Promoting items is HUGE money grab
Been playing around with promotions for quite some time, its obvious ebay has turned into a Pay to play platform. If I dont promote I get no sales, no questions, minimal views, if I do promote the numbers go up a little but not much and the end result is terrible. I just cancelled a 4 week long promotion - total sales $1778 - total promotional fees $1650. Not **bleep**ing here, Im grateful for the past 25+ selling fulltime on eBay, but its looking like its time to retire.
19 comments
luckythewinner
·1 year agoPromoting items is HUGE money grab
In other news, the sky is blue.
Every action eBay takes is about helping eBay.
When an action eBay takes helps sellers, that is only because it also helps eBay.
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoThe OP is right, though. "Promoting items is HUGE money grab"
It's almost eBay's ONLY money grab, since everything else is flat-lining right now.
ETA: I wish it were different as I'd love to see this platform grow organically, though I'm not sure how much any platform is really growing. IMHO, we may have reached saturation point when it comes to how much stuff people will buy and from whom. That's simple natural evolution.
annadryl
·1 year agoWithout reading further, why is this fee not worked into your price so that the buyer pays it?
lakefor94
·1 year agoI get what I need out of 2% PL's. That extra bump in sales is worth it to me.
m60driver
·1 year agoThe more competition you have for your widget on sale the more you will need to promote. Retail is ruthless that way, online or brick & mortar. A quick glance at your listings doesn't show many that would benefit much by promoting apart from the helmets.
adamcartwright
·1 year ago@aerospacesurplusnett
Your promo rate is entirely within your control.
For the past four week period, my total sales figure is roughly the same as yours, but my total promo fees are under $20.
redlinear
·1 year ago@aerospacesurplusnett must be looking at some other total. It's not his "total sales".
Maybe "total promo sales"? I'm not sure. eBay gives you lots of different totals that are easily mistaken of something else.
Just from looking at his sold items, it's extremely impressive. But we don't know the cost to get that.
I know somebody that's averaging $4,000 per day, used auto parts, and not all that many listings.
But you get right down to it...10 employees to do that, nit-picking vehicles for parts (just grabbing the known "good stuff"). All the other expenses before and after the sale. And their eBay fees and shipping running around 50%?
That doesn't leave much room for anything but water and saltines for lunch
aerospacesurplusnett
OP1 year agothe total sales number was that that one promotion, if its was for the whole month, id be closing down
redlinear
·1 year agoThat's what I figured.
Promotions have not helped me all that much yet. What I gain, I lose in promo fees.
Offsite, however, seems to be the best bang for the buck so far.
redlinear
·1 year ago@aerospacesurplusnett
I've just accepted the fact that, for me, selling on eBay is going to cost me 50% of my sales.
It is what it is and 50% seems to be what it is.
Now I'm just trying to figure out how to make that work on my end (buying, labor, overhead) so that I can continue......somehow.
Selling stuff on eBay isn't the issue.
Selling-vs-Time is the issue. With Promotions being one of the biggest obstacles
albertabrightalberta
·1 year ago@aerospacesurplusnett
If you have items that buyers are shopping for, they'll find you. There's no need to promote.
hartungcards
·1 year agoI'm always amused by people who think buying advertising is somehow the equivalent of a "pay-to-play" situation.
aerospacesurplusnett
OP1 year agoI guess you werent around when eBay didnt require promotional advertising to get your items seem,
hartungcards
·1 year agoMy items get seen and I don't promote, so I'm not sure where you're coming up with this "require promotional advertising to get your items seem" baloney.
redlinear
·1 year agoWhat expenses are you counting on your eBay sales to pay (per month, per week, per day, per hour)?
Or even...
I can search "Mainzer - Eugen Hartung" and only get 934 results. You basically have 1/10th of the entire eBay market. (it's 1/10th because that 934 results is misleading)...Still, 1/10th is awesome...aside from I don't see it being much of anything other than a way to kill time.
And then we beging to see some of @aerospacesurplusnett issues with the site:
934 results.
of which,
1499 of that 934 are new
739 are used
114 unspecified
Those numbers don't add up. That's 2352 items and I'm initially shown 934. (1418 are not being shown (unless I'm a professional eBay buyer guru and know how to find them)
inhawaii
·1 year agoEbay still does not require promotional advertising to get your items seen.
redlinear
·1 year agoThis is true. Getting your items seen is more "chance" than anything else.
jonathanbrightlight
·1 year agoWe're here now.
eBay doesn't require promotional advertising to get your items seen.
So yes, we were.
My business hasn't promoted anything since last October, yet somehow our sales have increased. Wonder how that happened if no one could see our listings?
inhawaii
·1 year agoMany of us here don't "play".
Buyers have no trouble fining and buying our stuff.