Is eBay Forcing you to use Promoted Listings to Sell your Items?

[shoes-n-stuff]

I want to bring to the attention of the eBay community a trend i have seen on my account and see if anyone else has been experiencing the same trend on theirs. 

During 2023, i have noticed that the only way i am selling my items is if they are Promoted. If i choose not to Promote them, they will not sell, nor will any traffic be generated to the listings. I have used Terapeak to better my titles, take actual pictures of my items, describe the items well and am a Top Rated Seller. 

As of June 15, 2023, i have spent $241 on Promotions. At this same point last year, i had spent $58 on Promotions. 🤔

Is eBay Forcing you to use Promoted Listings to Sell your Items? 

[calgal19572014]

All of my items eBay suggests a promoted listing anywhere from 9-12%. Maybe if mine were way less I would consider it. 🙁

[huntfishdie45]

The simple answer is yes in some categories of items. The algorithms control both traffic (visibility) and placement (ranking) of your listings, so the more competitive a category you list your items in will determine whether or not you need to use PL's. Every seller has a different situation and faces different challenges depending on what they are selling and how much competition they are facing. Competiton and market pressure leads to lower prices and profit erosion. The combined effect of these policies is crushing smaller vendors and making it more difficult to compete on this platform.

[gotta-have-it-collectables]

With OR without I am  Not selling a thing.

Not a sale in 5 days!!!

2700+ listings!

$59 Store.

List Every Day.

Free 3 day shipping.

Top Rated.

PLS  up to 9% too...

Absolute Ghost town!

[mam98031]

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@calgal19572014 wrote:

All of my items eBay suggests a promoted listing anywhere from 9-12%. Maybe if mine were way less I would consider it. 🙁

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@calgal19572014 

You do realize it is a "suggestion", not a mandate to use those percentages.  Of course Ebay is going to tell you to go high as they will make more money.  But it is still your choice.  You can go as low as 2% if you want.

Keep in mind that if you are going to give it a try, increase your pricing to cover your additional selling fees.

[clown_car_driver]

Welcome to the new eBay! To answer your question, YES, if you can afford it.

First of all, this is not new. 

And, YOU don't have to afford it.

Your customer does.

If it costs you ten cents extra to sell your widgets, then you add that ten cents to the price

If your customer can't afford that, then they don't sell.

If enough of them don't sell then you need to find something to sell that they will buy for a fair price. 

And eBay notices that you (and thousands of others) are not selling much and leaving and that effects their bottom line and they either reduce the ten cents, or figure that maybe they need to find something else to to that is profitable.

Businesses (and nations) go thru the same aging process as a person.

Birth

Development, learning

Growth, strength

Stability

Stagnation

Decay

Death

[stevemartin60]

No one is forcing us to breathe, or pay taxes either.

[buyselljack2016]

Maybe a category thing.

Nothing spent on promotions this, or last.

Compared to the same time period last year my sales $$ are up about 17%.

[stevemartin60]

I can't help but notice it's always the same group that pops into every thread about the PL extortion racket to defend it.  Like clockwork, and with the same silly excuses.

[monroe67]

"I can't help but notice it's always the same group that pops into every thread about the PL extortion racket to defend it.  Like clockwork, and with the same silly excuses."

. . .  and conversely . . . .

[stuff4divas]

@shoes-n-stuff  well at least u r selling items, lots of sellers promote and still don't sell.

and no, it is a choice to or not to use promotions

[mam98031]

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@stevemartin60 wrote:

No one is forcing us to breathe, or pay taxes either.

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Neither of which have anything to do with this conversation.

[mam98031]

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@stevemartin60 wrote:

I can't help but notice it's always the same group that pops into every thread about the PL extortion racket to defend it.  Like clockwork, and with the same silly excuses.

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LOOK you are here!!!  🤣

[stevemartin60]

Somebody needs to counter the blatant nonsense.

[pereirahawk]

It figures you would express that type of language toward another that toes the Ebay line.

No, you don't have to use Ebay promoted listings, but everything you stated after that is pure speculation.  The fact is Ebay had created a situation where if you don't promote, you get a tiny fraction of views.  You can't compare this with sellers on here stating how they don't use PL and they do just fine.  Its because they have hundreds of followers built up over years of selling on Ebay.

[pereirahawk]

How many followers do you have?  Check your repeat sellers.  Also, your repeat buys push you further up the rankings, possibly producing a greater number of non-repeat buyer business.