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.

[this*old*attic]

I think I turned in my cheerleader card over this one.

One of the blues specifically said regular PL would still be there.

So obviously this Promoted PLUS (which is no different than HBO plus or AMC Plus) means pecan just pay more to be seen better.

I’ve avoided diversifying but now I am.

This is just unacceptable given my shrinking margins and low sales.

[katzrul15]

@this*old*attic 

For us, when we do not use PLs, our sales on here lag, sloth thru.  When our campaigns are working well, so are our sales.  But we never use their "suggested" percentages for the campaigns - ours are much, much lower and we still seem to do fine.

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.

This ^^^^  

I am pretty confident I do not have a budget for this.  And at least now, all Sellers, were on a more level playing field with PLs, etc.  Those who can pay to play, will - smaller sellers will likely not be able to afford to compete in the same way.  

And this starts the end of September.  For those of us with significant dollars tied up in inventory to be ready for the Holidays, this is concerning.  As a Seller, I need more bang for what I am already paying for - not pay ADDITIONAL to just try to compete/be seen.  ☹️

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

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

No, I don't think so. At least, not for my business. I sell mostly used, vintage, antiques...basically one offs, with little or no new, multi-quantity listings. I use PL Standard, and see no reason to use PLA....in fact, at least at this point, I'm not sure my listings would meet the eligibility requirements if I did want to use PLA. 

PLA is all about top search placement in search. I think that's very important for many new, multi-quantity listings, but not nearly as important for my kind of stuff. I strongly suspect most of my PLS sales are a result of my items being shown on pages other than search result pages.

So, at this point, my plan is just to continue to run PLS campaigns as I've been doing.

[nuclearomen]

PL "Standard" remains. PL "Advanced" is a choice if sellers want it. As I said before, PL Advanced will need to be actually thought out before using, sellers of lots of listings and quantity for each item will be more ideal for Advanced listings because no one should be paying per click for something they only have 1 or 2 of an item..unless they are perhaps a big ticket item (expensive). But because people read the announcement as "get top spots in search" they auto think they are doomed for Advanced PL users...not so. Because Advance will require a budget the seller must enter how much they are willing to invest per click...per click means not much if the item doesn't sell, that translate to "Free Money For Ebay" - without using the option I cannot say for sure, but taken from my understanding...ebay will charge per click, so the budget the seller enters will determine how often that Advanced listing will even show on ebay search, could work to seller used their budget for a day for listing to show cause it was clicked on that many times and no sale - or sale but was it enough to justify the cost they are paying for that slot in search?  

As PL have been there hasn't been really any to no strategy to it, simply create campaign, enter the listings you wish to promote, enter a election percentage and start the campaign. Advanced will indeed need to take a strategy, force the seller to really look and figure the math, look at the item and if it's in demand, the competition it faces to other sellers, the cost they pay for the item, the price they ask, the profit to be potential and then the cost to promote it through Advanced and the cost per click... how much money is seller willing to pay and potentially loose by doing it. 

[mr_lincoln]

@katzrul15   Sellers will really have to crunch numbers and build some spreadsheet models to see the impact of their settings.  In basic terms this is paying to advertise your item(s).  It sounds like you have to determine ahead of time how much you are willing to spend to PROMOTE your item(s) with NO guarantee that they will sell.   

This may work for some items, BUT Sellers are going to have to be really careful on how they do this ... I cringe thinking of the threads about Sellers who made a mistake only to learn that Selling their $ 100.00 item it cost them $ 200 in PL Fees ...

[katzrul15]

@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.

[katzrul15]

---

@mr_lincoln wrote:

@katzrul15   Sellers will really have to crunch numbers and build some spreadsheet models to see the impact of their settings.  In basic terms this is paying to advertise your item(s).  It sounds like you have to determine ahead of time how much you are willing to spend to PROMOTE your item(s) with NO guarantee that they will sell.   

This may work for some items, BUT Sellers are going to have to be really careful on how they do this ... I cringe thinking of the threads about Sellers who made a mistake only to learn that Selling their $ 100.00 item it cost them $ 200 in PL Fees ...

---

@mr_lincoln 

Yes, exactly.  And there will be many variables you will not have access to the data or info (i.e.  how many are you "exactly" competing against for the "buy box" at any given time??)  

We have sold on Amazon since '06.  I understand competing for the "buy box" and especially against Amazon when they resource it against me as a Seller.  Just consistently sell something there and control the buy box and suddenly, Amazon will obtain the item and sell it against you.  They use their data against you as a Seller as they are a Seller, selling against you daily.  (Hunger Games, Amazon-style)

This will be a game changer, especially for those with a budget to make this happen.  From e-Bay Live, I envisioned something slightly different.  If I had the budget for something like this, I would be excited about the ability to try this out.  Would need to develop a plan for Risk/Reward and ultimate ROI (advertising investment), etc.

Was really hoping this was more 1st quarter 2022 after the Holiday Season.  

[nuclearomen]

---

@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.

---

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. 

[nuclearomen]

---

@katzrul15 wrote:

---

We have sold on Amazon since '06.  I understand competing for the "buy box" and especially against Amazon when they resource it against me as a Seller.  Just consistently sell something there and control the buy box and suddenly, Amazon will obtain the item and sell it against you.  They use their data against you as a Seller as they are a Seller, selling against you daily.  (Hunger Games, Amazon-style)

---

This is one advantage to selling on ebay, ebay doesn't sell anything to cutthroat a seller with a popular item...it's left the sellers to compete.

---

This will be a game changer, especially for those with a budget to make this happen.  From e-Bay Live, I envisioned something slightly different.  If I had the budget for something like this, I would be excited about the ability to try this out.  Would need to develop a plan for Risk/Reward and ultimate ROI (advertising investment), etc.

---

I don't think so, really I do not. This Advanced can be a huge risk. At any given moment what you though you were the only on ebay with suddenly turns to 15 other sellers have and the prices are low to high to everything in between. The product must be in demand, keep that demand, have a price better then all others, and seller has to commit a budget for it to work. All IMO of course, but I'm not worried about Advanced PL sellers. 

[katzrul15]

@nuclearomen 

Right now I can view on each listing the number of views (clicks), watchers, etc.

Once an item sells, is there a report or a way to know what the "clicks" were per item?  Just wondering what my "average" view/click per item is before it sells.  Even if it is by item type (action figures, ornaments/seasonal, etc).  I am betting it is higher than I think it is.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@nuclearomen  I agree. And I think the sellers most impacted by this will be the larger sellers of new items competing against one another---they already do that, this is just another tool they can use to compete. I think most smaller sellers will be able to safely ignore it. If a small sellers is using PLS with success, I'd advise continuing to use PLS.  

[nuclearomen]

---

@katzrul15 wrote:

@nuclearomen 

Right now I can view on each listing the number of views (clicks), watchers, etc.

Once an item sells, is there a report or a way to know what the "clicks" were per item?  Just wondering what my "average" view/click per item is before it sells.  Even if it is by item type (action figures, ornaments/seasonal, etc).  I am betting it is higher than I think it is.

---

you mean how? I simply go by the amount of clicks shown on active listings, watchers etc... I don't waste time downloading reports, I know what I have up, how long i've had it up, how many clicks listing has had, how many watchers etc... I sell in a category can't tell others sellers why I do things the way i do or know the things I know with my items. But 30+ years involved in extreme metal I just know all this advanced PL stuff etc... means nothing for me. Knowing a market and the buyers is everything, no PL in the world that can change it.

[flyingmvp]

So.... Ebay introduced the "Promoted Listings"  to collect more money from sellers who were willing to pay even more on top of the store fees, final value fees, 30 cent per sale processing fees etc'.

If you are not paying, you will not be seen, as much.

The promoted listings helped to increase the sales of the lowest tiered sellers selling the lowest tiered items with their bad handling of sales, bad customer service that led to Negative feedback that drove the disappointing,  disgruntled buyers away to other selling venues.

good established sellers with solid selling history and customer service were pushed aside.

Now they are coming with the even more expensive Promoted listings.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ebay-delivers-mixed-q2-amid-decline-in-its-active-buyer-base/

Looking good Ebay, what's next?

[nuclearomen]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@nuclearomen  I agree. And I think the sellers most impacted by this will be the larger sellers of new items competing against one another---they already do that, this is just another tool they can use to compete. I think most smaller sellers will be able to safely ignore it. If a small sellers is using PLS with success, I'd advise continuing to use PLS.  

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques that's pretty much my assessment. Like said, we don't know, need time to see how these Advance PL will impact things, or if the whole thing is even successful. I don't see majority of smaller sellers using this option, either they have money to burn or they don't and I believe right now, no one really has or is willing to risk committing large budget to a gamble... because that is what it is, a gamble.