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.

[vintagecraze50]

Sellers leaving? You mean the one’s that sell trinkets? Buyers leaving, the one’s who buy the trinkets? Or, stuff you can find easily somewhere else? Not too much bang for the ad buck.

[kensgiftshop]

Watching a collage football game this afternoon and there was a couple banners shown for Ebay Motors, but didn't see any more.

If I was looking for a vehicle or auto parts, Ebay would be the last place I'd look.

It would be nice if they promoted something other then Ebay Motors, high priced shoes or watches.

They need to start advertising stuff normal people can afford to buy.

[joliztoyco]

What are you talking about??

"80% of products sold on eBay are NEW, and 88% come under the 'Buy It Now' scheme. 'Buy It Now' are products that customers can buy immediately, rather than having to bid for."

You do realize what this implies? The FACT that 80% of the items on eBay are NEW means they are DIRECTLY in competition with "Wal-Mart. And Target. And Amazon.
 Which, for your information, do "advertise".
And are CRUSHING eBay.
Just what do you think happens when the sellers of "new" merchandise (Many of them are mega-sellers) watch their sales steadily fall here on eBay?
Yeah...they leave.

[vintagecraze50]

That’s a good point as well.

[vintagecraze50]

If they buy the sneakers and all that jazz they will buy other things, that is the ad strategy.

[vintagecraze50]

Trickle DOWN spend.

[vintagecraze50]

No more excessive spending it hurts their bottom line and their stock prices.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@joliztoyco 

Since the current CEO came on, ebay has been VERY clear that ebay is NOT interested in competing in the "New, in season" space. THAT is the space WalMart, Amazon and Target compete in. Yes, ebay has a lot of stuff that is "new" condition, but that doesn't mean it's "new, in season"  While there is some "new in season" stuff on ebay, ebay stopped trying to attract that stuff ...it is here, ebay isn't going to tell people to remove it, but, unlike back in the days of Wenig and Donahoe, ebay isn't making an effort to bring it on to the site.

There are new in season items ebay does want: the latest sneaker drop, for example....because of its appeal to ebay's targeted "enthusiast" buyers...but a lot of ebay's "new" stuff is last season (or older's model)...often stuff WalMart and Amazon aren't carrying anymore. 

So, in a very broad sense, sure, ebay competes with everyone. But ebay has been narrowing its focus because it does NOT want to directly compete with Amazon and WalMart....in fact, one of the first things the new CEO said when he came on was basically: Wenig tried that, and LOST. Game over. We aren't going to continue fighting that losing battle.

Today, ebay sees itself as competing against etsy, StockX, Mercari, etc, not the giants of new, in season retail.

It is a very different mindset from previous CEOs.

That said, I too wonder about onefootflipper's stat. That might be from the initial statement ebay made at an Investors Conference when Jamie took over....they had a list of competitors and their relative sizes. But I question how up to date that is, as many sites have been growing while ebay has actually been shrinking (in terms of buyer numbers and GMV)

[nuclearomen]

funny thing is many many buyers these days don't go for the "New, in Season" stuff, they go for the "new, last or out of season" stuff for reduced prices - reason why retail stores like Marshalls, TX Maxx (let's just say TJX stores) do so well. 

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[reallynicestamps]

@vintagecraze50 

AD spend phobia.

Yep.
Just like all those posters who refuse to use Promoted Listings and/or get mad when sellers who do use PL are given a higher position in Search (because they paid for a higher position in Search)

[reallynicestamps]

I've been seeing more eBay ads in the past month on my FaceBook, than I usually do.

These are part of the regular posts. I use AdBlockPlus for others.

The last two were for some guy with a long beard selling auto parts out of a barn (quick impression, not an interest of mine) and one for modern collectibles (Funko Pops I think).

Hmmm- there may be an algorithm inplay here. I don't collect FPs but I am a science fiction/fantasy fan so I see a lot of stuff about various fandoms. And I've been discussing public transit for a couple of months with friends across the continent.

TV is more scattershot.

If anyone does see a TV ad in the wild, it would be useful to know what program specifically the ads are on.

Like, are the car ads on football games or reruns of The Gilmore Girls? Are the sneaker ads on basketball games or on Abbott Elementary or Resident Alien?

[onefootflipper1]

---

@joliztoyco wrote:

What are you talking about??

"80% of products sold on eBay are NEW, and 88% come under the 'Buy It Now' scheme. 'Buy It Now' are products that customers can buy immediately, rather than having to bid for."

You do realize what this implies? The FACT that 80% of the items on eBay are NEW means they are DIRECTLY in competition with "Wal-Mart. And Target. And Amazon.
 Which, for your information, do "advertise".
And are CRUSHING eBay.
Just what do you think happens when the sellers of "new" merchandise (Many of them are mega-sellers) watch their sales steadily fall here on eBay?
Yeah...they leave.

---

I do think that 80 percent goes way, way down once you take chinese crap out of the equation. Goes down much further once you take all the new old stock that other retailers don't have.

And also, even though most items are new, most of the people complaining about this are those with garage sale picker type stores and not people who have amazon as an option.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

ebay has been very clear: they can't win against Amazon and WalMart, and they aren't even trying. As I said, this is one of the first things the CEO said when he came on.

They've also been very clear that they think they CAN compete---successfully---in their Focus categories, and so that's where they are putting their resources.

What is much less clear for those of us who do not sell new-in season AND do not really sell in the Focus Categories: has ebay also given up on non-Focus Categories?  We know the plan is to add more Focus Categories, but ebay hasn't given much of a hint as to which categories will eventually qualify for that. And, since adding P&A a couple years ago, there has been little in the way of new categories added....streetwear is really the only one I can think of, and , let's face it, that's really just an extension of the sneaker category. 

For many sellers of vintage and used, a few years ago ebay was pretty much the no-brainer choice, with etsy maybe a secondary option. But ebay hasn't really been doing anything to maintain or grow this part of the business, and ebay is losing ground in areas where ebay used to be the clear front runner without really any effort.....but ebay now either needs to start putting in some effort--the sort of effort they apply to things like sneakers---or they will soon find they are no longer THE place to buy this stuff.

IMHO, either ebay does not realize how quickly it is losing its position in this particular space, or ebay has already written it off, as they've written off competing with Amazon. 

[suprchad]

The shift from eBay's previous practice of offering free ad placements to the current model of charging for them has had significant repercussions. Initially, eBay used to provide this service without charge, but they quickly recognized its monetization potential. If sellers choose not to pay for ad placements, there's a noticeable impact on their sales.

It seems that eBay initially displayed similar listings of the lowest price, intending to create a competitive environment. However, some sellers, particularly larger eBay stores, raised concerns about this practice. These bigger stores, dominating search results with multiple slightly different listings, felt that eBay was undermining their efforts by consistently displaying cheaper alternatives on their listing pages. To address their concerns, eBay shifted its strategy, favoring sellers willing to pay for ad placements. This change has been perceived as a move away from prioritizing buyers and cheaper sellers and instead catering to those willing to pay for visibility.

For sellers like me, who aim to offer competitive prices to drive sales, the shift to paid ad placements poses challenges. The doubling or more of selling costs to maintain previous sales numbers forces a difficult choice: either raise prices to preserve profit margins, contradicting the strategy of being competitively priced, or absorb the additional cost from profits.

The discontent with paying for promoted ads is heightened by existing issues with eBay's fee structure. Seller fees, calculated as a percentage that includes shipping costs and taxes, result in higher effective shipping costs and taxes. This diminishes eBay's incentive to negotiate for cheaper shipping rates, as they profit more from higher shipping fees.

The imposition of state sales taxes compounds the financial impact. If, for example, a seller used to profit $50 on a sale, the introduction of a 10% state tax reduces the profit to $45. eBay, however, adds another fee by considering this tax as part of the total sale price, further decreasing the profit to $44.50.

Concerns are raised about eBay's commitment to resisting new taxes despite their financial gain. The frustration extends to the company's advertising strategy, particularly the absence of TV ads, which some sellers view as neglectful. This shift appears to devalue sellers and buyers, compromising eBay's historical edge in providing the best deals easily.

In summary, the changes in eBay's ad placement policies, coupled with existing fee structures and the imposition of state sales taxes, have led to a challenging environment for sellers. The perceived neglect in advertising strategies adds to the frustration, prompting sellers to question eBay's commitment to their interests and the overall marketplace dynamics.