eBay

movieman630 · ‎10-04-2024

This question is more for full time large scale sellers. I'm just curious how much do you need to make (gross) per day to justify even the smallest expenditure on "pay per click" ads?

What would be your ratio of daily ad spend vs. daily gross sales?

For me I wouldn't even consider "pay per click" unless I could do at minimum $10 per day and for that amount I'd need to be seeing a minimum gross sales of $200-300 per day steady. In reality a $10 per day ad run probably won't generate much. In reality you'd need to spend more I would guess.

I'm a smart guy. I know ebay has a cap on my earnings. It's been that way for quite some time. All of us have a cap to our sales figures no matter how big we are. I'm going to be honest. I wouldn't even consider spending on pay per click ads unless I saw that sales pattern change.

For example. I had a great week last week. But I knew this week would be terrible. How did I know that? Because that's the pattern. You will always have a bad week following a great week because your sales "ceiling" needs to be moderated. The Algo must find a way to re-stabilize your allowance.

For me to invest in "pay per click" ads (when most clicks won't buy anything). I'd have to see that pattern change drastically.

I mean I want to see that "allowance number" DOUBLE. I want to see the pattern I've grown used to change drastically and stay that way. Don't expect me to change my tune after 1 week. It needs to stay that way for months before I'll commit to any ad spend without guaranteed sales.

That's my deal. My current "allowance income" is spoken for. I can't afford to spend even $10 a day on ads at the level I'm at now unless my income increases. I have a family, 3 small children to feed. Nothing is cheap anymore. Everything, including my business cost associated with ebay is going up. My current level of sales is spoken for.

Give me a raise and I'll invest in "pay per click" it's that simple. We all know these limits exist. I'm asking for a raise, in turn, you'll get your ad income from me.

So as a seller what are your terms for spending on ads? And if your currently spending on ads what is your success with these ads?

In short are they worth it? Do you notice a bump in your sales activity patterns or has your income remained about the same anyway?

meme6253 · ‎10-04-2024

I don't use pay per click, there are no guaranteed sales here no matter what , Not with any campaign so why take the risk & just spend more for probably nothing

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-04-2024

@movieman630 I assume you have multiples of your items? I sell single quantity , used/vintage long tail stuff and I don't think Pay Per Click makes much sense for a seller like me (with a few outliers perhaps). IF I sold new items (and I had multiple quantities of each item), I'd look into it a little more closely.

But I would test cautiously before making any serious commitment to it. I think it is more useful for multi quantity new items, but even so, it's value probably depends to some extent on just what you sell.

And I would test, I wouldn't make any assumptions about what effect it will have on your "cap".

fbusoni · ‎10-04-2024

I had a great week last week. But I knew this week would be terrible. How did I know that? Because that's the pattern. You will always have a bad week following a great week because your sales "ceiling" needs to be moderated. The Algo must find a way to re-stabilize your allowance.

@movieman630

I do not experience the phenomenon to which you refer above. My sales are pretty steady, week in and week out, with some very big upward spikes in between.

Does the fact that you keep mentioning your three children and a family to feed indicate that you think that eBay bears some responsibility for your personal circumstances?

I once had two small kids and a family to feed but I was a salaried, full time employee with a real, full time job to which I commuted. eBay earnings in those days was for pizza money. (That was back in the 1980s.)

Then you ask for a "raise" to your "allowance" from eBay so you can buy their worthless ads.

Thanks heavens the USA is a reward society, and not an entitlement society.

eBay seller since 1999. This is a posting ID.

movieman630 · ‎10-04-2024

@fbusoni wrote:
I had a great week last week. But I knew this week would be terrible. How did I know that? Because that's the pattern. You will always have a bad week following a great week because your sales "ceiling" needs to be moderated. The Algo must find a way to re-stabilize your allowance.

@movieman630

I do not experience the phenomenon to which you refer above. My sales are pretty steady, week in and week out, with some very big upward spikes in between.

Does the fact that you keep mentioning your three children and a family to feed indicate that you think that eBay bears some responsibility for your personal circumstances?

I once had two small kids and a family to feed but I was a salaried, full time employee with a real, full time job to which I commuted. eBay earnings in those days was for pizza money. (That was back in the 1980s.)

Then you ask for a "raise" to your "allowance" from eBay so you can buy their worthless ads.

Thanks heavens the USA is a reward society, and not an entitlement society.

I'm sure you don't mean to offend but when people throw around terms like "real job" on here it triggers me a little. I heard that term when I was a kid. I'm not a kid. I've been selling full time on ebay for over 15 years. I've had no problems earning a living as ebay being my primary selling platform. I've grossed over 1M in sales in my 20 years. I'd say that's pretty "real."

I'm not naive about how the internet works. Algorithms run every platform. There's already been whistle blowers about ebays secret selling limits. Everyone who's done their research and has reached a certain level of selling knows they exist. I'm not even debating that point anymore. If people want to deny the existence of that limit that's on them. I choose to recognize that these driving factors exist. In my opinion they're wrong to exist. Putting a "cap" on someones earning potential is nothing short of evil. I bring up my children because it troubles me that I have a "boss" that I can not name or speak to. I have a boss that will not be honest with me, who hides in the shadows and manipulates my business.

Anyway. I'd like to get back to my "real job", but my "real boss" hasn't turned on the "open" sign today.

redlinear · ‎10-04-2024

@movieman630
Did ya giggle a bit when you read.....
"I do not experience the phenomenon to which you refer above. My sales are pretty steady, week in and week out, with some very big upward spikes in between."

I did.
I've tried some of the pay per click promotions. Nothing so far has made a difference.
I can tell what I'm going to sell the next 30 days and be within 10%.
Bet I can get within 5% on future 90 days.
We've been trying to figure out what to do to change that. Trying to add more listings every day.
So far, that's not changing anything.
Promoting doesn't affect it either. The graphs make you think it's working, but sales remain the same.
Have some more ideas that we will be trying soon.
Just need to figure out how to get over the current "cap" and on to the next limit.

movieman630 · ‎10-04-2024

It's frustrating. Honestly the feeling of not knowing what you can do to "unlock" a level up. They make it seem like if you sign up for the ad programs you'll get that level up but every time I experiment with the PPC thing all I do is give ebay a bunch of money and none of those clicks amount to a sale.

PL might have give some items a boost in the results but I definitely didn't see a "level up" from using them. In reality I'm just paying more in fees for the same results.

fbusoni · ‎10-04-2024

@redlinear wrote:
@movieman630
Did ya giggle a bit when you read.....
"I do not experience the phenomenon to which you refer above. My sales are pretty steady, week in and week out, with some very big upward spikes in between."

I did.
I've tried some of the pay per click promotions. Nothing so far has made a difference.
I can tell what I'm going to sell the next 30 days and be within 10%.
Bet I can get within 5% on future 90 days.
We've been trying to figure out what to do to change that. Trying to add more listings every day.
So far, that's not changing anything.
Promoting doesn't affect it either. The graphs make you think it's working, but sales remain the same.
Have some more ideas that we will be trying soon.
Just need to figure out how to get over the current "cap" and on to the next limit.

You're giggling.

But I'm laughing -- all the way to the proverbial bank.

If you offer 24 hour shipping and 30/60 day paid returns, you don't have to pay for worthless eBay advertising.

You also have to know what categories to sell in.

eBay seller since 1999. This is a posting ID.

fbusoni · ‎10-04-2024

@movieman630 wrote:
@fbusoni wrote:
I had a great week last week. But I knew this week would be terrible. How did I know that? Because that's the pattern. You will always have a bad week following a great week because your sales "ceiling" needs to be moderated. The Algo must find a way to re-stabilize your allowance.

@movieman630

I do not experience the phenomenon to which you refer above. My sales are pretty steady, week in and week out, with some very big upward spikes in between.

Does the fact that you keep mentioning your three children and a family to feed indicate that you think that eBay bears some responsibility for your personal circumstances?

I once had two small kids and a family to feed but I was a salaried, full time employee with a real, full time job to which I commuted. eBay earnings in those days was for pizza money. (That was back in the 1980s.)

Then you ask for a "raise" to your "allowance" from eBay so you can buy their worthless ads.

Thanks heavens the USA is a reward society, and not an entitlement society.
I'm sure you don't mean to offend but when people throw around terms like "real job" on here it triggers me a little. I heard that term when I was a kid. I'm not a kid. I've been selling full time on ebay for over 15 years. I've had no problems earning a living as ebay being my primary selling platform. I've grossed over 1M in sales in my 20 years. I'd say that's pretty "real."

I'm not naive about how the internet works. Algorithms run every platform. There's already been whistle blowers about ebays secret selling limits. Everyone who's done their research and has reached a certain level of selling knows they exist. I'm not even debating that point anymore. If people want to deny the existence of that limit that's on them. I choose to recognize that these driving factors exist. In my opinion they're wrong to exist. Putting a "cap" on someones earning potential is nothing short of evil. I bring up my children because it troubles me that I have a "boss" that I can not name or speak to. I have a boss that will not be honest with me, who hides in the shadows and manipulates my business.

Anyway. I'd like to get back to my "real job", but my "real boss" hasn't turned on the "open" sign today.

My apologies.

Your overall situation sounds very stressful to me.

And stress, more than almost anything, will lead to a premature demise.

Please take care.

eBay seller since 1999. This is a posting ID.

meme6253 · ‎10-04-2024

I have to agree that they use a Cap or something, There are driving factors here, Why i don't know, & I also agree that some will recognize it & other's will not, Basically a split 50/50 on that, It's frustrating & aggravating!

stainlessenginecovers · ‎10-04-2024

Isn't spending on 'advertising' a decision that each and every individual seller would determine?

The 'pay per click' thing has been going on at Google/Bing/Yahoo for OVER a decade.

I paid $5000 a year in advertising ($400 a month, which meant I needed to sell $800 to pay that $400-and it took 3 years to determine if it was worth it or not (paying Pay Per Click for my website vs. what I was getting on ebay).

It wasn't.

onefootflipper1 · ‎10-04-2024

Pay per click is honestly not for anyone reading this board.

Pay per click is for sellers who have endless quantity of the exact same item and know their click through rate, sell through rate and all of that for the item extremely well. Those sellers will know their exact margin for the item, the exact amount of people clicking on their listing that it takes for one of them to sell and thus know exactly how much they can pay for a click and have it be profitable.

It you haven't already sold 500 or 1000 of the same item then pay per click is not for you, you won't have good enough data to know if it is worthwhile or not.

redlinear · ‎10-04-2024

@fbusoni
@movieman630 thinks his sales are somehow manipulated to an extent...basically the same thing month after month no matter what he does.
You said your sales remain constant (constant is what @movieman630 means).
Mine remain constant as well.
There have been several sellers go into detail with good evidence of this.
No, eBay can't make anybody directly buy from you. But they can (and do) make items more easily seen than others.
The city can't makeme take Elm Street to work. But they can block off all the others, leaving me no other route.

redlinear · ‎10-04-2024

@onefootflipper1 wrote:
Pay per click is honestly not for anyone reading this board.

Pay per click is for sellers who have endless quantity of the exact same item and know their click through rate, sell through rate and all of that for the item extremely well. Those sellers will know their exact margin for the item, the exact amount of people clicking on their listing that it takes for one of them to sell and thus know exactly how much they can pay for a click and have it be profitable.

It you haven't already sold 500 or 1000 of the same item then pay per click is not for you, you won't have good enough data to know if it is worthwhile or not.

I agree with this.
More so, I think pay per click is best for a website / Your very own website store.
You're not likely to get people IN your store, here on eBay...shopping JUST your stuff.
Especially when there's 100 adds behind every one of your items trying to send shoppers away from you.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-04-2024

@movieman630 Ignoring ebay's "the average seller sees....blah blah blah...increase...blah blah blah", can you tell me, in your own words, what EXACTLY it is about Pay per Click that you believe would benefit your business? I don't mean " if I spend $4.00 a day and make an extra $100.00 in sales", I'm asking what is it ABOUT PPC that makes you think it would be profitable for YOUR business?

I spent time analyzing it when it was first announced, and concluded it that it would not benefit me (unlike PLS). I even managed to get ebay to agree (very reluctantly) that is is DESIGNED for a certain subset of seller businesses, and is definitely not for everybody.