Does promoting your items actually help?

[casuallyattractive]

I would like to know if promoting your items is worth the fee.

Does it actually help you sell your item faster?

[stainlessenginecovers]

Faster is never the correct term and is not the purpose of Promotions. 

When there are 500,000 listings for Womens Black Shoes- who is on the front page? The person that pays. 

It is so your item is on the 1st page, near the top when someone does a search. 

The speed of selling is all about

The item (does anyone want it?)

The price (is it the best price?)

[chrispass918]

Yes

[casuallyattractive]

Is it really worth the fee?

I am considering updating my listing to be promoted but am just debating it.

Maybe I should just promote them and see what it does.

[ckimodog]

I've read here that it seems to work better for the more expensive items.  My items aren't terribly expensive so I don't use it.   Even if I had items that were more expensive, I'd probably by pass it.  I have my own ways of promoting my items and it seems to work just fine.  Have a great day!!

[casuallyattractive]

Would you mind sharing your ways that you promote your items?

Or is that confidential info (:

@ckimodog 

[wrong66]

You might want to do a little research on your own instead of flooding the boards with questions that can be answered with a little reading.

[ckimodog]

No problem.  Ebay provides the social media links on your listing page.  I use twitter and Pinterest and have had several sales from both.  A lot of people don't care for it, but it's always worked out okay for me.  You just have to stay consistent with it.  I sell jewelry and this time of year is usually good for my shop because of lent, Easter and 1st communions.  Hope this is helpful.  All the best. 

[casuallyattractive]

👍

[flyingmvp]

No it is not worth the fee, you are paying Ebay more then enough fees already but

If you have one of a kind item for sale, it will be found by that one of a kind buyer, don't waste your hard earned dollars and hand it over to Ebay, unnecessary.

If you have a more common item sold by many sellers it might be necessary to give Ebay more $$$ and "promote" this item or they will bury it/you on page 6.

In the past, various factors such as good costumer service, buyer satisfaction, fast shipping and the best price would put you on top of the searching spot, nowadays it can by bypassed by giving Ebay more money for that search placement.

it is no longer about the best price-buying experience, it is down to how much more are you willing to pay Ebay.

[casuallyattractive]

That really should change.

I wish eBay would do that again.

[stainlessenginecovers]

The important issue is you are selling 1 lb. of wood and shipping for $5.55 (NC to NV); Since 1 lb of wood with packaging will weigh MORE than 16oz you have to ship USPS Priority (or UPS etc.) and it will cost you ALOT more than $5.55.

Regarding Promotions; they work for those with numerous competitors and make no sense for someone selling 1 of a kind items. 

But the best about Promo's is if you are selling something that someone else, or many other sellers are selling, if they are Promoting (there is always someone who is); Their Item shows on your listing, and if they are cheaper, you just burned your own sale. (ebay shows 'other similar sponsored items' before they show your written description, so those looking will scroll and see that first)

[kensgiftshop]

I tried PL's a few years ago and didn't really see where it helped any.

For every 5 or 6 items sold, maybe 1 was through a PL.

[b86fiero]

It's debatable whether Promoted Listings sell faster.  Depends upon what you're selling, competition, price, etc.  And how high of an extra percentage of the selling price you are willing to pay eBay.  In some categories eBay recommends an extra 25%.  (Ridiculous).  And depending upon how many sellers are promoting the same or similar item at a higher percentage than you, well, you go towards the back of the bus in prominence.

The benefit is that your listing MIGHT be advertised inside another sellers listing for the same or similar item.  You know, those items you see running horizontal across any listing you click on to take a look.  Do they show up in your listings?

Your listing MIGHT appear on the first page of Search or maybe not until page 3 or 4 or 5 in search results.  You might be able to entice a buyer away from another seller's listing when your ads appear in their listing and the buyer might choose to buy from you instead.  Of course other sellers hate seeing those competing ads placed in their listings.

If you are going to try it to see if you get more exposure and more and faster sales I recommend choosing a small percent such as 2.5 or 3%.  Sure, you might get your listing ads seen in more sellers listings if you're willing to give eBay an extra 5 or 10% of sale but what will that do to your profit?  If you raise your price to cover the promoted fee don't forget that those fees will increase as your price does.  

Keep in mind hundreds of thousands (or millions) of listings are now being promoted.     

[casuallyattractive]

@stainlessenginecovers 

I really do not understand peoples problems with how much I am charging for shipping.

I actually just raised the price form 3$ and I had sold a item with it at 3$ (shipping) and it worked great. I sold it for a decent amount and I still made a profit, albeit not a big one but a profit.