Promoted listings

[radtech1971]

Have promoted listings worked out for anyone?

[duncanvr]

I don't use promoted listings anymore I just list the item then pray!

[tkinnebrew]

how has prayed listings worked for you?  lol just kidding.  it seems like the promoted listings might work on some items that are super-overlisted and hard to search for.  people might just click promoted listing because it's recommended by ebay, but then again they may do the opposite.  so.......

[kathieskorner]

Perhaps for eBay's bottom line.....

Seriously, how could anyone tell - especially those sellers who sell less common items?     Most sales on eBay aren't consistent enough to isolate promoted listing as THE factor in an item selling or not.

[jklfindings]

It depends on what you mean by "worked".  I promote all my listings at 1%.  This essentially gives me 2 listings for an extra percentage point and about 20% of my items are sold from those promoted listings.  As for promoting with the suggested percentage?  No way.  I've had ebay tell me that the going promoted rate is in the 20 to 30 percent range, and there is no way I can justify that.  So... do they work?  Yes, to a degree.  Try them out at a low percentage and see if you get traffic.  Remember you only pay the percentage rate if the item sells from the promoted listing and not the regular listing.

[mysalonsavings]

Yes, I have sold quite a few under promoted listings.

[mysalonsavings]

I promote all items between 8 and 10 percent. I won't go over the 10 percent.

[jklfindings]

I think it all boils down to your average sale price, and what you are comfortable with.  I sell jewelry, so 8 to 10 percent is a rough number to take a hit on in my opinion.  Either way promoted listings work.... you just have to decide how much is to much for what you sell.

[duncanvr]

The Jesus method of prayed listings works fine. For me I sell unique vintage letters, envelopes and documents from before 1900. As these are unique I have a following for them I don't need to do anything other than list them. If your selling common goods you would likely need promoted listings, but if every seller of common goods is using promoted how is eBay showing them all at once to the buyers? How do you know your items would not have sold on their own without promoted listings?

[membersinceaug2001]

Every search I do, promoted is at or near the bottom.  It also creates duplicate listings, which is annoying as a buyer.

Funny to search and find 1 item plus the promoted 1 for the same listing!

[sharingtheland]

I ran across a seller today (did not check location) that got really cute using promoted listings, with about 20 of the same item.  10 had a slight difference in price and were promoted, which means seeing 20 of the same thing.

Super Duper Annoying.  Can't imagine that gives buyers a better experience.  But a great selling tactic if the seller wants to monopolize the page.   Wonder if ebay has thought that through ...

[leadsled_105]

I thought of trying a promotional listing and creating it as a lead.  By taking a category where you have a group of similar items (dolls, statutes, crystal, etc.) and create a listing to draw  heavy hits, perhaps by using an out of the world high price, or any other means to draw hits.  Perhaps overpricing, with a  promotional fee of 30%, to protect the sale of the item.  The page would be created as a sale, but the key motive would be to get the visitors to visit your store that you are heavily describing in the listing.  Therefore creating an audience for items you would truly like to promote.  Using a high promotion number, should put you near the top of the search list.  

This was before I canceled my listings, closed my store, and went on "vacation" until eBay figures out what they want to do.

Any comments?

regards, ed

[ijazzu]

I'm thinking once all fixed price listings become Good till Gone listings the only way to keep your items from getting buried will be to promote them. Once hundreds/thousands of sellers start promoting the same items the trending rates to be seen will have to go up. Slowly eBay is going to make promoted listings the way of the future here on eBay for all sellers.

[lindyslucky]

We tried to stay away from promoted listings, but finally broke down & tried it.

We have Smalls, one of a kind. Most of our things right now, while nice items have been shown for awhile.

So we add whatever the promo is going to cost to the item for the most part.

Have sold a few things. 

Get lots of views.

And yes, the promo $$ for (not high priced) jewelry is so high as to be impossible to use.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

duncanvr, I agree, your type of stuff....no need for PLs. As to this: " If your selling common goods you would likely need promoted listings, but if every seller of common goods is using promoted how is eBay showing them all at once to the buyers? "

I see this asked quite a bit. The answer is in how PLs actually work. If I put all my listings into PL, it doesn't mean they are all going to show as PL in every search where they could show. PLs will show, but they won't necessarily be mine. Think of it this way: all the PL sellers are putting their PL listings into a giant pool, and each time a search is performed ebay chooses which of the pooled listings will show as PL listings in that search. So ebay can be as selective as they want to be.

Remember, the seller is NOT paying to have his PL shown. He's putting it into the PL pool for the chance for it to be shown as a PL. Only IF it shows and IF a buyer buys as a result does the seller pay.

I hope I explained this OK , if it's still unclear, let me know.