Promoted Listings - More Fees as of March 30th

[wastingtime101]

https://www.ebayads.com/2023/02/15/seller-announcement-promoted-listings-standard-fees-are-changing/

What’s changing?

• As we continue working to help make your ads more engaging and helpful for buyers, we will be expanding our definition of a click for Standard and Advanced ads to include interactions with new features and functionality of your ads. In addition to when a buyer clicks through to your listing page, we will now include when a buyer clicks on the heart icon to add an item to their watchlist from a Promoted Listing.
• We will be expanding what we qualify and report as an Attributed Sale for Promoted Listings Standard to include when a buyer clicks on one of your Standard ads and then purchases any of your Promoted Listings Standard items within 30 days.
• In anticipation of upcoming product launches, we have clarified that certain account optimization features (e.g., dynamic bidding) may be managed through your account settings. Please stay tuned for announcements on when these will be available to you.

[wastingtime101]

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@sapphire_studio wrote:

So basically if a device clicks on absolutely any of our promoted listings, then for 30 days if they decide to purchase anything from our store, we will be charged the promoted rate we have set for that item regardless if that item was actually being promoted when they found it and purchased. Repeat buyers shopping directly in our store will cause the promoted fees if 30 days prior they happened to click any of our promoted listings.

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For Halo sales the item has to be in an active PL campaign at the time of purchase for the fee to be charged. But basically, if you promote all your items, then yes you'll be charged fees on any sales from returning customers for 30 days if they clicked on one of your listings through a PL campaign.

I've said this before, but it applies now more than ever: if you promote your items, expect to pay that fee on every single sale when determining your item prices and ad rates. This is how eBay increases FVF without increasing the published rate.

Don't forget that ad rate is applied on total amount of sale, including sales tax.

Pay to play.

[zamo-zuan]

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@2010byandsel100 wrote:

Easy solution - stop using PL! 

I did after they went up to 2% 

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If we stop using PL, our traffic decreases by approximately 90%.

Our ORGANIC traffic takes a nosedive if we stop using PL.

We're basically forced to use it. Because the way it functions is contradictory to the very definition of Organic.

[tagalag78]

Amazing. If anyone so much as adds something to watch I may get billed

Again, easy answer is stop promoting items

This is the current money grab after managed payments

They don't leave ANY crumbs on the table to allows to make a few pennies here and there 

[tagalag78]

TOTAL **bleep**

[zamo-zuan]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

• We will be expanding what we qualify and report as an Attributed Sale for Promoted Listings Standard to include when a buyer clicks on one of your Standard ads and then purchases any of your Promoted Listings Standard items within 30 days.

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I'm not usually a gambler.

But would anyone be willing to bet against me if I were to be willing to put my money on this being the way it's already functioning right now?

I've brought up the topic on here of promoted conversion rates many times and mentioned we should be testing this more to see how it actually works. There's no way on earth Promoted conversion rates should be over 7-8% when normal conversion rates in our category (even for items we're ranked #1) sit around 2.5-3.5%. We have over 10 years of experience competing at the highest level, so I can speak with high confidence that the numbers aren't natural.

This finally explains why. 

[tagalag78]

Incorrigible foul mannered company

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@wastingtime101  Maybe I need more coffee, but for those of us who use PLS (and never use PLA), it seems there are two major changes here.

1. To trigger a PLS "view", a buyer can (as is true today) click through to the promoted item. However, today, if he does not actually click through, instead ,he just clicks the "heart/add to watch list icon", that action alone....without the buyer actually clicking through to the item, is not considered a view. Starting March 30th, however, it will be treated as a view. And so it can trigger the 30 day countdown.

2. The Direct and Halo change:  First thing to remember is that an item that is in a PLS campaign can be shown as organic or as PLS. 

So, the Halo change, as I understand it, is really only meaningful for an item that is shown to the buyer as organic (even though it is part of a PLS campaign). 

So, example: buyer views my Item A, which is shown as a PLS item. Within 30 days, he clicks on my Item B, which is part of my PLS campaign, but is being shown to this buyer as an organic listing, NOT a PLS listing. If he buys Item B, even though he clicked on it as an organic listing, I will be charged the PLS fee , because he had , within the last 30 days, clicked on Item A, which was shown to him as a PLS listing, and Item B is in my PLS campaign, although it wasn't shown to him as a PLS listing, it will be treated as if it had been shown to him as a PLS listing.

Does that sound right?

[mybigsale]

Dear eBay,

I appreciate seeing eBay improvements. I've been on eBay for over 20 years. eBay seems to come up with "improvements" for sellers without any seller input.  I don't want to seem ungrateful, but these "forced" improvements seem to always come at the cost of sellers.

Is there any possibility eBay will consider future improvements based on seller feedback and requests? Yes, I know your current policy is to let sellers help themselves. It is just difficult when sellers have no input on the system they are paying to use.

[kensgiftshop]

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@2010byandsel100 wrote:

Easy solution - stop using PL! 

I did after they went up to 2% 

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As long as sellers keep using them, they are going to get every penny they can out of them.

[wastingtime101]

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@fern*wood wrote:

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

• As we continue working to help make your ads more engaging and helpful for buyers, we will be expanding our definition of a click for Standard and Advanced ad...

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I'm not clear on how they are working to make the ads more helpful to buyers.  To me it sounds like they are tweaking things to make sure they get those promotional fees on more purchases.

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Translation of "more engaging" means they shove more PL ads in buyers' faces. Have you clicked on an eBay listing recently? 2/3 of the real estate is dedicated to sponsored ads instead of the item listed for sale. eBay can label that "more helpful" because they're showing buyers more of what they want. 🙄

[zamo-zuan]

Has anyone actually tested PL over the last year to see how it actually works? Ever since searching by eBay ID came up as promoted every single time, coinciding with Product History purchases being reported as PL purchases, things have been fishy.

I'm really curious to know if anyone has tested this.

[nuclearomen]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

• We will be expanding what we qualify and report as an Attributed Sale for Promoted Listings Standard to include when a buyer clicks on one of your Standard ads and then purchases any of your Promoted Listings Standard items within 30 days.

---

I'm not usually a gambler.

But would anyone be willing to bet against me if I were to be willing to put my money on this being the way it's already functioning right now?

I've brought up the topic on here of promoted conversion rates many times and mentioned we should be testing this more to see how it actually works. There's no way on earth Promoted conversion rates should be over 7-8% when normal conversion rates in our category (even for items we're ranked #1) sit around 2.5-3.5%. We have over 10 years of experience competing at the highest level, so I can speak with high confidence that the numbers aren't natural.

This finally explains why. 

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

• We will be expanding what we qualify and report as an Attributed Sale for Promoted Listings Standard to include when a buyer clicks on one of your Standard ads and then purchases any of your Promoted Listings Standard items within 30 days.

---

I'm not usually a gambler.

But would anyone be willing to bet against me if I were to be willing to put my money on this being the way it's already functioning right now?

I've brought up the topic on here of promoted conversion rates many times and mentioned we should be testing this more to see how it actually works. There's no way on earth Promoted conversion rates should be over 7-8% when normal conversion rates in our category (even for items we're ranked #1) sit around 2.5-3.5%. We have over 10 years of experience competing at the highest level, so I can speak with high confidence that the numbers aren't natural.

This finally explains why. 

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@zamo-zuan looking at this more, i see no change from current of my listings EXCEPT being charged the PL fee on EVERY SINGLE SALE instead of 80% as has been... this is in instance where majority of my PL elections are promoted at the same percentage rate, the ones that side from that rate is 1% less then all the others... and that was done for price comparisons in marketplace going prices as to make "something" in profit, there are times where that is only few bucks. The difference is not all sellers promote everything at the same election rates and then to follow a sale for something where buyer first clicked an item with a higher percentage rate then said item of sale...well how do even follow any of this and determine ones price points...not like ebay will show each buyers click history of your items...if you follow me?  

[rodneywhite5]

Just to confirm, if I have one promoted listing "A" and the buyer clicks on my other listings after having started at Listing "A", then while looking through other inventory, selects item "B" which is *NOT* promoted, there is no additional fee associated with that, is that correct? It's only if both products happen to be promoted, is that correct?

Secondly, if Promoted item "A" is at 8% promoted, then wind up buying Promoted item "C" which was at 3% promotion, is eBay collecting 8% or 3%?

[zamo-zuan]

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

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@2010byandsel100 wrote:

Easy solution - stop using PL! 

I did after they went up to 2% 

---

As long as sellers keep using them, they are going to get every penny they can out of them.

---

None of us want to use them. But what are we supposed to do when 90% of our traffic disappears when we don't use them? EBay's algorithms have gutted Organic traffic, and they take away our Organic Impressions if we do not invest as much in PL.

Even if we REDUCE them from 4% we see a huge drop.

This is what happens if we drop from 4% to 2%: 

Notice how even when we go back to 4% both our Organic and Promoted don't return to where they were before?

This is the reality we face. If we don't invest 4%, we will be out of business and all of our employees will be without a job. EBay has made sure of it with their algorithms. 

EBay has designed it so that even if you CONSIDER dropping the rates, you will be punished for it. You're taking a huge risk by even ATTEMPTING to lower your rates. Keep it high, or else you lose a huge amount of your profits. Period. 

Look at the bars on the graph. 25-30% of our Promoted disappeared by even testing lower rates. Nearly 50% of our Organic traffic disappeared. What they're doing is blatant. 

[wastingtime101]

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@zamo-zuan wrote:

Has anyone actually tested PL over the last year to see how it actually works?

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I haven't run tests, but I can provide a bit of data. I generate a lot of multi-item sales (buyers use shopping cart and make one payment). Many of them are currently charged an ad fee for one item but not the rest. These are items included in an order discount. So for me, I'll see a big increase in ad fees based on this info I posted above:

Buyer finds Widget A through promoted listings. Then they see you're running a discount 15% off when you buy 2 or more because there's a banner on the listing. So they click on that order discount banner and add 3 more items to their cart. If all 4 items the buyer purchased are part of a PL campaign, you'll be charged the ad rate on all 4 items instead of just the first item. Currently you're charged an ad rate for just the first item.

I also get a lot of repeat customers within 2 weeks of receiving their first purchase. That means those repeat customers, which may be purchasing different items the second go 'round, will result in ad fees even though it's the quality of my product, packaging and customer service that brought them back for more.