This has been asked about. Several times recently questions we present to the OP go ignored and unanswered, so I imagine the answer would blow up their questions and/or rants. I'm not referring to just this thread either. The store value thread comes quickly to mind.
That’s what they said about Cigarette Smoking. Blame the consumer. After-all, it was your choice to smoke.
This is likely what your issue issue is. You don't want to take responsibility for a simple human mistake on your part. However that is the ONLY way this issue you described happened. And YOU are the ONLY one that can fix it for future purchases by buyers too.
So you can keep blaming Ebay and refuse to correct your accidental error or errors on your listing or listings and it will keep costing you money. That is entirely YOUR choice.
Before Ralph Nader, cars lacked certain safety features. The corporations blamed the driver of the car for everything. After-all, it was the driver of the car that got hurt, so why blame the corporation? Something so obvious doesn’t require a detailed explanation. My post shines a Spotlight on the issue.
You are just being obtuse. Your posts do not shine a light on anything but the refusal to accept your own mistake that is so easy to fix. But if you don't mind spending extra funds on getting a sale, who am I to question that. You have the right to set your pricing and your promoted listing rates to anything you deem fit. To include NOT fixing a problem that you know exists because you want to make this someone else's problem. However it is now and will remain a YOU issue that only YOU can help.
Before Ralph Nader, cars lacked certain safety features. The corporations blamed the driver of the car for everything. After-all, it was the driver of the car that got hurt, so why blame the corporation? Something so obvious doesn’t require a detailed explanation. My post shines a Spotlight on the issue.
Here let me show you how absurd it is to compare eBay promotion to dangerous products. -Have any dangerous products ever come with a label saying what percent of your body will be injured if you use them? Is there even a way to calculate your percent of harm? NO. Heck there are 80-year-olds who have smoked since they were 15, so no wonder lots of people who wound up getting cancer felt betrayed.
But with promotion the information is right there, precise, couldn't be more idiot-proof! What part did you not understand about "If you set the promotion for 50% and we give you that much visibility and the item sells to someone who saw the promotion, you will have to pay us 50% of the money." -???
Please note that 50% ended up totaling 89% paid in fees. 11% paid to the Seller. Order Earnings $2.95 That doesn’t even cover the cost of the merchandise and packaging material. Had the percentage been even higher, the Seller would be paying the Buyer to take the item.
Here's the million dollar question: Actually it’s a 33 billion dollar answer. What did they say to smokers who got sick from tobacco? Did you learn your lesson now? Moral of the story, be careful dealing with scoundrels interested in maximizing their profits at all costs. They don’t care who gets hurt, just as long as they can make as much money as possible. People were coerced every which way to smoke cigarettes. Ultimately the tobacco companies were held accountable, and got to keep most of the profits. Is that right? No, it's not right. Greed operates under a different set of standards than the honest hard working class. Life is not fair, especially when you have those who pray upon others for financial gain.
No there should NOT be a 10% cap. Many sellers use above 10% knowingly & intentionally. I do sometimes.
I would respectfully suggest that you stop ALL promoting until you understand how it works.
Also, it's likely not from using a variable rate. You can still limit those & even if you don't, I've never seen a variable rate go anywhere near that high.
Best thing for OP to do is stop promoting until they understand how it works & check all your existing listings to make sure you don't have those set at 50%.
Or was this all a test you set up at a 50% PL so that you could complain about it after the fact? I wouldn't normally think that but considering all of your non-answers to all the questions you've been asked, I'm starting to lean that way.
I once sold something with 91% percent promotion .... supposed to be 9.1%. And I made a post showing the screenshot and everything, but laughing about it (luckily it was a pretty inexpensive item, under $20 if I recall). And basically the moral of the story was just "Mind that decimal point yall!"
I strongly suspect that is what happened with the OP too, just meant to promote at 5.0%. What I can't figure out is, did they not realize that's what happened, or did they actually INTEND to type 50 but wanted to pretend like it's all eBay's fault somehow? As you can see in their old posting history^^ (msg 87), they have been using promotion since at least October 2023, so they should know how it works by now.
I don’t think there should be a 10% cap (self impose a 10% cap on yourself)
Say you had a home full of antique quality items collected over the years. Suddenly, your spouse demands a divorce, has an attorney, etc. Everything you own must be sold at once in order to split the proceeds, or, in 90 days it goes to charity.
Well, okay, let’s move it ASAP and promote it 50%
Or, maybe you are given 12 months left to live, and you would like to travel in your time left, etc. etc.
Yes if there was a cap there would absolutely be people here rippin' hellcats about how they aren't allowed to get an edge over their competitors because all of them can promote just as high as them.
Here we are struggling to make ends meet and accused of being obtuse and trolling while a 33 billion dollar company is getting rich off of the impoverish working class. Something not quite right with that. A 10% profit would be fair. Anything higher than that is taking undue advantage.
Here we are struggling to make ends meet [...] while a 33 billion dollar company is getting rich off of the impoverish working class. Something not quite right with that. A 10% profit would be fair. Anything higher than that is taking undue advantage.
I don't understand your point of view.
eBay offered an optional advertising service. eBay allowed you to set your own rate between 2%-100% so you could customize the visibility boost you hoped to achieve in conjunction with the amount you were willing to pay.
You decided you wanted to pay for advertising. You decided you were willing to pay 50% additional fees on the sale of your item for a big visibility boost.
Now that you're seeing the actual numbers you're upset.
A failure to work out your financials beforehand and/or understand the service you chose to use falls to you. eBay did not force it or prevent you from selling if you chose to not advertise. This was your decision.
Someone above mentioned halo fees, and I'm not too clear on the details of that.
If I sell something promoted at 2%, but the buyer got to it by initially viewing another listing I promoted at 10%, will I be charged 10% on that sale?
You are only charged for items promoted with the general campaign strategy when the promoted item sells within 30 days of a click on your ad. A click includes any interaction with your ad, for example: add to watchlist, add to cart, quick view, or other interactive functionality. This means you only pay when you sell.
The fee you are charged is based on the ad rate you set for each listing. An ad rate is a percentage of an item's total sale amount (including shipping and any other applicable fees or taxes).
Here's how the fees work:
You choose an ad rate between 2% - 100% of the item's total sale amount. The higher the ad rate, the higher the possibility of ad placement, leading to increased visibility
Dynamic ad rates are aligned with the daily suggested ad rate, which is calculated based on a variety of factors such as item attributes, seasonality, past performance and current competition for each of your listings
You will only be charged when the promoted item sells within 30 days of a click on your ad
The ad fee is based on the ad rate you chose and the total sale amount (including item price, shipping, taxes and any other applicable fees)
Ad fees are shown in yourPayments tabin Seller Hub, or the transactions page in My eBay
Someone above mentioned halo fees, and I'm not too clear on the details of that.
If I sell something promoted at 2%, but the buyer got to it by initially viewing another listing I promoted at 10%, will I be charged 10% on that sale?
Here we are struggling to make ends meet and accused of being obtuse and trolling while a 33 billion dollar company is getting rich off of the impoverish working class. Something not quite right with that. A 10% profit would be fair. Anything higher than that is taking undue advantage.
Why don't you start your own selling platform and charge 10%.
Here we are struggling to make ends meet and accused of being obtuse and trolling while a 33 billion dollar company is getting rich off of the impoverish working class. Something not quite right with that. A 10% profit would be fair. Anything higher than that is taking undue advantage.
@pf9000
Those were my word choices. I stand by them. We are almost 70 post into this thread and you have not acknowledge that it was your CHOICE, whether my typo or on purpose to use the Promoted Listing Program at the percentage that you CHOSE. The fix is a simple one, well simple if you were to acknowledge you understand about the issue is and maybe even have fixed it by now. Or if you have questions about how to fix your issue, then simply ASK.
Your post was actually post 70 in this thread, just now.
Reminds me of the following saying: "I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you."
OMG what a fantastic Quote. Do you know who said that originally? It is brilliant. You know I'm going to have to steal that, well at least borrow it from time to time.
I never claimed to have come up with that line myself. But I did have it as a signature for years until shipscript gave us the "mentor" signature code.
Here we are struggling to make ends meet and accused of being obtuse and trolling while a 33 billion dollar company is getting rich off of the impoverish working class. Something not quite right with that. A 10% profit would be fair. Anything higher than that is taking undue advantage.
This victim cry might work on your spouse who's been trying to get you to get a job (or another job, or take more hours at your job) but obviously your fellow eBay sellers see right through it. ALL corporations get rich off the working class. That doesn't mean you didn't make your own choice to enrich this one even more, by typing '50%' into the Promotion box when you create a listing.
Have you checked and fixed your other listings yet? Or are you now asserting that 10% should be the TOTAL maximum eBay should take, of ALL fees? If so then you can't really list anything here, because even with 0% promotion, all item categories have "too high" of final value fees alone.
89% paid in fees. 11% paid to the Seller. Order Earnings $2.95 That doesn’t even cover the cost of the merchandise and packaging material.
Why are you not accepting that eBay didn’t set the ad rate, YOU did. You need to own your mistakes and learn from them, instead of putting the blame on something else.
When you list something on eBay, you are 100% in charge of everything about the listing you post. You write the title and description, you post the pictures, you set the price, you set the shipping policies, you decide where you will ship, and more. EBAY has no control over you making your own choices about the listing.
YOU messed you over. YOU made the mistake. Fix your other listings, take this as a fortunately not terribly expensive lesson, and move on.
There should be a 10% Cap on Fees. As you can see by this example, the sky is the limit. The validations should not allow it. The lust for profit in this manner is an an example of what's wrong with this world. That's why we have so much unhappiness and unfriendliness among each other. Because there is the perception that others are out to exploit and take advantage in the interest of maximizing profits rather than putting service first.
"There should" is an utterly pointless assertion when it comes to any user agreement that you already signed to, including changes that occur after you signed.
It is within YOUR power only, to decide what you will do next. What "should" you do, now that you know there ISN'T a 10% cap on promotion fees? -Make sure that none of yours are higher than that. Either that or make the logical choice if you think eBay is no longer the right venue for you to sell on.
There should be a 10% Cap on Fees. As you can see by this example, the sky is the limit. The validations should not allow it. The lust for profit in this manner is an an example of what's wrong with this world. That's why we have so much unhappiness and unfriendliness among each other. Because there is the perception that others are out to exploit and take advantage in the interest of maximizing profits rather than putting service first.
WHY? Why should there be a cap on this. It is within EVERY seller's control. If you want a 10% cap, then don't enter anything above that amount into the PL program. YOU ARE IN CONTROL of this, you just don't want to take responsibility for it.
You are so fixed on making this an Ebay problem that you won't even see that YOU created the problem and YOU are the only one that can fix it.
At this point, it doesn't appear that anyone is really able to help you. If you aren't willing to FIX the problem YOU created, there is nothing any of us can do for you. YOU are exploiting yourself. Ebay didn't put the percentage into the program, YOU DID.
Only about 15% was fees you do not have a choice about (actually, you even have a choice about those because you chose to sell on eBay instead of another way). You are in control of how you promote your items, how you price them, how you source them, pretty much everything that decides whether you make a profit or not.
What's really funny, is eBay considers this a win for them. So they made 50% of a sale. They don't see the billions of dollars in sales they're NOT making.
What's really funny, is eBay considers this a win for them. So they made 50% of a sale. They don't see the billions of dollars in sales they're NOT making.
This is NOT an Ebay issue or the fault of Ebay, no matter how you want to twist this. The OP has made a mistake in what THEY did and many have been trying to help them resolve the issue. This is a self inflicted problem and NOT the fault of Ebay.
Sometimes us humans make an error. And that is all this is. Maybe the OP meant to put in 5% and instead put 50%, IDK. But it is a fixable problem by @pf9000 , but first it seems to be a challenge to get them to realize this. This is a problem that is fully within their control.
I’ve been on eBay since 1999. EVERYTHING has changed since 1999. In those years, I’ve had another child, gotten divorced, become a grandmother, buried both my parents, and more. Everything everywhere changes, and eBay is no exception.
Name some companies, still in business, that have NOT evolved over a the last 20 years.
IDK why this has been such a challenge to get you to see that the problem you are having is 100% completely within your control to fix. Ebay didn't do anything TO YOU. Ebay didn't do anything wrong. You likely made a typo, an expensive one, when you set up the rates you were willing to pay using the Promoted Listings program. It is a FIXABLE issue, but ONLY YOU can fix it.
The Golden Rule: Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated. When I sell products and services, I always try to be fair about it, by charging a fair and reasonable price for products and services rendered. This situation reminds me of the Company Store and the way some Coal Miners were treated.
Good for you. Business works on stated terms and conditions, not the Golden Rule or other personal moral choices.
And comparing this to company stores or coal miners is ridiculous. You are not trapped nor forced to spend the amount you did on advertising (in fact, as has been often repeated in this thread, you don't have to spend money on advertising your items at all, and you can still sell just as much if not more).
The Golden Rule: Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated. When I sell products and services, I always try to be fair about it, by charging a fair and reasonable price for products and services rendered. This situation reminds me of the Company Store and the way some Coal Miners were treated.
What does this have to do with your issue? You have a legit issue. YOU set your Promoted Listing percentage too high. ONLY YOU can fix that.
You set that rate that cost you $13.38 on this order. You might want to reconsider the Promoted Listing percentage you have set up on some or all of your listings.
It is always best to READ the policy on any tool that you might consider using on Ebay so that you make sure you understand how it works and is applied.
Yes the Promoted Fees are charged on the ENTIRE amount that the buyer pays you. That includes sales tax and shipping. These are important details to know.
There should be a 10% cap on what is charged in fees.
@pf9000
I think you misunderstand. YOU set the fee, Ebay didn't. YOU set the percentage you were willing to pay over the regular FVFs. So change the rate you are willing to pay. Lower it, you have the right to do that. But only YOU can do it.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year ago
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.104View listings
@pf9000 wrote:
There should be a 10% cap on what is charged in fees.
If you wanted a 10% cap, then why did you choose to promote at 50%?
This is your mistake. Own it and learn from it so you don't make the same mistake again.
build the cost of shipping into the item price if you're offering free shipping
@therogue-trader
While this is certainly an option that many sellers use. However it doesn't change the amount you pay in fees. You are just moving the amount a seller might separately state as the shipping amount into the price of the product. So you increase the price of the product. If you item is $10 and shipping is $5 you pay fees on $15 plus on the sales tax if any. If you roll the shipping into the price of the product, then you charge $15, the fees stay the same.
Seller 1 prices their widget at $10 + $5 shipping and the buyer pays $1 in sales tax.
Seller 2 prices their widget at $15 with free shipping and the buyer pays $1 in sales tax.
Assuming both promoted at the same rate, they pay the same amount in ad fees.
Only logical, especially considering in the past some sellers would price their items at $1 but charge $500 shipping to avoid eBay fees, which was not fair to other sellers that set their prices and shipping appropriately. In those days eBay didn’t have promoted listings, but the same principle applies to the final value fees (which you do know are also charged on the total amount the buyer pays, right?).
The Ad Fee should have been for the Item and NOT the Item plus Sales Tax. The Ad Fee was that much higher because it was applied to the Sales Tax. At least that how it seems to me.
Whether you think it should be on the full amount or just the item price, or that it shouldn’t be charged on a repeat buyer’s purchase, doesn’t really matter. eBay makes the terms very clear. You agreed to this.
The fee is to make eBay more money. Did you perhaps sign up for the DYNAMIC ad rate where you let eBay adjust it for you? With that option I suppose eBay can make the % you pay anything they want. Here are some basic facts for you regarding a "General Campaign" (not pay per click).
Here's how the fees work:
You choose an ad rate between 2% - 100% of the item's total sale amount. The higher the ad rate, the higher the possibility of ad placement, leading to increased visibility (note they say nothing about SALES)
Dynamic ad rates are aligned with the daily suggested ad rate, which is calculated based on a variety of factors such as item attributes, seasonality, past performance and current competition for each of your listings
You will only be charged when the promoted item sells within 30 days of a click on your ad
The ad fee is based on the ad rate you chose and the total sale amount (including item price, shipping, taxes and any other applicable fees)
Ad fees are shown in your Payments tab in Seller Hub, or the transactions page in My eBay
The Ad Fee is intended to bring New Customers. Since this was a repeat customer, there should not have been an Ad Fee.
The ad fee is charged whether it's a first time buyer or a repeat buyer
"The fee you are charged is based on the ad rate you set for each listing. An ad rate is a percentage of an item's total sale amount (including shipping and any other applicable fees or taxes)."
"The fee you are charged is based on the ad rate you set for each listing. An ad rate is a percentage of an item's total sale amount (including shipping and any other applicable fees or taxes)."
The Ad Fee should have been for the Item and NOT the Item plus Sales Tax.
Those are the rules you agreed to when you used promoted listings. eBay is not going to change their fee structure just because you imagined a rule that does not exist.
The Ad Fee is intended to bring New Customers. Since this was a repeat customer, there should not have been an Ad Fee.
Nope. Promoted listings are designed to put your listing in promoted listing spots for any buyers. eBay is not going to change their fee structure just because you imagined a rule that does not exist.
The Ad Fee is also applied to the shipping.
Again, those are the rules you agreed to when you used promoted listings.
The Ad Fee is intended to bring New Customers. Since this was a repeat customer, there should not have been an Ad Fee.
Nope. Promoted listings are designed to put your listing in promoted listing spots for any buyers. eBay is not going to change their fee structure just because you imagined a rule that does not exist.
Does that also apply to repeat customers? I sold many items to people that came back because of the product, or service and I was charged promoted fees, would that be called sold thru promoted listing?
If they found that listing of your through a Promoted insertion (basically, if it showed up as a Sponsored Listing and they clicked on that link and not wherever that item would have shown up as an organic search result), OR
If they had previously clicked on one of your other Promoted Listings, and ended up buying a different listing that was also promoted.
Either way you’ll be charged the ad fee that was set on the listing they purchased, though not necessarily the one at the time of purchase, if you have made changes. That part is harder for me to explain, but if they reach your listing and it’s promoted at 10%, but before they buy you lower it to 2%, you’ll still be charged 10%.
The Ad Fee is intended to bring New Customers. Since this was a repeat customer, there should not have been an Ad Fee.
Nope. Promoted listings are designed to put your listing in promoted listing spots for any buyers. eBay is not going to change their fee structure just because you imagined a rule that does not exist.
Does that also apply to repeat customers? I sold many items to people that came back because of the product, or service and I was charged promoted fees, would that be called sold thru promoted listing?
The fact that he is a repeat customer has no bearing on fees. If the repeat customer's purchase is subject to the promotional fee, then you will pay the promotional fee.
I think if you read the fine print about "halo" sales, you will find that when a buyer views an item through a promoted listing, for the next 30 days any promoted item he buys from you will incur the promoted listing fee - regardless of how got to the listing.
The ad fee is charged when a buyer purchases an item promoted with a general strategy other than the general ad item they clicked on in the most recent 30 days, as long as the sold item is in an active general campaign of the same seller at the time of sale. The ad fee is based on the ad rate for the item sold at the time of sale.
This item needed to be priced differently. That is the purview of the seller, not eBay.
When choosing to promote one’s listing at a high rate, where the ad fee can be substantial like this, then the price point one selects must allow for such an aggressive strategy. If you then find the price needed to realize a decent profit cannot be charged due to market factors, then the item should not be listed. That is, unless it is serving another need, such as playing the role of loss leader, for example.
It may come down to the point that not everything is suitable for selling on eBay.
Below are links to some resources that might be of interest.
The ironic thing is that everything was clearly explained when you sign up for this. This is the same as when a buyer claims they didn’t authorized a purchase despite agreeing to it or request delivery to a different location while skipping all the shipping address prompts. File this under operator error. We call this at work PICNIC situation, as Problem In Chair Not In Computer.
lakefor94
·1 year ago@pf9000
Sounds like your promotion rate was fat fingered.
fern*wood
·1 year agoThis has been asked about. Several times recently questions we present to the OP go ignored and unanswered, so I imagine the answer would blow up their questions and/or rants. I'm not referring to just this thread either. The store value thread comes quickly to mind.
pf9000
OP1 year agoThat’s what they said about Cigarette Smoking. Blame the consumer. After-all, it was your choice to smoke.
mam98031
·1 year agoThis is likely what your issue issue is. You don't want to take responsibility for a simple human mistake on your part. However that is the ONLY way this issue you described happened. And YOU are the ONLY one that can fix it for future purchases by buyers too.
So you can keep blaming Ebay and refuse to correct your accidental error or errors on your listing or listings and it will keep costing you money. That is entirely YOUR choice.
pf9000
OP1 year agoBefore Ralph Nader, cars lacked certain safety features. The corporations blamed the driver of the car for everything. After-all, it was the driver of the car that got hurt, so why blame the corporation? Something so obvious doesn’t require a detailed explanation. My post shines a Spotlight on the issue.
mam98031
·1 year agoYou are just being obtuse. Your posts do not shine a light on anything but the refusal to accept your own mistake that is so easy to fix. But if you don't mind spending extra funds on getting a sale, who am I to question that. You have the right to set your pricing and your promoted listing rates to anything you deem fit. To include NOT fixing a problem that you know exists because you want to make this someone else's problem. However it is now and will remain a YOU issue that only YOU can help.
doc-holmes
·1 year agoThis isn't for real, its it?
gurlcat
·1 year agoHere let me show you how absurd it is to compare eBay promotion to dangerous products. -Have any dangerous products ever come with a label saying what percent of your body will be injured if you use them? Is there even a way to calculate your percent of harm? NO. Heck there are 80-year-olds who have smoked since they were 15, so no wonder lots of people who wound up getting cancer felt betrayed.
But with promotion the information is right there, precise, couldn't be more idiot-proof! What part did you not understand about "If you set the promotion for 50% and we give you that much visibility and the item sells to someone who saw the promotion, you will have to pay us 50% of the money." -???
pf9000
OP1 year agoPlease note that 50% ended up totaling 89% paid in fees. 11% paid to the Seller. Order Earnings $2.95 That doesn’t even cover the cost of the merchandise and packaging material. Had the percentage been even higher, the Seller would be paying the Buyer to take the item.
gator08041971
·1 year ago@pf9000
My post shines a Spotlight on the issue.
Yes, yes it does. I'm thinking that you might not have wanted to put a spotlight on the real issue, that being yourself though.
Here's the million dollar question:
Did you learn anything from this mistake? As in what not to do for next time?
Have you gone through your listings and checked your promotional settings? You can check them here:
https://www.ebay.com/sh/ads/dashboard/campaigns
Click the campaign you want to review, then at the top right you have a big blue button labeled "Edit Campaign".
Look for "Select Ad rate Strategy":
Use "Fixed Ad Rate" and set the % to a value that seems fair to you. You can see above that I used 2% for only 5 listings at the beginning of May.
If you fail to learn from making this mistake, you will be doomed to repeat it.
pf9000
OP1 year agoHere's the million dollar question: Actually it’s a 33 billion dollar answer. What did they say to smokers who got sick from tobacco? Did you learn your lesson now? Moral of the story, be careful dealing with scoundrels interested in maximizing their profits at all costs. They don’t care who gets hurt, just as long as they can make as much money as possible. People were coerced every which way to smoke cigarettes. Ultimately the tobacco companies were held accountable, and got to keep most of the profits. Is that right? No, it's not right. Greed operates under a different set of standards than the honest hard working class. Life is not fair, especially when you have those who pray upon others for financial gain.
simply-the-best-for-you
·1 year agoNo there should NOT be a 10% cap. Many sellers use above 10% knowingly & intentionally. I do sometimes.
I would respectfully suggest that you stop ALL promoting until you understand how it works.
Also, it's likely not from using a variable rate. You can still limit those & even if you don't, I've never seen a variable rate go anywhere near that high.
Best thing for OP to do is stop promoting until they understand how it works & check all your existing listings to make sure you don't have those set at 50%.
Or was this all a test you set up at a 50% PL so that you could complain about it after the fact? I wouldn't normally think that but considering all of your non-answers to all the questions you've been asked, I'm starting to lean that way.
gurlcat
·1 year agoI once sold something with 91% percent promotion .... supposed to be 9.1%. And I made a post showing the screenshot and everything, but laughing about it (luckily it was a pretty inexpensive item, under $20 if I recall). And basically the moral of the story was just "Mind that decimal point yall!"
I strongly suspect that is what happened with the OP too, just meant to promote at 5.0%. What I can't figure out is, did they not realize that's what happened, or did they actually INTEND to type 50 but wanted to pretend like it's all eBay's fault somehow? As you can see in their old posting history^^ (msg 87), they have been using promotion since at least October 2023, so they should know how it works by now.
sreu3058
·1 year agoI don’t think there should be a 10% cap (self impose a 10% cap on yourself)
Say you had a home full of antique quality items collected over the years. Suddenly, your spouse demands a divorce, has an attorney, etc. Everything you own must be sold at once in order to split the proceeds, or, in 90 days it goes to charity.
Well, okay, let’s move it ASAP and promote it 50%
Or, maybe you are given 12 months left to live, and you would like to travel in your time left, etc. etc.
People have different wants and needs.
So what? Why get angry?
gurlcat
·1 year agoYes if there was a cap there would absolutely be people here rippin' hellcats about how they aren't allowed to get an edge over their competitors because all of them can promote just as high as them.
inhawaii
·1 year agoMaybe the OP will understand this scenario...
Before dinner:
I'll have a rib eye steak, a baked potato and steamed broccoli.
After dinner:
Why did you charge me for a baked potato?
That's a rip off!
pf9000
OP1 year agoHere we are struggling to make ends meet and accused of being obtuse and trolling while a 33 billion dollar company is getting rich off of the impoverish working class. Something not quite right with that. A 10% profit would be fair. Anything higher than that is taking undue advantage.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoYeah, this is getting old. The OP either isn't comprehending or is just stringing us along.
gurlcat
·1 year agoOP has known since at least October 2023 how promotional ad fees work:
And since May 2022 that the days of 10% FVF's were over:
wastingtime101
·1 year agoI don't understand your point of view.
eBay offered an optional advertising service. eBay allowed you to set your own rate between 2%-100% so you could customize the visibility boost you hoped to achieve in conjunction with the amount you were willing to pay.
You decided you wanted to pay for advertising. You decided you were willing to pay 50% additional fees on the sale of your item for a big visibility boost.
Now that you're seeing the actual numbers you're upset.
A failure to work out your financials beforehand and/or understand the service you chose to use falls to you. eBay did not force it or prevent you from selling if you chose to not advertise. This was your decision.
adamcartwright
·1 year ago@wastingtime101
Someone above mentioned halo fees, and I'm not too clear on the details of that.
If I sell something promoted at 2%, but the buyer got to it by initially viewing another listing I promoted at 10%, will I be charged 10% on that sale?
mam98031
·1 year ago@adamcartwright
See if this helps.
General campaign ad fees
You are only charged for items promoted with the general campaign strategy when the promoted item sells within 30 days of a click on your ad. A click includes any interaction with your ad, for example: add to watchlist, add to cart, quick view, or other interactive functionality. This means you only pay when you sell.
The fee you are charged is based on the ad rate you set for each listing. An ad rate is a percentage of an item's total sale amount (including shipping and any other applicable fees or taxes).
Here's how the fees work:
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/general-campaign-strategy?id=4164
wastingtime101
·1 year agoNo @adamcartwright - you'd be charged 2%.
inhawaii
·1 year agoWhy don't you start your own selling platform and charge 10%.
Maybe one of these days YOU will be worth $33B.
mam98031
·1 year ago@pf9000
Those were my word choices. I stand by them. We are almost 70 post into this thread and you have not acknowledge that it was your CHOICE, whether my typo or on purpose to use the Promoted Listing Program at the percentage that you CHOSE. The fix is a simple one, well simple if you were to acknowledge you understand about the issue is and maybe even have fixed it by now. Or if you have questions about how to fix your issue, then simply ASK.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoYour post was actually post 70 in this thread, just now.
Reminds me of the following saying: "I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you."
mam98031
·1 year agoOMG what a fantastic Quote. Do you know who said that originally? It is brilliant. You know I'm going to have to steal that, well at least borrow it from time to time.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoThat was @albertabrightalberta 's post signature on this forum for several years.
mam98031
·1 year agoI'm a fan of theirs myself. But they didn't create the saying, or I don't think they did. I am however considering adding it to my signature line.
glorybells
·1 year agoI think most of us answering could put that to frequent use!
wastingtime101
·1 year agoThat was really funny - thanks for that. At least I hope you were joking because I definitely wasn't implying Alberta originated the quote. 😉
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoLOL! Yes it was. I can't figure out how to re-add it with my mentor siggy but it's so appropriate to so many threads!
mam98031
·1 year agoI did a little researched, added a couple of things to my Christmas list for my office and found this.
It is # 16 Edward I Koch
https://dailysquared.com/40-sarcastic-quotes?utm_source=speck3utm_medium=speck3
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoI never claimed to have come up with that line myself. But I did have it as a signature for years until shipscript gave us the "mentor" signature code.
mam98031
·1 year agoI figured it out too.
gurlcat
·1 year agoThis victim cry might work on your spouse who's been trying to get you to get a job (or another job, or take more hours at your job) but obviously your fellow eBay sellers see right through it. ALL corporations get rich off the working class. That doesn't mean you didn't make your own choice to enrich this one even more, by typing '50%' into the Promotion box when you create a listing.
Have you checked and fixed your other listings yet? Or are you now asserting that 10% should be the TOTAL maximum eBay should take, of ALL fees? If so then you can't really list anything here, because even with 0% promotion, all item categories have "too high" of final value fees alone.
pf9000
OP1 year ago89% paid in fees. 11% paid to the Seller. Order Earnings $2.95 That doesn’t even cover the cost of the merchandise and packaging material.
glorybells
·1 year agoWhy are you not accepting that eBay didn’t set the ad rate, YOU did. You need to own your mistakes and learn from them, instead of putting the blame on something else.
When you list something on eBay, you are 100% in charge of everything about the listing you post. You write the title and description, you post the pictures, you set the price, you set the shipping policies, you decide where you will ship, and more. EBAY has no control over you making your own choices about the listing.
YOU messed you over. YOU made the mistake. Fix your other listings, take this as a fortunately not terribly expensive lesson, and move on.
gurlcat
·1 year agoSo are you taking this as a lesson, and adjusting the promotion rate on your OTHER listings, so the same thing won't happen with them?
There is no point grieving how eBay used to be. Only working with how it is now, and that is totally up to you.
pf9000
OP1 year agoThere should be a 10% Cap on Fees. As you can see by this example, the sky is the limit. The validations should not allow it. The lust for profit in this manner is an an example of what's wrong with this world. That's why we have so much unhappiness and unfriendliness among each other. Because there is the perception that others are out to exploit and take advantage in the interest of maximizing profits rather than putting service first.
gurlcat
·1 year ago"There should" is an utterly pointless assertion when it comes to any user agreement that you already signed to, including changes that occur after you signed.
It is within YOUR power only, to decide what you will do next. What "should" you do, now that you know there ISN'T a 10% cap on promotion fees? -Make sure that none of yours are higher than that. Either that or make the logical choice if you think eBay is no longer the right venue for you to sell on.
mam98031
·1 year agoWHY? Why should there be a cap on this. It is within EVERY seller's control. If you want a 10% cap, then don't enter anything above that amount into the PL program. YOU ARE IN CONTROL of this, you just don't want to take responsibility for it.
You are so fixed on making this an Ebay problem that you won't even see that YOU created the problem and YOU are the only one that can fix it.
At this point, it doesn't appear that anyone is really able to help you. If you aren't willing to FIX the problem YOU created, there is nothing any of us can do for you. YOU are exploiting yourself. Ebay didn't put the percentage into the program, YOU DID.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoOnly about 15% was fees you do not have a choice about (actually, you even have a choice about those because you chose to sell on eBay instead of another way). You are in control of how you promote your items, how you price them, how you source them, pretty much everything that decides whether you make a profit or not.
mam98031
·1 year agoThat issue was created by a mistake YOU made. I'm not understanding why we can't get you to understand this !!!
Are you just being obtuse and trolling us to see how long you can keep this going instead of actually fixing your issue?
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·1 year agoYou set that ad rate of 50% not eBay so when you did that you decided it was worth giving eBay 50% to promote your item.
the-hook-and-the-loop
·1 year agoWhat's really funny, is eBay considers this a win for them. So they made 50% of a sale. They don't see the billions of dollars in sales they're NOT making.
mam98031
·1 year agoThis is NOT an Ebay issue or the fault of Ebay, no matter how you want to twist this. The OP has made a mistake in what THEY did and many have been trying to help them resolve the issue. This is a self inflicted problem and NOT the fault of Ebay.
Sometimes us humans make an error. And that is all this is. Maybe the OP meant to put in 5% and instead put 50%, IDK. But it is a fixable problem by @pf9000 , but first it seems to be a challenge to get them to realize this. This is a problem that is fully within their control.
mantle1951
·1 year agoYou have been on Ebay since 2001 ........
pf9000
OP1 year agoThey are not the same company they used to be.
fern*wood
·1 year agoDid you really mean to promote at 50%?
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoYou're not the same person you used to be. Neither am I. Everything changes. You must learn to adapt to the changes or things will be harder for you.
glorybells
·1 year agoI’ve been on eBay since 1999. EVERYTHING has changed since 1999. In those years, I’ve had another child, gotten divorced, become a grandmother, buried both my parents, and more. Everything everywhere changes, and eBay is no exception.
mam98031
·1 year agoName some companies, still in business, that have NOT evolved over a the last 20 years.
IDK why this has been such a challenge to get you to see that the problem you are having is 100% completely within your control to fix. Ebay didn't do anything TO YOU. Ebay didn't do anything wrong. You likely made a typo, an expensive one, when you set up the rates you were willing to pay using the Promoted Listings program. It is a FIXABLE issue, but ONLY YOU can fix it.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·1 year agoI have my ad fees set at like 5% and that works great for me and my profit.
At 50% what do you expect?
pf9000
OP1 year agoThe Golden Rule: Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated. When I sell products and services, I always try to be fair about it, by charging a fair and reasonable price for products and services rendered. This situation reminds me of the Company Store and the way some Coal Miners were treated.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoGood for you. Business works on stated terms and conditions, not the Golden Rule or other personal moral choices.
And comparing this to company stores or coal miners is ridiculous. You are not trapped nor forced to spend the amount you did on advertising (in fact, as has been often repeated in this thread, you don't have to spend money on advertising your items at all, and you can still sell just as much if not more).
mam98031
·1 year agoWhat does this have to do with your issue? You have a legit issue. YOU set your Promoted Listing percentage too high. ONLY YOU can fix that.
mam98031
·1 year ago@pf9000
If you don't know how to change the percentage you set, just ask.
mam98031
·1 year ago@pf9000
You set that rate that cost you $13.38 on this order. You might want to reconsider the Promoted Listing percentage you have set up on some or all of your listings.
It is always best to READ the policy on any tool that you might consider using on Ebay so that you make sure you understand how it works and is applied.
Yes the Promoted Fees are charged on the ENTIRE amount that the buyer pays you. That includes sales tax and shipping. These are important details to know.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings-overview?id=5295
titipeo
·1 year agoAfter all this, have you checked. adjusted your ad rates as you’ve been told?
pf9000
OP1 year agoThere should be a 10% cap on what is charged in fees.
lakefor94
·1 year agoYou will have to implement that cap on yourself.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoIf you feel that way, why did you opt for a 50% ad rate on top of the regular eBay fees?
mam98031
·1 year ago@pf9000
I think you misunderstand. YOU set the fee, Ebay didn't. YOU set the percentage you were willing to pay over the regular FVFs. So change the rate you are willing to pay. Lower it, you have the right to do that. But only YOU can do it.
albertabrightalberta
·1 year agoIf you wanted a 10% cap, then why did you choose to promote at 50%?
This is your mistake. Own it and learn from it so you don't make the same mistake again.
glorybells
·1 year agoThere is another online platform that I do work for, they charge 30% fees. Count your blessings that eBay is as low as it is.
pf9000
OP1 year agoThe Ad Fee is also applied to the shipping. The cost of the shipping is that much more costly to the Seller offering Free Shipping.
therogue-trader
·1 year agobuild the cost of shipping into the item price if you're offering free shipping
mam98031
·1 year ago@therogue-trader
While this is certainly an option that many sellers use. However it doesn't change the amount you pay in fees. You are just moving the amount a seller might separately state as the shipping amount into the price of the product. So you increase the price of the product. If you item is $10 and shipping is $5 you pay fees on $15 plus on the sales tax if any. If you roll the shipping into the price of the product, then you charge $15, the fees stay the same.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoSeller 1 prices their widget at $10 + $5 shipping and the buyer pays $1 in sales tax.
Seller 2 prices their widget at $15 with free shipping and the buyer pays $1 in sales tax.
Assuming both promoted at the same rate, they pay the same amount in ad fees.
Only logical, especially considering in the past some sellers would price their items at $1 but charge $500 shipping to avoid eBay fees, which was not fair to other sellers that set their prices and shipping appropriately. In those days eBay didn’t have promoted listings, but the same principle applies to the final value fees (which you do know are also charged on the total amount the buyer pays, right?).
dreambooks
·1 year agoIt sucks. Fees, shipping fees, and profit. You got the short end of the deal.
tools*
·1 year agoYou shouldn't have chosen an "Ad Fee" when you listed the item. You handed your profit to eBay.
pf9000
OP1 year agoThe Ad Fee should have been for the Item and NOT the Item plus Sales Tax. The Ad Fee was that much higher because it was applied to the Sales Tax. At least that how it seems to me.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoWhether you think it should be on the full amount or just the item price, or that it shouldn’t be charged on a repeat buyer’s purchase, doesn’t really matter. eBay makes the terms very clear. You agreed to this.
ittybitnot
·1 year agoThe Ad Fee is intended to bring New Customers.
@pf9000
The fee is to make eBay more money. Did you perhaps sign up for the DYNAMIC ad rate where you let eBay adjust it for you? With that option I suppose eBay can make the % you pay anything they want. Here are some basic facts for you regarding a "General Campaign" (not pay per click).
Here's how the fees work:
You choose an ad rate between 2% - 100% of the item's total sale amount. The higher the ad rate, the higher the possibility of ad placement, leading to increased visibility (note they say nothing about SALES)
Dynamic ad rates are aligned with the daily suggested ad rate, which is calculated based on a variety of factors such as item attributes, seasonality, past performance and current competition for each of your listings
You will only be charged when the promoted item sells within 30 days of a click on your ad
The ad fee is based on the ad rate you chose and the total sale amount (including item price, shipping, taxes and any other applicable fees)
Ad fees are shown in your Payments tab in Seller Hub, or the transactions page in My eBay
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/general-campaign-strategy?id=4164&st=3&pos=1&query=General%20campaign%20strategy&intent=promotional%20fees&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1083
pf9000
OP1 year agoThe Ad Fee is intended to bring New Customers. Since this was a repeat customer, there should not have been an Ad Fee.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·1 year agoThe ad fee is charged whether it's a first time buyer or a repeat buyer
"The fee you are charged is based on the ad rate you set for each listing. An ad rate is a percentage of an item's total sale amount (including shipping and any other applicable fees or taxes)."
ten_o_nine
·1 year agolol, if the buyer complains about anything, just show them that. 😂 and case will be closed.
luckythewinner
·1 year agoPerhaps the fees should have been lower?
If the seller wants to give away 50% of the order total as an ad fee, the seller is free to do so.
pf9000
OP1 year agoIt seems to me there way also an Ad Fee charged on Sales Tax.
wastingtime101
·1 year agoAd fee applies to the total amount buyer pays (item+ship+tax). It's been that way for years.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/general-campaign-strategy?id=4164#section3
"The fee you are charged is based on the ad rate you set for each listing. An ad rate is a percentage of an item's total sale amount (including shipping and any other applicable fees or taxes)."
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·1 year agoAd fess is charged on the whole amount of the buyers payment
Item price + shipping + sales tax
luckythewinner
·1 year agoThe Ad Fee should have been for the Item and NOT the Item plus Sales Tax.
Those are the rules you agreed to when you used promoted listings. eBay is not going to change their fee structure just because you imagined a rule that does not exist.
The Ad Fee is intended to bring New Customers. Since this was a repeat customer, there should not have been an Ad Fee.
Nope. Promoted listings are designed to put your listing in promoted listing spots for any buyers. eBay is not going to change their fee structure just because you imagined a rule that does not exist.
The Ad Fee is also applied to the shipping.
Again, those are the rules you agreed to when you used promoted listings.
ten_o_nine
·1 year ago@luckythewinner
The Ad Fee is intended to bring New Customers. Since this was a repeat customer, there should not have been an Ad Fee.
Nope. Promoted listings are designed to put your listing in promoted listing spots for any buyers. eBay is not going to change their fee structure just because you imagined a rule that does not exist.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does that also apply to repeat customers? I sold many items to people that came back because of the product, or service and I was charged promoted fees, would that be called sold thru promoted listing?
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoIt depends on two main factors:
If they found that listing of your through a Promoted insertion (basically, if it showed up as a Sponsored Listing and they clicked on that link and not wherever that item would have shown up as an organic search result), OR
If they had previously clicked on one of your other Promoted Listings, and ended up buying a different listing that was also promoted.
Either way you’ll be charged the ad fee that was set on the listing they purchased, though not necessarily the one at the time of purchase, if you have made changes. That part is harder for me to explain, but if they reach your listing and it’s promoted at 10%, but before they buy you lower it to 2%, you’ll still be charged 10%.
luckythewinner
·1 year agoThe fact that he is a repeat customer has no bearing on fees. If the repeat customer's purchase is subject to the promotional fee, then you will pay the promotional fee.
I think if you read the fine print about "halo" sales, you will find that when a buyer views an item through a promoted listing, for the next 30 days any promoted item he buys from you will incur the promoted listing fee - regardless of how got to the listing.
The ad fee is charged when a buyer purchases an item promoted with a general strategy other than the general ad item they clicked on in the most recent 30 days, as long as the sold item is in an active general campaign of the same seller at the time of sale. The ad fee is based on the ad rate for the item sold at the time of sale.
https://pages.ebay.com/sell/pl/attribution.html
liawri-75
·1 year agoYou obviously used promoted listings or ad services. That's what happens. The majority of fees go to Ebay. Outrageous.
fashunu4eeuh
·1 year agoThis item needed to be priced differently. That is the purview of the seller, not eBay.
When choosing to promote one’s listing at a high rate, where the ad fee can be substantial like this, then the price point one selects must allow for such an aggressive strategy. If you then find the price needed to realize a decent profit cannot be charged due to market factors, then the item should not be listed. That is, unless it is serving another need, such as playing the role of loss leader, for example.
It may come down to the point that not everything is suitable for selling on eBay.
Below are links to some resources that might be of interest.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-started-selling/pricing-items?id=4133
https://mailchimp.com/resources/how-to-price-your-products-to-turn-a-profit/#:~:text=It's%20essential%20to%20understand%20what,to%20charge%20at%20least%20%2425.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ebay/comments/nkmfjo/im_looking_for_advice_on_how_to_price_items/
kandf_vintage_finds
·1 year agooh my....promoting at 50% was this intentional?
gator08041971
·1 year ago@pf9000
Yeah, I would definitely look at your promotional settings. You can review them here:
https://www.ebay.com/sh/ads/dashboard
titipeo
·1 year agoThe ironic thing is that everything was clearly explained when you sign up for this. This is the same as when a buyer claims they didn’t authorized a purchase despite agreeing to it or request delivery to a different location while skipping all the shipping address prompts. File this under operator error. We call this at work PICNIC situation, as Problem In Chair Not In Computer.