brettyg599 wrote:

Is it ok for them to lie to us about the trending rate so that people will click it and they make more money? 

---

IMHO it is not okay for eBay to lie. 

Nor IMHO is it okay to accuse eBay of lying when one doesn't really know whether they are. 

[brettyg599]

It is pretty hard to prove someone is lying when ebay doesn't tell us how any of its functions work, or where any of the data comes from that they use. Perfect way to never be proven a liar. Never speak or say anything of importance.

Did you try to edit your items and see how drastically it changes every 10 seconds. No way the trending rate for that category is changing by over 2% in 10 seconds unless they are using trending as just the last item listed in that category.

[femmefan1946]

I have been quite pleased with the results of using Promoted Listings.

The number of Views of my products over four different accounts with widely varied products has increased from three to tenfold.

Sales have also increased.

I use only one percent as my rate. 

I have had very few sales of the Promoted items. Instead what seems to be happening is the Promotion pulls the customer into my Stores and they find something else to buy.

I don't think I have spent more than a dollar a month on Promoted sales since November when I started using them.

As a TRS and a Store subscriber, I get a slightly lower FVF on sales, so the one percent is subsumed into that.

I Promote about a third of my listings, and switch around which items are Promoted from time to time.  Mostly when I am bored. Not something I think deeply about.

[femmefan1946]

@chapeau-noir 

It's like the Suggestions eBay makes to "improve" my listings.

I sell in slow moving categories.

When eBay shows me  listings they think are moving slowly, they never have exact comparisons. Usually they have no comparisons at all.

And even if it were price-sensitive, I'm as likely to be lower than the average in the category as higher. And that includes shipping internationally (Canada to USA).

[cashvaluerecovery2011]

Just wasting money in my opinion. I have had a 50% or higher sell through rate this year with no promoted listings. Many items im getting a few bucks more than my competition who is promoting their listings.

Look its simple logic. Ebay averages 10% fees on every sale. Its in their best interest not to run people off screwing them out os sales in order to get a few more percent on those remaining. You are just donating money to ebay for nothing. Make good listings. Take good pictures. Be a good seller and shipper. And sell what people want at competitive prices. Those promoting are losing profit they would have kept just doing the above.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

@chapeau-noir 

It's like the Suggestions eBay makes to "improve" my listings.

I sell in slow moving categories.

When eBay shows me  listings they think are moving slowly, they never have exact comparisons. Usually they have no comparisons at all.

And even if it were price-sensitive, I'm as likely to be lower than the average in the category as higher. And that includes shipping internationally (Canada to USA).

---

No, those suggestions really don't work well for those of us who sell OOAK - there are few direct comparisons and even comparing in classifications is unreliable.  IMHO, most of Ebay's innovations are tailored for sellers of the same commodities Amazon, Walmart etc. etc., have with UPCs.  How are they going to find a 'going rate' for a rare book, vintage Chanel or Huret derailleur is beyond me, there just aren't that many.

As far as I'm concerned, these trending rates are real-time averages and can float up and down depending on category, listings in that category, what other sellers choose for trending, listings going online and offline.  I match trending when I list in crowded categories (J. Jill shirt, Chico's pants) where I want my listing to loft a little higher because of stiff competition to be seen.  There's no sense in my having a 6.7% rate on an Emma Domb vintage Partylines dress because there just aren't that many - with even a half decent title with a bit of SEO it'll come up probably on the first page, maybe even above the fold.  I don't bother with PL for that stuff.

Having a listing far above trending is just throwing money at the wall because anything trending is going to come up first, the seller will just end up paying 15 or 20% or whatever for really nothing more than they could get for 7% or whatever that rate is or, if they have more unique stuff, not using it at all, or doing as you do @femmefan1946  apply a low rate.

In a big way it's just a form of game theory.  Google uses to use the same in their Google Ads but it got really out of hand.  I'm surprised that hasn't happened here, yet.  If anyone here remembers the old Sponsored Listings program years back when the sponsored listings were all stacked at the top of the SERPs, it became a complete waste of time as at times you'd have to dig through pages and pages to get away from the sponsored listings to get to whatever was newly listed or getting ready to end unless you were in a very narrow category.  Geez - I think eBay got rid of those in about 2005 or something.