PROMOTE or NOT TO PROMOTE & the new eBay Closet Listings?

[e.pluribusunum7]

OK I have been testing the new promotions so now I have a little experience on the subject. I will be testing some more before calling it quicks. 

1 > the problem I'm seeing with slow sales and even promoted sales is the use of A.I. Think of it like this TALKING OUT YOUR TEXTING. And the A.I. gets it all screwed up and you find yourself in trouble for things you did not say. Because the computer MISINTERBITTED your wording.  I believe we have the same problem with this promotion program. 

2 > SORTING THE LISTINGS The listings are made by the masses of sellers. EACH IS SUBJECT TO INHANCE THEIR LISTINGS & ADDING PROMOTIONS and or ADD ON'S Now I can see the program now has a problem sorting by title or description. It can't determine a proper placement. WHAT IS THE MAIN PRODUCT YOUR SELLING? 

3 > The VARIETY is over whelming Add the strange one of a kind rare item. You promoted it. But what can AI do with it. ADD IT TO? 

4 > BUYERS are how FLOODED with too many options and drifting away from what they where even shopping for Because A.I. becomes confused with placement and the next thing you know your pulled into too many directions and forget about the item you are shopping for. 

5 > You don't promote your your item? Do we now have a eBay NEW CLOSET for the unpromoted items?

From the few listings I have tested so far. And Even the response of views on my Promoted items. I don't see this working well for the BUYER or SELLER.  I'm waiting for the extra cost figures for the promoted listings as well.

THE DIVERSITY & VARIETY with the VOLUME and LISTING IDEAS or so DIVERST I feel A.I. are not suited for the eBay FORMAT. It's more suited for NEW FACTORY MADE ITEMS with COPY CAT BAR CODES and SINGLE MUTI Product Placements. 

But I want to be Positive about this. So I will play with it a little more.  Also don't place your items on the BARGIN PLACEMENT PRICING like .99 I think they are over looked till the end because of low exposure. or the eBay Closet.

[e.pluribusunum7]

Thinking about this. We are small players in a big pond. Sears got a new CEO who decided that they NO LONGER will do CATALOGS and reduce MAIL ORDERS. This was a blessing to AMAZON. So what could happen. SEARS HAD IT'S DAY. The CEO could of ended up loaded with AMAZON STOCK. After all it's all about the money. 

 POINT IS there is another side of NATIONAL BUSINESS OPERATIONS. I think eBay has had it's DAY. 

And those special NATIONAL BUSINESS MEETINGS may have other plans for the eBay platform. Yes they happen at conventions and back rooms. And it's still all about the money and economy. 

Face it do you really think eBay would turn it's back on a meetings with BLACK & DECK or HOME DEPOT CEO's.  After all one of them may also be a CEO's  future jobs. 

 The Big business has Thousands of employees and factories that need to keep operations going. 

And here is eBay with millions of sellers giving their products away CHEAPER THEN THEY CAN MAKE IT.   

 AGAIN THE EBAY EFFECT.  But then again I could have it all wrong.

[isaiah53-57]

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@e.pluribusunum7 wrote:

Your right I just listed some items that are several specialty valves So I'm going to try and promo one or two and hoping that will draw some viewers to the site. 

  I really hate that eBay is changing again at this time. I'm really needing the income to cover medical bills. When eBay use to make changes I would stop listing for a year or so. By that time they normally have worked all the kinks out, or dropped a bad idea.  Stopping does not look like a good option for me at this time.

 GOING BACKWARDS in this economy. And now this.

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Thats a good technique @e.pluribusunum7 - I have done the same(because I can) - leaving for extended periods when they have come up with new programs or ways of doing business to see how it plays out - My time is very valuable and I dont want to waste it on something that would not play out to the benefit of all.

I have stopped listing for years now, due to the advent of the Promoted Listings program and I'm down to one account from the 8 I had running full swing - I have not seen a reason to jump back in, since it appears they are ALL IN on this program - They raised the minimum Promotion 100% - They have Promoted Listings Advanced now - They have Dynamic(Automated) Promoted Listings now - and they have changed the rate recommendations from "Trending Rate" to "Suggested Rate"(My guess is because the new rates of 10% to 15% could not stand up to scrutiny as a user generated mean and really never could even under the old name). Plus now they have integrated AI into the mix as you have talked about in the OP and it is very likely problematic, especially when considering the skewed and nonsensical results of just about any search you may do...

No, not ready to jump back in, and from what I can see, I likely will never be able to(though I was thinking about listing a few easy to sell items without promotions as a test of my own) - I will never pay a penny toward promotions. I'm not sure how the site feels they can ask 20%, 30%, 40% or more of the items selling price to sell here - Especially when you take ALL the risk & do ALL the work(it's similar to share-cropping) - Thats the kind of commission that a consignment business asks for and they do ALL the work and take ALL the risk.

In my opinion, the options and viability for moving product are increasing everyday due to the path some online venue businesses like ebay have chosen - a path that is akin to focusing on short term gain at the expense of long term growth and viability...

[e.pluribusunum7]

  I Believe that eBay would work better by selling Promotions to the stores and not the items. SLOW SALES PROMOTE THE STORE! 

   But promoting each single item? HOW ABOUT A PROMOTION SALE. everybody gets free promotions for a WEEK. Lets see how that works out with A.I. I can't see it working. PROMOTE then PROMOTE TO PROMOTE next buy PROMOTED SLOTS. Or buy or BEST PROMOTE BY THE HOUR. BETTER PROMOTE BY THE MINUTE 

BUT REALLY GET OUT THERE WITH or NEW SUPER PROMOTION PACKAGE. 

NOTE DEPENDING ON THE PROMOTED ITEM LOAD WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THE PROMOTED RESULTS or YOUR item sales and PLACEMENT in the case of several of the same items being promoted at the same time   RESULTS WILL VEARY 

If your item does not sale we suggest increasing your promoted items to the next level of promotion selections to increase your chances of selling your items IF YOUR THE FIRST TO BUY IN, YOU "MAY" end up the first in the promoted  line up's.  We suggest trying our new PROMOTION PRODUCTS. Start at Brass and work up till your item sales. 

And YOU ONLY PAY WHEN YOUR ITEMS SALE.  Your total fees will be added up as that items promotion steps up to each level.  But you only pay when it sales or you remove your item. 

NEW PROMOTION OPTIONS > BRASS / COPPER / NICKEL / SILVER AND OUR NEW GOLDEN  PROGRAM. NEED MORE? our best program > PLATINUM eBay will buy your .99 cent items. you Just settle your account.    

[western-supply]

I generally do promoted, but manually, and keep an eye on em. I also tried two of the new ways of advertising and here's the numbers I have.

Promoted Display: tried for a week paid $50 in fees, and no orders

Offsite Ads: this works okay but you can't select listings individually, it promotes the entire store at once. I used it for a month, a couple listings did well, the rest did not. 

Gained about $1500 in sales, but fees were around 17-18% of that. (.15 per click) If you include the normal eBay 13% platform fee, it came out to 30% total in fees. 

Most of the sales were on a item selling for $9. I don't really have expensive items, but I have variations which can make it expensive if you buy a 100 pack of something.  So I was curious how many large orders I would get from it.

There was an increase in sales for the overall month, but hard to tell how much that actually affected it since an order can't be both promoted and off-site ad at the same time. But with 30% fees it was pointless.  This is is designed for large orders with high margin.

The advantage wasn't monetary unfortunately, the good side is it may make your listings Trend from getting more sales that's about it.

If they offer it for individual listings I may try it again who knows.

[e.pluribusunum7]

I was just about to promote a $9.50 auction BUT eBay wanted $5.98 for the promotion FEE and even if it did not sale they still wanted the $5.98 promotion fee prepaid.  And if it did bid out at $9.50 well do the math. 

  I just got burned with one that sold for $1.99 with a $1.48 promotion fee. Still have to remove the eBay fees as well.  

  This is a SICK SYSTEM eBay has working for THEM . I MEAN A SLICK SYSTEM ..  But not for the small sellers.