Sellers asked to use Promoted Listings Advanced to drive holiday sales while eBay does no TV ads?

[masterblasterplanet]

If you're a seller and you've logged into your My eBay recently you've probably noticed a banner near the top of the page "Wrap up more sales this season with Promoted Listings Advanced. Get your listings in front of interested buyers and drive holiday sales with ad placements across eBay."

My question to eBay is where is eBay advertising to help sellers and ultimately themselves bring in business? Where are all the tv ads to drive traffic to eBay? Most of eBay's competitors are doing some type of tv advertising: Amazon, Poshmark, Mercari, Threadup, Etsy, Stock X, Bonanza, Dealdash, Overstock, Walmart, Target, etc etc. These are all competitors of eBay and they're all doing some form of advertising simply to remind buyers about their site. eBay isn't the only game in town any more and they used to have some rather good tv commercials. The only commercials I've seen from eBay over the past 5 years are from eBay Motors. It would be extremely helpful for eBay to ramp up some type of ad campaign as we move toward the holiday season. Part of what eBay should be offering to it's sellers is a legitimate ad campaign that benefits not just eBay Motors, but all categories.

[joliztoyco]

"EVERYONE over 12 knows what EBAY is so there is really NO REASON for TV ads."

You mean like McDonalds?
Or Wal-Mart?
Why in the world do they spend MILLIONS a year in TV ads?
Everyone over 12 knows them. 

[yuzuha]

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@masterblasterplanet wrote:

eBay hasn't run ads in years. If the economy is uncertain it's even more important to remind customers that eBay is still here.

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Yes they have, just not on TV. I've seen eBay ads on Facebook and Reddit multiple times recently.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

eBay is looking at $2 Billion in fines from the DOJ and who knows how much for some other recent legal obligations. 

[mam98031]

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@joliztoyco wrote:

So????
I'm watching a movie right now that's been out for over 20 years. And the last commercial break had ads from GEICO, The US ARMY, and Direct TV. 
Hardly the Superbowl.
And yet, here they are "advertising". 
Why?
Because EVERY internal poll they run, every marketing research firm they hire, PROVES to them that Ads WORK.
Yeah...those "run of the mill" TV ads seem to be doing just fine.
Oh wait!! I just saw a Doritos ad.
So they don't just advertise during the Superbowl??
Interesting....

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I honestly don't know how to better explain it to you.  Superbowl ads are typically of much better quality than regular TV ads.  Plus the Superbowl has a lot more viewers that most regular TV shows.

I said NOTHING about ad working or not working.  I didn't even begin to discuss that.  You were talking about how expensive it is to run a Superbowl ad and I just gave some added info.  It wasn't anything more than that.  You seem to want to make more out of my post than I actually said.

[mam98031]

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@masterblasterplanet wrote:

That's the point... eBay sellers are doing what they need to do to get items in front of buyers. What is eBay doing as a company to drive traffic to the site? There's a lot of competition out there these days for eBay and they need to do more to get new fresh eyes on the site, and remind old eBay buyers we're still here.

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You talk to me as if I said Ebay shouldn't advertise and I said nothing even close to that.  

[mam98031]

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@the-hook-and-the-loop wrote:

eBay is looking at $2 Billion in fines from the DOJ and who knows how much for some other recent legal obligations. 

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That is no where near a done deal.  DOJ has not proved in a court of law that Ebay has done what they are accusing them of doing.  Lawsuits like this typically take years.  I believe what was said was that $2 Billion was the ceiling on fines that could be imposed if they find against Ebay.  None of us will likely know the outcome for years.

[meme6253]

Hopefully!, That is the key word here, & It winds up more like Hoping against Hope!

[nuclearomen]

2 different things. Promoted is used by sellers to in theory get their listings more exposure (doesn't seem to work to well anymore). Commercial ads are used by company to draw traffic to the the site in hope to increase revenue for the venue. The fine line between is all the extra bucks they make from PL sales, percentage of that could be used to increase commercial ad spending. But being none of use are in the company management, no one really knows what they set in budget for advertising the platform. Last year they decided to by-pass tv ads and use their social media accounts for advertising holiday season, the down to that was mostly they decided to do that far too late, mid Dec is when most people have their holiday shopping wrapped up already... it's not just ads on tv, timing is a huge part when to start for the investment to pay off, how long they run and how often, and the sites competitors blew them away, they always do, some run ads 365 days a year (Amazon, Mercari), surely that costs a ton to run ads like that.  

Side note, example would be Intel to AMD - Intel runs commercials non stop for years, AMD never once have they done a commercial (to my knowledge) yet AMD is Intel's largest competitor and sells just as much if not more processors then Intel. 

[mam98031]

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@meme6253 wrote:

Hopefully!, That is the key word here, & It winds up more like Hoping against Hope!

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Huh?  You do realize the DOJ just filed against Ebay, right?!?  I really don't understand your post.  I get it, many of your recent posts show that you are upset with Ebay for one reason or another.  I respect that.  But that won't change how long a lawsuit of this size will take to move through the system.  There is a LONG ways to go.

[xadexane]

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@joliztoyco wrote:

And yet, here they are "advertising". 
Why?
Because EVERY internal poll they run, every marketing research firm they hire, PROVES to them that Ads WORK.
Yeah...those "run of the mill" TV ads seem to be doing just fine.
Oh wait!! I just saw a Doritos ad. 

---

According to a new study, the return on investment for TV ads is dismal.

Anna Tuchman, an associate professor of marketing at Kellogg, and her collaborators analyzed the effect of TV commercials on sales for more than 200 consumer packaged goods, including food, drinks, and basic household products. The researchers found that the ads had a much smaller impact on sales than previous studies had estimated. For many products, the return on investment (ROI) was negative: the companies had spent more on commercials than they earned back in additional sales.

[joliztoyco]

Wait!  WHAAAT???
Top TV advertisers in the U.S. 2021, GEICO was the leading TV advertiser in the United States, with a spend of 790 million U.S. dollars. CBS followed with a spend of 732 million dollars, while Progressive completed the top three with a spend of 641 million.May 31, 2023

And let's not forget the 6 BILLION pharmaceutical companies will pay each year for ads.

ALSO: 

How much does Kellogg's spend on advertising?

Kellogg's spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising. For example, in 2022, the cereal and food product company spent $756 million on advertising, marketing, and promotions.

I guess they didn't get the memo from the Corn Flakes people?? (Giggle).... 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@chapeau-noir 

I am one of those sellers, and still, no response.

To be clear, I'd like to know the plans, at least in a general way. My own concern is less about the media ebay chooses---TV, radio, Social media, Streaming, etc---and more about the timing and the content. We just went through the Big Retail Kickoff with Amazon Prime and many businesses riding the coattails of that, but ebay? Not much about ebay doing anything.

As far as the rest of the business world is concerned, we are well into the Holiday Season....ebay has made some token nods to this on the site's Home Page, but little else that I've seen. 

The last couple years, ebay has done NO real Holiday Marketing for the SITE....it has done marketing for the FOCUS CATEGORIES (P&A, Luxury Goods, Trading Cards, etc) This has not been by accident. If you watch Jordan's presentation from ebay open (available on YouTube), it is clear that ebay believes this limited marketing benefits ALL of us, not just Focus Category sellers. I, personally, am unconvinced, despite Jordan's efforts. 

So for me the biggest question is: Is this going to be a THIRD straight Holiday Season where most sellers are relegated to the table crumbs that result from the Focus Marketing, or will ebay FINALLY recognize that the rapid increase in competition has made it imperative that ebay market the SITE and the huge selection on the site?

I suspect ebay's non-response to seller questions might, in itself, be the response: Focus Category Marketing, Full Speed Ahead! No Site Wide Marketing Campaign...yet again.

But, it sure would be nice if ebay had the guts to say so. Or would surprise me and tell me it won't all be Focus Category marketing this year.

devon@ebay  kyle@ebay  elizabeth@ebay  How about it? Can we get an answer from the Marketing Team about just what ebay is going to be doing? We are fully immersed in Q4 already, so it isn't like they don't know their plans. Can we PLEASE get an answer?

[reallynicestamps]

@masterblasterplanet 

eBay Motors are the only tv ads they're running. It's been that way for several years now.

I see eBay ads regularly on my FaceBook account. Clothing, shoes, trading cards, etc. Never seen an ad for car parts.

The last AZ ads I saw on TV were last year, when they were building a new distribution plant in Sydney-by-the-Sea. Those ads were about what a good place to work it was, aimed at attracting new employees, in an area where apprentice carpenters are getting $30 an hour.

[reallynicestamps]

Bureaucracy.

There are, in any large organization, jobs that are there because they have always been there, because someone believes them to be important, because no one has noticed that they are there, because no one has done a recent ROI.

My example is "sex sells". My own opinion is that advertising companies use sex to sell to gullible client companies, not that sexy ads help sales of the product.

There is "common sense" and "everyone knows" and then there is data.

[lakefor94]

I was on the mower for several hours this afternoon and heard 2 eBay ads while listening to music. 1st one was for Authentication,  did not catch the crux of the 2nd one as I was dodging trees.