Promoted Listings are a Joke

[wmsakalaucks]

When listing model train items, I always check what's similar that's currently listed and what similar items have sold for. The promoted items have made searching for items for sale a bad joke. For instance, Fine Art Models are a high end model railroad manufacturer. Searching Fine Art Models gets thousands of nude female model pictures and NO trains. No category listing either. But tap the header that adds the train word to the search and they show up. Similar results for numerous other searches.  Search for sold items and the trains show up immediately.

Promoted listings are hurting sales because buyers can't find the specific items they are looking for. In addition, promoted listings are what's called a zero sum game.  Only EBay benefits.  If all listings are promoted, then none benefit.

[fbusoni]

@wmsakalaucks 

Well, all I can say is bravo to the company that chose the name "Fine Arts Models."  Even The Google is a bit confused.  🤣

 

Meantime, from what you report above, it sounds like the search function here is working as it should.  

Unless of course you are suggesting that you should not have to be bothered to refine your search by "tapping the header that adds the train word to the search"... in which case we are discussing an issue of a completely different nature. 

As for PLs, you are correct.  

[luckythewinner]

 Fine Art Models are a high end model railroad manufacturer. Searching Fine Art Models gets thousands of nude female model pictures and NO trains

It sounds to me like eBay search is working as intended, and you have discovered that if you want to search for trains in eBay it is better to put the word "train" in your search so that your search is no longer ambiguous. 

And in this one specific case you documented, it happens to be the people searching for pictures of female models who benefit from the ambiguous search terms you chose. 

[luckythewinner]

---

@colfaxstation wrote:

You miss the point. A buyer searching by a specific product name is NOT getting the product they are searching for. 

---

First, in order to actually search by a specific product name, (i.e. a "phrase") you need to put it quotes (ex.  "Fine Arts Models"). When I do this, all I see are trains.  If you do not use quotes, you are not searching for a phrase, you are searching for three unrelated words anywhere in a listing. 

So your search fails because you are searching for three words, not a "specific product name" ... and those three words are ambiguous on a site that has 1.5 billion listings. 🤔 

And why does eBay show the women first? Probably because those listings are a whole lot more popular than model trains. 

And lastly, the women are not showing up because they are "promoted listings", they are showing up because the have the words you are searching for - "fine" "arts" and "model" - in their title. 

[cardxcraft]

................

[historicalpaper]

I used promoted listings for the last 2 years. I stopped using them a few months back completely. The difference? Absolutely none! I'm selling and making the same amount of money, without paying an extra percentage. I believe promoted listings only benefit sellers who offer items that have oversaturated the market. I sell unique, antique, and rarer items that buyers find routinely based on their search words. No more promoted listings. It's bad enough that Ebay takes a percentage of the shipping costs after saying they have reduced shipping costs for sellers. That's like a store offering a rebate, but taking half of it back for their cut. Protection racket ring a bell? The IRS is already getting more than ever before, which cuts the bottom line.

[4winds]

I see it as 'Pay -To- Play'. Ebay increases their fees > which I feel are now biting into profit with an ouch from me. I refuse to play. And have stated here before, the promotional deal clogs up page viewing. I do not enjoy that when I am looking to purchase an item and I have to scroll....to find the description details. A few years back I did try it, PTP. It helped nothing. I have been an occasional seller since 1999. Seen a lot here!

[irishmichael4585]

Folks are missing the basic point, a search to buy items gets a whole slew of unrelated items or the search leaves off categories of items completely, whereas a search of sold items gives a valid return of the items searched.  Buyers simply won't search through hundreds of meaningless listings to find what they are looking for. They go to other sources. The search of items for sale need to return a top down listing of items that meet the search criteria best, not a jumbled list based on promoted items.