Promoted Listings suggested ad rates
What's the highest percentage you've ever seen ebay give as a suggested rate?
What's the lowest you've seen?
45 comments
What's the highest percentage you've ever seen ebay give as a suggested rate?
What's the lowest you've seen?
crazydiamond3873
·1 year agoMy lastest is 16.9%. I'm making no money, all the fees, and then I offer free shipping like an idiot. I need to make some big changes.
iamalwaysright
OP1 year agoNew year's resolution 😀
mam98031
·1 year ago@crazydiamond3873
Why would you choose to do this in the first place? If you knew it was more than you could handle in expenses and no profit for you? I am not asking to be mean or confrontational. I'm asking because I'd like to understand. There are others that do the same thing, so you are not alone.
I am glad to hear you recognize this and are willing to look at alternatives. Please ask any questions you may have. There are lots of sellers here with lots of knowledge that may assist you.
cardxcraft
·3 years agoThis was back during October 2022: The Ebay system was still in disarray from May of 2022. I really don't know what was going on. I find if I speculate, its just a trap door that takes my focus off what I need to be doing.
cardxcraft
·3 years ago48.6%, 1932 Graf Zeppelin Flight Cover to Pernambuco.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago48.6%?
I think you win the prize!
LOL---Just one more reason not to take these suggested rates too seriously.
cardxcraft
·3 years agoCorrection, the highest pl I've seen was 41.6%, October of 2022...screenshot below.
1932 Graf Zeppelin Flight Cover Romanshorn to Pernambuco.
I ignored Ebay's suggested rate of 41.6% and promoted at 100%...it sold, yay!!
 
 
damien22
·3 years agoAs low as 3.3% and as high as 12% is the range I typically see in Sports Cards Singles category.
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoThirteen point something in Stamps.
But I have also seen nine percent in the past week or so.
I don't care. My PL chosen rate is 2% and that only on about a third of my listings, mostly older ones.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago(Not directed at you, @reallynicestamps)
My advice to sellers thinking about using PLS: test your way into it, start low (2% is fine), experiment with various rates, ALWAYS keeping in mind your own margins. NEVER assume the suggested rate is necessary, and NEVER assume you must include every item in every campaign. And KNOW how it works. Know how the fee is calculated. Know the 30 day rule. Know the halo rule. Anyone who does not understand all of that before starting a campaign has no business starting a campaign.
Part of the problem with PLS is it is so easy to set up a campaign that too many sellers never analyze what they are doing....they just jump right in.
wil_483592
·3 years agoI saw 16 % this morning. Also , if I am selling items in the same category why would they all show different suggested ad rates when I view the " view ad rates" tab?
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years agoSuggested rates are not "per category", they are per item.
wil_483592
·3 years agoBut why would 2 nearly identical items in the same category have a suggested ad rate of 12% and the other 7% ? Thanks in advance
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years agoCould be any number of reasons, the algo is complex, and doesn't just look at your item, but also items ebay considers competing items etc. Even if the items are, to you, nearly identical, ebay's algo might view them as very distinct, with one having little competition and another having a lot of competition. Could be something else as well.
Personally, I just wouldn't worry much about it. As I said above, test your way into PLS, and use rates that work for your business. One thing the algo does NOT know is: YOUR margins. If 12% would take away all your profit, then its pretty obvious that it would be a bad choice. NEVER choose a rate that reduces your profit too much.
Here's my basic take on suggested rates: They aren't just pulled out of the air. There is an algo, and basically what it is telling you, if it is, say, 7%: Anything above 7%, and you increase the chance that you are paying more than you need to. Anything below 7%, and you risk the chance that you are reducing the likelihood of a sale.
However, the number gives you NO idea how much of a risk that reduction is. It's just math, based on some sort of algo prediction based on probability.
So, on the top end: If ebay is saying 7%, I would definitely not go higher. Because any increase in the likelihood of getting a sale because I've gone above the "sweet spot" is too small to justify paying more. And since the rates are based on individual listings, another seller with the same item might be seeing a different number. So I should not assume that all my competitors are seeing 7%, and even if they are, going higher than that isn't necessarily going to make any kind of meaningful difference.
On the lower end: If ebay is saying 7%, that doesn't tell me that 3.5% reduces my chances of a sale by 50%. The fact is, the difference between 3.5% and 7% might be inconsequential, with 7% being only better than 3.5% by a tiny margin.
So, if I consider the suggested rate at all, it's as: the suggested rate is as high as I would consider going. It's the max. And more than likely, something less, maybe much less, will perform almost as well. So, if 7% still leaves me plenty of profit, maybe I'll go ahead and use it. But more likely, I'll go with something less, so if I get a sale, I get more profit.
reallynicestamps
·3 years ago@wil_483592
But why would 2 nearly identical items in the same category have a suggested ad rate of 12% and the other 7% ? Thanks in advance
When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last?
Okay- probably an overly Canadian reference.
Smarties are a candy coated chocolate that come in packages of five different colours, including red.
They all taste the same.
But, many children do eat them in a particular order.
And ?
Well.
Same difference.
A difference that is no difference made to seem like a difference.
mam98031
·3 years agoIgnore the suggested rates Ebay states @wil_483592 . They are just suggestions. Do your own testing and find a percent you can live with. Raise your pricing to cover the new additional fees if you can. Don't be scared of increasing pricing, it isn't always a bad thing.
Heck I have raised pricing on some of my stuff from time to time and then suddenly it will start selling.
Keep an open mind and do your own testing and research. Don't depend on anyone else to do it for you.
iamonourside
·3 years ago@iamalwaysright You've been given some quite involved descriptions of what the algorithm for suggested rate might be. All of them assuming that eBay really put some work into it.
I don't believe it. Promoted listing are a money grab, 100% profit. Investing anything in running it would only decrease eBay profit on the program.
The most accurate description is a part of said by
@allthings-collectible It appears that eBay is "suggesting" that I give them more money[.] ..."
My personal experience: Suggested rate 3% to 12% when minimum rate was 1%.
I raised one item to its suggested 3.7%. Immediately, the suggested rate for the item rose to 8%.
Now that the minimum rate is 2%, I promote at minimum. Suggested rate on seller's hub range 9% to 17%. Suggested rates on the listing and revisions frames range as high as 22%.
mam98031
·3 years ago@iamonourside
Usually when fees go up so does the price of the products we sell. The same should be true when you run promoted listings. You need to increase the price of the product to cover the additional fees you have agreed to pay Ebay if the item sells. If you do that, it isn't costing you any more money, you have your costs covered.
allthings-collectible
·3 years agoAlthough I appreciate the strategy, eBay's "new and improved" environment is no longer suitable for "raising" prices 😉
mam98031
·3 years agoI have no idea what this "new and improved environment" is. If you are referring to Promoted Listings, they have been around since 2015. Nothing new about that. It doesn't change what I said.
wil_483592
·3 years agoI see the same when I test it almost daily. I've noticed that prices on items have gone up in the categories I sell and shop in to make up for the sponsored listings.
allthings-collectible
·3 years agoJust did a little experiment....
I made up a fictitious vintage item and created a listing for it. eBay default Promoted Listing rate was 10.5%, and the "Suggested" rate was 9.5%.
It appears that eBay is "suggesting" that I give them more money for items that don't even exist. Is this more "smoke & mirrors", or am I missing something? 🤔
mam98031
·3 years agoI'm honestly not sure why a seller would use the option. Ebay suggests all kinds of things in all aspects of selling here. Those suggestions are not right for all sellers. I make up my own mind on what is appropriate for my business. I do not need Ebay to tell me what to do on everything and they will if you allow it.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago@allthings-collectible My guess is ebay's algo looks at items it judges similar, and goes from there. Same as I assume it does if you list a real but truly unique item.
And I agree with mam---and Griff, who says don't give money to ebay you don't need to....test your way into PLS and start with 2%. I would never recommend that anyone start with the suggested rates, and I wouldn't recommend that they take them all that seriously , period.
wil_483592
·3 years agoLooked before I did it and the suggested ad rate was 9. I typed in 10 and the checked the ad rate view tab again and it mysteriously went to 12. Sketchy
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoThe highest I've seen is 12 something percent.
I stick with the minimum 2% for the most part.
It is also noticeable when listing a bunch of similar but very different items , like sewing patterns , that the suggested rate can vary from around 5% to over 12%.
This does not seem to have any connection to Brand or price.
Nor to subcategory, like wedding or prom dresses.
EBay's suggestions are always good for eBay.
And since we are ruminating here. My percentage of PL sales is lower than my percentage of non-PL sales.
PL seems to bring eyeballs but not necessarily sales.
iamalwaysright
OP3 years agomam98031
·3 years agoEbay doesn't set seller's profit margins. That is a seller. Sellers are responsible for gathering all their costs together, add in their profit and set their selling price. Ebay doesn't do that nor do they have access to all the costs any given seller may have.
iamalwaysright
OP3 years agoWhich makes me ponder where are they coming from calling them "suggested" rates. I guess it can just be "randomly suggested" lol.
mam98031
·3 years agoNot sure there is any importance in what they call it. Ebay has all kinds of recommendation in the various rules and tools of the site. Seems some want to read more into that in certain tools than others. It is merely a recommendation which also means suggestion. Calling it something else doesn't change anything. PLS is a tool we can choose to use or we can choose not to use. I personally like having choices. Some I use, some I don't. But I get to decide.
iamalwaysright
OP3 years agoI guess I assumed too much to think that there may be some actual correlation of their suggestion to what rates competing sellers are actually implementing. When the suggested rates got introduced, my brain immediately thought that it was a slightly higher number of the rough calculation of the average rate of competing sellers using the PLs. When merely it can just be a randomly high rate ebay wants sellers to pay.
If sellers thought the same thing I did and actually followed the ebay suggestion, that suggestion might actually soon become the actual average.
On another note, it'd be nice to see the calculated average rate though.
mam98031
·3 years agoI really doesn't matter what they suggest. What matters is what the seller chooses to do.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years agoWhen PLS launched, the suggested rate was based on the average rate sellers were using for all items in the category. So, two very different items, as long as they were in the same broad category (books, for example) would have the same suggested rate. As ebay obtained more data, this simplistic rate was abandoned, and ebay now offers a "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." (I emphasize "such as" because there are other factors as well, as ebay has mentioned on occasion.)
So, this is much more granular, which is why two very similar items may have very different rates, and why the rates can change with daily frequency.
ebay states: "Tailored to each of your items, suggested ad rates are designed to help you stay competitive while finding an optimal balance between performance and cost."
Which is no doubt true, as far as it goes. But as ALWAYS, the crucial element is the seller's own judgment.
Let's say the rate is 15%, for example.
Sure, you could go higher, but above 15% you are likely to see a point of diminishing returns...that is 20% or even 25% or 50% is unlikely to increase your chance of making a sale by a significant enough amount to justify the increased cost.
On the other hand, you could go lower, but again, you will probably start to see a point of diminishing returns ....5% or even 10% will reduce your cost, but you will also likely see a decrease in your chance of making a sale.
So, the suggested rate is sort of the sweet spot....higher needlessly increases your costs for a sale without doing much to increase the chance of getting a sale, lower lowers your chance of getting the sale, but also lowers your cost if you do get the sale.
The precise workings of the algorithm are not publicly disclosed, but in general its basically about playing the odds.
As I said, seller judgment is critical here. There is no guarantee that 15% will get you a sale, and no guarantee that 2% (the minimum) will not. If you decide to use PLS, (and some will simply reject it, but for those who choose to use it), it is absolutely imperative that you recognize that the suggested rate does not and cannot factor in your own margins.
To keep things simple, let's not try to look at your total costs (store fee, gas, shipping supplies etc), and just consider cost of acquisition (COG) and other ebay fees.
ebay does not consider your other ebay fees or your COG. That's your job. When looking at ebay's suggested rate, you need to ask yourself whether it makes sense given your costs....Someone who acquires all his inventory for free is in a very different position from the person who routinely pays $50 for an item he sells at $100.
It's basic math. If 15% leaves you a healthy net profit, then 15% might be a good choice for you, because it will increase the odds of making the sale to some extent. If 15% eats up all your profit, then it is obviously a poor choice, despite the increased odds of making a sale.
Your judgment also comes into play when deciding for example, whether increased sales velocity is really worth it at all. If your daily expenses are low and you have a large stockpile of unlisted inventory, you might be better off with a "list it and forget it" philosophy, especially for items that are long tail to begin with. On the other hand, if your business is dealing with a cash crunch, you might want the increased sales velocity, even if it does compress your margins somewhat (as long as it doesn't compress them too much).
Don't look at the rates and ask simply should I use them? Start with: If I choose to use PLS, what are my goals? What are my margins? In short, figure out how to use it for YOUR business (if you choose to use it at all)
iamalwaysright
OP3 years agoSorry if my OP was unclear. I am well aware of what rates eBay allows you to set. In my OP I was simply wondering the highest and lowest rates they’ve suggested. So what are the highest and lowest numbers you’ve seen?
mam98031
·3 years agoThe lowest Ebay will allow you to go is 2%.
The highest you can go is up to you. Ebay may make suggestions, but like any other suggestion on any subject Ebay may make, you need to do your own research to see if that is the right thing for you. Many times it isn't.
Let's say you currently are paying 13.25% on your FVFs to Ebay. You decide to do PLS for 10%. You will then pay Ebay 23.25% when your item sells. You of course can go higher than the 10% or lower. You need to figure out what is right for you and the product you are going to sell.
IDK that I've ever known any seller to go above about 16%, but keep in mind that would total about 29.25% FVF. That is a darn big fee to pay.
You may not even need to use PLS to sell your stuff. PLS works well in some categories and no so much in other. So make sure you do your homework and some testing too.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years agoI can't say from a historical perspective, since I have never paid much attention to the recommended rates. But at present, glancing through the first page of my active listings in Seller Hub, lowest suggested rate is 4.5% and highest is 15.5%.
ms.rodriguez*
·3 years ago2% is the lowest. It used to be 1%. I will not go beyond 2% and I have only promoted 3 or 4 items out of 220 currently on ebay.
iamalwaysright
OP3 years agoI think you misunderstood my OP. I just want to see the spectrum the eBay is suggesting.