Advertising campaign

[good4megold4you]

Hey everyone, I’d love to hear your thoughts on eBay advertising campaigns. Up until a year ago, it was common to set a minimum of 2%, which was supposed to give good exposure. I’ve heard that if you set 2%, it has the same effect as 10% or more. Now, I don’t want to pay so much in fees to eBay for advertising, especially since they already take commissions. Recently, I noticed they’re charging me 5%, which is a lot. What percentage do you think is currently recommended for optimal exposure, but still the minimum that can actually get results?

[ebooksdiva]

I use the General promotion campaign @2% it does ok for me. 

[inhawaii]

I use 0%. 

It does ok for me. 

[luckythewinner]

I think your view of promoted listings is way too simplistic. If you are the only seller promoting in a given category, you will get promoted almost all the time. If there are a million sellers promoting in that category, you will almost never be promoted.

Up until a year ago, it was common to set a minimum of 2%, which was supposed to give good exposure

According to whom? Promoted listings are essentially a lottery system where you are buying chances for a limited number of spots. So how valuable your lottery tickets are depends entirely on how many people have entered the lottery, and that number varies wildly over time and between categories.

What percentage do you think is currently recommended for optimal exposure, but still the minimum that can actually get results?

Recommended by whom? I sincerely doubt that there is a single rate that is both the "minimum that can actually get results" and provides "optimal exposure" in a single category, let alone across all categories.

You use phrases like "it was common", "was supposed to", "I've heard that", and "currently recommended". Who is providing this information to you?

[ryry-jj]

It all depends on how many others are using PL and how many sellers are in that market.  If many are using PL then i'd expect you'd have raise your % just to stay above them...then if they raise their %, you raise again otherwise you are going backwards.  If they are all doing 8% and you are dong 2%, I'm not sure that is helping you much

[12345jamesstamps]

I was doing 2% promoted...last month I upp it to 5% since that is the 'new 2%'.

But I think one has to have a lot of items for sale for it to be worth while.

I did promote some of the higher-end items at 10% a while back.

The idea is to get on other seller's site.

I believe a lot of sellers do what eBay recommends at the promoted rate which is crazy because those can be up to 18%....where would be the profit?

I think when I reach 5000+ items for sale I will un-promote everything.

   Then there are those who promote something very high to get notice...while the item being promoted is not worth a cent...but they got on other seller's platforms doing that. Try it and see what happens.

[cardxcraft]

If your items are highly sought after, no promotion is necessary.  Everything below highly sought after comes down to price point and exposure.  For items that are scarce, rare to OOAK, but need the right buyer, no amount of promoting will help, unless you let it go for beans.

But, if you must promote, my experience indicates 2-5% is the sweet spot. 

Here's why I stopped promoting: it drove my sales conversion rate (scr) down to 0.7%.  I started at 2%, but eBay recommended 5%.   Next, it recommended 9%, and then 11.75% and finally 13.5%.  But, my profits went down and my expenses shot up.  In addition, my scr went from 2.7% to 0.7%

My new goals:  3 weeks ago I stopped promoting.  In 6 days, I regain my TRS status, which I'm counting on this and good price comps to leave pl behind for good.

My point is to suggest not promoting at all, but instead having the best price comps, good listing quality with full shipping costs; and TRS status with TRS+ listings if you can manage.

[dbfolks166mt]

     Never used PL and never will so I guess I use 0%. It seems to work fine.