eBay

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-09-2023

I'm not making any big claims for this. I ran a tiny test simply because I was curious. A longer test, a test with more listings or different listings, etc, could well have a very different result. But, for what it's worth:

I chose four items, more or less at random. All long tail, single quantity items, none with watchers , and frankly, none with a high expectation of selling at the current price, regardless of PLS. They are long tail, not "hot" items.

OK, so I chose 4 items. I ran the PLS campaign from July 5th to today. So far today , I received no views and no sales. Impressions increased as each day passed.

However, the point of the test was to see what happened to the rates. I used the dynamic rate tool. I set the cap at 20%. I did not use the plus/minus tool.

On the day I listed, the recommended rates were : 1 at 7%, 1 at 10% and 2 at 11%.

Remember, my cap was 20%.

What happened to the rates?

NOTHING.

They did not go down, they did not go up. If even the highest rate had sold, it would have sold at 11%, not 20%.

Now, I'm not saying this "proves" much of anything. I might try running a longer test, with more items. I have seen rates go down and up in the past, so I know that happens.

The one thing I can say is: In this test, ebay did not push the rates up to the level of the cap.

I will make this point again:

IF you are not going to use PLS, then don't. I'm not trying to persuade anyone to use it or not.

IF you are going to use it, and IF you are going to use it at something other than 2 or 3%, definitely consider using Dynamic instead of Fixed Rate.

Consider this case: If I had foolishly chosen 20% fixed rate---and we know some sellers do this sort of thing---then any sale I got would have been charged 20% PLS----because that's what I chose.

But with the Dynamic Rate, in this case, even though my cap was 20%, I would have ended up paying 7%, 10% or 11%.

Aside from the convenience of setting the dynamic rate, this is a real advantage over fixed rate.

At a low rate, like 2 or 3%, it doesn't make much difference. But IF you are opting for a higher rate, I do recommend dynamic over flat....and of course, use the cap.

simply-the-best-for-you · ‎07-09-2023

I'm not at all surprised by your results, as I use dynamic rates too & have for several years. I've been very happy with it all this time.

I'm glad you posted your results though, as there are some here who insist that the rates never change &/or that the rates always uses you maximum. Neither of these are true & neither have ever been true, but the rumors persist.

Now, in my category, most of mine DO sell at or near my cap, but that's b/c of the competition in the category. But that will vary with categories. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

This one goes to Eleven - Nigel Tufnel

Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
eBay Seller since 1996

gurlcat · ‎07-09-2023

How about some after a little more time has passed -4 days with no change in suggested ad rate is not surprising. And if you really reeeeally want to sell the dynamic thing, screenshots are seriously not at all hard to do.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-09-2023

Not trying to "sell" it. I have screen shots, I see no need to post them as I've already summarized the results in the first post.

You say it is not surprising because of the short duration. Aren't you the one who says the rates just keep going up and up? So now that only happens if the duration is longer than 4 days?

As I said above, I have some other tests I intend to run. And anyone here who wants to run their own tests obviously is free to do so.

simply-the-best-for-you · ‎07-09-2023

Many of us don't need to run tests b/c we use it daily & know how it works.

This one goes to Eleven - Nigel Tufnel

Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
eBay Seller since 1996

gurlcat · ‎07-09-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

You say it is not surprising because of the short duration. Aren't you the one who says the rates just keep going up and up?

I don't just say it. I show it. That is the difference.

gurlcat · ‎07-09-2023

For those reading this thread and not aware of what I posted on the other one.
Suggested Ad Rate for an item on July 4th: 10.5%

And today, July 9th: 11.7%.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-10-2023

I have started a new test today...this one will run a bit longer (ends on the 19th) and I'm actually testing for something different. However, I'm using the same 4 items and do want to note that, as of today, the suggested rate for 3 items is no different than it had been. However, for the fourth item it has increased by one percentage point. The 10% item is now 11%.

I will post again at the completion of the test.

coolections · ‎07-10-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
I chose four items. All long tail, single quantity items, none with watchers , and frankly, none with a high expectation of selling. I ran the PLS campaign from July 5th to today. So far today , I received no views and no sales.

Of course you will have no views. You already said no one wants those items so never expect to magically get people to want them. I personally would just remove every one of the ones with zero views and donate to Salvation Army.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-10-2023

Thanks coolections...always appreciate your input.

There's a tiny possibility that you missed the point of the test, which was not to see if I got views or sales, but to see if the rates changed. Because the cap is high---20%---and I really have no strong desire to end up paying 20%---I chose items with no watchers and few views, items that are very long tail , the kind of item that usually sells only after that one person shows up who might be interested. In short, I was pretty much hoping the items would not sell.

I only mentioned no views and no sales to provide complete information about the test, not as some sort of criticism of PLS. I did not anticipate views or sales. I did anticipate an increase in impressions, and each item did have an increase in impressions. But, apparently, I should not have mentioned the views and sales at all, because it apparently confused some people about the purpose of the test.

mcdougle4248 · ‎07-17-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
@mcdougle4248 Yes, if I were setting up a regular dynamic campaign, I'd use a cap. But my little test suggests (but doesn't prove, of course) that , while a cap can reduce risk, going capless doesn't mean you are likely to suddenly find yourself selling at 50% or higher rates....

The cap reduces the risk, but the risk of most items leaping from, say, a 7% recommended rate to 90% if capless is pretty small to begin with.

Looking forward to seeing your results.

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques

I ended my last test campaign one day early because the results were so poor (no sales). This campaign started at 6% ad rate and was at 11% ad rate for 2 days prior to the end.

I started a new test campaign on July 13th. This test is using the standard Dynamic rates, without a cap. As you can see in the screenshot below, the new campaign is having much better results than the previous campaign. So far, the average sold ad rate is 10.34%. I am not seeing any crazy high rates (50% or more), however, I am keeping a close eye on this campaign just incase the rates take a sudden increase.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-17-2023

@mcdougle4248 Thanks for the update. I will be posting results of a new test on the 19th. I will say that this test has been running since the 10th, with a 20% cap and so far at no time have the rates come near the cap.