Promoted Listings Express For Auctions?

[valueaddedresource]

I know the big buzz right now is about Promoted Listings Advanced cost per click ads, but this post, and the answer from the ads teams, made me curious if Promoted Listings Express is live now as well and if so, has anyone here been using it?

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Promotional-fees/m-p/32288155 

One interesting thing I noticed was this page says in one spot it's for "consumer to consumer sellers". 

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/listing-and-marketing/promoted-listings-express.html#m22_tb_a1_... 

I asked on that other thread if that means sellers with a personal account only, not a business account.  If it does, that would seem very odd to me since I would think there would be plenty of business sellers, who may be interested in being able to promote their auctions, especially in collectibles.

Apparently it's currently only available through the app and it sounds like it's very different from the other types of promoted listings - you aren't shown the option to promote until after you list the item and it is a tiered flat rate fee based on category and length of auction.

How Promoted Listings Express works
When you promote your listings with Promoted Listings Express, you’ll pay a flat fee upfront to place your listing as a sponsored ad on similar listings. When a buyer clicks on the sponsored ad, they’ll be taken to your listing.

Fees for using Promoted Listings Express
Your Express ad fee will depend on the length of your auction-style listing and the category you select when listing your item. When promoting your listing, you will see the fee clearly stated before confirming your purchase, and will be charged immediately.

Express ad fees will be listed on your Transactions page within the Payments section in My eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/listing-tips/promoted-listings-express?id=5277&st=12&pos=... 

Maybe I'm missing something but it would seem to me to be awfully risky to pay an upfront flat fee just for possible impressions (not even clicks, let alone an actual sale) especially when you have no way to know how much the final bid is going to be.

I'm really curious what sellers who use auctions think of how this is set up.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I haven't used it, I don't run many auctions, and apparently it's only available with the app (for now)...but frankly, the info provided on the page is simply insufficient. Depending on the flat price, I could see using this for some items, but at this point, until ebay provides more info, and makes it available on a PC, I probably won't use it.

[katzrul15]

We do not use Auctions. 

So this is e-Bay's answer to jump-starting Auctions for Sellers??

Makes no sense.  Buyers want it now.  Like yesterday.  smh

[stacy_pme]

Yes, exactly, thank you for the way you worded this point.  It made me realize I didn't need that new "option" 🙂

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I can see some value in this, but the devil is in the details, and the page doesn't provide enough details. I don't think this is to "jump start" auctions....I think it is simply to increase the chance that an auction will get multiple bids. Once ebay provides enough information, I'd be willing to experiment with it, but until then...I've got enough on my plate.

[valueaddedresource]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

I can see some value in this, but the devil is in the details, and the page doesn't provide enough details. I don't think this is to "jump start" auctions....I think it is simply to increase the chance that an auction will get multiple bids. Once ebay provides enough information, I'd be willing to experiment with it, but until then...I've got enough on my plate.

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques I agree there could be some value in this for some sellers, but honestly that's why the part about "consumer to consumer seller" baffled me a bit.

If that does mean specifically sellers with personal accounts vs business accounts, that wouldn't make a lot of sense to me because I would think business accounts would probably find more value and/or have the margins to be able to consider this type of advertising.

Hopefully that's one of many things they will add more detail on soon.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@valueaddedresource 

If I were going to guess, I'd say that the reference to "Consumer to Consumer" sellers might simply be the result of ebay feeling most auctions are conducted by consumer sellers. If ebay is actually restricting it to "consumer" sellers, then I too am baffled. 

But the description of the tool is so poor ..... one can only hope they'll revise it soon.

[valueaddedresource]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques  - I got an answer from eBay on this, but I'm still just kind of baffled. I was told it’s currently available in the app listing flows if you are a seller that uses MyEbay (vs. Seller Hub).

So it's not personal vs business account specifically, it's apparently only determined by whether or not you use Seller Hub.  There might be a lot of overlap there though as I would guess most business account sellers are using the hub - but I'm not sure on that one.

@coffeebean832 had asked about that part in another thread, but adsteam@ebay never answered.

I'll be honest I mostly stayed out of the big debates a while back about the new "all selling" page because I only use Seller Hub, so I'm not 100% sure but wasn't that being migrated to Seller Hub too or is it still separate, just different from the old "all selling page"?

Either way, it still seems odd to me to limit Promoted Listings for auctions only to sellers not using Seller Hub - they've been pushing people to switch to the hub for years, it seems short sighted to cut them out of this one. 🤔

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@valueaddedresource  If I had to guess, I'd guess they are doing that because it's a little like starting PLA with a limited number of sellers using third party tools...it's a manageable testing ground. Also, I think most My eBay users are more casual sellers, and ebay has always believed they are more likely to use auctions.

I suspect they will (as they did with PLA) eventually expand the availability. I don't do a lot of auctions, so I'm willing to wait till they do that.

[vintage-camerastuff]

Seldom if ever use auctions anymore.  If I did I wouldn't pay extra for promoted listings.

[coffeebean832]

@valueaddedresource- So then it sounds like this is app-specific? My eBay for sellers is a thing of the past. "All Selling" from My eBay was integrated into Seller Hub. If sellers that use "All Selling" can access PLE that would be interesting to learn. Maybe I'll create a test auction to see if I can access PLE through All Selling and/or through the app. If I have time this weekend I'll do that and report back.

[valueaddedresource]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

@valueaddedresource- So then it sounds like this is app-specific? My eBay for sellers is a thing of the past. "All Selling" from My eBay was integrated into Seller Hub. If sellers that use "All Selling" can access PLE that would be interesting to learn. Maybe I'll create a test auction to see if I can access PLE through All Selling and/or through the app. If I have time this weekend I'll do that and report back.

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@coffeebean832  yes, it is app specific so if you are going to test, definitely do the whole listing through the app.

My understanding is if you are above standard or top rated, have recent sales history, and don't use seller hub (which, I agree with you, is still very confusing but at this point I'm assuming they mean All Selling), the option to promote the auction is supposed to be presented to you after you list the item.

In theory it should pop up right after you list the item and/or you should have some kind of prompt that says "promote it" when you are looking at your active listings.

I'm really interested to see what kind of rates they show - it says it's based on category and length of auction, so it doesn't sound like starting bid price is a factor?

Can't wait to hear what you find out if you do test it.

[coffeebean832]

Darn- so I'd have to create the listing using the app. I can't create it in the Hub then go in to the app later and click edit or something? Alright- I'll see if I can create a bogus listing through the app to access PLE and delete the listing when I'm done. My original plan was to create an auction as I would normally (not through the app)- then go to the All Selling page to see if a promotions option was available and also check the app to see if a promotions option was available.

[valueaddedresource]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

Darn- so I'd have to create the listing using the app. I can't create it in the Hub then go in to the app later and click edit or something? Alright- I'll see if I can create a bogus listing through the app to access PLE and delete the listing when I'm done. My original plan was to create an auction as I would normally (not through the app)- then go to the All Selling page to see if a promotions option was available and also check the app to see if a promotions option was available.

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@coffeebean832  I'm not entirely sure - I've just been told it's available in app only but I don't know if that means only for listings made through the app or that you can access it after the fact in the app if you create the listing on desktop.

I just figured do the whole thing in the app just to be sure but you could test it both ways if you wanted just to confirm.

[valueaddedresource]

The help page just says:

Why can’t I access Promoted Listings Express from My eBay on desktop?

Currently, you can only access Promoted Listings Express from your eBay app. We are working on expanding access soon.

But the answer I got from someone at eBay specifically said it is available "in the iOS and Android app listing flows if you are a seller that uses MyEbay (vs. Seller Hub)."

So "in the app listing flow" is what made me think you might have to do the whole listing there, but like almost everything else about PLExpress, it's not clear.