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.

[gjs_16]

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@ckimodog wrote:

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.

I sold a rosary once that stated in the title "not sterling" silver.  The buyer filed a NAD stating it was not real silver. They won and kept the item.  Case closed.  No matter how descriptive or detailed your description is...you'll never win.  They're out there in abundance.  Have a great day. 

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I will definitely never list what an item is NOT.

In fact that could be construed as search manipulation, via keyword spamming...

The buyer may not have seen the word "not..."
Sounds crazy but they're searching specifically for silver, your item shows in the results...

[vintagecraze50]

I  meant, 90’s, not 80’s. 

[valueaddedresource]

I haven't been able to find a lot of detail directly from eBay yet, but Teikametrics is an approved 3rd party partner and they shared some interesting insights in a recent blog post.

https://www.teikametrics.com/blog/how-to-use-ebays-promoted-listings-advanced/

The ads use keywords and operate on an exact match model with flexibility for variance. That means that shoppers who use common misspellings, abbreviations, synonyms, plurals, etc. will still be matched with your ad.

Even if keyword matching is limited by an exact match model as described there, I think those who've asked about negative keywords still have a very valid point.

There's plenty of room with "flexibility for variance" of misspellings, abbreviations, synonyms etc. that it's possible there could be keyword matches eBay thinks are relevant that sellers do not.  Sellers need to have the control to exclude specific matches to be able to optimize their ad spend.

[nuclearomen]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

I haven't been able to find a lot of detail directly from eBay yet, but Teikametrics is an approved 3rd party partner and they shared some interesting insights in a recent blog post.

https://www.teikametrics.com/blog/how-to-use-ebays-promoted-listings-advanced/

The ads use keywords and operate on an exact match model with flexibility for variance. That means that shoppers who use common misspellings, abbreviations, synonyms, plurals, etc. will still be matched with your ad.

Even if keyword matching is limited by an exact match model as described there, I think those who've asked about negative keywords still have a very valid point.

There's plenty of room with "flexibility for variance" of misspellings, abbreviations, synonyms etc. that it's possible there could be keyword matches eBay thinks are relevant that sellers do not.  Sellers need to have the control to exclude specific matches to be able to optimize their ad spend.

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Just wait, within a month we will start seeing threads on the boards here complaining how people lost all kinds of money on PLA - CPC fees... you know their coming! 

[valueaddedresource]

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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Just wait, within a month we will start seeing threads on the boards here complaining how people lost all kinds of money on PLA - CPC fees... you know their coming! 

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@nuclearomen  yep! Especially with that whole "a single sale will only be attributed to one campaign type but you could be charged fees for both campaign types in certain situations" being clear as mud and the fact that reporting initially will only have raw clicks, not automatically calculate average cpc, click through rate or conversion....I predict a whole lot of confusion and lost money in the coming months. 🙁

[vintagecraze50]

There are a lot of disclaimers in the telemetric blog, which is  understandable because use PPC is somewhat unpredictable. You must test different keywords etc until you see that the thing is working optimally. The price has a set limit which it good, but experimentation over time will still add to cost.  You do have to pay to test stuff on the market. 

[nuclearomen]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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@nuclearomen wrote:

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Just wait, within a month we will start seeing threads on the boards here complaining how people lost all kinds of money on PLA - CPC fees... you know their coming! 

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@nuclearomen  yep! Especially with that whole "a single sale will only be attributed to one campaign type but you could be charged fees for both campaign types in certain situations" being clear as mud and the fact that reporting initially will only have raw clicks, not automatically calculate average cpc, click through rate or conversion....I predict a whole lot of confusion and lost money in the coming months. 🙁

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even though ebay says that if land on PLA but go back later and buy from PLS or vise verse, they still get charge the CPC on that PLA (obviously) but you know ebay can basically charge what they want and really no way to know the better. Everyone here has basically said this is a promotional marketing that takes a lot of thought and strategy, anyone attempting to use PLA better chalk up on their knowledge of how it works and how to use it effectively as possible. 

[nuclearomen]

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@vintagecraze50 wrote:

There are a lot of disclaimers in the telemetric blog, which is  understandable because use PPC is somewhat unpredictable. You must test different keywords etc until you see that the thing is working optimally. The price has a set limit which it good, but experimentation over time will still add to cost.  You do have to pay to test stuff on the market. 

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indeed, and mistakes can be costly. Something like this, ebay should be literally giving some kind of training for sellers, not give "PLA are here, here is (somewhat) how the cost works, start a campaign by following these 4 steps, thanks for your generous donations" (the short version lol). 

[katzrul15]

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@gjs_16 wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

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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!

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Oh but the worst part is that those extra 6 others are not necessarily the exact same thing, quite often they are similar items but when precision is essential those extra listings can easily result in a SNAD when a buyer doesn't bother to truly read through (and don't we all know buyers who don't read the entire listing).

Sorry to hijack, had to say that.

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@gjs_16 

No hijack at all - sing it loud.....you are 1000% correct.  It is so darn annoying.  And has to contribute to the immediate cancellations we all get.  Buyers are poor at comparison shopping, so e-bay does it for them.  Yay!

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@nuclearomen I've long favored a rule of "no new tools released without tutorials released at the same time (not 6 months later, or never). And just a basic "how to", but a tutorial with information on how to best use the tool effectively. 

However, I'm a realist. Even if ebay provided that, there are plenty of sellers who would try PLA without ever watching the tutorial. As this Board proves repeatedly, there are plenty of sellers who never look at ebay updates, who  never have never looked at ebay's fee structure or policies until way too late, etc. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

My hope is that this particular tool is just complicated enough...and scary enough...."Wait, I'd be paying for CLICKS, not for the sale???? No way...." that the people who won't do the due diligence will just stay away from it. 

The people who will ultimately use this successfully will be the people who actually invest the time and money into developing a good strategy. 

[vintagecraze50]

Correct. You must understand how this type of marketing tool really works and how to optimize your return in investment so to speak. You do not gamble with a sound investment. You make informed decisions and you research well. Yes, there should be a very detailed tutorial for this strategy here.

[nuclearomen]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@nuclearomen I've long favored a rule of "no new tools released without tutorials released at the same time (not 6 months later, or never).

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Unfortunately, ebay excels at releasing new tools and features with zero tutorials or any useful help from CS. The constant point to "Help" sections are as useful as having a hammer but no nail. 3 years of PLS and yet never once have they supplied proper discloser of how to most effectively use the feature and make campaigns that co-inside with the tools algorithm and ebay search for optimum success using it. Everything is figure it out yourself or ask community for help... or google and hope there is some 3rd party website that can help explain how something works and best ways to use it. Now granted PLS isn't exactly rocket science and is pretty easy to use. But it's still requires users of it to "poke and hope" using it.  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@nuclearomen Well, with tools like this, to some extent "poke and hope" (as in "test") is inevitable. Just look at how many sellers will tell you to do this to be successful with PLS, and others will tell you to do something else. These sellers are often contradicting one another, yet they aren't necessarily wrong....the strategy that works best for one seller is not necessarily the strategy that works best for another, since we all have different business models. And when it comes to advertising, testing is normal. And yes, since testing will often involve some tests that don't do as well as others, you need to be willing to budget the time and money to it in advance.....

That said, We agree that ebay could do a much better job of providing the hows and whys of actually running tests, what sort of benchmarks are industry standard, etc. So yes, ebay should do more (I haven't really looked closely at the ebay Seller School, maybe they actually cover some of this type of stuff in the more advanced courses)..But at the same time, ebay sellers need to take responsibility for their own business....and if that means coming here, or elsewhere on the Web , for some guidance about how to use tools, they need to DO that. As a seller, it's ultimately MY job to make sure I know what I'm doing.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@nuclearomen PLA hasn't actually launched yet (at least, to the general seller populace), but it looks like there will be at least some kind of tutorials when it launches...this is from today's podcast transcript:

"For the cost per click, It definitely is more advanced. If you have some knowledge around keywords and targeting, I would say it's a really good fit to really scale your business and to be competitive. It really is a competitive play. And obviously there is more involved with planning and setting something like that up and really having the right data around how to target. But thankfully we have a lot of educational tools to help sellers figure out how they can actually participate and Promoted Listings Advanced and how that can make sense for them like Ad Academy and trainings that we have, seller education. We have a lot of resources to really explain in greater detail how that works and how that could apply to their business model. But of course, if margin is a consideration, Promoted Listing Standard is a great option."

Don't bother looking for "Ad Academy".....I checked with ebay and it hasn't actually launched yet, but it will be a course in ebay's Seller School. I'd guess it will launch about the time PLA launches.

[valueaddedresource]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@nuclearomen PLA hasn't actually launched yet (at least, to the general seller populace), but it looks like there will be at least some kind of tutorials when it launches...this is from today's podcast transcript:

"For the cost per click, It definitely is more advanced. If you have some knowledge around keywords and targeting, I would say it's a really good fit to really scale your business and to be competitive. It really is a competitive play. And obviously there is more involved with planning and setting something like that up and really having the right data around how to target. But thankfully we have a lot of educational tools to help sellers figure out how they can actually participate and Promoted Listings Advanced and how that can make sense for them like Ad Academy and trainings that we have, seller education. We have a lot of resources to really explain in greater detail how that works and how that could apply to their business model. But of course, if margin is a consideration, Promoted Listing Standard is a great option."

Don't bother looking for "Ad Academy".....I checked with ebay and it hasn't actually launched yet, but it will be a course in ebay's Seller School. I'd guess it will launch about the time PLA launches.

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques  It's been available for sellers who use the API and certain third party listing management partners like ChannelAdvisor, Frooition, and others since June I believe.

What's slowly rolling out now is access to it directly through the Ad dashboard in Seller Hub.