eBay

allthingsa2z · ‎05-03-2017

Hi All! I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this before:

Back in Oct of last year I put 20 - 30 items in my store on a promotion so they'd appear as an ad.. I'd check back after a day or so any there were no impressions, no clicks and nothing sold. I changed the ad rate up to 20% and waited another couple of days. Still nothing. I left the promotions up for over a month, still nothing. I tried to talk to CS about it but that was no help at all so I cancelled the promotions and moved on.

I've now decided to reapproach this topic. I've only added one item to this promotion and am hoping to see something over the next few days.

But what I'm wondering: Has anyone else had trouble with promoted listings? Does it have to do with the category/section that our products are listed in? Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!

allthingsa2z · ‎12-12-2018

We actually have figured out the issue: Sex toys cannot be promoted (Womp womp)

Some of our products can and we've had good success with promoting those listings. Wish we could promote all of our inventory but alas, eBay has it's rules and we must abide.

View Best Answer in original post

tamaralea · ‎05-03-2017

I had problems, or at least I think I did. I never saw anything promoted. I did have impressions, but only one click in 3 days and I was at the highest level. It just didn't seem worth it. This was in the pottery category and a "major seller" always had the ad at the bottom of the page.

d-k_treasures · ‎05-03-2017

The worse part is that they show up as 'Sponsored', not 'Promoted'.

Everyone that has been here for at least a year equates 'sponsored' to 'off-site'.

Epic fail.

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

allthingsa2z · ‎05-04-2017

One click in 3 days definitely doesn't seem worth it, at least you only pay if they buy!

I think our issue has to do with the category we're listed in (Health and Beauty>Sex Toys) I tested moving a product to the Massage section and got an impression, first one ever. But the listing was promptly cancelled due to "being in the wrong category" however, if you search Personal Massager you'll see plently of listings in the "wrong catagory". I sometimes feel that eBay wants us to fail.

allthingsa2z · ‎05-04-2017

Agreed!

ymeagainlord · ‎05-04-2017

@d-k_treasures wrote:
The worse part is that they show up as 'Sponsored', not 'Promoted'.

Everyone that has been here for at least a year equates 'sponsored' to 'off-site'.

Epic fail.

I totally do not understand the way they change what a sller signs up for "promoted listings" to "sponsored listings" on the actual listing.

Maybe they can slide some of the "old" off site sponsored listings in there without us noticing?

Crusader Cat is watching

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy

"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

moo*cow*corner · ‎05-04-2017

Here's how I see it-

Ebay has Promoted listings, which appear as sponsored. More fees.

Then there's the Promotions Manager, which is supposed to work in concert with Markdown Manager. I think. That puts the promo banner gallery on your ads. Free. Can you use this tool without having any listings on markdown? I don't know for sure.

Two different promo choices with VERY similar names. Totally different applications, processes, methodologies, and costs. That's nuts.

I think it's all quite confusing. Poorly named, hard to figure out. I'd guess many sellers won't even bother to learn. I'm reading and pondering until I get a better handle on it all.

Déjà Moo: The strange feeling that I've heard this bull before...

ymeagainlord · ‎05-04-2017

Not to mention they don't exactly make finding the place to select Promoted Listings easy.

I know I haven't been able to find it on my selling pages.

Crusader Cat is watching

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy

"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

d-k_treasures · ‎05-04-2017

@ymeagainlord wrote:
@d-k_treasures wrote:
The worse part is that they show up as 'Sponsored', not 'Promoted'.

Everyone that has been here for at least a year equates 'sponsored' to 'off-site'.

Epic fail.

I totally do not understand the way they change what a sller signs up for "promoted listings" to "sponsored listings" on the actual listing.

Maybe they can slide some of the "old" off site sponsored listings in there without us noticing?

Bingo!

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

ittybitnot · ‎05-04-2017

"being in the wrong category" however, if you search Personal Massager you'll see plently of listings in the "wrong catagory"

Of course. Check country of origin. So long as "sales" are happening, those vendors are good to go.

allthingsa2z · ‎05-05-2017

Yeah, those vendors are good to go and our listings are being cancelled. Seems completely fair, haha. Oh well.. At this point I've basically given up on eBay actually helping us to promote our listings or offer a fair market place. We've run into so many sellers that are based in China and have listings marked as shipping from the US. We can't compete with their pricing. It's crazy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

jamkids111 · ‎05-31-2017

Hello,

I have been on the phone with CS many times this month to discuss this problem only to get no where fast. I have promoted my items , with the 20% fee only to find my promoted items at the bottom of the pages and only a few of my items being promoted. It has not increased my sales at all and everytime I talk to CS its always a different story. Ebay should end this feature or fix it. I hope they fix it. Thanks for listening.

moondogblues · ‎05-31-2017

I also equated those listing with off-eBay sites and never clicked on any until reading about them here. How many buyers are under just that same presumption, and never come here?

buytodayshipnextday · ‎12-12-2018

promoted is not a cure all to increase sales, sell stuff that normally tanks, or to make a quick buck.

as with all that is ebay it is much more complicated than it appears.

bottomline if an item's a popular/good seller but it's one of a billion others all the same or similar, the promoted listing's supposed to push you to the top. except, if what you're seling is being promoted by many other sellers also vying for the top spot(s) it gets ugly. again, ebay will not tell you this but it now starts to slice n' dice the variables that puts one on top while the other gets buried. free shipping, free returns...if your ad contains all the elements ebay WANTS you stand a better chance.

ebay wants your money. no surprise to increase the chance that your promoted listing will be displayed higher you have to set a competitive ad rate. let's say ebay suggests 8% . all that means is, if you pay this much you stand a better chance of getting to the top but if you don't want to pay ebay anymore than you aready are & instead adjust it to 1% you better believe you aren't going to get the hit unless what you're selling is limited to only a select few online.

because there are a kabazillon sellers with kabazatrillion listed items ebay designed a way to bump you to the top. they just didn't tell you why it pays not to

allthingsa2z · ‎12-12-2018

We actually have figured out the issue: Sex toys cannot be promoted (Womp womp)

Some of our products can and we've had good success with promoting those listings. Wish we could promote all of our inventory but alas, eBay has it's rules and we must abide.