Promotion

[jooki22]

We all know that eBay pushes us to promote listings but I find it interesting that some vloggers have said they don't see any value in promoting at a high percentage and I noticed myself that although I don't usually promote anything over 4%, I keep having sales that say they were sold through promotion. I only even do the 4% just to satisfy the algorithm that something is being put toward the promotion but I'm curious as to whether any of us really can know whether items ARE being promoted or is eBay just saying promotion sold the item just to take that percentage of the sale?

[coastaltechsolution]

Not all vloggers are 100% to be taken word for word. Sure there are many that have experience and you can learn from but have to remember they are there to promote themself 

Take an Item that has not sold and promo it, see if it sells. 

All sales and advertising is a hit and miss, no guarantees. What works for one seller might not work for another.  

[pls-consignments]

I found my answer to this question by doing my own 3-week experiment with my category. I turned it off completely, then added the minimum. The answer was loud and clear.

[caldreamer]

No way to know for sure if your customer clicked on "promoted item" in the past 30 days or just clicked on your regular listing when making a purchase.   I promote all my items at minimum 2% percent and only a get charged "promotion fee" infrequently (this leads me to believe that EBAY is not cheating the Sellers).

I know for a fact that EBAY does "promote your items" when you paid to advertise" (I have seen my items shown on my competitor's pages).  

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Well considering that about 1/2 my items sell with & the other 1/2 without, even though I have everything promoted, I'm going to choose to believe that they really are differentiating.   How well promotions work for you, what rate to use & if you should use them depends primarily on how much competition is in your category. 

[pls-consignments]

Btw, you can monitor your promotion sales on your sales page under the performance tab. Then about half way down you will see "All Sales", "Promoted Sales" & "Offer Sales" in both amounts and percentages.

[adamcartwright]

@jooki22 

I think the successful volggers promote heavily, then use those sales numbers (both volume and prices) to promote their social media accounts, which is where the REAL money is.

[chapeau-noir]

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@adamcartwright wrote:

@jooki22 

I think the successful volggers promote heavily, then use those sales numbers (both volume and prices) to promote their social media accounts, which is where the REAL money is.

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Totally - it's like people who devise a scheme to get their novel or whatever published, then promote that scheme for $$$. They may never publish another sentence, but they make their money selling their 'system' to the seeming 99% of humanity who are writing novels to get theirs published.

[luckythewinner]

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@pls-consignments wrote:

I found my answer to this question by doing my own 3-week experiment with my category. I turned it off completely, then added the minimum. The answer was loud and clear.

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And what was the answer?

[conservitvs]

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@jooki22 wrote:

We all know that eBay pushes us to promote listings but I find it interesting that some vloggers have said they don't see any value in promoting at a high percentage and I noticed myself that although I don't usually promote anything over 4%, I keep having sales that say they were sold through promotion. I only even do the 4% just to satisfy the algorithm that something is being put toward the promotion but I'm curious as to whether any of us really can know whether items ARE being promoted or is eBay just saying promotion sold the item just to take that percentage of the sale?

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I promote some items. When they sell, I see the promotion fee. 

When items I do not promote sell, there is never a fee charged for that. 

I’ve never had a sold item that was not promoted charged the promoted fee. Ever. 

[toysaver]

"I'm curious as to whether any of us really can know whether items ARE being promoted or is eBay just saying promotion sold the item just to take that percentage of the sale?"

I believe in eBay's integrity regarding promotions.   I promote my entire silverware inventory but only about half of my silverware sales are sold through promoted listings.  It's highlighted in green and the fee deduction appears in the payment section only if applicable.  

[pls-consignments]

@luckythewinner

Well, in my case, which cannot be Hoyle for all categories, I was promoting at 9-10%. I stopped completely and watched my organic views skyrocket to near the point of where I was at when promoting. I waited another week or two with little or no change in total views. I eventually decided to add back promoting to specific categories at minimums, and have not noticed any real changes to my sales throughout the experiment. 

I might add that it does take 2 or 3 days for transitioning if you can withstand the marketing pressure .... "Up to 40% more in sales!" 🙄   

[jooki22]

I'm not suggesting items being sold and not showing promotion but a fee was taken: I'm saying the green announcement DOES show it was sold through promotion AND the fee is taken. My point is, how can we be sure it was even through promotion....just because it says it was?  We just have to "trust" in Ebay's integrity? My surprise is in the fact that items keep selling (um yay?) saying they were promoted, even though it was only at 4%. It could very well be the customer bought without clicking on a promotion and Ebay is gaming us taking promotion fees and fooling us....just a thought.

Just strange that all of a sudden 4% works....when months ago, hardly any sales were showing promotion had caused them.