Promoted Listings

[donnanewbay2]

I've been forced to use Ebay Promoted Listings because if I don't, everything I am selling is invisible to potential sellers.  Problem is Promoted Listings don't seem to work.  So if you dont give Ebay more money to promote your listings, Ebay punishes you and pushes your listings to the bottom of the heap.  So disappointing since I've been a seller on Ebay for almost 18 years and feel like I'm being I'm being extorted now in order to sell anything. 

[katzrul15]

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@donnanewbay2 wrote:

I've been forced to use Ebay Promoted Listings because if I don't, everything I am selling is invisible to potential sellers.  Problem is Promoted Listings don't seem to work.  So if you dont give Ebay more money to promote your listings, Ebay punishes you and pushes your listings to the bottom of the heap.  So disappointing since I've been a seller on Ebay for almost 18 years and feel like I'm being I'm being extorted now in order to sell anything. 

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@donnanewbay2 

Have you thought about other ways to promote your items?

You could

1) With a Store, Run a Sale

2) Send offers to Watchers

3) Create a Coupon

4) Enhance a listing with Video

5) Promote items on social media

6) Revise your listings for better Keywords

7) Research Deep-Dive on Terapeak your items to see what sold, what price, what keywords

Good luck to you. Many ways to showcase your items - not just PLs.

[gosimus]

@donnanewbay2 

< if you dont give Ebay more money to promote your listings, Ebay punishes you >    

I'd look at it from the other way.  If you do promote your listings, eBay rewards you with better placement.  Actually it wouldn't be a "reward" since you paid for it.    

[kabilab]

Donna,

You are not being forced to promote your listings and not utilizing such an OPTION does not render your items invisible, although it will affect placement. In addition, eBay is not punishing any seller due to their decision not to be a fee charged promoter, but, at least in my case, non-promotion has radically affected my sales.. Finally, as promotion is a voluntary feature, there is not any extortion involved. It is eBay's platform to manage according to what enhances shareholder equity.

[mr_lincoln]

@donnanewbay2   After numerous recent changes that eBay has made I have thought the same thing ... I have watched a significant change in sales this year ... earlier this year I watched as Impressions dropped over 80% in a short period.  PLS Campaigns helped but not much.  I have had to artificially inflate sales with Sending offers the last two weekends ... in the past weekends were the big selling times with natural sales being between 15 & 25 items ... last weekend I had 5 natural sales and then 4 from Sending offers ... this weekend, a holiday weekend BTW I have 1 natural sale and 2 from Sending offers ...

Some will blame the economy but to your point, if they can't find it they can't buy it.  Even in a bad economy people still shop just to look around but when Impressions drop suddenly that is an indication that the search algorithms are to blame

I've sold for too long to know what a normal drop in sales is and when something else is happening ...

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@katzrul15  Good suggestions!

I recently saw a seller post that he's had good luck with this (I haven't tried it yet): He bulk edited his listings to increase the item price by 20% on all listings, and then increased his PLS rate to a considerably higher rate as well (I don't recall the exact percentage). He claimed his sales really jumped.

I'm currently running a markdown manager sale, which hasn't resulted in a big jump, but after that ends I might try his suggestion....

[lamber9347]

This right here. No one is forcing you to use promoted listings, that is your choice to make. I've never used promoted listings, refuse to even. While I am selling less than I used to, so is everyone else. I'm still making sales and I am good with that. If I felt I wanted to increase my listings visibility then I would consider promoted listings, but frankly I haven't had the need to so far. Best of luck to you.... 

[mr_lincoln]

@lamber9347, @donnanewbay2 , @my-cottage-books-and-antiques , @kabilab , @gosimus 

Selling on eBay is kind of like bass fishing ... you put the lure on your line, cast and then pull the lure past the fish, they hit the lure because they see it and you catch the fish ... now, lets say the stream you are fishing in is owned by eBay and they happen to be upstream kicking around and generally making the water where you're fishing muddy as all get out ... you cast your lure over and over but nothing happens because the bass can't see the lure in the muddy water (ie: NO VISIBILITY)!!! 

If the fish can't see your lure you will never catch them ...

[lamber9347]

I believe this is one of the first times I disagree with you @mr_lincoln and it 'feels' like you are pushing promoted sales. If I am incorrect, my apologies. I understand the reasons behind promoted listings. I understand why some people want to use it. I understand why some think it's the only way to sell on here anymore.

None of that works for me, personally, and only speaking about MYSELF. As I've stated numerous times, I am still selling without using promoted listings. As long as I still get sales, I will never use promoted listings. I don't care what anyone says about it, don't care about any analogies. If I ever do decide to use promoted listings, I shall. Until then, nope, period, done, end of my discussion about promoted listings....

[mr_lincoln]

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@lamber9347 wrote:

I believe this is one of the first times I disagree with you @mr_lincoln and it 'feels' like you are pushing promoted sales. If I am incorrect, my apologies. I understand the reasons behind promoted listings. I understand why some people want to use it. I understand why some think it's the only way to sell on here anymore.

None of that works for me, personally, and only speaking about MYSELF. As I've stated numerous times, I am still selling without using promoted listings. As long as I still get sales, I will never use promoted listings. I don't care what anyone says about it, don't care about any analogies. If I ever do decide to use promoted listings, I shall. Until then, nope, period, done, end of my discussion about promoted listings....

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Hey @lamber9347 ,

I probably wasn't clear ... I am not pushing Promoted Listings per se but prior to eBays recent changes (the last 6-8 months) I had good success with PLS Campaigns.  I ran them once a quarter for 30 days.  My experience in my categories was long tail items sold more frequently during the Campaigns then at other times.  I am confident that without the PLS Campaigns I still would have sold things but I experimented with them and had success ...

Then things changed noticeably in early 2022 and the last two Campaigns that I ran did not perform like they used to ... Impressions dropped over 80% in a short period of time about 2 months ago ... THAT is a drastic change, I have a sense for what normal ebbs and flows of sales are but a sharp drop like that points to the venue, not the marketplace.

My analogy with bass fishing was pointing more towards the inability of the search algorithms to return items in search like they used to ... meaning you can have excellent items, listings, pricing, etc but if nobody sees the items they simply will not sell.

I hope that clarifies my previous posts ... sorry for any confusion I created. 

[reallynicestamps]

If you sell a PL item you pay the fee you chose.
If you sell an item that did not have PL, there is no fee.

If your PL item does not sell, there is no fee.

The trick would be not to sell what everybody else is selling, because with a niche product there is less competition albeit for a smaller consumer base.

[thezoo247]

I have been a seller since 2011 and feel the exact same way.  I have noticed many of my items have zero views which seems impossible since this have never happened in all my years.  Next to those listings there is always the large banner above it asking me to "promote" the listing.  Seems like they are not allowing my items to be viewed unless I pay them even more than I already do.  The word "extortion" seems fitting.  Plan to try to get rid of my remaining stock and get out of Ebay.  They are becoming more evil by the day.  So sad.  

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Okay, so. ebay decided to change the way views are counted and to not SHOW views that were made by spiders, bots, crawlers, etc and ONLY show those views from actual human interaction. So all our views dropped and in a lot of cases had as others have mentioned zero to only 1 view in a 30 day window.

Also as others have mentioned, sales dropped as well.

Call me cynical, but what IF by no longer showing views from all the bot action, a seller could no longer say with certainty that their items were being "seen" by these bots which as we know mostly feed search engines?

Then, ebay starts pushing PL to ensure your items are "seen". They don't say whether by human buyers on ebay or by buyers utilising search engines do they?

[mr_lincoln]

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@lamber9347 wrote:

I believe this is one of the first times I disagree with you @mr_lincoln and it 'feels' like you are pushing promoted sales. If I am incorrect, my apologies. I understand the reasons behind promoted listings. I understand why some people want to use it. I understand why some think it's the only way to sell on here anymore.

None of that works for me, personally, and only speaking about MYSELF. As I've stated numerous times, I am still selling without using promoted listings. As long as I still get sales, I will never use promoted listings. I don't care what anyone says about it, don't care about any analogies. If I ever do decide to use promoted listings, I shall. Until then, nope, period, done, end of my discussion about promoted listings....

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Hi @lamber9347 

Actually I used to push PLS but not now.  You are wise not to ever have used them.  Now, prior to 2022 PLS worked great, as advertised and as expected.  Then they fully launched PLA in early 2022 and changed how Views are counted AND they jacked up their "Suggested" rates for PLS.  PLS results were basically cut in half and BIN sales would tank between PLS campaigns (I ran one per quarter for about 30 days).

So earlier this year I tested a theory, I ran a short 17 day PLS in between my quarterly campaigns and I jacked up the ad rates at and above eBay's Suggested rates ... sure enough, sales on BINs returned to their pre 2022 levels.  The downside is the additional 12% ad rates on top of eBay fees cuts too deep into my margins.

Now, just so you know, eBay knows EXACTLY how Sellers prefer Selling.  I think those who have used PLS have their items buried, hidden, etc so Sellers panic and thing they have to run more PLS or use the higher ad rates.  Those who might be skeptical about this then consider this ... it is 4th quarter and I decided NOT to use PLS and I may never use it again.  I need to see sales happen naturally in order to be sustainable.  Well, low and behold, shortly after the time I would normally run my 4th quarter PLS campaign I got the message below ... "We've missed you"  WHAT????  Oh, that's right, they keep track of exactly how I prefer Selling ... I just got another one today too ... 

So for me the net-net is that in the last 19 months only 2 months have set new sales records, this drop in sales coincides with eBay site changes mentioned above as well as manipulation of listings.  I did my own testing, I have kept monthly sales records from day 1 of Selling and can see what has transpired.  Sell through rate has doubled and tripled and it seems one of the trends that emerged (at least for what I sell) is that items that do not sell in their first 2-3 weeks get buried, hidden, etc. 

Hope that explains my position a little more clearly ... 

[baptized_by_fire]

This is one of the MANY REASONS, I stopped selling on Feebay. Ever since Feebay discovered they could increase profits by extorting money from Seller's, listings have turned into a Shell Game. Sellers willing to play ball get seen, those that just want to be able to market their wares get buried, obfuscated, or hidden.

I watched it happen with my listings for the better part of 2 years before pulling my listings and going elsewhere. 

Don't get me wrong, without Feebay, nobody ever would have heard of Keith Baker Marbles or Talon Knives, and for that, I'm grateful. But there comes a point of diminishing returns. I reached that a few years ago.

Now I just sell/trade privately. I don't make as much as I used to, but I don't have to tear myself apart inside putting up with the **bleep** Feebay has created with their Greed & Bad Decisions... I am still able to get some of my stuff out there. I just do it elsewhere...