Promoted Listings General Attribution Changes Coming To US & Canada January 13, 2026
It's official, the Promoted Listings General ad attribution changes rolled out to UK, EU, and Australia earlier this year are coming to US and Canada January 13, 2026.
https://pages.ebay.com/sell/pl/attribution.html
Starting January 13, 2026, for items listed on ebay.com, ebay.ca, and cafr.ebay.ca (and currently for items listed on ebay.co.uk, ebay.de, ebay.com.au, ebay.fr, ebay.it, and ebay.es): eBay will report an Attributed sale from a general campaign when a buyer purchases the same item that was featured in the ad that was clicked on by any buyer in the most recent 30 days.
The ad fee is charged when a buyer purchases the promoted item from a general ad that any buyer clicked on in the most recent 30 days. The item must be promoted at the time of click and the time of sale. The ad fee is based on the ad rate in effect at the time of the sale.
valueaddedresource
OP9 months ago@gurlcat - @wiccanwands is talking about if someone uses the Advanced search (link next to the blue search button)
https://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch
One of the options in Advanced search is to view only items from a specific seller and if you don't put in any specific keywords, it will show all items from that seller.
If you do that, because it uses the standard search results view (rather than for example what you might see if you just went to that seller's store) Sponsored results may be shown for some results.
Personally, I still think it would be a lot of work and of course not every listing is shown as sponsored in that view so it would still be limited that way too - and I also still think that non-malicious but still no intent to buy clicks like from sellers doing research is a bigger potential problem.
But I can see how that could be used by competitors to get eBay to display at least some of your items as Sponsored so they could click on it if they wanted to do that.
gurlcat
·9 months agoThank you! But are you sure the results don't all show as sponsored (if they are sponsored listings)? -All but one of my current listings are sponsored, and that screenshot you took says 'Sponsored' beside the bottom right corner of all the thumbnail photos .... all but that bottom one (which is the one I don't have promoted presently).
valueaddedresource
OP9 months ago@gurlcat oh wow that's a funny coincidence.
But, yeah I'm sure, I just cut off the results there because larger pictures don't upload well here in the community - but when I looked at it, the display was like a regular search, 1st 4 slots sponsored then a bunch of organic with a few more sponsored sprinkled in as you scroll down.
This link should take you to what that Advanced search would look like for your account.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fss=1&_saslop=1&_sasl=gurlcat
gurlcat
·9 months agoFASCINATING, thanks! -Yes only the first 4 displayed on that link show as Sponsored. And yeah that was a funny coincidence in your initial attempt to illustrate. Even if you hadn't cut off that tiny slice off the bottom, no matter how many times the results are shuffled, that 'Vintage Antique Jewelry Lot...." wouldn't place in the top 4, because it's truly 100% organic.
That one is sort of an experiment actually, to see how it would perform in views/watchers with no promotion but SEO'd in every way possible, a fairly desirable lot to collectors, photo'd/titled as well as possible, and listed shortly after 7 pm Sunday (last night). Sundays are allegedly the most active buyer browsing day, or that's what I've heard anyway and I'd say there's good logic to it, but also 7 PM Central time is when all 4 U.S. time zones AND China zones are theoretically awake (U.S. and China are my two main buyer bases).
In the hours since posting, that listing has 26 views and 2 watchers. Not bad, but pretty hard to guess if it would be doing much better with promotion. The best I could do is put together another lot next Sunday, of the same size and "calilber" of desirability, title it the same and list it at the same time, but with promotion.
americanartifacts
·9 months agoTo clarify, the January 13th implementation date includes a 30 day look back period, so my promoted listings general strategy as of December 7th is relevant to how the new implementation system will apply? Promoted listings clicked on during the holiday period then purchased by any buyer within 30 days into January will be assessed the fee?
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·9 months ago@americanartifacts Yes, the 30 day lookback runs from Jan 13th backwards, so, clicks on promoted listings anytime after Dec 12th or so (I didn't do the exact math) could result in a fee being assessed on a Jan 13th or later sale. SALES made BEFORE the effective date (Jan 13th) will still be assessed fees under the old rules.
But remember, for the new fee to be assessed, the sale must be an item that is in a campaign at the time of the purchase. So, If you have a sponsored item that is clicked on by someone on Dec 30th, and you remove that item from your ad camapign on Jan 12th, and it is purchased on Jan 13th, there will be no ad fee.
americanartifacts
·9 months agoThat's helpful, thank you.
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@lotzofuniquegoodies technically they are verifying the bid, not the phone number - they just use the phone number to do the verifying by texting or calling with a code.
That's the reason it can be so disruptive to sniping, it's not just a one time verification to confirm the buyer and/or their phone number is real, it's there to verify the buyer really meant to place that specific bid, so it can happen any time a bid is placed.
In a now archived post on the UK boards, one of the blues over there actually even explicitly said it was being done to cut down on shilling and sniping.
It doesn't happen for every bid and it's not entirely clear when/how eBay decides to require it though obviously high value items are more likely to have it.
When they first started doing it, some bidders had problems with not receiving the texts or calls with the codes.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Report-eBay-Technical-Issues/E-Bay-system-would-not-accept-my-bid/m-p/35164993
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Code-now-needed-to-bid/m-p/35165422
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Not-receiving-security-verification-code/m-p/35168971
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/ebay-now-sending-codes-to-your-phone-to-bid-on-an-item/td-p/35163284
go-bad-chicken
·10 months agoIt kinda of like this.
robbie31415
·10 months agoI don't have much to say.
I'm saddened ebay did this change and I think its wrong.
gurlcat
·10 months agoI just had an awful thought. I'm probably not the first person to think of this, ( @bojangled I bet this has been raised on your side of the pond).
So, up to this point what promotions have already done is change the seller competition dynamic from purely merit-based (better item, better listing, better price, better seller policies/history = better chance of selling) ... to those things plus manipulated visibility, based on ad rates, with the higher the rate, the higher the frequency of sponsored slot placements.
But with the new model, if all it takes is 1 sponsored click to activate a listing for 30 days worth of attribution ...... why wouldn't they also program "click virginity" into the competition algorithm? Like why keep giving already-activated listings as much visibility as ones that haven't been clicked yet? Wouldn't they want to REALLY push those ones to get those sponsored clicks before buyers purchase them from organic search results?
oregon_bins
·10 months agoYeah I totally suspect the algorithm will be trained for this.
On page 6 in this thread my comment included "eBay could push it up to just get a click on it and then train the algorithm to know they are covered for 30 days and push it back down to try to get a click on someone else's listing."
I personally believe eBay will definitely be tracking which promoted listings have been activated by a click and sponsor listings temporarily accordingly.
bcmike0_1
·10 months agoNot sure what prevents your competitor or really anyone that maybe owns ebay stock from going in and clicking every promoted/sponsored item they see to generate more income for eBay.
adamcartwright
·10 months ago@bcmike0_1
Nothing.
And actual click farming could be very lucrative for eBay.
gurlcat
·10 months agoWell you're picturing two very different things there. A competitor (I assume you mean someone who sells the same or similar items) would just be targeting you, whereas an eBay investor would have no particular seller target.
If it's any consolation, a competitor wouldn't be as serious a threat as you may be thinking. If I wanted to target you, I couldn't activate your listings by going to your store and clicking a bunch of your items, because your listings aren't sponsored within your store. I would need to find them and click on them "in the wild" so to speak. Say I click on one of your items:
If I scroll down, I see sponsored listings in-and-under your listing.
Do you see why targeting your sponsored listings would take some serious effort? -The sponsored slots have a mix of sellers, and their names are not shown. Now, it's a fairly safe bet that the ones priced $1.85 are yours, because that's how much you're charging for the listing I started with. But to even find out, I would have to click on one, to see the seller's name.
I could go on, but you probably get the point. A really dedicated competitor could accomplish clicking lots of your sponsored slots if they wanted to .... but it would take lots of time, and really the bigger question is: how would it benefit THEM? Could they cause you to become so frustrated with having to pay promotion fees that you just close your store and give them a tighter grip on the category? Even if you could get that frustrated, it won't take one dedicated guy hunting down your sponsored placements; those clicks will happen anyway, from sincerely interested buyers taking a look. All it will take is one per month, so ...... your competitors' work will not be necessary.
wiccanwands
·9 months agoActually, targeting a specific seller would not be as difficult as think if a competitor does an advanced search on your seller name and not just keywords for individual items. I have given my frequent buyers instructions on how to use the advanced search feature to pull up all of my listings and spot the ones that are sponsored and with versions are not sponsored.
gurlcat
·9 months agoCould you show some screenshots? I don't disbelieve you but I can't picture what you're describing.
ittybitnot
·10 months agoBut with the new model, if all it takes is 1 sponsored click to activate a listing for 30 days worth of attribution
@gurlcat
Why do I have the impression that if a general promoted listing gets a click, and another one on day 17 after that click, the time is extended for another 30 days?
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@ittybitnot yep, that's exactly how it works and one reason why it's going to hit multi-quantity and/or multi-variation listings hardest.
Each click on the ad extends the 30 day window unless/until the listing sells through all stock (whether that's 1 or 1000+) or the seller ends the ad campaign.
gurlcat
·10 months agoLike Liz said^ your impression is correct. So if my 'evil fantasy' about how eBay may program the algorithm is true, then it would favor giving visibility to listings that have never gotten a single sponsored click AND listings that are approaching their 30-day "expiration" and therefore "needing" a new click, to recharge their attribution for another 30 days. Like say maybe on day 25, the listing starts getting put in a higher number of sponsored slots, like when it was a true "click virgin."
In really saturated categories with lots of the sellers opting to promote, a constantly-revolving preference for "click-needing" listings could theoretically make a Day-17 listing almost as invisible as one with no promotion at all.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·10 months ago@gurlcat
@valueaddedresource
eBay has always been super intent on removing situations where buyers and sellers could/would play the system. Examples such as bid sniping or sellers abusing shipping costs with intent to reduce selling fees(olden days). This is a case of eBay taking advantage of sellers my manipulating selling costs to a new extreme. Just add it to charging fees for collecting tax on tax.
gurlcat
·10 months agoDo you think eBay has removed the ability to snipe an auction win? That would be extremely up-to-the-minute news to me, because I just sniped this one a couple hours ago. Or rather my sniper bot did it for me (I was too busy watching Youtube 😆).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/116845245669
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@gurlcat they've been testing extended auctions (which would get rid of sniping) for trading cards since July, though I haven't seen anything about it expanding to other categories.
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/bidding?id=4003
They also announced at eBay Open that they are introducing a few other things like bid verification that could be disruptive to sniping, though again it doesn't apply to all auctions.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/OPEN25-Day-Two-Announcements/ba-p/35218413
Verifying Buyers
lotzofuniquegoodies
·10 months ago@valueaddedresource
Re: Verifying buyers phone numbers
Do they (eBay) actually verify them? I've had on occasion needed to call a buyer. In most cases the number has been disconnected or no one picks up. Even more critical for international shipping if customs or PO needs to contact customer for whatever reason. Unsure about USPS but on Canada Post labels for domestic shipping phone numbers don't display on the printed label. Similar to email addies. It's been a longstanding requirement for courier shipments. (Yes you can fill in a bunch of 0's or your own number but not super helpful if there is a problem. It's also important for making damage or lost claims. (Phone & Addy)
(Many numbers were added years ago and were probably landlines. How many folks still have those.)
lotzofuniquegoodies
·10 months ago@gurlcat I sit corrected. They try to block sniping. Every time they think they've figured a way users come up with new workarounds. Someone should write a book on eBay workarounds. They would make a mint!!!
bcmike0_1
·10 months agoI've already lowered my promoted from 9% to 2% today after doing some analysis. My current plan is to see the impact of that and when this change happens (or actually mid-December to completely avoid it), I plan to remove promoted from all of my listings.
I'm fine with paying fees for added service but this change is purely a cash grab. Completely fine for eBay to do that but unless I can justify it with actual data on my side, I don't plan on participating.
ulfesharpe
·10 months agoI'm feeling a sense of liberation too: the sense of Ebay getting all our money and we not having any money at all.
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@oregon_bins the parts you've circled actually already reflect the new model.
"You're only charged when your promoted item sells after a click on your ad" is exactly how it will work - notice it just says "a click" not "a click from the person who buys the item."
eBay actually changed the wording on that page and other policy pages back in June, which is why many of us have known this was coming to the US, it was just a question of when.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Is-New-Promoted-Listings-Ad-Attribution-Rolling-Out-To-US-With/td-p/35125142
oregon_bins
·10 months agoI did notice that technically the verbiage matches the new model... But I think it is deceptive and really does not describe what is going on. I think it completely implies that you are only charged if the buyer clicks on your sponsored listing. They should change it to "any click" not "a click" to at least give people a hint that the model has changed.
If they truly wanted to be transparent they would add an asterisk and at the bottom of the page they would have fine print that said "starting on January 13th any click on a sponsored placement of your listing by an eBay user within 30 days of your item selling will activate being charged your promotional ad rate percentage."
They are completely overhauling the entire draw to using their promotional general ad program (that you only have to pay if the sponsored listing did its job and brought a buyer to your item or store), And I think they are sweeping the change underneath the rug as much as they can legally manage to (ESPECIALLY If this is the wording they keep after the change). The trailer park boys would call this lack of transparency "greasy".
gurlcat
·10 months agoI hate to stir the already stinky turd, but even that^ would be a lie. Starting January 13th they will begin charging for promoted listings that were clicked by any eBay user in the past 30 days (as in, since mid-December).
bcmike0_1
·10 months agoExactly, so if you don't want to participate in this new sham, you need to remove promoted 30 days before Jan 13 2026.
oregon_bins
·10 months agoThis change is less than 2 months away and I don't think eBay should continue to advertise the general ad promoted listings the same as they did before. It has always been advertised as the method where you only have to pay if someone clicks on your ad and then purchases it. The method is virtually being changed to always being charged if you decide to promote and "we will promote it when we feel like it" but still charge you. On this page they should have an asterisk or some sort of message that lets people know that in January The rules are changing. That way people have a clear picture of The truth before they decide to start a general promotion campaign.
pls-consignments
·10 months ago@valueaddedresource Wow, this post has really grown some legs. If this is indicative of the level of confusion to come in Jan, then eBay has accomplished it's goal.
Currently, I'm enjoying a feeling of liberation despite slowing sales. However, I'm confident they will pick up in the weeks to come WITHOUT ad fees. 😉
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@pls-consignments we still need at least 400 more responses here to match this thread from the UK boards, but give it a few months and I bet we can do it. 😂
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques for sure, understandably sellers have to figure out what they are going to do.
I just don't have a lot to add to that discussion because it is going to depend a lot on individual business circumstances and I would *really* encourage sellers to be looking at the whole picture of their specific situation rather than taking generic advice from others.
That's especially true since, judging by some of the youtube videos and social media posts I've seen so far, a lot of other sellers are also confused about what this update does or does not mean and some of the information floating around may not be accurate.
I mean....on the earnings call, even the freakin' CEO apparently doesn't understand that Halo attribution is part of the current model, not the new model, and that it will be going away once the new model starts.
If the people running the company can't even keep this stuff straight, what chance do sellers have?
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·10 months ago@valueaddedresource Well, that's true of a lot of things on ebay, and it's always up to us to determine whether the advice applies to our situation or not.
rsoxnation2004
·10 months agoI don't understand this. I guess I'll have to find out about it the hard way.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·10 months ago@rsoxnation2004
First, keep in mind that when you have an item in a General Ad Promoted Listing Campaign, ebay can choose to display it as "sponsored" or as "organic." A "sponsored" listing will (generally) be identified by the word "sponsored". An organic listing in a Campaign will look exactly like a true organic listing (which is a listing that is NOT in a promoted listing campaign.)
If buyer A clicks on a sponsored listing, and buys the item within 30 days, as long as it is in an Ad campaign when he buys it, even if it is shown at the time of purchase as organic, the ad fee will be charged to the seller. This is true today, and it will be true when the change happens.
If buyer A clicks on a sponsored listing, and buys the same item within 30 days, but the item is NOT in an ad campaign when he buys it, the ad fee in effect at the time of the first click will be charged to the seller. This is true today, but will no longer be true when the new rule goes into effect. Under the new rule, a true organic listing---one that is NOT in an ad campaign at the time of purchase---will never be charged an ad fee.
If buyer A clicks on a sponsored listing, and buys a DIFFERENT item FROM THE SAME SELLER within 30 days, as long as that item is in an ad campaign when he purchases it , even though it is shown to him as organic, an ad fee will apply. This is true even though it is a completely different item. This is known as the Halo rule. Under the new rule, a click on a different item from the one ultimately purchased will NOT trigger an ad fee.
Under the new rule, as stated above, if Buyer A clicks on a sponsored listing, and buys the item within 30 days, even though it is displayed as organic when purchased, as long as it is in an ad campaign, the fee will be charged. In that case, there is no change.
So, here's the big difference: Under the new rule, if Buyer A clicks on a sponsored listing, and ---here's the difference---Buyer B buys the item within 30 days, even though it is displayed as organic when purchased, as long as it is IN an ad campaign, the fee will be charged. This is true even though there is NO connection between Buyer A and Buyer B, and no connection between Buyer A's click and Buyer B's purchase. Basically, as long as SOMEONE---ANYONE--- clicked on the sponsored item within the last 30 days, and it is purchased while it is in a campaign, a fee will be charged.
ulfesharpe
·10 months agoI guess you could perfectly pinpoint in time when Millennials took over ebay (and I suppose the rest of the world too), with their reckless greed and ignorant "i feel offended" culture. There is nothing new in this "attributed" sales trick. All the other seasonal updates for many moons now have been as repulsive and unfair for Sellers as this one is. You just get used to it, because some meagre dollars pass through, but they've been ripping us off for a very long time now (with many idiots always defending what they do).
chlipp-78
·10 months agoWhy does eBay hate their sellers? They can't even go a full year without screwing them in a major way.
wilsonharborsales
·10 months agoSellers are a cash cow. They do not hate them at all. Quite the opposite, actually.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·10 months ago@valueaddedresource ebay has indicated that they are working on bringing so called "conversational search" to eBay. Of course, they've provided no details, and it is impossible to know whether the intent is to ultimately replace search as we know it with conversational search, or whether it will be optional, or perhaps confined to certain categories, etc.
But I do wonder to what extent some of these recent changes have been influenced by the fact that AI (both on ebay and off ebay) could reduce the utility of Promoted Listings to such an extent that ebay might eventually have no choice but to make more radical changes to the Ads system. ebay's heavy dependence on ad revenue could be one of many things disrupted by the rapid growth of AI.
This is nothing more than a guess, but something to think about: ebay recently pulled sponsored listings from search orders other than Best Match. Did ebay suddenly wake up and realize that injecting sponsored listings that did not fit within the order, was a bad buyer experience? (Something buyers and sellers realized long ago). I don't think so. I think perhaps sites like ChatGPT made it known to ebay that they won't look at ebay if the search order is not correct. And also, this new attribution change means ebay can include plenty of listings in the order that do fit, and that are shown as organic but are part of a general ad campaign. Under the new rule, ebay will be able to collect a promoted listing fee from those sales, and ChatGPT, etc, will not know those are actually being "stealth promoted."
The same thing would seem to apply to conversational chat search results. If the chat says: "Here are five items that fit what you are asking about" , ebay can show them as organic , but if they are in a general ad campaign and have been clicked on even once by anyone while shown as a sponsored listing in the last 30 days, well, Magical Attribution means a sale will result in an ad fee.
Just throwing this out there as something to think about.
siamjane8
·10 months ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques very interesting suggestion as to a possible reason for this because on every other level, a grade school child could see that it is a terrible idea that will cause a mass exodus.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·10 months ago@siamjane8 @valueaddedresource
"...that will cause a mass exodus."
Valueadded, I know you've been following this in the other countries where it had first launched....any indication of a mass exodus?
And have you seen any discussion of strategy to work with this? (As opposed to either leaving ebay or leaving General Ad campaigns completely?
Personally, I doubt there will be a mass exodus. Outrage? Yes. But mass exodus? I doubt it.
go-bad-chicken
·10 months ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques @valueaddedresource
I doubt there will be a mass exodus, per se, but mass cross listing to other marketplace platforms will more than likely happen.
Some savy eBay sellers will say to themselves, we'll if im already paying 13+ % + another 2% to 10% promoted listing fees, I might as well use another platform that charges say 15%, and see if I cant make that work, along with my current ebay situation.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·10 months ago@go-bad-chicken I agree 100% that this will give a boost to multi channel selling, and sites like List Perfectly might be happy to see this...because they are likely to get more people signing up. On Social Media I saw someone implying that an ebay competitor is actually calling out this change as a reason for sellers to try their site. (Did not try to confirm that, but it would make sense).
go-bad-chicken
·10 months ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques
Its not hard to dust off the magic 8 ball, and see what the future may hold.
bojangled
·10 months ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques
UK seller here, arrived via @valueaddedresource link.
I’m sure it’s been posted somewhere on this community but here’s the discussion that started when this was introduced in the UK, announced in May and kicked off in June.
Promoted Listings Changes - You Must Be Joking eBay
Mass exodus, I don’t know, but a lot of switching off promoted campaigns, myself included.
There’s some conversations on reports of traffic and sales figures in that ongoing thread.
We are in a mess on the UK platform though as the goalposts keep moving, but other platforms seem to be reeling in the disenchanted sellers.
Jo
gurlcat
·10 months agoWow I was just about to tag Liz to ask for any relevant posts in the UK platform Community. Thank you for sharing that! Looks like we have some reading to do.
Edit: BOY HOWDY! You weren't kidding about it being an "ongoing" discussion. 618 replies!!!!
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques strategies for working with this are going to be different for different sellers.
Personally, I'm more interested in strategies that don't require either just rolling over and "working with it" or leaving eBay/stopping promoting all together.
Currently percolating some ideas on that front and will share more about that when I can - but for now, sellers who believe these ad polices are unethical or constitute bad business practices can submit a report to the FTC (once the shutdown ends) and/or their state attorney general's office.
If sellers choose to go that route, I suggest staying factual and calm and providing real data/numbers about how this will impact your business.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·10 months ago@valueaddedresource Well, I think there are probably multiple reasons for this change, and will let it at that for now.
As a seller, I will be faced with the question of how to handle this as Q4 begins to wind down (While this begins on Jan 13th, it also begins with a 30 day lookback, which means actions taken in mid December could determine whether a fee is charged in January.) That is a busy time, both ebay wise and just life in general wise, so I'd love to hear about the strategies of others in the UK and elsewhere, before this actually kicks off.
I agree that this policy might raise legitimate legal issues, particularly around FTC ad disclosure requirements. Generally speaking, Europe has more stringent consumer protection regulations than the US, and so it would be worth asking whether any legal challenges have surfaced elsewhere. The most obvious issue is that this is designed to ensure that ebay will be collecting more fees from listings that are in an Ad campaign, but which ebay is displaying as "organic" rather than as "sponsored".
Given this change, should ebay be required to designate EVERY listing that IS an a campaign as "sponsored", since they are all subject to an ad fee if one relatively minor condition has been met?
So, is there a legal issue here? Maybe so. And maybe there are others as well. So, definitely worth looking into.
But, again, as a seller, here's the reality: This will likely proceed as it is, and I need to recognize that reality. It's like the De Minimus situation. Congress passed a law eliminating de minimus as of 2027, after which the President signed an emergency executive order with a much earlier date he preferred. Is there a legal question about the validity of that order? Possibly. And maybe someone has brought an action related to it. BUT...in the meantime....the de minimus rule is gone, and as sellers (and buyers) that is our reality for now and the foreseeable future.
So I agree: it is worth focusing on the bigger picture, as you are doing. But it is also worth focusing on the smaller picture, and trying to figure out my response to this simply as a seller.
bojangled
·10 months ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques
As a seller, I will be faced with the question of how to handle this as Q4 begins to wind down (While this begins on Jan 13th, it also begins with a 30 day lookback, which means actions taken in mid December could determine whether a fee is charged in January.)
The point you raise is an important one, and I think one that many didn’t take on board over here.
So in effect anything listed mid December onwards with this on the horizon could be included in the promotion’click’.
Jo
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques see post 158 of this thread for full info from the Q3 call.
eBay doesn't break out ad revenue by region, so no way to know whether less sellers in the markets where this is already in effect used ads, but over all both the dollar amount of ad rev and number of sellers using at least one ad product went up, so I think it's safe to say there was probably at least not enough of an exodus to be statistically relevant.
The onsite conversational AI they have been talking about is this, which they announced in May but it is still in a very early stage beta and most users are not seeing it yet.
https://innovation.ebayinc.com/stories/ebay-uses-agentic-ai-to-supercharge-personalized-ecommerce/
That being said, if OpenAI, Google and others are figuring out how to insert ads in conversational AI, you can bet eBay will too, though it remains to be seen if it might be more advantageous for eBay to push Priority cost per click ads there.
Either way, if the actual experience looks anything like the mockup video it's very easy to see how they could do it. Look at how it displays results/suggestions - some of those could easily be shown as Promoted/Sponsored or like you said, shown as organic there but still end up in an ad fee if someone else clicked on the ad somewhere else.
As for the sort option changes, it's certainly possible that optimizing for both onsite and offsite AI search could be a factor.
That being said, personally, I still believe the largest motivation for that change was probably legal, regulatory and compliance concerns.
Having paid ads override/break explicitly user-set sort preferences in a way that could be considered misleading "dark pattern" design practices could have very expensive consequences and it's likely not a coincidence eBay quietly made that change without telling anyone just days after Amazon agreed to pay $2.5B to settle an FTC case against them for different "dark pattern" design practices.
heckofagame
·10 months agoSo, if many sellers stop promoting, and others keep going, will those that continue to promote see better results for the money spent?
wilsonharborsales
·10 months agoMaybe they will launch a program that will allow us to promote our promoted listings so that we can stand out from the crowd.
44012
·10 months agoLOL LOL LOL LOL LOL 😂
rugerskick
·10 months agoYou mean like, Promoted Promoted Listings? P squared L listings?
Geez we shouldn't give them more ideas.
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@gurlcat just to backup your point - it's been ~4 months since the new model went into effect in the UK and I still occasionally see posts on the UK boards of people just finding out about it and saying something like "oh, that explains why all my recent sales have been promoted."
fern*wood
·10 months agoFour months in nothing, we still see posts asking why there is no negative option for buyers, which has been gone since when--2008?
bbcardzman
·10 months agoBOTTOM LINE: If you promote next year they will take more of your money from EVERY SINGLE SALE.
SIMPLE FIX: STOP PROMOTING PERIOD!
gurlcat
·10 months agoI get why it may seem like that's the simple fix, and of course you're free to make whatever choice you like, but it's really more of a catch-22. Someone who's never promoted looks at what you're saying and thinks "Why have you even been promoting up to this point?" And if were someone who promotes, plans to continue promoting, and especially if I sell in the same categories as you, I'm thinking, "Yes, YESSSSS, go ahead and turn off your promotions!" -because I would gain a competitive edge from you losing visibility.
gurlcat
·10 months agoI want to add this for anyone/everyone reading, not just bbcardzman: I see the bad moon rising for anyone who flicks their promotions completely off January 12th, at least for a couple months or so afterward.
Here's why: Most sellers don't know this is coming. Some won't even notice the increase in how many of their sales were via promotion, and among those who do notice, it will take a while. At first they'll think it's just a frustrating coincidence, so they'll wait to see if the pattern shakes off. When it doesn't, they won't know why. We'll probably see some posts trickling in here, asking what the heck is going on, and we'll give them the news. But probably much more often, they'll contact customer service, who .... oh man. Is there any remote chance THEY'LL be trained on what answer to give, and if so, will it be THE honest answer? 😔 Doubtful.
In the meantime, they'll still have their promotions ON. Gradually and irregularly, they'll find out what happened, and maybe end their promotions like you did, or at least reduce their ad rates. But maybe not, because maybe they'll have gotten a BOOST in sales at the same time that most/all their sales were attributed. Why? -Because of the sellers who knew this was coming and turned their promotions off, which gave them (the stay'er-on'ers) an advantage.
Do you see? Your sudden abandonment of promotion to stick it to eBay will almost certainly stick it to you more. eBay IS GOING to gain a net increase in revenues from this no matter what; the house always wins. They won't care if your sales fall off a cliff because you quit promoting and lost all your visibility to sellers who keep promoting -they'll be making more money off those sellers, so "BLEEP you!"
I'm not trying to convince anyone to keep promoting because I like this sh. If you had any idea how much seething rage this whole thing stirs in me, you wouldn't recognize me. I'm just saying maybe consider something less drastic, like turn your ad rates down, or bump your prices up a bit, don't just stab yourself in the foot.
Unless you sell jewelry, then by all means, shut those promotions DOWN, Honey. 🤣
12345jamesstamps
·10 months agoIn what one sells is the key point of promoting and how many total items a seller has in their store.
And especially the category of it as such as well.
Some sellers need the money and need the funds so these sellers will still promote.
For me, I have too much listed and am trying to up my listings before January.
And I don't need the money so much.
So I will probably turn off all promotions.
I have a lot of items promoted long ago but stop promoting new items months ago.
And a day or two off with no sales is a joy for me.
It is strange that this is starting on a new quarter...so I guess eBay will be looking at this carefully if it affects promotions in that quarter period.
eBay seems to be coming out with how to increase sales through promoting as if maybe such some promoting ideas in the past may not be working as good.
We really don't know what of the promotions work for eBay...or at least I don't know.
If a seller has a nice 'repeat buyers' base...there is no need to promote...but this seller has to have a 'big' inventory of items for sale for it to work without promoting plus listing new items every week.
Time will tell.
Some of the items you sell guricat are so cool to look at every time I see you post.😎
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·10 months agoAt this point, I plan on continuing to use General Ad campaigns, but I also expect I will modify just how I use them.
bbcardzman
·10 months agoI have just gotten tired of the **bleep** from eBay and since their announcement I decided my new plan is to turn them off in Jan. I am not trying to "stick it" to eBay because everyone knows that's useless. I have turned off promotions before and have had a drop in sales and I have dropped my rate and had an uptick in sales. Seems it doesn't really matter to me which way you go, I am just tired of giving too much money to eBay and this forces it on us for every sale and not just some. I may have to adjust my thinking eventually but that's business. I'll let you know at the end of Jan. how things went.
siamjane8
·10 months agoFortunately I saw the writing on the walls years ago and stopped promoting everything at all cost! I get much better results by just running a sale for the same rate as what ebay would take for PL fees. In fact I get a noticeable improvement over PL, when I do a sale because that benefits the buyers! Same difference in profit to me but it actually drives sales and makes a happy customer that comes back. PL does absolutely nothing for buyer or seller satisfaction and does not drive repeat sales in any way. Actually discourages sales as sellers as ee forced to raise prices to compensate!!
Hopefully this horrible new policy change will encourage many to abandon the preditory promoted listings program and force ebay to rethink their partnership(cough, cough) with sellers.
But be prepared to stick it out- it has been widely reported that if you stop promoting, eBay punishes your organic sales more than normal with a serious drop in visibility and sales to make it hurt more, hoping you will give up and start promoting again. Got to love algorithms!
bbcardzman
·10 months agoYes I should have not started this promotion stuff a couple years ago and just stuck with sales. I have gone back and forth a couple times and they do punish you for a month or so and then it levels off. I have also noticed lately that with these promotions my sales are up 48% BUT unfortunately my fees are up 50%.
I am not a financial genius but I am also not a moron.
gurlcat
·10 months agoYes we should share our strategies and results. I personally don't have a solid plan yet, only a vague idea.
wilsonharborsales
·10 months agoExplains why sales have collapsed again. They are tinkering with the platform to extract more revenue from sellers before the Q4 Christmas rush.
relixcollectibles
·10 months agoSo at what point are we done with this garbage promoted listing experiment? I fully understand eBay has to make money, and I would assume, since we're discussing this on their forum, that we all want eBay to succeed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but has anybody actually heard a single human being, who doesn't work at eBay, support promoted listings? We'd like to think it's doing something beneficial, but did we forget that sales on eBay were still occurring organically for 20 years prior to promoted listings? Time and time again, they increase the fees and we get the old "But eBay has the best traffic, so it's worth it" speech. Okay, so would a 99% FVF also be fine, since eBay has the "best traffic"? What percentage is enough? There are countless people who would be on this platform for buying and selling, but with so many other options in modern times, 15% FVFs+PL is not attractive for existing and potential users. I'm tired of pretending like these excessive fees are somehow justified when there's more traffic going to other online marketplaces than ever before. We need a complete overhaul with a sensible tiered fee structure because these mysterious promoted listing policies are not it.
valueaddedresource
OP10 months agoAs far as whether eBay can grow the platform - yesterday's earnings call made it more clear than ever that while Jamie has pivoted to talking more and more about the broader consumer to consumer opportunities, eBay is still very much a focus category world and we're all just living in it.
One of the reasons the stock price dropped despite them putting up a larger than expected GMV number is that much of the GMV growth was in focus categories, especially trading cards, with Pokemon specifically being called out as a major contributor - plus they said as commodity prices have risen in recent months, they've seen a significant increase in demand for bullion and coins.
That may be great for eBay this quarter and for sellers in those specific categories, but that doesn't mean everyone else is doing well or that those categories will continue to see that strong performance long-term and that, along with weaker than expected Q4 guidance, does not appear to have inspired confidence in investors.
blacktopautoparts
·10 months agoWhile the card hobby has been on fire the past year or so, it is starting to slowly show some signs of future decline like all hobbies. So what will eBay do then once we get past Pokémon's 30th Anniversary next year and if the market cools off? If this economy also continues to decline, their last 2 trojan horses..... A) the card market which is starting to already show some slight decline in some areas and B) Promoted listings could really take a hit in the next year with these wonderful eBay changes lowering the free money that comes in.
ulfesharpe
·10 months agoTricsky little hobbitses
valueaddedresource
OP10 months agoFrom today's Q3 report:
eBay reported total advertising revenue of $525 Million in Q3, representing 2.6% of GMV.
First-party ads (all of the various cost per click, cost per sale, Store and Offsite Promoted Listings products) delivered $496 Million in revenue, up 23% year over year, while eBay continues to intentionally reduce third-party ads which brought in only $7 Million in revenue.
Note "Off Platform Ads" are not Offsite PL, they're ads on eBay's subsidiary platforms/sites like trading card marketplace TCGPlayer and their Qoo10 marketplace in Japan.
According to Iannone, about ~1.2 Billion of the ~2.4 Billion listings on the platform were promoted during Q3, with over 4.4 Million sellers adopting at least one Promoted Listings ad product during the quarter - though it's difficult to gauge the full significance of that last stat since eBay has not disclosed the total number of active sellers since Q4 2021, when it was ~17M.
But for reference, Q1 2025 reported 3.7M and Q2 2025 reported 4.1M respectively for the number of sellers who adopted at least 1 ad product - so at the very least, eBay does not appear to have seen sellers quitting ads all together, though it may be that some portion of them may have stopped using PL General ads but are still using one of the cost per click options instead.
Edit to tag @dhbookds since you were asking about the number of sellers using PL.
dhbookds
·10 months agoThanks for the info.......small correction in the first line: $525 Million in Q2, should be Q3?
So, 1/2 the listings were promoted by 1/4 the sellers (maybe)......
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@dhbookds doh, it was late and my brain cells were rapidly dying from listening to the mind numbing corporate speak. 😂
Thanks for catching it, updated previous post to correct.
dhbookds
·10 months agolol, you have no idea how much I admire your brain cells!!!
broto_64
·10 months agoI believe...
If a site were to come out, laid out kind of like ebay...
Get rid of ALL the "promoted" garbage.
Just charge flat rate fees.
Don't cater to dropshippers.
Have actual humans answering the phone for customer service (omg this would be HUGE).
They'd do quite well.
Sadly everyone like that grows to a point, and then they all fall prey to mass mental flatulence and epic stupidity. They literally all suddenly allow dropshippers, then come the affiliate links, the promoted listings inside other people's listings, add that on top of "AI" customer service...
This however...
Basically charging the fee for any and all promoted sales regardless of who bought / viewed...
While sales don't increase at all...
It's just unbridled corporate greed and shortsightedness.
gurlcat
·10 months agoIt sure is unbridled corporate greed, but it would only be shortsighted if they launched it on all platforms including the U.S. without testing it in small ones first. But they did that, and surely some sellers stopped promoting altogether (like many in this thread said they would), probably had some sellers take all their listings down too .... but the total promotions revenue from the ones who stayed and kept promoting must have been a net gain .... and that's all that matters, so it's on to the bigger fish.
oregon_bins
·10 months agoI think a pretty decent chunk of the views I get on pokémon cards are competitors curious about an expensive card in auction or opening BIN listings to then click "sell similar" to sell their own similar card.
bgt_masters_of_tiki_d
·10 months agoI know a bunch of competitors click on my items because when I am searching for pricing I see many of my stolen titles, pictures and details. Right now about 50% of my listings sell promoted so now my promoted fees I pay will double again.
Once when they raised promoted minimum from 1% to 2% and now basically making every sale promoted. Next will be just a flat rate increase on fees. The days of 1-5% seems so long ago. Could be worse, at least I don't live in a state that taxes promoted listing fees.
Ebay used to be mainly a site where buyers bid against each other to win an item. Now that time has mostly gone and its now a place where sellers bid against each other with the hopes of ebay showing their item to potential buyers.
rugerskick
·10 months agoIts what I have said for years. Ebay shifted sellers attention from what they are doing to focus on fighting each other for views and potential sales. I said ebay is "thunderdoming" sellers against each other while sitting back and watching the fights, laughing that they pit sellers anger and frustrations against each other and away from ebays seller practices. And making more money off it to boot.
rugerskick
·10 months agoThis is a great point and ebay knows this. Ebay knows sellers research other sellers listings, no bad motives involved. They research prices, how many are out there, what kinds of shipping and returns they are offering, looking at description info. So they know sellers will click on these listings naturally, but not with intent to buy, but for resesrch or maybe to use as a sell similar item.
Its totally insane.
nuclearomen
·10 months ago@valueaddedresource yep, got the email...however, nothing is new, "business as usual" been this way for as long as I remember, general ad "any buyer clicked on in the most recent 30 days" and "the ad fee is charged when a buyer purchases an item promoted with a general strategy..."
valueaddedresource
OP10 months ago@nuclearomen not sure what you mean - this is absolutely something new for the US and Canada and not at all how it has worked for as long as anyone who has been using Promoted Listings since they started would remember.
nuclearomen
·10 months ago@valueaddedresource yes it has, tell me what is different or new - I've used PL since it started, the 30 days has been existent as a charge for at least 2 years now and the PL election charge has always been applied at time of sale - like said, nothing new.
nuclearomen
·10 months ago@valueaddedresource i see, re-read the email - so it's the same 30 day period, but prior it was same buyer and the change is any buyer click the PL listing you'll be charged the PL election on sale.
However... since PL charge is basically charged on ever sale anyways as it is now (with exception a few a month if lucky) - just expect PL fee with 100% of sales now. Fine, whatever, I expect that as it currently has been anyways. Sad for those electing high election percentages, guess be seeing sellers take those percentages down quite bit.
As a solution for those upset by this, the same solution as always been, don't use PL, general, priority, store, or other wise, can't rob sellers if no sellers use it.
gurlcat
·10 months agoYou're either underestimating your organic sales without looking at your actual numbers, or there's something very weird about your account. Every time I've seen anyone mention their ratio of promoted to organic sales, it was roughly half.
You can see this very easily on your Traffic page, just change the graph from Impressions to Quantity sold.
In the past 30 days I've had 16 promoted sales and 17 organic.
nuclearomen
·10 months ago@gurlcat
I'm not and there is isn't.
I've had 54 sales in past 30 days, of which 16 had no PL fee attached, even if they did I wouldn't care either way as the PL fee is figured in the price regardless of fee or not. So your effort to make it seem like idk what I'm doing just failed.
gurlcat
·10 months agoSo 30% organic is "a few." Got it.
Oh and that's assuming you're being honest and it's not even more than 30%.
rugerskick
·10 months agoIf it was the same, they wouldnt need to make the change.
Second, if it was the same, sellers in europe and australia wouldn't have seen their promoted listing sales go from around 50% of their sales, to 80% of their sales, after the change. Thats not random. Thats causality.
mflorenzano2016
·10 months agoThis is for top brass. Wake up!!!
I will this throw this out there. I am a reseller along with the many others you have on here. Do you think if I have a $25 shirt and it is the only one I have, which is the case with many resellers we end up getting what's called 1 off's. Why would I want to spend on pay per click if I had a $5 a day budget everyone clicked on that shirt and it didn't sell I am out $5, the shirt cost me $4 I offer free shipping, that's another $4-to $6. I am here to make money like you but you just want to keep digging into my pocket. Whereas under your older system, I promote at 8% when an item sells is more reasonable for a seller like me. If you are wanting us resellers to pay per click, I might as well have my own website and pay Google pay per click since I won't have to pay a commision also on the sale. Good Luck with your new program and to be honest I hope it fails big time so you go back to the ways you had before, that made you successful.
gurlcat
·10 months ago@mflorenzano2016
The "top brass" don't read posts here.
This thread is not about pay-per-click promotion.
This thread is about General Attribution, or "fixed rate" like the 8% thing you mentioned using before.
I don't know why you're calling that the "old program" and that eBay should "go back" to it. It never went away. You can still use it on any listing.
mflorenzano2016
·10 months agoI use it, but when they introduced the pay per click it seems like it took away from the general promoted listings. I know top brass don't see that I am just venting. thanks..
relixcollectibles
·10 months agoI enjoy selling and buying on this platform, but promoted listings are such a joke. On the selling end, I get charged more fees for theoretical advertising, which may or may not have contributed to a sale. On the buying end, I get spammed inaccurate search results for items I'm not even interested in. It makes the quality of this marketplace feel so cheap with the pay-to-play format. They just can't help themselves from attempting to squeeze every last penny from the remaining sellers, while also not compensating them. At least humor us and increase the quarterly shipping supply coupon on the already over-priced products, or bring back eBay bucks to actually motivate people to make purchases. All they're doing to discouraging people from using this platform and then they struggle to remain relevant by poorly imitating less experienced platforms to stay in the conversation. When eBay is functional, it is the definition of a free market, but decisions like doubling down on promoted listings make them look like a 30 year start-up company instead. They'd rather charge a pre-existing seller an extra 2% PL than incentivize a new seller and get their 15% FVF. Nonsensical from every angle, but the shareholders are happy, right? 😊ðŸ‘