Who's Using Promoted Listings? How's It Going?

[betsybabe]

I never used this promotional technique but it was suggested to me by a eBay representative recently.  My sales are lagging and I was trying to figure out how to get more views.  It used to be that being a Top Rated Seller put your merchandise in a better position in the stack, but now the sellers who potentially pay more for the service get the better internet coverage.  So, I thought I would give it a try for a number of items that had

hits and watchers.  My clicks are up 33% and more, but not a single sale from it after 2 weeks. 

The other thing I thought about is this coupon business.  EBay expects us to spread coupons around and use our own money doing it.  Do you remember when eBay used to give buyers 1 to 5% of their purchases back quarterly as an incentive for buying?  Now they want us to give coupons  and give the money back up front.  They sure are calculating little critters.  Do these things work?  I'd really like to know. 

[partfinds]

„EBay expects us to spread coupons around and use our own money doing it.  Do you remember when eBay used to give buyers 1 to 5% of their purchases back quarterly as an incentive for buying?  Now they want us to give coupons  and give the money back up front.  They sure are calculating little critters.  Do these things work?”

no they don’t for me. I keep sending 10% coupons in the email and in the box and noone uses it. I also made public coupon before. And I had 2 buyers using it. 

sometimes no matter what you do (revise, promote, list new, coupons) bringing sales up doesn’t work. Your items visibility can be reduced if you had couple returns recently.

[katzrul15]

@partfinds 

Have never experienced the reduced visibility you reference due to returns?

[s.scharmu0 · Accepted solution]

HI!   There was a man on here years ago, he always had good advice I thought. He would say why do special things just lower the price. All will see & understand the prices,some of the new people get confused when they see any other things on a listing.

[meme6253]

I did have Decent Luck with proted listings, But Not anymore!, The ones getting Top Listings are Free Shipping, Just Another Cost you would have to Absorb yourself

[simply-the-best-for-you]

PL works great for me!  Easily doubled my sales, close to tripling.  Approx 70 of my sales are PL.  You don't indicate what percentage you're using, what your strategy is & what category you sell in.  All those things matter when it come to PL's.  PL  standard (I have not had any experience with PL Advanced) works best for highly saturated categories. 

[m60driver]

Glancing at the items you are selling I highly doubt that promoted listings would boost sales.  Promoted listings are useful for items with lots of competition and not collectible or antiques.  Since you do have a niche then coupons might be of some value as and you do have some 465 store followers.  Also, I have found that with slow selling "long-tail" items that it helps to end the listings and then relist about a week later using sell similar.

Your biggest problem is that you sell some higher priced items and inflation is having an impact on the sale of such items.  Your longer term problem is that you have a collecting niche that is slowly fading.

[mr_lincoln]

@betsybabe   I use Promoted Listing Standard Campaigns, I run about one a quarter for 30 days.  I put ALL my GTC (Fixed Priced) listings on the Campaign and pick ONE Ad rate % for all of them ... I ignore eBay's trending rates and basically view it as I am willing to take the Ad rate % off any or all sold GTC listings during the Campaign and the 30 day click Attribute after the Campaign ends.

The reason I do this is mainly to 1) sell off long tail items, 2) drive traffic, 3) increase sales during the Campaign.

You are only charged the Ad fee if an item sells.  Up until this year they have worked fine but I think one issue with lower sales right now is because of the November 2021 category reshuffling and the February 22, 2022 Item Specific rollout.  I am watching as the Campaigns are not performing like they did in the past.  Sure, things sell but Impressions are way up but sales are not.  But, again, you only pay the Ad fee if an items sells so it might be worth you trying one.

Regards,

Mr. L

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Just looked at what OP sells.  Yeah, PL's are likely NOT going to help in that category, with those items.   It's meant for highly competitive & highly saturated categories.  Of course, you don't pay (with PL Standard) unless someone buys, so it doesn't hurt to try (well not completely true with how Cassini works - the more impressions without a sale, the further down the item falls in visibility), but I don't see you getting sales from PLs.  Your items require a very specific customer/demographic.

I do something similar to Mr Lincoln, but tweaked more for my category.  Strategy is really category specific.  The one thing that's really important for PL success I've found is that you promote ALL of your listings, not just a handful.  

That said, PL's are just not really gonna help YOU much.  No one's going to drop an extra $1000 on a cup & saucer b/c it came up higher in search.  Your customer is going to be specific & deliberate, with lots of disposable income.  

I would think a targeted coupon campaign to your previous customers may have more success.   I haven't used coupons, so I have no info to share.  

BTW, your pics are really gorgeous.  

[betsybabe]

Hi Katzrull5

No, I really don't get returns much.  2 since last year and the last one was named buyer's remorse by eBay.  My feedback is all good.  I jump through hoops for my customers and for eBay.

Thanks for your in-put.

B

[betsybabe]

Hi Simply,

From what you are saying, there is more Promoted Listings than meets the eye.   They told me "here it is, use it".  So that's what I did.  Figured it couldn't hurt until I actually sold something.  And yes, I adjusted the % to what I would consider paying in addition to final value fee, Pay Pal and conversion exchange fees.  Now, even though I don't out-right offer discounts on my listings, most of the things I sell get discounted for sure.  Buyers are really educated to ask "What is the best price" whether they speak English or not.  So, the used to be 15% cost of selling per item is now a serious matter. 

Promoted Listings have technical implications.  Strategy and category saturation, never thought about that! I need to learn to use the tools that eBay gives us to best advantage.  I have to learn the ways of the 21st century to be able to sell antiques.  It sounds like you mastered the art.  It's good to hear that it is possible to do.  I appreciate your response.

Have a happy day.

B

[simply-the-best-for-you]

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@betsybabe wrote:

Hi Simply,

From what you are saying, there is more Promoted Listings than meets the eye.   They told me "here it is, use it".  So that's what I did.  Figured it couldn't hurt until I actually sold something.  And yes, I adjusted the % to what I would consider paying in addition to final value fee, Pay Pal and conversion exchange fees.  Now, even though I don't out-right offer discounts on my listings, most of the things I sell get discounted for sure.  Buyers are really educated to ask "What is the best price" whether they speak English or not.  So, the used to be 15% cost of selling per item is now a serious matter. 

Promoted Listings have technical implications.  Strategy and category saturation, never thought about that! I need to learn to use the tools that eBay gives us to best advantage.  I have to learn the ways of the 21st century to be able to sell antiques.  It sounds like you mastered the art.  It's good to hear that it is possible to do.  I appreciate your response.

Have a happy day.

B

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I learned a lot through trial & error  & also from the boards, though at the time I started using them, not many were using them.   PL's in general will put you closer to the top of search, within Ebay, so imagine someone selling jeans, where there is SO much competition, getting near the top is a big deal.  In your case, you probably are near the top anyway, as I doubt you have many competitors (though idk your market).  The good news is there is no harm in you trying PL's really.  The worst result is that they don't help.  

Also, there are 2 types of PL's, I would not recommend the new Advanced, pay per click , for you either.  You'd be paying a lot, for nothing.   I would expect that targeting the customers you already have, to buy more, is going to be the most bang for your buck.   Yours is a luxury item which comes with its own pluses & minuses.  Good luck! 

[partfinds]

@katzrul15 

of course. That is expected to hear that.

[dbfolks166mt]

     Naturally an eBay representative is going to suggest using PL since that is additional money, your money, in their pockets. According to the last figures I saw from eBay less than 20% of the items listed on eBay utilize promoted listings. A lot of it depends on what you are selling, how much you can bake into your cost model and the price elasticity of the item(s) you are selling. If you are in a highly competitive category/market then you may benefit from using PL. 

     I have never used PL simply because there is no way I can measure how effective it is. If an item sells how am I to know that it was or was not the result of the PL? One thing I can be sure of is if I am not using PL and an item sells it had nothing to do with the use of PL. 

     If you are considering using PL about the best you can do is trial and error and adjust according to how effective you thing the use of PL is. Anything eBay suggests, PL, coupons, etc. is to their benefit and generally at your expense but that is what they are in business to do. 

[hawkwind5454]

For me, promoted listings are a mixed bag. At the onset of a new listing, I get the big rush. .. but that cools down very quickly. If I have a PL that does not sell in the first 48 hours, it will languish and rot just like the non-PL's might do. So can come on strong at first, but then it becomes a non-winning lottery ticket.