Ebay Promoted Listings Suggest Rate is Higher for Old Inventory

[otkhaven]

Has anyone else noticed this?  I've recently started going through old listings fixing mistakes, cleaning up the titles and descriptions and noticed suggested ad rates were pretty high.  Thought it must just be the most fresh suggested rates based on everything.

But then I came across an old listing for a pair of Free People jeans.  2 views in the past 30 days and 1 watcher.  Once I fixed all the mistakes in the listing and made it to the promoted section, it was suggesting 15.5% ad rate!  None of the other jeans I created new listings for today were anywhere near that.

I experimented:  "Sell Similar" gave the exact same result for suggested ad rate.  15.5%.  So instead, I created a brand new listing from a template.  Inserted the exact same pics.  Copied all the exact same information in item specifics.  Copy and pasted title, condition and description.  Same price, same shipping, same everything.  Identical listing.  But the brand new listing is only suggesting 8.5% ad rate.  Both listings were using the same promotion campaign as well.

The only difference I can see are, the original listing had 2 views, 1 watcher and had been up there for a few months.  Has ebay mentioned this somewhere and I just missed it, or are they squeezing more money from ads out of old inventory?

[stainlessenginecovers]

If you had a business that the way you made money was to simply tell people to pay MORE money- would you??

Suggested is just that. Suggested. Pay what you feel, what you want- or nothing at all if they item is not a heavily competitive EXACT item as many other sellers. 

[otkhaven]

Obviously "Suggested is just that.  Suggested."  I'm not sure I understand the tone in your response.  Are you annoyed or upset by my findings, or possibly just the fact that I posted about this topic?  It almost feels as though you're attempting to chastise me with your response, Stainless.

To be clear.  My post was not a complaint.  Maybe my final sentence in my post gives that impression.  If so, it's the wrong impression and my fault for wording it that way.

I am genuinely both shocked and curious about the situation.  Why an older item is suggesting an almost double ad rate than a fresh identical item.

I will continue to set my promoted listing as I see fit regardless of the suggested rate.

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @otkhaven   I agree with @stainlessenginecovers , the rates are just suggestions but of course some Sellers go with that.  I don't.  Sellers in saturated categories have to compete more with other Sellers ... in my categories I don't.

I run at least one PLS campaign per quarter, I put every Buy it now GTC listing on the campaign and pick on fixed AD rate for all of them and the let 'er rip. 

Other than 2022 this approach has worked quite well ... last year with all of eBay;s changes PLS Campaigns performed horribly.  I just had one end 2 weeks ago and it did what it used to do prior to last year.

-Boosted sales during the PLS

-Long tail items sold more frequently during the PLS compared to other times

-I am sure it drives traffic

I think you will have to play around with PLS campaigns until you find an approach that works for you and the categories you sell in ...

[otkhaven]

I appreciate the advice.  Thank you.  But I must not have made my post clear.  I'm not asking about what to put my promoted listing % at.

I'm curious as to why ebay is suggesting higher ad rates when revising old listings, than it's suggesting for brand new identical listings.  That's all.  I'm not trying to claim that I feel that I need to use the suggested.  Nor am I asking for help as to what I should put as suggested.

I'm not actually asking for help with anything in fact.  Just trying to understand the discrepancy between two identical listings and how ebay is determining one should have an higher ad rate than the other.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@otkhaven  Just a thought: New listings generally get a bump to the top of Best Match, at least for a short while. Older listings are generally further down. I think ebay also tends to deprecate older listings with little engagement, because ebay's algo (I suspect) views them as less likely to sell.  So, could it be that the higher suggested rate for the older listing is because ebay doesn't really want to promote it , and so this is ebay's way of saying: If you hope to see this promoted, you are going to have to pay more. 

[otkhaven]

Yeah that's the first thing I thought about.  You're probably right.  Thank you for taking the time to understand my post.  I appreciate it.

[inhawaii]

Thanks for bringing that to our attention.

For me it doesn't matter because I don't use  promoted listings and I pay ABSOLUTELY NO ATTENTION to anything ebay "suggests" to me.   

I don't understand people who do. 

Used car salesman:

"I suggest you pay $29,000 for that car instead of the sticker price of $25,000."

[mr_lincoln]

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@otkhaven wrote:

I appreciate the advice.  Thank you.  But I must not have made my post clear.  I'm not asking about what to put my promoted listing % at.

I'm curious as to why ebay is suggesting higher ad rates when revising old listings, than it's suggesting for brand new identical listings.  That's all.  I'm not trying to claim that I feel that I need to use the suggested.  Nor am I asking for help as to what I should put as suggested.

I'm not actually asking for help with anything in fact.  Just trying to understand the discrepancy between two identical listings and how ebay is determining one should have an higher ad rate than the other.

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@otkhaven   Nobody here really knows eBay's programming or the real reasons they do what you have noticed ... some others have shared some credible speculation but at the end of the day that is all it is.

Getting actual experience from other Sellers may be just as beneficial as eventually finding out why eBay does what they do. 

I suppose you have enough experience to know that if you End older listings and then do a Sell Similar you actually create a completely NEW listing and it will have the NEW tag on it for about 24 hours (per eBay).

You can take one of those older listings with the higher suggested AD rates, do the Sell Similar and see if the NEW listing gets a lower suggested AD rate ... that's what I would do if I was curious about it ... .

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@otkhaven wrote:

Obviously "Suggested is just that.  Suggested."  I'm not sure I understand the tone in your response.  Are you annoyed or upset by my findings, or possibly just the fact that I posted about this topic?  It almost feels as though you're attempting to chastise me with your response, Stainless.

To be clear.  My post was not a complaint.  Maybe my final sentence in my post gives that impression.  If so, it's the wrong impression and my fault for wording it that way.

I am genuinely both shocked and curious about the situation.  Why an older item is suggesting an almost double ad rate than a fresh identical item.

I will continue to set my promoted listing as I see fit regardless of the suggested rate.

---

I'm, of course, NOT annoyed at you posting that. 

I'm just stating 'fact' and what is 'obvious.'

If you HAD a website that fed on people selling things, wouldn't you try to get people to pay more??

You seem to be wondering WHY they are suggesting a higher price?

a.) Because they make more money

b.) Because they can

c.) Problem, concern or wondering why?  see a.) and/or b.) above. 

Bottom line- robots run this place. It's ALL on AI. AI suggests whatever will make a 'seller' think they need to pay more for something than they need to. 

Until PL came about, people only paid what the system was set up for. 

Now, the 'cost' I CAN CHARGE YOU... is endless. 

Just like @inhawaii  stated- if they can get you to pay $29k for the car that is tagged at $25k- I'm a genius and I'm RICH!  

[ittybitnot]

I'm curious as to why ebay is suggesting higher ad rates when revising old listings, than....

@otkhaven  

It is no secret that a good portion of eBay's income is through PLs.  You already bought into the program, so suggesting you use a higher rate may well a result of data showing the increase will more likely happen with you than with a 'newbie'.   The more people that eBay can convince to join the "pay to play" the more eBay makes.  The more people that join, the  less effective the program becomes for the seller.  Soon, what once "worked" no longer does.  Those charts and graphs suggest to a seller it will start "working" again, only if you pay more.  The suggestions, for those that believe eBay truly wants to help sellers, become easy to adopt, even where there is really no basis in fact. More like "ebay said so, so it must be true."  "You won't sell a thing unless you promote" is preached here all the time.   

Does this bring in more buyers?  No evidence of that.  It has turned listings into some sort of visual overload with all those PLs and scrolling galleries.   Search shows those listings that PAY the most instead of those of quality.  It makes everything on eBay MORE EXPENSIVE (which eBay likes as well), but sends buyers elsewhere. 

I do appreciate your post regarding your "discovery".  I am sure it has been an enlightenment for many.  The answer to your  "why" question is simple. They do it  because it brings in more money for eBay.  

[mam98031]

It is MERELY a suggestion.  Ebay gives suggestions all the time on all kinds of subjects.  You are over thinking it.  You are free to set whatever Promo rate you want as long as it is at least 2%.

[mr_lincoln]

@ittybitnot   wrote: " ...  They do it  because it brings in more money for eBay."

Only for those who use eBay's suggested rates ...

[ittybitnot]

Only for those who use eBay's suggested rates ...

@mr_lincoln 

Of course.  Perhaps I should have said 'eBay does it because it brings in more money  for eBay if you comply'. 

I do realize that we have just ONE case/example here.  But if it is routinely done this way it would not surprise me in the least. 

[mr_lincoln]

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@ittybitnot wrote:

Only for those who use eBay's suggested rates ...

@mr_lincoln 

Of course.  Perhaps I should have said 'eBay does it because it brings in more money  for eBay if you comply'. 

I do realize that we have just ONE case/example here.  But if it is routinely done this way it would not surprise me in the least. 

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@ittybitnot   As always you were spot on with the pay to play and yes, I saw that coming once they switched to GTC then brought on Promoted Listings.  Its a beneficial tool in non-saturated categories which has been my experience.  It's a dog eat dog world in saturated categories with Sellers battling with tenths of percents in AD rates ...

If all Sellers used eBay's suggested AD rates then there would be no advantage and eBay would just simply rotate sponsored listings on and off pages like a metronome keeping time for the musicians ... your turn - my turn 

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I played around with them until I found something that works ...