Is Promoted Listings Standard a Hoax ?

[kidincandystore]

So I sold something to a buyer yesterday by manually activating the Best Offer setting so he could send me an offer for my listing.  I couldn't send him an email with an offer for some reason, so I updated my listing to have the Best Offer button to be available.  When the item sold, eBay charged me a Promoted Listings Standard fee.

I knew this wasn't the case because I made the sales by communicating with this guy via email and activated the Best Offer manually on my listing.  Please let me know how Promoted Listings Standard played a role in this method of sales.  Thanks 

[smsavage]

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The promoted listing fee only applies if the ultimate buyer has clicked on a sponsored link within the previous 30 days before purchase.

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I just made a sale to someone who has never clicked on the item in my store %100 for sure.  And in fact has never even been to my store %100 for sure. I gave them a direct email link to the item.  They clicked the link and hit the buy it now button and paid.

The sales record on this sale says: "Sold through promotional listing."   
I don't mind paying additional advertising costs and even welcome the option to do so ... but when eBay lies about how they charge you, it is a violation of trust.  The whole thing makes me wonder if the items are even being promoted at all and eBay just pockets the extra cash from trusting (read gullible) sellers like myself.

Also ... I promote ALL of my listings and only about 20% or so get charged for it ... so I know it isn't a situation where all sales get charged.

[aces_outlet]

I just set up a private listing for a buyer with his username as the title - the listing was live and he purchased within 5 minutes - I got charged an add fee for this. There is NO WAY he clicked an add. He put his screen name in search, made the purchase.

Sadly, I have turned off promoted listings until this is fixed. It will probably hurt my sales, but I do not want to pay an ad fee on every single item, which seems to be where this is headed. I hope eBay will fix this soon.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@kidincandystore wrote:

As a matter of fact I just spoke to an eBay rep and that's what she told me.  Any listing set to Promoted Listing will pay Promoted Listing fees when sold.  I don't remember this was the case several months ago.  

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@kidincandystore  That's NOT accurate.  But, I'm not surprised you were told that, b/c the Customer Service Reps are notoriously ill-informed.   

You will pay the PL fee if the buyer accessed the listing via a Promoted listing.   Even if they buy up to 30 days later.   HOWEVER, you will NOT pay the PL fee if they accessed the item via organic impression - ie; NOT the "promoted" listing.   This is the way it has ALWAYS worked, since inception.  

Also, just FYI, It does work.  I have everything promoted pretty much at all times & my sales are always a mix of both Promoted & Organic, even though ALL my items are promoted.   For me, it runs about 70PL/30non.  

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@caldreamer wrote:

Once you "promote" your listing you have to pay fee (regardless of "how" the sale occurred).   Even if you 
"ended promoted listing" and relisted item (if it sells within 30 after promotion ends EBAY still gets fee).

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Nope.  I promote ALL my items, but about 30% that sell, do so without a PL fee. 

[wastingtime101]

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@aces_outlet wrote:

I just set up a private listing for a buyer with his username as the title - the listing was live and he purchased within 5 minutes - I got charged an add fee for this. There is NO WAY he clicked an add. He put his screen name in search, made the purchase.

Sadly, I have turned off promoted listings until this is fixed. It will probably hurt my sales, but I do not want to pay an ad fee on every single item, which seems to be where this is headed. I hope eBay will fix this soon.

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It's generally better to start a new thread than to revive an old one for something like this @aces_outlet.

Your buyer put his screen name in search, but that doesn't mean the search result shown wasn't promoted. It kind of sounds like you goofed up by promoting a listing that was essentially a private listing for a single buyer.

You ended your promotions today, but you can still be charged PL ad fees for up to 30 days because it's dependent on whether or not a buyer clicked on the promoted listing within the last 30 days.

[dbfolks166mt]

Zoombie thread.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Oops, I didn't realize it was an old thread.  I just wanted to add that buyers do NOT know or remember whether they accessed via a PL or not.  I used to ask them b/c they wanted to make an offer too or want me to send an offer & I don't want the double dip discount & they would swear up & down they didn't click on anything Promoted, but they were wrong.  A LOT.  

I was so excited when Ebay announced that we could now see if a buyer accessed via a PL with offers, except it turned out to only be for Best Offers coming FROM the buyer, not offers being SENT TO THE BUYER, which is all I do.

[ckimodog]

@dbfolks166mt 

I swear I've seen more dead threads than current ones on this forum today.  

[dbfolks166mt]

Yes and I unfortunately do not always notice before I respond making it keep on lingering. You think the monitors would clean some of these up, which they appear to be doing of late, so they don't become a chain posting that goes on for multiple months/years. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I just reported another one & it was shut down minutes later, so I think they're just getting inundated today. 

[aces_outlet]

If I "goofed up" it was because I have all of my listings set to be automatically promoted. Maybe I am wrong, but I have been promoting at the suggested rate with no cap for a year. When I started, about 20% of my listings sold thru promoted ad, it has risen to appx 70% now.

[kh-vince]

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.