Boost visibility

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why eBay wants to charge me to "Boost Visibility", don't they want to sell my item?  Why not use that commission you are making off my sale and boost my visibility.  The more I sell, the more you make, and if I sell, I will list more.  eBay should be doing everything in its power to sell my items and that includes making my item visible to the most buyers they can.  I just don't understand I guess.

[eburtonlab]

By itself, eBay has no incentive to promote your listing above other sellers' listings; eBay makes money as long as a sale takes place on eBay, whether the sale is yours or one of your competitors.

If you want special treatment so that your listing appears higher in the search sort than it would ordinarily appear, pushing other sellers' listings down lower in the sort order, you will have to pay eBay more than your competitors do for that privilege.

[fashunu4eeuh]

I assume that by boosting visibility, you are referring to Promoted Listings. I only use PL on a few special items. For everything else, the ‘usual’ visibility of my listings is completely adequate to sell my items.

There are also other ways to boost one’s visibility than just PL.  I use eBay’s Best Practices, along with SEO. Have not tried using social media to get additional eyes on my listings, but know many find that helpful as well.

[meme6253]

Yep!, Right or Wrong, Like It Or Not!, That's How It is!

[stuff4divas]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I don't understand why eBay wants to charge me to "Boost Visibility", don't they want to sell my item?  Why not use that commission you are making off my sale and boost my visibility.  The more I sell, the more you make, and if I sell, I will list more.  eBay should be doing everything in its power to sell my items and that includes making my item visible to the most buyers they can.  I just don't understand I guess.

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bc if u r not paying to 'boost visibility' why should u be jumped in front of sellers who R paying to 'boost visibility'? If u want your listings 'boosted' then u have to pay just like others are doing.

[turtles-trading-post]

In my category of US Postal History I've checked and found if I started at the top of the category using "Best Match",  I can go 25 pages deep before one of my listings appear!   And I'm paying for Promoted Listings!   

[stuff4divas]

@turtles-trading-post   Probably bc others are using higher % and-or using Promoted Advanced as opposed to Promoted Standard 🤔

[coolections]

To help you understand, there are over 57,000 other sellers selling what you sell. The only fair way to get more visibility than the other 57,000 is to "pay" an additional fee to move your item closer to the front. Buyers have a choice and can change the best match search to lowest first, so you can also increase your visibility by having a lower price.

[bide-9299]

I have a hopefully "not stupid" question. What if my listing has zero competition and ebay knows this, why do they still want to "promote" ?

They're not greedy are they ?

Thanks,

Steve

[slippinjimmy]

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@bide-9299 wrote:

I have a hopefully "not stupid" question. What if my listing has zero competition and ebay knows this, why do they still want to "promote" ?

They're not greedy are they ?

Thanks,

Steve

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Do you really think eBay looks at what you are selling before they send you these messages?

eBay would like all sellers to voluntarily give them more money so they send these messages to all sellers who are not using promotions. If you are using promotions they will send you messages telling you that it would be good idea if you increased the rate you are using.

[inhawaii]

Think of PL (promoted listings) as advertising.

Advertising isn't free.

Do you want to pay more for advertising?

[ten_o_nine]

Consider this scenario: you list an item for $20 with a standard fee structure of roughly 15%. A competitor lists the exact same item for the same price, but incurs higher fees, around 22% with promotion. Which listing do you think the platform's algorithms would favor? I am not suggesting this practice is acceptable, especially given the promises eBay made to long-time sellers about growing their business; I simply misunderstood the platform's meant their own business😀

[tobaccocardyahoo]

There are more sellers and listings than are going to sell.

PL are a means for one seller to gain an advantage over another. Whether that advantage makes it more likely to sell any particular item depends on the item.

There are other advantages one seller may have over others, and they are sometimes more effective. And there are other listings which require the passage of time before they sell.

Ebay wants to sell as many items as they can. It does not really care who they belong to.

[bashort]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I don't understand why eBay wants to charge me to "Boost Visibility",

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ebay is testing the limit on how much extra sellers will pay voluntarily.

[kh-christelle]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.