Recommended promoted price much higher

[fenryswulf]

I've been selling coins for years on eBay and started using promoted listings on all my listings a few years ago. It seems like it's working because more often than not I'll see that "sold via promoted listings" message. But in the past few months my sales have really dropped off. When I make a new listing now I notice that often the recommended promoted listing percentage is in the 11% or 12% area. I've always used a 4% promotion and sometimes that was a little below the recommended amount but it seems like it was close enough to work. It appears that recently the amount people are spending must have really shot up because if I need to do 12% to compete then it's a nonstarter. I can't make any money giving away another 12% on top of all the other fees. Anyone else notice that the amount you need to spend to promote your listings has increased a lot recently?

[paulhua3]

I conjecture that eBay sets the suggested rate based on WHO the seller is.  Sellers who seem agreeable to higher rates may get shown those suggested rates, while those who don't take the bait get shown lower suggested rates.  Just as the car salesman shows different cars to the guy in a $1000 suit than the guy in bluejeans.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Listings close and are relisted during most of the working day.

No telling which listings with which listings are undergoing relisting.

Jewelry is definitely a category which is too crowded with many desperate sellers, The slow sales threads are full of jewelry sellers.

And as I have posted on another thread, I have seen more jewelry for sale at flea markets than I can ever remember seeing, Including from vendors who never have sold jewelry in the past.

And I have purchased jewelry on other sites recently at prices which are 1/3 or less than similar items on Ebay.

I feel bad for my friends who sell jewelry.

[gurlcat]

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@paulhua3 wrote:

I conjecture that eBay sets the suggested rate based on WHO the seller is.  Sellers who seem agreeable to higher rates may get shown those suggested rates, while those who don't take the bait get shown lower suggested rates.  Just as the car salesman shows different cars to the guy in a $1000 suit than the guy in bluejeans.

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You're getting warmer.  It's definitely a smaller arena of consideration than 'all the sellers in an item category.'  
Well, I do think saturation level within a category is part of it.  But on top of that it's how long a listing has been up, how many views/watchers it has, and whether or not the seller has SENT offers to buyers.  If so, and none of them bought the 48-hour window allowed to decide, then your SAR shoots way up.  

[ed8108]

Buyers want the best price not the promoted price, ever wonder where buyers have gone to make manny of their purchases ?

[gurlcat]

Selling jewelry on eBay takes a lot of know how, absolutely.  And I love how crowded with desperate people it is; that's how I get my inventory cheap.  😉 

But I think you misunderstood what I posted there. That wasn't my listing undergoing an automatic relist (that happens every 30 days but it doesn't make your SAR go down).  What I did was END it, then 'Sell Similar'. 

But look at this. -About a year ago they realized sellers were doing that to get their SAR's back down, so they made it where the supposedly-new listing also comes with the old, inflated SAR.  So what you have to do is turn the option OFF, and go ahead and post the listing.  Then you can find it on your Active page, scroll over to where you can add promotion, and VOILA the SAR is back down to what a truly brand new listing would be for the category.  



Keep this in mind if you do Sell Similar to create an actual new listing for a totally different item, like one in the same category with some of the same item specifics already filled in, to save time.  Even changing the title, photographs, etc. it will still carry-over whatever SAR was currently on the existing listing.  

If what I'm saying is confusing, just create all new listings from scratch to be on the safe side.

[janet9988]

I search items with one ID and buy them with the other ID so I am helping sellers avoid paying those fees.

[gurlcat]

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@janet9988 wrote:

I search items with one ID and buy them with the other ID so I am helping sellers avoid paying those fees.

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You LEGEND, what a great idea.  I'm going to try to remember to do that.  Couple questions though -how do you do it, like once you've found the item you want in one account, how do you find it again in your buyer account without it being a sponsored view?  Also, why would you have to be logged into any account during the search/find phase, like couldn't you just be logged out and browse like a non-member guest? 

[janet9988]

I look for items to make sure they do not show sponsored.

Sometimes I look at the sponsored listings.

 I save them on my watch list otherwise you could use as a guest.

[gurlcat]

Your watch list -how does that work?  Say you find the item on your janet9988 account and put it on your watch list.  Then when you go to your (other username?) account to buy the item, it wouldn't be on THAT account's watch list.  So how could you find the item while logged into that second account?  

[toomuchstuffagain35]

You can always just bookmark it to a folder on your desktop/task bar. Then it's available to any ID you happen to be using.

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.