promoted items fees

[picture-perfect-11]

Just realized after spending tens of thousand of dollars on promoted listing fees that eBay has been ripping us off!  They give buyers a choice of buying from promoted item even if they did not find it via a promotion ( google, etc. )  They do this by simply giving them a choice of the same item when they go to buy your item.  The one is more "attractive" to buyers is the "promoted" one.  There has to be some type of fraud being committed here.  Think I'm crazy? Have a friend go right to eBay and have them purchase one of your items.  

[heckofagame]

It's advertising. That is not illegal. 

[femmefan1946]

Too many pronouns.

The seller uses PL to increase Views and sales of his item.

The customer finds the item on Google and comes to eBay to buy it.

Part of "promoted" is having the item show more often on Google.

The seller pays the PL fee he chose.

The customer finds the promoted item on Google and comes to eBay to buy it.

There is a advertisement on the eBay page of a similar item.

The customer prefers the advertised item over the PL item.

The customer buyer buys the advertised item.

The seller does not sell his item and does not pay the PL fee.

Since you only pay the PL fee if the PL item sells, how did you spend tens of thousands of dollars on PL which did not sell?

The newer PL which charges upfront for promotion is not a good choice for someone selling the number and value of items you (and I ) offer.  The older one, which only charges when something is sold, is more economic.

[femmefan1946]

The new PL is  a "pay per click"  which even with Google struck me as a way to spend a lot of money for no good results.

[chapeau-noir]

Tens of thousands of dollars?  (Really?) Buyers don't care if it's "promoted" versus not promoted - there's no hook in a promoted listing as "promoted" - they just bang the button on the first one they see.  eBay has no liability there.

You're not using PPC, are you?  That's just like high-speed wallet emptying.

[gamersbaystore]

You are correct, ebay does in fact artificially inflate promoted items directly from sellers listings. When you view a listing, ebay will state things like, "More Sponsored Listings From This Seller." I think its very crooked of ebay to charge sellers added fees to promote their own items from their own listings.

I think its legit for ebay to charge sellers promoted listing fees when their items show up in search or on other sellers listings, but your own?