Promoted Listings Advanced

[katzrul15]

Have read thru this a couple of times.  

Will this mean that PLs as we know them now will essentially be worthless/not effective?

A little concerning as we use PLs quite a bit currently.  Not certain our budget can work for the PL Advanced or that I have a "daily" budget for PL Advanced?

Thoughts?  

How Promoted Listings AdvancedBETA works

Promoted Listings AdvancedBETA is based on a cost-per-click model. You start by deciding how much each keyword and click is worth to you. Next, you bid to target placements at the top of eBay search results. Top placements show your listings to buyers right when they’re looking for your items across all experiences on eBay, including desktop, mobile, and the eBay app.

With this new type of campaign, you’ll be able to:

• Bid for the top slot in search using keyword and budget controls, and pay per click.
• Select the keywords that matter to you.
• Set a daily budget for additional control.

To set up your first campaign, go to the Seller Hub Marketing tab. You can create a new campaign within the Advertising dashboard by following these simple steps:

1. Name your campaign.
2. Choose dates and a daily budget.
3. Name your Ad Group.
4. Add your listings and keywords to the Ad Group.
5. Select a maximum cost-per-click for the keywords, displayed as “CPC bids” in the tool.

Review your campaign after you complete these steps.

Top tips

• Use features like suggested keywords and bids to help you set up effective campaigns.
• Include high-quality listings in your campaign with complete and accurate item specifics and great photos for the best chance of gaining high visibility. In addition to your bid, factors including keyword relevancy, listing quality, competition, and daily budget determine whether your ad will appear in the number one position.
• Use the daily budget feature to manage your ad spend.

You can also use both Promoted Listings Standard and Advanced together to help achieve maximum visibility for your ad placements across the eBay network, and utilize both budget approaches for your ad spend.

Coming later this month—Promoted Listings AdvancedBETA

Starting at the end of this month, Promoted Listings AdvancedBETA will be available to all eligible Promoted Listings sellers. If you’re eligible, you’ll be able to opt in to Promoted Listings AdvancedBETA to start bidding for the highly coveted top spot in the search results, as soon as it’s accessible.

All existing Promoted Listings campaigns will automatically be renamed Promoted Listings Standard campaigns, without you having to do anything. The only changes will be to the name and attribution logic.

[katzrul15]

I used to think that after almost 20 years - but this year turned everything upside down for us as a Seller.  The category changes for us, we still have not recovered from.  If buyers cannot find, well....it does not sell.

There has been a shift on here this year, not only with Buyers, but buying habits, etc.  We have always had amazing Halloween sales on e-Bay.  Not this year.  Never had this happen before.  We just finally these past 2 months, got into a solid rhythm.  A good one. 

I hope you are correct - my window to make 2021 a great one is narrowing.  

[nuclearomen]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

I used to think that after almost 20 years - but this year turned everything upside down for us as a Seller.  The category changes for us, we still have not recovered from.  If buyers cannot find, well....it does not sell.

There has been a shift on here this year, not only with Buyers, but buying habits, etc.  We have always had amazing Halloween sales on e-Bay.  Not this year.  Never had this happen before.  We just finally these past 2 months, got into a solid rhythm.  A good one. 

I hope you are correct - my window to make 2021 a great one is narrowing. 

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i don't pay attention to the year we are in after half the year has past already. I am always looking 6 months to a year ahead. What I'll be doing, how i will be doing it, what and how much I'll be carrying etc...etc... 

[Anonymous]

It's pretty much another money rake for the house.

This is what eBay does instead of concentrating on the bugs and real snafus that need fixed on the site.

Come to think of it though, they do need to make up for the revenue lost by booting PWCC from the platform.

[katzrul15]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It's pretty much another money rake for the house.

This is what eBay does instead of concentrating on the bugs and real snafus that need fixed on the site.

Come to think of it though, they do need to make up for the revenue lost by booting PWCC from the platform.

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Youch!  You are probably right!  

[mr_lincoln]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

@nuclearomen 

Okay - then this new Stores promotion needs to work for the Store I am paying for, as it is doubtful PL Advanced will ever be in my budget.  We have multiples and our items are new, but having 10 or 15 of something and having 250 of something is very different.  One more way, the smaller/small-ish Seller is going to find it harder to compete on here.

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Idk what your doing for store promotion...but as for Advanced PL I don't see it that way. I can't say for as I haven't used them, and I would say need a quarter to actually see how these Advanced play out and effect things. But I do agree if you have 1-2 of item or small quantity it may not be worth using the Advanced...depends on what seller figures is not only doable for a budget but also if they can afford to loose that budget for no sales... just because someone uses PL doesn't mean they sell their item(s)... Advanced will be same, just sellers get charged per click... well I know from experience as any seller should, listings get clicked on all the time, and no sales happen for long time on an item. I have item that went 500+ clicks til it sold...clicks/watchers = no meaning... it literally means nothing unless a buyer clicks that "Buy Now" or Bid or whatever button. Large corp sellers will use this Advanced option - you can count on that for sure, but if that has any real effect on majority of smaller sellers sales...well yet to be seen, but I'm going to go further and say, no, it won't matter. 

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@katzrul15, @nuclearomen   I will often get a Buyer message me when they find one item and ask "what else do you have in this line" or "I'm looking for more from this manufacturer" etc.   It's like, can't you see the two links on THAT listing to either see other items or visit the store?  If eBay made those links more prominent we (collectively) might not be having half this conversation.

[nuclearomen]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

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@katzrul15, @nuclearomen   I will often get a Buyer message me when they find one item and ask "what else do you have in this line" or "I'm looking for more from this manufacturer" etc.   It's like, can't you see the two links on THAT listing to either see other items or visit the store?  If eBay made those links more prominent we (collectively) might not be having half this conversation.

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@mr_lincoln lol, i never get mails like that...I do get mails time to time from buyers asking me how many i actually have (because I only list 1 quantity at a time), will i get more of something they were watching that i sold, will i get (insert band/title here), can I get (insert band/title here) for this $$ much instead of what it's listed for. 

Ebay is suppose to be doing some stuff for stores next month, don't ask me what that will mean anything or make any difference from now but there you go - happy seller update. 

[katzrul15]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

@nuclearomen 

Okay - then this new Stores promotion needs to work for the Store I am paying for, as it is doubtful PL Advanced will ever be in my budget.  We have multiples and our items are new, but having 10 or 15 of something and having 250 of something is very different.  One more way, the smaller/small-ish Seller is going to find it harder to compete on here.

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Idk what your doing for store promotion...but as for Advanced PL I don't see it that way. I can't say for as I haven't used them, and I would say need a quarter to actually see how these Advanced play out and effect things. But I do agree if you have 1-2 of item or small quantity it may not be worth using the Advanced...depends on what seller figures is not only doable for a budget but also if they can afford to loose that budget for no sales... just because someone uses PL doesn't mean they sell their item(s)... Advanced will be same, just sellers get charged per click... well I know from experience as any seller should, listings get clicked on all the time, and no sales happen for long time on an item. I have item that went 500+ clicks til it sold...clicks/watchers = no meaning... it literally means nothing unless a buyer clicks that "Buy Now" or Bid or whatever button. Large corp sellers will use this Advanced option - you can count on that for sure, but if that has any real effect on majority of smaller sellers sales...well yet to be seen, but I'm going to go further and say, no, it won't matter. 

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@katzrul15, @nuclearomen   I will often get a Buyer message me when they find one item and ask "what else do you have in this line" or "I'm looking for more from this manufacturer" etc.   It's like, can't you see the two links on THAT listing to either see other items or visit the store?  If eBay made those links more prominent we (collectively) might not be having half this conversation.

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If e-Bay would make MY/YOUR listings more prominent when an item is viewed and not those of our competitors, it might also connect those dots.  It burns my biscuits that instead of a buyer seeing more of what I/YOU might have, e-Bay shows them 6 others, usually cheaper or whatever, of the exact same thing.  Goodie.  Got them to my listings and now e-Bay wants to show them the Seller Buffet selling against me/you.  Yay.  Not!

[coffeebean832]

The way I read it is that PLA applies only to the top search spot- for now. I wouldn't be surprised if they expanded it to the top 3 like you see on Amazon.

PLS still takes the other placement spots- in search, in e-mails, in those bars on listings, on the page they show you after you send a message to someone, etc.

[Anonymous]

In that case, I'd prefer to just keep using PLS that shows your item in many places as apposed to PLA which will be a seller's bidding war for the number one spot, right ?

Seller A will pay 3 cents per click to be shown at number one spot.

Sellers B & C bid 2 cents per click and hold spots 2 & 3.

Seller D doesn't want to invest much just to try it out and bids 1 cent per click at number 4 spot.

Haven't sellers B-D wasted their money to not get the number one spot ?

Then seller E comes in, he's a big spender and bids 5 cents per click and displaces them all.......

Yep, eBay will make back that PWCC revenue and be in the black in no time.

[gjs_16]

That is unfortunate...

Eaby truly would be better off spending some serious cash and resources on straightening up the CODE.

Even just one time, sure it would fall apart again in time but the gains would be a good 50% in traffic.

Instead, and like I said it is unfortunate...

And the reason it's unfortunate is because paid placement translates to incentivized results.

It's bad, from a buyer's perspective this only adds to confusion.

As for the sellers, I've tried PPC (pay per click) before...

Word of advice:  You can rack up serious charges in very short order.

Clicks are not sales, it is doubtful they would improve actual conversion rates, I would think if anything it will make that get worse... But eaby doesn't care now if your conversion rate is abysmal, since you're paying for it all...

And that's what this is, another sad money grab.

The first Paid Promotion isn't a terrible idea, except perhaps buyers are not being given what they want upfront, but rather they have to know the system better than ever or get ripped off...

In ways I don't mind...

But it doesn't spell good tidings for e-commerce.

Rather reminds me of the reasons behind the dotcom crash.

Anyone here remember Goclick, Overture?

[swappart]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

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I will often get a Buyer message me when they find one item and ask "what else do you have in this line" or "I'm looking for more from this manufacturer" etc.   It's like, can't you see the two links on THAT listing to either see other items or visit the store?  If eBay made those links more prominent we (collectively) might not be having half this conversation.

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I have buyers ask me stupid questions about items when the answer is right in the description or title.

Example:  

Buyer: Does this part work for models with cruise control.

Title: Something, Yada Yada Yada... For Models With Cruise Control Only.

Me: How much clearer can I make this?

What really gets me is the "Is this still available?"

The listing says it's available right?

I think there are just some really dumb buyers out there.

If I had a dollar for everytime I didn't say what I wanted to say in response to a stupid question, I would be rich.

[swappart]

We're already paying 12.5% + 30 cents. I don't have a problem with standard promoted listings. I promote everything at 3%, which is less than half of eBay's suggestion, and maybe 20% of my sales come from that. Who knows how many I would have gotten anyway, but my profit ratios are high enough that I don't worry about it. This PL advanced is just a way for eBay to get paid when things don't sell. I think they're making this all way too complicated. Every 3 months we have to adapt to some new changes that some person who probably hasn't sold anything in his life thinks is the next great idea. I miss the good old days when you just listed something with a good price, waited for it to sell, and shipped it. eBay's greed and constant changes are going to be their downfall. I'm not going anywhere, but this is all really getting kind of crazy if you ask me.

[gracieallen01]

Reading over this and other comments, I wonder if it is going to become a 'weapon' to use against the competition?  Lots of pay-per-clicks and no sales.

[oldwestgold]

This obviously is just a further effort by eBay to squeeze out the little to medium sellers. eBay continues to add to their different exclusive "clubs", which means if you don't have the money to buy into the good ol' boys club, you are SOL. They continue to do this with special seller recognitions for coin sellers. Normally to join these 'clubs" you have to pay high monthly fees.  One such phony "club" is Roundtable for coin dealers. I looked into this and it was over $300 per month just for dues. There are several other 'clubs and special recognitions that eBay provides a few dealers which does nothing but squeeze out the little man and create a totally unlevel playing field. These gold stars mean nothing. Do they care? Nah. They like the extra money from these PL, tiers, gold stars or whatever you want to call them that THEY assign to a select few sellers. Money and the continued squeeze out of the smaller operations, me included. As one poster put it, their bottom line continues to erode due to eBay hikes, eBay playing these games, Postage increases, service decreases, commissions on sales tax and shipping, etc. What to do about it?  Nothing you can do. I continue to realize this after selling on eBay since they began over 20 years ago. I'm fortunate that my retail sales days are coming to an end.  I pity any young seller trying to make a buck here. I know if I was thinking of starting here, I would pass. Too many rules and regs, little CS support, scams with no eBay support, and never ending change that negatively impacts your bottom line. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Anonymous]

I hope everyone understands what an AGGRESSIVE money grab PLA will be.

It will ruin new sellers who don't fully grasp the concept.

I have found that PL is fully functional at the minimum 1%. Items are shown just as much and as many times as using a higher percentage. Anything above 1% is a complete waste of money.

50%-60% of listings I promote sell through the promotion. I doubt anyone else is doing much better at higher percentages.

That being said, PLA is an even bigger lie and waste of seller's money.