Promoted Listings - An Experiment (Again)

[crescentstation]

I have tried Promoted Listings once or twice in the past, with literally no success. Since things have been so S-L-O-W, I decided to promote 5 listings for miniature tractor-trailer flatbed trucks (I sell mostly to HO Scale model railroaders) that were just introduced earlier this month and should be very popular because they are for well-known trucking company names and of reasonably good quality. Let's see where it goes.....

Because, although some folks on these boards think that business is slow due to winter, customer apathy, tax season, the groundhog, you name it, I still think the lack of item visibility with EBay searches, combined with any lack of Buyer urgency due to GTC, are the culprits.  My sales are down quite a bit from years past, and although some of the decline is of my own doing (i.e. listing less), it just doesn't seem right.

Film at 11 (or more likely sometime after March 1st)!

[pburn]

I'd take a look at your listings, but I use an ad blocker that filters out all the promoted/sponsored listings on eBay, so I'll never see them.

[steelernation2007]

I think it's slow from everything that you mentioned, besides the groundhog. Specifically, buyers are just window shopping and adding items to their watch list, maybe only to pass time. They may not ever actually come back and buy the item. To them it may be a list of favorite items they like, but not enough to buy. I believe this because when I send out offers, there's never a response.

[loveyourimagination49]

Have you tried listing auctions? I noticed you only have 2. If you promoted to your niche, that you were having an eBay auction on such x date for (your items) prior to the date on social media, it may work.
“last one” that shows in red on your listings is a big turn off for me. May be an eBay thing.
Good Luck

[mvls1]

My results from trying promoted listings was almost the same as yours. We had 1 sale from a couple hundred listings we promoted with multiple accounts. Our overall sales on those accounts we used for the test fell during the period the test was running.

I can't say for sure that the overall drop in sales was caused by using promoted listings, but the results were enough for us to end the promotions. We have had better results using markdown manager.

[disneyshopper]

“last one” that shows in red on your listings is a big turn off for me. May be an eBay thing.

Yes, ebay inserts that statement on a multiple quantity listing when all is sold except for the last one.  It's suppose to help sell that last item.

[loveyourimagination49]

It’s never the last one. It’s like the “going out of business” sales that last for 5 years. It’s a bunch a carpolla. JMO.

[oldwestgold]

Your listings are very nice showing great photos and detail.  Promoted listings I have found are usually for the impulse buyers. Just my experience. Since you state some of your items are for example well-known trucking firms, try adding a second category if out there for commercial advertising, promo advertising or ? where people may be searching for those firm names and not HO related items specifically. Keep trying out-of-the-box ideas to mix it up to see if anything works. You might want to bump the price up on a few to compensate for free shipping. Some people will refuse to even look at an item unless the seller offers free shipping nowadays. Just throwing my thoughts out there as I have been on eBay since 2000. Hang in there, we are all managing with fewer sales. Good luck!

[crescentstation]

Thanks for the various suggestions. We normally have about a 50/50 split between auctions and Buy It Now, but just happen to be in a lull for single auction items at this time. "Last One" is an EBay thing that we do not control. If an item is truly a "Last One" (for example a long-discontinued product of which we have 1 available), we would put that in the listing description. Second categories are nice, but cost more $$$. I should mention we have been at this 34 years, almost 20 on eBay.

I also recently did a series of "Free Shipping" listings on some 3D-printed detail parts, which are light in weight, with underwhelming results. Most of my key competitors do not do free shipping.