eBay

wastingtime101 · ‎02-28-2023

https://www.ebayads.com/2023/02/15/seller-announcement-promoted-listings-standard-fees-are-changing/

What’s changing?

As we continue working to help make your ads more engaging and helpful for buyers, we will be expanding our definition of a click for Standard and Advanced ads to include interactions with new features and functionality of your ads. In addition to when a buyer clicks through to your listing page, we will now include when a buyer clicks on the heart icon to add an item to their watchlist from a Promoted Listing.
We will be expanding what we qualify and report as an Attributed Sale for Promoted Listings Standard to include when a buyer clicks on one of your Standard ads and then purchases any of your Promoted Listings Standard items within 30 days.
In anticipation of upcoming product launches, we have clarified that certain account optimization features (e.g., dynamic bidding) may be managed through your account settings. Please stay tuned for announcements on when these will be available to you.

GLORIOUS!

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jimmyjoebob · ‎02-28-2023

Well, I just exercised my prerogative an un-promoted everything. Most items are unique so I only promoted those with larger competition. Never once did a promoted item sell without a fee. Always seemed a little dubious. This is a hobby for me not a business so if my sales slow down as a result, so be it. I feel mostly for those whose livelihood comes from here. As I read it, there are no enhancements that result in driving more business to you assuming you promote at the same rate. You'll just pay more. It's not a bug, it's a feature...

That said, I think it comes down to who can afford it. The more sellers that drop promotion, the more prominent the promoted listings are for those that do it. So basically, it is a push-out of anyone other than the corporate sellers. Frankly, if I like something in a promoted listing, I won't click the promoted link. I will page down until I find the organic listing and click on that. As a seller, I'll continue to support sellers any way I can.

tianna74 · ‎02-28-2023

“how do you know the buyer clicked on any PL listing at all? You DON'T, never have, never will, because ebay will not under any circumstance show PROOF of that, and as said in the past, it would eventually come to them charging PL fees on every sale”

That’s what I was pondering about. Especially, if you change PL fees settings or adjust them for the weekend how you can prove or know a buyer got it after you cancel a PL ad…

zamo-zuan · ‎02-28-2023

@wastingtime101 wrote:
@zamo-zuan wrote:
Has anyone actually tested PL over the last year to see how it actually works?
I haven't run tests, but I can provide a bit of data. I generate a lot of multi-item sales (buyers use shopping cart and make one payment). Many of them are currently charged an ad fee for one item but not the rest. These are items included in an order discount. So for me, I'll see a big increase in ad fees based on this info I posted above:

Buyer finds Widget A through promoted listings. Then they see you're running a discount 15% off when you buy 2 or more because there's a banner on the listing. So they click on that order discount banner and add 3 more items to their cart. If all 4 items the buyer purchased are part of a PL campaign, you'll be charged the ad rate on all 4 items instead of just the first item. Currently you're charged an ad rate for just the first item.

I also get a lot of repeat customers within 2 weeks of receiving their first purchase. That means those repeat customers, which may be purchasing different items the second go 'round, will result in ad fees even though it's the quality of my product, packaging and customer service that brought them back for more.

Is it safe to assume the first item in the multi package you purchased is also in a PL campaign?

It could be that it was the first item they looked at so it may not have triggered anything yet.

For us, nearly every repeat customer is a PL purchase. And as mentioned, users have reported quite a few times that "Purchase History" purchases are now counted as PL purchases.

Are you having the same experience with purchases at a later date in the same month? Or is it only items bought in bulk purchases that are avoiding PL fees?

Another thing to mention... For some reason eBay has "tested" things on our account before others. The 2% "requirement" for PL happened to us over a year before it became a rule for everyone. On the eBay community here when I made a thread about it, eBay staff said it was a "test". Then it became the norm.

I have to wonder if our store was a "test subject" again. I guess we'll find out in the end of March when I can check to see if our PL rates change at all. But PL have been very strange for us for the last year.

This is not natural nor does it fit the design that they have told us for how PL work in the past:

101dolphns · ‎02-28-2023

No promotions. Never have, never will. Now they are weaseling their way into taking more of your hard earned money.

zamo-zuan · ‎02-28-2023

@wastingtime101 wrote:
@nuclearomen wrote:
what I'm saying is we still have no real idea one way or the other if buyer really clicked on any PL,
Yep, absolutely correct. Sponsored ads (across the internet, not just on eBay) are in large part a trust-based system. Many platforms have had issues, been exposed for overcharging. Haven't seen that on eBay yet as I don't think anybody has done that level of widespread testing to confirm one way or the other.

Now that I think about it, I believe some bloggers had tried testing this openly and got banned for "abuse" or something along those lines?

nuclearomen · ‎02-28-2023

@tianna74 wrote:
That’s what I was pondering about. Especially, if you change PL fees settings or adjust them for the weekend how can you prove a buyer got it after you cancel a PL ad.

back when a few of us experimented with that, changing PL rates on say weekend, since traditionally that's when "most" people shop and use higher rates during the week - but that resulted in your sales and views dropping because they have it built into the algorithms what percentage rate they will show the PL. Just as stated above somewhere, if you drop your PL election rates then they will drop your views/sales... the elections have to be consistent with your election/PL sale history, experiments have shown lower or end elections on items previously elected seller will suffer for it.

The great truth is there isn't one
And it only gets worse since that conclusion...
...There is something about the rigid posture of a proper, authentic blind
As if extended arms reached to pass his blindness onto others.

tianna74 · ‎02-28-2023

I came here to see if I read new updates in a too negative way. Unfortunately, I wasn’t mistaken. It seems like many see it this way.

How should we price now to make this somewhat profitable?!

the-hook-and-the-loop · ‎02-28-2023

I've already been experiencing being bled by eBay for Promoting Listings. First off, if you don't promote, you don't get any traffic. Then, 90% of my sales are considered "SOLD VIA PROMOTED LISTINGS". This includes repeat buyers that have purchased the same items from me for years. This says alot about eBay and how desperate they've become. My 5 year old could have thought these programs up.

tianna74 · ‎02-28-2023

@nuclearomen wrote:.

back when a few of us experimented with that, changing PL rates on say weekend, since traditionally that's when "most" people shop and use higher rates during the week - but that resulted in your sales and views dropping because they have it built into the algorithms what percentage rate they will show the PL. Just as stated above somewhere, if you drop your PL election rates then they will drop your views/sales... the elections have to be consistent with your election/PL sale history, experiments have shown lower or end elections on items previously elected seller will suffer for it.

That’s a pretty useful research I missed. Thanks.

albany_sellers · ‎02-28-2023

You would think that they would work on making the site more attractive for buyers to generate more money, but again we as sellers are nickel and dimed.

If eBay is losing money, it's because the buying experience is awful half the time. I used to buy a lot on eBay but completely gave up and just sell instead. About a week ago I decided to give it another chance, and as predicted, I now have a case open and am wasting my time with an item that the seller uploaded two different fake tracking numbers for.

My previous purchase on eBay resulted in the seller using stolen credit cards to drop ship packing tape from another company. The list goes on.

Work on the buyers, and work on weeding out the sellers so that when people order things, it's not a coin flip. When buyers have faith that their orders will ship, and be as described, then more sales will be the result. Nobody wants to spend a week and a half dealing with a scamming seller when they could just buy on a different platform and get it right the first time.

There is only so much blood eBay can squeeze from a stone, the stone being it's sellers.

nuclearomen · ‎02-28-2023

@tianna74 wrote:
I came here to see if I read new updates in a too negative way. Unfortunately, I wasn’t mistaken. It seems like many see it this way.
How should we price now to make this somewhat profitable?!

unfortunately, this discussion can't decide sellers price points, that is something needing much more look at, such as category(ies) selling in, prices your paying to obtain stock, prices you must sell that stock at to make profit, pricing of said items in current market and then all fees required to sell those items on this platform, PL included. The short answer is to raise prices to cover the PL fees, but then again, that will depend on the amount of percentage you elect to promote those items...inflation maybe everywhere, and it's especially created by this platform with PLs and they will tell you "just raise your price 2% to cover the PL election"...but then your not selling anything on 2% election either in most cases, won't even get views.

The great truth is there isn't one
And it only gets worse since that conclusion...
...There is something about the rigid posture of a proper, authentic blind
As if extended arms reached to pass his blindness onto others.

lakefor94 · ‎02-28-2023

@m60driver wrote:
@mybigsale wrote:
Is there any possibility eBay will consider future improvements based on seller feedback and requests?
The short answer is no.

Long answer is the same.

Posting ID

wastingtime101 · ‎02-28-2023

@zamo-zuan wrote:
Is it safe to assume the first item in the multi package you purchased is also in a PL campaign?

It could be that it was the first item they looked at so it may not have triggered anything yet.

My observations:

Items in multi-item orders appear in reverse order from how they are added to the buyer's shopping cart. In other words, the first item added is to the buyer's cart is at the bottom of the list on the orders page.

In most cases, that first item (at the bottom) is charged the ad fee while subsequent items in the order are not charged the fee. Obviously this will be changing.

In rare cases, the first item is not charged the ad fee, but the second item is. That means the buyer added an organic item to the shopping cart, then from that organic listing clicked on one of the sponsored ads within that listing.

In some cases every item in the order is charged the ad fee.

Are you having the same experience with purchases at a later date in the same month? Or is it only items bought in bulk purchases that are avoiding PL fees?

If the buyer comes back to purchase more of the same widget then obviously if the PL fee was charged the first time, it will also be charged the second time. If the buyer comes back to purchase something different, it's hit or miss if the PL fee is charged. My assumption in the cases where it is charged (and this is just an assumption): buyer went to purchase history, clicked on item they bought, then clicked on a sponsored item from that listing.

I have this one repeat buyer, comes back every 3-6 weeks and buys several items. Some items are charged ad fees and others aren't. There's no pattern to the ad fees. So I can spit out a few theories but none of them stick out as "the" explanation.

Another thing to mention... For some reason eBay has "tested" things on our account before others. The 2% "requirement" for PL happened to us over a year before it became a rule for everyone. On the eBay community here when I made a thread about it, eBay staff said it was a "test". Then it became the norm.

I have to wonder if our store was a "test subject" again. I guess we'll find out in the end of March when I can check to see if our PL rates change at all. But PL have been very strange for us for the last year.

My account is often in those early tests, but have so far avoided that with PL. Looking forward to your reports at the end of April after this change has had a month to provide some early measurable data.

GLORIOUS!

Confused about the switch to eBay discounted shipping? Read this discussion to make an informed decision about opt in / opt out.

sapphire_studio · ‎02-28-2023

For those that promote everything in their store at a somewhat low percentage (like less than 6%) this will really hurt. I used to do that (just select 100% of my items to promote at 5.3%). My reasoning was that sure it may not be high enough to actually make me win the promoted spot, but then I will be found organicially instead and not have to pay the fee. If I do happen to win that promoted spot with that low of percentage then great, I am keeping my fees relatively low.

Later I slowly started changing my method to analyzing each listing individually, taking promoted completely off items that I was one of only a few people selling it, and raising my percentage up to closer to 10% (0.1%-0.2% above the recommended rate) on items that I had a lot of competition on (to guarentee the top spot). I am really glad I started going through most of my listings one by one to do this. It's going to be nice that so many of my items aren't promoted at all now.

It's really easy to do a blanket lower percentage and I think a lot of people do it because it's not very much work. They may not realize how often they're just selling those items organically now (with no promoted fee) because the percentage isn't really competitive. But now it's pretty much going to be a guarantee that whatever percentage they choose they're going to end up paying that as a fee. So I would suggest people start doing what I do and look for any items that you don't have a lot of competition on and just take the promoted fee completely off of those.