Promoting...How high Should One Promote?
I only promoted like 30+ items...all at 20%.
Wanted to see if any new 'improved' changes are really new or 'fair'.
I wonder how high a seller promotes to get to be at the top of a search item.
So, even though I clicked on lowest price of similar items...my item at 20% is too low to reach the top tier.
Thought it was interesting....
46 comments
christworks
·8 months ago20% ad rate????? 😯
mozartbach1971
·8 months agoDoes anyone know how these new promotion rules will affect people who promote auctions? Will there be any changes?
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@mozartbach1971
Are you promoting using a General Ad Campaign?
I'm guessing you run your auctions for 7 or 10 days, AND you run the ad for the entire duration. If so, the probability will be that almost any sale you make will be charged the ad fee.
However, I think if you end the ad before the auction ends, so that it is no longer in the ad campaign at the time of the sale, you should not be charged any ad fee, because the item must be in an ad campaign when the actual purchase is made.
mozartbach1971
·8 months agoWhen I click promote it only gives me one option, it gives a percentage of what I will pay after the auction.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months agoThat is a General Ad Campaign. If anyone clicks your listing...whether they bid or not...anyone else who eventually buys your listing within 30 days of that click while it is still in an ad campaign, will trigger the fee. BUT the item must still be in an ad campaign at the time of the purchase.
So, as I understand it, let's say you are running a 7 day auction. Someone clicks on your sponsored listing the first day you put it up. You then get a bunch of bids over the next six days, but then you end the ad campaign. It sells on the 7th day. You should not have to pay an ad fee, because it actually sold when it was no longer in an ad campaign.
That is my understanding anyway.
I don't run auctions too often, but I might test this over the next few days--if the storm doesn't prevent me....
mozartbach1971
·8 months agoAs far as I know Ebay just takes whatever percent of the fee is at whatever the final bid price is. Is this not correct? Like if I promote at eight percent, Ebay will take eight percent of the final price including taxes, shipping, etc.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@mozartbach1971 correct. That hasn't changed . But you can remove the listing from the ad campaign before it ends, or set the duration of the ad campaign for, say 6 days and run a 7 day auction, so that it is no longer in the campaign when the bidding ends.
mozartbach1971
·8 months agoAre you saying I can remove the campaign a day before it ends and not pay the fee? And Ebay will allow this?
sreu3058
·8 months ago“HALO†like the Beyoncé song, but not as pretty.
Okay, I see. So even though you quit/ end promotions, there is a 30 day ripple effect on that promoted listing.
Alright, so if my non promoted items get bought, no charge, as long as it was not promoted in the last 30 days.
Thank you.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@sreu3058
Part of the problem is, ebay---deliberately in my opinion---makes things confusing because they use the word "organic" to mean two different things, and they also use the word "promoted" that way. So---I know this is a little complicated---but here's my terminology:
Listings NOT in an ad campaign:
Organic listings: listings that are NOT currently in an ad campaign.
The two types of listings in a General Promoted Listing Ad Campaign.
Whenever you put a listing into an ad campaign, ebay can CHOOSE to show that listing as one or the other of these:
Sponsored Listings: Listings that are in a General Promoted Listing Ad Campaign and are shown to the buyer as "sponsored" to clearly identify them as ads.
Non-Sponsored Listings: Listings that are in a General Promoted Listing Ad Campaign but are NOT shown to the buyers as "sponsored". These are identical to Organic Listings from the buyer's view. ebay refers to these as organic listings, creating endless confusion, which is why I prefer to distinguish them from true organic listings by calling them "non-sponsored listings"
So, under the new rule , it is obvious that if a buyer clicks on a SPONSORED listing and buys it, the seller will pay an ad fee.
But also under the new rule, if ANYONE clicks on the SPONSORED listing and does NOT buy it, that click covers ANY purchase of that listing made by ANYONE within the next 30 days, even if the ultimate buyer purchases it from a NON-SPONSORED listing.
Remember that, to the buyer, a true organic listing looks exactly like a non-sponsored listing. The difference is, purchasing the TRUE organic listing results in NO ad fee for the seller, but purchasing the non-sponsored listing can (and probably will) result in an ad fee.
So, ebay has made it very easy to collect a fee from listings that LOOK like true organic listings, but are , in fact, non-sponsored listings.
A fee will ONLY attach if the item is a sponsored promoted listing (shown as such, with the word "sponsored") OR if it is a non-sponsored promoted listing (Looks just like a true organic listing). The item must be in an ad campaign at the time of actual purchase.
onefootflipper
·8 months agoI think both you and your competitor have the problem that you are trying to sell a Stamp set that only sells 4 times every 3 years for an all time record price. That set normally sells for $15. The last 3 sales of it were under $17, there is only one comp higher and it is pretty old.
In the end most sales problems always come back to price and demand.
sreu3058
·8 months agoNot to throw another wrench in it, but, my logic is with the ‘new rules’:
If I only promote ‘some’ of my listings, and a buyer comes to your ‘store’ after being lured by your fabulous placed promoted listing but sees all your other non promoted listings and buys one,
you will still get charged the promoted fee on those non promoted listings, right?
I dunno. I get bored with my sluggish sales here, and decided to promote at a lower than suggested % ALL my listings for the next month or so. We’ll see what happens.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@sreu3058
"If I only promote ‘some’ of my listings, and a buyer comes to your ‘store’ after being lured by your fabulous placed promoted listing but sees all your other non promoted listings and buys one,
you will still get charged the promoted fee on those non promoted listings, right?"
No.
sreu3058
·8 months agoIf I only promote ‘some’ of my listings, and a buyer comes to your ‘store’ after being lured by your fabulous placed promoted listing but sees all your other non promoted listings and buys one,
you will still get charged the promoted fee on those non promoted listings, right?"
((No))
Really? I thought this true, and I forget the word that was used… but, I thought the main change to promoted listings starting Jan. 13th was:
If a promoted listing lured a buyer in, and then they click and buy a non promoted listing, you are charged the promoted listing fee.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@12345jamesstamps To actually address your title question:
FIrst, decide whether promoting is a good idea for your business at all.
If you decide that it is:
IGNORE ebay's recommended rates. An ads team member recently admitted in a YouTube interview that ebay's suggestions are really aimed at casual sellers just trying to clean stuff out of a closet, in other words, non-business sellers who generally aren't really thinking about margins or net profit. So even ebay admits they aren't really a useful tool for business sellers.
Look at your margins and choose a rate that works with your margins. Start low (2% is as low as you can go) and go up gradually only if you feel you need to increase. BUT---Be aware that , with the new rule in effect, ebay will be telling you a LOT of your promoted listings sold ....but all this means is : a lot of your promoted listings were charged an ad fee, even if the ads had nothing to do with the sale.
So it can be very misleading: you might think the ads are working great, when they are really doing nothing much at all for your sales (except lowering your net when the ad fee is charged). Under the new rule, there will really be no reliable way to know whether the ads benefitted you or not.
So, know your margins, and know your need for sales velocity. We all like fast sales velocity, but for many sellers of long tail items, you can do OK just by making sure you keep listing (and perhaps revising and relisting).
For me, I stopped using Ads on Jan 12th. I might or might not resume. If I do, the rate will be 2-3%, with maybe a rare exception at a higher rate. And it will be only selected items, not all my listings. But that's just me. We all have different needs and business models.
I SUSPECT 20% is way more than you need, but I don't sell stamps and I'm not in your shoes. Only you can decide what to do.
tarotfindsandmore
·8 months agoAgreed. You are basically kissing 33-34% (FV 13-14% + 20% promotion fees) of your gross goodbye before you ever see a penny of it. I might be off here a bit as I can't recall whether it's 20% of what's left after the FVF or 20% of the gross, but, whatever the case, that is A LOT of money to throw away.
pls-consignments
·8 months agoOne thing is for certain... no matter how much you increase your add rates, there is NO guarenteed ROI. But, there IS a guarantee that eBay will take more of your money. If thats the math you're using to run your eBay store, then you might as well go to Vegas!
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@pls-consignments It was made clear to the Ads team that their ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) figure in ad reports will now be totally useless and, worse, actually misleading, as it will not be reporting the actual return on ad spend (that is, X amount of ad spend produced Y amount of sales, it will only tell us that X amount of ad spend might or might not have had something to do with producing the sales. But many sellers will not understand that, and will assume ROAS is a valid indication of the success of their ad campaign.
Personally, I sell mostly long tail one offs, most of which are likely to show on the first page of a narrow enough search without paying for ad placement. The advantage of a General Ad Campaign is that when my ads show up on other pages (such as listing pages), I can capture the person who might not be searching specifically for what I'm selling, but will make an impulse buy when he sees it and likes it. That is the ONLY reason I would consider going back to using ads, but I'm going to see how I do without ads for a while before I consider resuming their use.
12345jamesstamps
OP8 months agoI turned off all promoted in December...a bit earlier before you.
I only promoted now about 30 or so at 20%(I can afford it.) as it is an experiment.
I may turn those off also or make other changes.
I think the best method is to have a base of 5000+ listed...and when one reaches 10,000 I think one doesn't need to have anything promoted in my category.
The trick is getting repeat buyers in my category since I sell mainly the same items...stamps.
I asked a lot of questions and bugged you a bit(since you understand this more than me) to understand the new promotion and I guess the priority campaign ads.
And attracting the big spenders who become repeat buyers is what I am looking for.
@pls-consignments: I guess you got me....I am from Vegas and have thrown a lot of money away living there and moved away but still go there to thrown money away...😆
duffy4444
·8 months agoGreetings, James,
I did a simple eBay search for "Australia 1839-1846" in the Stamps category, sorted by "Price + Shipping: Lowest First", just like you did. Yours was at the very top of search results, beating the next listing from Canada by about $2. The one you show at the top of the list in your OP photo was only 4th on my search results. Way down the list there were one or two MNH others lower priced than yours, but were posted under "Results Matching Fewer Words". It looks like your promotion is putting you there at the very top. Whether your heavy 20% promotion is responsible for that is probably due to different search algorithms by different buyers.
Since you're second from the top in your OP photo, most buyers will still see yours at the same time as the $44.05 listing one. They will probably go for yours first, even if it may appear in some buyer searches below the other one. Buyers have no knowledge of how much a seller promotes their item for; they just want the lowest price that meets their condition requirements.
My guess in this situation is that yours will probably sell first, because buyers will see the price first with yours having free shipping... UNLESS the other set saying MNH makes a difference, where yours only says "Unused".
I was a stamp collector for 50 years, starting out as an 8-year-old watching my dad with his collection on the dinner table in the 1950s. About 25 years ago I sold the bulk of my extensive worldwide collection piecemeal right here on eBay for a 3-year total of around $40k, and I found out that my MNH singles and sets sold a lot faster and for more moolah than the same sets that weren't. MNH is a real eye-catcher and is different from "Unused", and the difference in value can be substantial, which I'm sure you already know. But "Unused" can also include the less-desirable MH or MLH, as long as they're uncancelled.
The only place where I see MNH in your listing is in your item description, where mostly only discriminating collectors will look. I believe you should put MNH in your main title, and consider dropping "Unused". You just might also have a better chance of selling the MNH set even without such a heavy 20% promotion.
Something to think about.
Cheers, Duffy
12345jamesstamps
OP8 months agoThanks for the reply.
OK...I feel better in the search results you gave me. Thanks.
I am trying to tap more into the International base than domestic base.
Which is why I was using unused instead of MNH since those who might need to translate words can do so.
Some buyers buy a certain topic and are not real stamp experts.
And my point of trying to figure out the promoting of some items for a short period of time is to grab that first time buyer and make that buyer a 'repeat buyer'.
I would say about 25-50+% of my buyers are repeat buyers.
The MNH concept is interesting...but I try to identify any flaws in the stamps in the description and I got to tell you buyers in stamps are so picky so it's like I am afraid to use MNH when there might be a flaw on one stamp in a set.
Anyway, thanks for your reply.
funfactorychannel
·8 months agoLooks like the person above you have better keywords.. You have Unused, Scott, not even sure if free international shipping is needed the listing.
sin-n-dex
·8 months agoI see the title as advertising when people are scrolling through all the listings. I put stuff in my title to advertise so someone can see what I have to say without reading the listing. I'm afraid my listings will be bypassed being in Canada, so I have "no tariff" or "tariff incl" in many titles so buyers can see that right off the bat before reading my TOS where I explain why there is no tariff.
C.
12345jamesstamps
OP8 months agoThe International Shipping has helped me where I am selling 50-50...domestic / international.
eBay made it hard for International buyers to send me an invoice for combined shipping.
So that's why I put free international shipping in the title.
I look at my feedbacks and some are in different languages or just have a 'X' as positive where the buyer probably can't write English.
And MNH will not translate into a language if the person cannot read English.
I get UK buyers everyday usually now with free international shipping.
Am I losing money?...Well, rather sell than sit on these stamps.
When I get an order for 25+ from one buyer then I know it is working.
I assume you strive for repeat buyers like me.
I would say 30+% are repeat buyers.
fern*wood
·8 months agoRepeat buyers are great, but I still want to make a profit. If I had to lose money just to “sell rather than sit on themâ€, I would not bother selling.
12345jamesstamps
OP8 months agoI do make a profit.
It's been profitable and very educational as well since stamps have that history of countries about them.
The selling is not a big job since I don't have packages to pack and carry...just envelopes.
And I don't need to be do tracking on everything.
Although I did sell some high end items lately and had been using tracking.
Scary when something sells for more than $150.+ and wonder if anything will go wrong down the road...LOL
It's a part-time thing and actually like a day when I have no sales(which is rare).
How much is a profit(net)?...I would say anything over $1000.00 where I don't have to work so hard for it.
A lot of sellers work hard to make a $1000.+
I just have to mail tiny pieces of paper for a profit.
caldreamer
·8 months agoPromotions are just a "big money grab" by EBAY. Silly to give all your profits to EBAY. Remember, EBAY recently changed the rules and even if "one person in the world" viewed your item, EBAY will charge you "promotion fee".
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@12345jamesstamps You will NEVER get the top slot with 20%, 40% or 80%. Doesn't matter what rate you choose.
Per the change made on Jan 13th, the top slot is reserved EXCLUSIVELY for sellers using PRIORITY ad campaigns. You are using a GENERAL Ad campaign, and so you simply are NOT eligible for the top slot.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@12345jamesstamps This is from the ebay Announcement:
"Starting January 13, 2026, we’re upgrading the priority strategy experience. Campaigns using a priority strategy for items listed on ebay.com, ebay.ca, and cafr.ebay.ca, will get exclusive access to the first ad slot at the top of eBay search results. This means that only priority listings will be eligible to show up in the top, most visible position. With more visibility, your items should have a better chance of selling.
We first introduced the priority campaign strategy to help sellers reach more buyers and sell their items faster by providing priority access to high-visibility ad placements and advanced controls for increasing sales velocity. Over the past year, we’ve launched new features like AI-powered keyword guidance, Smart Targeting, and trend-based campaigns.
Now, with this upgrade, a priority strategy provides exclusive access to the first ad slot position in search results – helping you drive greater visibility for your listings and generate more sales. This also means campaigns that use a general strategy will no longer be eligible to show ads in the first ad slot position in search results.
We’ll continue investing in the priority strategy to ensure you have access to premium ad placements and can increase sales velocity with greater efficiency. If you’re already using priority campaigns, your ads will automatically be eligible to show in the first ad slot position at the top of search results.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months agoOne thing that is confusing about your screen cap is that neither listing says "sponsored". Have you tried doing the search with best Match sort?
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months agoIf I change the search term to:
australia stamp set scott # 1839-1846
You are at the top in lowest to highest.
I don't think this has anything to do with ads. The first one in your search results came closest to your actual search term (which didn't include the word Scott or the # thingie.)
I could be wrong, but I think for lowest to highest, ebay is no longer even using ads as a factor----too many complaints about stuff that threw off the proper search order. I think what you are seeing is more a search issue: ebay's first choice, even though not the lowest price, has a title that most closely matches your search query, so it was given the top slot.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months agoIn Best Match I'm seeing you at the top, but it does not say "sponsored"....so my best guess is, ebay is showing it as organic, which does allow you to take the top spot IF no there is no relevant listing using Priority.
12345jamesstamps
OP8 months agoInteresting on what I have seen.
This seller gets his item(this one) listed under my listing as 'sponsored'.
When I clink on his item...my item at 20% promoted is not listed in 'sponsored' or anywhere under this seller.
My item is not shown, however some other sellers same item 'sponsor' do show.
Might this be a part of the 'priority ad campaign' as well?
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months agoThat has nothing to do with Priority Ads. In my experience, if you are logged in under your own ID, ebay very often does not show you your own items on another seller's listing page. Try logging out and looking again, your listing might show up.
My GUESS is very few stamp sellers use Priority Ad campaigns because they are Pay Per Click---that means every time someone clicks on a Priority listing, the seller pays for that click (whatever amount he set the click payment at). Doesn't matter whether the item ever sells or not. Pay Per Click makes very little sense for sellers of one-offs. It is designed for sellers of new, multi quantity items. In a few circumstance, it might make sense for a seller of a one off, maybe something really expensive for example, but I would guess most collectible stamp sellers use General Ads, if they use anything at all.
12345jamesstamps
OP8 months agoYes...I finally understand that.
It's just when you are looking for 'lowest price'...lowest price show be at the top in search results.
The seller at the top gets there because of 'priority add campaign' and not because of lowest price of the same item.
What's the point of having 'lowest price' then?...Don't need an answer to this.
Curious question though...'priority add campaign'...does the seller get charged doing this before it is sold?
redlinear
·8 months agoI think priority campaigns are Pay per Click.
SEARCH is pretty messed up if you think it should pull up words in the title. It pulls from quite a few areas and sticks your results in Best Match. Which is "Best Match" for whatever eBay's ai thinks that should be.
Sorts and Filters tend to show whatever ai wants them to be as well.
I see quite a few Title (exact matches) be thrown down into "results matching fewer words".
The only logical thing I can think of is eBay's ai is trying to spread the sales out amongst sellers...giving every seller a chance whether they deserve it or not. Some day's it's your turn, some days it's somebody else's.
Promoting simply gives the promoter more chances than not promoting.
onefootflipper
·8 months agoAlmost no sellers of normal items use pay per click ad campaigns. That is the domain of multi-quantity sellers of brand new items.
hoosierbam
·8 months agoIs Priority the pay-per-click ad campaign? I wish they'd just call things what they are IMHO.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·8 months ago@hoosierbam yes, it is.
eBay has a real knack for creating confusion
tarotfindsandmore
·8 months agoAre you certain the other seller is promoting? Could it be that their listing better matches what the algorithm is optimized to find? Are your item specs the same? I can see your titles are not.
I think you'd need to create an identical listing to properly test your theory. You're not really comparing apples to apples here.
redlinear
·8 months agoAnything more than "suggested" only costs you more.
IMO: Use suggested and cap it at 20% (since you seem to willing to promote at 20%).
I'd actually cap it at 16%
No matter how much you promote, you won't get good position all the time, nor as much as you think you should.
I view it much like a lottery drawing. The more you promote (up to suggested + a couple %), the more lottery tickets you have in the drawing.
Just increases your chance of drawing good placement.
Still.........chance