Do you use promoted listings
I’m sure this topic has been covered again and again. But I’m wondering anyone’s thoughts on promoted listings. I sell vintage/antique photos, ephemera etc… What percentage do you use, do you use what they suggest? Do you use it on certain listings or all? Overall thoughts on it being useful or not. Thank you
12 comments
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoI like Free Shipping, because it is simpler for the buyer. You see a price of $100 you pay a price of $100.
That got a little more complicated with 'internet' sales tax but...
And shipping from Canada means my shipping costs are quite high. Minimum would be $1.30 (~$1.05USD) for a 30gm letter and no tracking, which is technically illegal. Legally I should use Small Packet USA at $9.68(~$7.75) .
Free Shipping also allows me to adjust the service faster or slower or tracked or untracked. And Canada Post/eBay have a deal allowing up to 53% off the cost of some labels or I can use some of the thousands of mint postage stamps accumulated over the decades. Vague can be useful.
YMMV.
oldwestcoins
·3 years agoI have tried it many times at many different rates. The higher the rate does not guarantee anything but less money for the seller. I have had many sellers tell me they don't use it and they are just fine.
paperandphotocollection
OP3 years agoI’ve wondered about the higher rates. I’ve tried the higher rates and it didn’t seem to do much more for me.
duncanvr
·3 years agoFor your type of stuff I do 3.7% and no higher and thats fine, considering most of your items would be unique one off you don't need to compete to promote at higher rates. I do 3.7% on my ephemera and it brings in several sales.
paperandphotocollection
OP3 years agoThank you for your reply, that’s very helpful
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoEBay suggestions are good for eBay.
PL seem to be useful, even necessary for sellers of mass-produced goods, like cellphone cases or jewelry.
I use PL but only at the lowest percentage and on less than a third of my listings mostly older.
The best part is that I only pay that percentage when the item sells.
However, selling collectibles, I find that PL does bring eyeballs to my Stores, but that a lower percentage of PL items sell than of non-PL items.
I think (and anecdote is not data) the person who saw the PL item , because of its better placement in Search, then has a nice browse through my other items, and buys one of those.
Views are people who did not buy, after all.
I do find that putting Best Offer on my lisitings, with acceptable/refused parameters set, is very useful to close a sale with little work . Nearly half of my sales are Best Offer.
paperandphotocollection
OP3 years agoGreat point about drawing people in to look at other items.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years agoIf you want to try it, first, make sure you know how it works.
Second, make sure you know your margins. Remember, if you make a sale the PLS rate is NOT charged on the item price, it is charged on the total: item price, sales tax, and shipping cost (I'm guessing shipping isn't too high for most of your stuff, but it is still a consideration.)
Start by testing.
The minimum rate is 2%. Start with that. NEVER start with the suggested rate. Run some tests at various rates to see what works best for you.
Do NOT start by putting all your listings into the campaign. Be selective. Think about your goals. You sell in a niche, so you might do well to promote some of your most interesting items....people who collect old photos etc are likely to take a look at the rest of your store if they have clicked on one of your items, so the PL might not sell, but you might sell other items because they clicked into your other listings. Because of the way the ebay "Halo" fee works, you would probably be foolish to use PLS on all your listings at one time. (If you don't know what I mean when I say "halo" then you aren't ready to start using this because you don't yet know enough about it. Go back to Step One.
Test your way into the rates, and ALWAYS remember that the goal is to increase your sales velocity AND your overall profit. That means you NEED to know your numbers.
And most important: keep in mind that a crappy listing is a crappy listing, whether it is promoted or not. (This isn't a comment on your listings, I didn't review them). A high PLS rate can get you more impressions, but it can't get you views and it certainly can't get you sales. PLS gets you impressions, quality listings get you sales.
paperandphotocollection
OP3 years agoGreat points, thank you so much. Definitely makes sense about it getting people to look at my other items.
kosmosattik
·3 years agoI pay "100% of the item's total sale amount " to maximize exposure:
https://export.ebay.com/en/marketing/promoted-listings-hub/promoted-listings-standard/#how_works
Sheesh. I'm not sure whether to call this a slippery slope.
cardxcraft
·3 years agoFunny, I do the same. I asked Ebay for a waiver to allow me to promote at %115...they said, "anything for me".
Truthfully, I've flipped flopped; after the halo sales announcement, I stopped promoting for a while. I had adopted a new tactic: low price, free shipping with best offers and no promotions. That didn't last long.
I next went to 3% promotion, no free shipping, priced high with best offers...to allow for haggling. This proved to be a good money maker.
Finally, as of now, I promote at 5% across the board, buyer pays shipping and best offers on with very healthy wiggle room. I'll stick with this method as its proving to be fruitful.
paperandphotocollection
OP3 years agoThank you, I guess I will have to play with the numbers a bit more and find what works best for me. I clearly don’t need to use as high a rate as I was.