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.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@lakefor94  "Authentication" is a Focus Category...whether it is handbags, watches, sneakers or whatever. ebay IS marketing those categories, no question. But marketing the SITE, with its huge selection? Nope. Not in the US. In some other markets, yes. But not here.

[chapeau-noir]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques  I remember that - I'm sometimes reticent about calling people out/tagging.

[lakefor94]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@lakefor94  "Authentication" is a Focus Category...whether it is handbags, watches, sneakers or whatever. ebay IS marketing those categories, no question. But marketing the SITE, with its huge selection? Nope. Not in the US. In some other markets, yes. But not here.

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"Authentication" is a Focus Category"

No kidding?

[nuclearomen]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 
It's become apparent past few years that the company has trimmed spending on ads outside the internet based advertising for the "general" ebay markets and turned their goals to promoting their, as you said, Focus categories - or what I like to call ebay special program categories, things that they have made sellers go through authentication and motors. That in some senses does benefit all as the company isn't spending the millions of dollars to promote everyday items etc. Ebay does promote the platform and I'm sure they are still looking at millions of dollars, but they don't seem to be as interested in TV specific ads unless it's for a specialized category where they want to get an edge in on those markets (like Shoes for instance). 

It is true most the biz world is and has been in the holiday mode already for awhile now. As said last year ebay's answer was social media campaign...but they started that wayyyy to late in the season, the "season" was basically over by that time. 

[chapeau-noir]

eBay seems to struggle with ad campaigns. They've made so many embarrassing errors (the Father's Day one was particularly painful), produced so many bad commercials, etc. Maybe hiring a really good ad agency would help.

[lawnmowerpartsstore2]

So did Sears, Montgomery Wards and Bed Bath and Beyond. But when they where closing the doors they started advertising all their clearance closing prices. By that time it was to late...... 

[richard1rst]

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@zgnisaer wrote:

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@masterblasterplanet wrote:

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

Where are all the tv ads to drive traffic to eBay? 

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It's like saying where are the eBay newspaper and magazine ads?

Sadly, TV advertising is barely effective now, as commercials are skipped or eliminated with no-ads channels, or the TV is no longer turned on or entirely removed from the home.

Most TV viewers have moved on to modern sources for the same news and entertainment. And it seems eBay knows this, even if we don't.

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BINGO !

There aren't that many programs on TV I find entertaining any more. Mostly it is hackneyed drivel. And I don't let those few that I do watch trap me to a specific time frame. When I am ready to wind down I access the program on my PC and watch at my leisure - skipping the ads in the process. I have one site with over 10,000 movies, including many released within the past year. Always free, always ad free.

[richard1rst]

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@joliztoyco wrote:

Is that why a 30 second ad cost 7 MILLION DOLLARS for the 2023 SuperBowl?
Because "nobody is watching"?
I guess other BILLION dollar corporations know something you and eBay don't???

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But how many people actually WATCH the ad?  When the ads come on it is run to the kitchen snack time, or a bathroom break, or check my email or?????

Billion dollar corporations (and their execs) live in ivory towers. And they do a lousy job of keeping their finger on current moods. One need only point to the disaster that was Bud Lite beer. Or New Coke.

[reallynicestamps]

If the ad mentions eBay Authentication, I suspect the idea behind them (and the programs themselves) is to affirm that buying on eBay is safe.

That eBay is monitoring the site for counterfeits and scams.

Choosing to do this with specific categories has a spillover effect on all sales.

And the eyeballs are seeing eBay=Safe/ EBay=Quality/eBay = Known Site.

Unlike some vaguely Chinese sounding site that appeared out of nowhere six months ago. Or has memes about what poor quality they ship.

EBay - You've known it for decades. EBay - Buyers are protected. EBay - You will get what you order.

That's the message.

And it doesn't matter exactly what eBay advertises. MacDonalds isn't advertising Happy Meals or shakes because everyone knows those. They advertise McCafe or Ribs or whatever is this month's promotion, even though most people will still just buy the Big Mac and fries combo and a cheezburger Happy Meal with cokes all round.

The message is WE'RE HERE!

You can be cynical about the truth behind the advertising. But that doesn't mean the chosen campaigns are wrong.

[chapeau-noir]

Bud Lite was more a political disaster than an advertising disaster - a very small campaign pitched at a small segment of the population blown out of proportion by snowflake culture warriors. Sad. 

ETA: Some people need to take up a hobby.

[mam98031]

Speaking for myself only, when I want to watch a show, I record it so I can fast forward through the commercials.

The only exception to that is Football games.

[vintagecraze50]

Every bodies biggest challenge this year including the Holiday Season is the ECONOMY. You can market and get your stuff seen on here using the promotions but the buyers have to be in a position to unload their cash. It is one of the reason Ebay targets people with a lot of cash for their focused categories. There is more profit for them with these items than others. Car parts are in demand because MANY cannot touch the prices of these new cars. They have to fix them.

[vintagecraze50]

It is crucially important to get those listing up front of your competitors on here. You cannot sit back anymore and not do WHATEVER you must do to get a sale.

[vintagecraze50]

I hardly ever watch TV. I watch movies and other stuff on my Amazon Prime.

[vintagecraze50]

Ebay is not unloading million dollar ads in a time of ECONOMIC uncertainty. Correct.