It's not a secret that Promoted Listings Advanced items and Standard items compete for the space in the search result page. Which would eBay prefer? It's a simple math.
Let's say a PLA item's bid for a click is $3, this is a guaranteed income for eBay. Another $100 PLS item sold for $100 at a 10% ad fee, and its conversion rate is 10%. Therefore, the expected value a click on this item would generate is $1. Of course eBay would prefer PLA items to PLS.
And this is what I have observed. I've been using PLS for years and it's been good to me. My listings often got displayed in the first page. But now, no, I don't see them any more. Seeing this and knowing the math, my next natural decision is of course to switch to PLA. But another math told me not to.
Let's say a $100 item, conversation rate is 10%, and the bid for a click is $3. This means I'd spend $30 to make one sale. Which means my profit margin for this $100-item has to be 30% to break even. I don't know about others, by my profit margin cannot be 30%.
So, in summary, eBay doesn't like PLS, and PLA doesn't work for me. I'm stuck. Anybody has the same dilemma?
