Traffic count down ad fees go up

[animal-house-8]

So in the last month in my 2 stores traffic has been in a steady decline so I decided to boost my ad rate from 2% to 4% a 100% increase. My traffic count said down -20% compared to the week before now 2 weeks later it says down -37.4% compared to the week before plus I added 17 new items in the last week.  I sell nothing anyone needs so when the economy goes south so do my stores. I have noticed the ad fees have jumped a lot looks like many people are in the same boat. So today my ad fees got doubled again to 8% lets see what happens. FYI my ad fees were 2% all last year and we had a boom year. 

[tarotfindsandmore]

Please keep us posted.  I ended all of my promotions two nights ago.  My traffic yesterday was higher than the holidays, and significantly higher any day in the past couple of months.  I also had some nice sales.  It will be interesting to see how our different approaches play out.  Do you have a time frame for yourself?  I'm giving it the month of April.

[12345jamesstamps]

It used to be 5% was good...but I believe it went up to 10% now.

I am in the same boat.

That's 5% is not the best anymore.

The big sellers are promoting like heck lately,

[luckythewinner]

I have noticed the ad fees have jumped a lot

Don't you choose your own ad fees?

[animal-house-8]

Ad fees are bid on, the bid is higher, yes you can choose your ad fee, I choose 8% the high bid is now 14.5% in my category when not long ago it was 12%

[b86fiero]

LOVE your Laurel Burch mug so much I just purchased it  🙂 Thanks for listing it. (I have matching jewelry pieces).

You have some very nice merchandise.

Hope your sales pick up soon.

Enjoy your weekend!

Bonnie Jo  (BJ W)

[animal-house-8]

Well thank you very much 😘

[krazzykats]

When calculated shipping costs go up, fees will too.  😎

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Over the years I have seen a correlation between the negativity of the news headlines, and the behavior of the stock market on my sales.

I could certainly see a motivation for guidance from the tarot in these days.

[tarotfindsandmore]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

I could certainly see a motivation for guidance from the tarot in these days.

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😁It's always worked for me!

[reallynicestamps]

How do your  sales compare to March/April 2024? 2023? 2022?

Mine have dropped off considerably on all my IDs, but I was expecting it, because my strong sales are from January to March, then consistently drop off until July, are good from July to October and die almost completely in Nov/Dec.

That's over some 25 years selling on eBay.

I sell collectibles , books, sewing patterns.

Is the drop off in number or value of sales?

Hmm- looking at your Sold list.

You sold 23 items in March.
You sold 14 items in Feb.

You sold 21 items in January.

Your earlier sales are not publicly viewable.

Viewers view.

Watchers watch.

Buyers buy.

A week is too short a period to make any decisions- like spending more on advertising.

We really have to identify the busy and quiet periods.  Retail goes in waves. What are your waves?

When it's slow, and I have no new material to list, I close some of my older listings. They go to my Unsolds and I review them for errors and updates, then relist them as Sell Similar which is treated as a "new" listing with a little bump in Search.

Best Match likes new listings.

[fbusoni]

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@animal-house-8 wrote:

Ad fees are bid on, the bid is higher, yes you can choose your ad fee, I choose 8% the high bid is now 14.5% in my category when not long ago it was 12%

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@animal-house-8 

Would you be so kind as to explain the process to which you refer?

I thought that one simply selected the percentage rate at which you wanted your items promoted.

Are you suggesting that you will have to keep raising your fees because of forces outside your control?

[pls-consignments]

I would exercise caution when viewing "suggested" rates, or considering raising yours. There are numerous posts on here showing strong success from sellers who use rate minimums, or no rate at all.  Remember, this is a internal service marketed to it's 20 million sellers that is built on fear and hyperbole. Fear of slow sales, and hyperbolic promises of ROI. They are masters of using both to insulate their investors from loss by canibalizing a never-ending stream of new and  inexperienced sellers with ads that abuse the "up to 40% increase" sales pitch. The days when eBay considered their sellers as business partners have been over for years. The only ones PL is truly benefiting is eBay. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@fbusoni wrote:

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@animal-house-8 wrote:

Ad fees are bid on, the bid is higher, yes you can choose your ad fee, I choose 8% the high bid is now 14.5% in my category when not long ago it was 12%

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@animal-house-8 

Would you be so kind as to explain the process to which you refer?

I thought that one simply selected the percentage rate at which you wanted your items promoted.

Are you suggesting that you will have to keep raising your fees because of forces outside your control?

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That's basically how it works. Promotional percentages rise from internal pressure as entities keep raising their rates to try to get ahead of their competition. After a while it will become unsustainable to any but the wealthiest sellers/companies.

It's why Google ads became priced out of most people's budgets and Google abolished the program (this was years ago).

[animal-house-8]

Ebay gives a range stating at 2% minimum, the higher you go the more exposure you get, ebay tells you at what the high rate people are paying they call that the suggested rate it's the rate for that particular category that people are willing to bid to have the best spot for that category. That suggested rate will go up and down it is not set. You can set your rate to whatever you wish but if you want to get ahead of your competitors then you have to set your rate at the suggested or just above, I have no control whatsoever on what other people decide how much to advertise for. So last week if it were 12.5%  and this week it's 14.5% if you want the top spot you raise your fee, the overall ebay community only controls that on their bid for the top spot.