Promoted Ad Fees 75% Off Offer to Select Sellers (Bait & Switch Marketing Tactic)

[thedesignerrack]

Sometime in late March early April I received a special offer from Ebay:

Get 75% off Promoted Listings Standard ad fees*
Help your business flourish with this limited-time offer!

This "Get 75% off Promoted Listings Standard ad fees*" offer was for items promoted and sold from activation until May, 5th. In reviewing the offer I paid specific attention to Promotion Terms and Conditions. In this section there were four key bullets: (1. What is the Promotion? 2. Who's eligible? 3. When is it? 4. How do I receive the Promotion?). In addition to the 4-key bullets Ebay included:

Restrictions & Exclusions.

• Promoted items and Promoted Listings campaigns must comply with all applicable eBay policies, including the eBay Marketing Terms of Service.
• This Promotion is only valid for listings on the U.S. site at www.ebay.com.
• This Promotion is eligible to be combined with other offers; however, invoice credits across all offers will not exceed actual final value fees charged to the seller.

So after the agreed upon the promotion that we ran until May 5th we have discovered that Ebay is still collecting an ad fee on items sold after May 5th. We reviewed the Promotions Terms and Conditions and no where does it state in the offer that an item sold after May 5th but viewed during the promotion would be now be charged the full ad fee for the next 30 days. 

How can Ebay fail to NOT include this in their disclaimer as part of their Promotions Terms and Conditions information?

This really feels like a "Bait & Switch" selling tactic by Ebay. 

Please share your thoughts???

[iart]

My thought is that we ignore anything like this coming from eBay - or anywhere else.

[slippinjimmy]

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@thedesignerrack wrote:

Sometime in late March early April I received a special offer from Ebay:

Get 75% off Promoted Listings Standard ad fees*
Help your business flourish with this limited-time offer!

This "Get 75% off Promoted Listings Standard ad fees*" offer was for items promoted and sold from activation until May, 5th. In reviewing the offer I paid specific attention to Promotion Terms and Conditions. In this section there were four key bullets: (1. What is the Promotion? 2. Who's eligible? 3. When is it? 4. How do I receive the Promotion?). In addition to the 4-key bullets Ebay included:

Restrictions & Exclusions.

• Promoted items and Promoted Listings campaigns must comply with all applicable eBay policies, including the eBay Marketing Terms of Service.
• This Promotion is only valid for listings on the U.S. site at www.ebay.com.
• This Promotion is eligible to be combined with other offers; however, invoice credits across all offers will not exceed actual final value fees charged to the seller.

So after the agreed upon the promotion that we ran until May 5th we have discovered that Ebay is still collecting an ad fee on items sold after May 5th. We reviewed the Promotions Terms and Conditions and no where does it state in the offer that an item sold after May 5th but viewed during the promotion would be now be charged the full ad fee for the next 30 days. 

How can Ebay fail to NOT include this in their disclaimer as part of their Promotions Terms and Conditions information?

This really feels like a "Bait & Switch" selling tactic by Ebay. 

Please share your thoughts???

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My thought is that what describe is how Promotional listings always work. On a promoted listing the fees are charged if a buyer clicks and then purchases the item within 30 days. If you end a promotion the fees still apply for 30 days IF a buyer clicked the promotional listing during the time the promotion is in effect.

It's only bait and switch if you never understood how promotional listings work in the first place.

For Promotional Listings the key date is and has always been the date the buyer clicks on the promoted listing.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I would expect it to work, the way it did work.  That's how PL's work. 

[dnasilver]

and of course the one getting the funds determines the buyers click date

[thedesignerrack]

Thanks for your response...

I think my beef here is Ebay did not state the details of the 30-day attributed ad sale rule in their "Promotions Terms and Conditions" section. Additionally, if an ad fee is going to be charged based on the attributed sale rate as set during their promotion any sale derived from that promotion should at the least receive the discounted ad rate offered. Leaving this omitted leaves one to believe that when the ad is over no further ad charges would be forth coming (Thus the bait and switch).