promoted listings

[verdaviolavintage]

I see that I now have to increase my promoted listing fees for you to above 2%.  I feel like we sellers already give quite a bit of our profits to eBay.  Every time I turn around,  eBay has figured out a new way to decrease our profits.  Why do I have to change all of my promoted listings to double the present amount?  Shouldn't it be my choice?  As I see it,  I have zero choice in this new requirement.  I try to keep my prices down for my customers to as low as I can go but I guess that I need to up those very same prices to increase eBay's bottom line.  I love selling on eBay but things like this make me feel less proud to have an eBay store within this network.  Promoted listings were to me a scam thought up to increase your profits.  Why aren't ALL items on your website lifted equally and/or shown equally?  You are now a pay to play and if that doesn't take the fun and magic out of our selling sites, I don't know what does!!!!

[siamjane8]

wow.....just wow. ebay is really scrambling to squeeze more out of the sellers... talk about biting the hand that feeds you. and when the site has not worked correctly for the last 6 months and sales are down for most sellers and search visibility is tanking across the board....and the new listing tool is so bad that we cant even effectively list new items without a fight...... just wow

[femmefan1946]

Since sales are down internet-wide, eBay seems to be scrambling to stay profitable.

Unlike AZ which lost money as usual* , eBay made a nearly $700million profit according to their recent quarterly report.

And since they now pay dividends, the shareholders expect to be paid.

From one point of view, a low share value in a profitable company is a buying opportunity.

But if sales are off, FVF are down, and the company needs to pay those dividends.

As Marshall McLuhan said, the product being sold may not be what it seems to be. Just as with television the product is not the programs but the eyeballs being sold to advertisers, our labour and our fees are what are being sold to the shareholders.

*https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon-reports-net-loss-of-3-8-billion-in-first-quarter-2022/

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AMZN/amazon/net-income

[oascollectibles]

It really upset me when they removed the amount calculation on the promotions. Now they raise the base rate to force users to pay more? I guess I just have to go to non promoted listings.  Ebay is already taking all of my profits...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@siamjane8 wrote:

wow.....just wow. ebay is really scrambling to squeeze more out of the sellers... talk about biting the hand that feeds you. and when the site has not worked correctly for the last 6 months and sales are down for most sellers and search visibility is tanking across the board....and the new listing tool is so bad that we cant even effectively list new items without a fight...... just wow

---

@femmefan1946 

To me it seems like eBay "features" are continuously tripping over each other. If a good portion of sellers are using a feature like Promotion...not everyone can be first to display. Also, much easier for larger sellers to promote at a higher rate and in turn push lower sellers down even further. Does little to even any sort of playing field. As of late feel like I am on the edge of a cliff just holding on waiting for boulder to land on my fingers!!!

As for the announcement being on dot com and not spotted "yet" on dot ca, like many features they arrive on the Canadian website on some kind of magical schedule...rarely properly announced or kinda as an afterthought!!!

-Lotz

[mrdutch1001]

Promoted Listings are an option, not a requirement....most selling sites are in one form or another "Pay to Play"

[verdaviolavintage]

Yes,  but they (promoted listings) are required if you want to sell,  correct?  Aren't we already paying to play with all of our selling fees that are already in place?  It's only just my opinion and I'm thankful to be able to express it....

[mandisattictoyz]

Wow, don’t go anywhere else to sell them, you’ll complain even more.  eBay even with a 7% promotional fee is still cheaper than selling on Walmart or amazon.  Get over it

[2013grotz]

---

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

---

@siamjane8 wrote:

wow.....just wow. ebay is really scrambling to squeeze more out of the sellers... talk about biting the hand that feeds you. and when the site has not worked correctly for the last 6 months and sales are down for most sellers and search visibility is tanking across the board....and the new listing tool is so bad that we cant even effectively list new items without a fight...... just wow

---

@femmefan1946 

To me it seems like eBay "features" are continuously tripping over each other. If a good portion of sellers are using a feature like Promotion...not everyone can be first to display. Also, much easier for larger sellers to promote at a higher rate and in turn push lower sellers down even further. Does little to even any sort of playing field. As of late feel like I am on the edge of a cliff just holding on waiting for boulder to land on my fingers!!!

That's really the issue of something like PL.    It becomes an arms race just to be seen and the larger sellers can play a lot more readily than a small seller, simply because they have more income to play with.  But in a way you have to play just to get seen given the nature of a place like this, or go home.  Of course, such scenarios and others definitely paint the picture that the small seller just isn't welcome here.

[katzrul15]

---

@siamjane8 wrote:

wow.....just wow. ebay is really scrambling to squeeze more out of the sellers... talk about biting the hand that feeds you. and when the site has not worked correctly for the last 6 months and sales are down for most sellers and search visibility is tanking across the board....and the new listing tool is so bad that we cant even effectively list new items without a fight...... just wow

---

This was how I felt when I read the email this afternoon.  wow.

I am disappointed.  Not over 1%, but the concept and especially now.  It seems like all these are self-serving decisions. 

Wow, is right. 

[yuzuha]

---

@verdaviolavintage wrote:

Yes,  but they (promoted listings) are required if you want to sell,  correct? 

---

Nope. Never once have I used a Promoted Listing. Amazingly, my stuff still sells.

[femmefan1946]

@yuzuha 

There is a similar thread on eBay Canada, with much the same sort of discussion.'

But one poster actually had a little data.

He has found that using PL at 10% - which I find astonishingly high- is more effective than having a 10% off Sale.

I am now thinking about that, after being adamant about never having discount sales and sticking with one percent PL.

[dbfolks166mt]

     You actually DO have a choice. Quit using PL. I have never used it because as you say I either have to increase my prices to cover the added cost or simply absorb it. I have no problem understanding why eBay is doing this. Inflation is increasing their costs as well and they either have to increase their net profit or absorb the cost. 

     Ebay's net profit and net profit margin were both down over 300% year over year based on their 2022 first quarter reporting. A company cannot continue to absorb those kinds of decreases and continue to be an attractive investment for their shareholders. It's just business. .

[dbfolks166mt]

There is a similar thread on eBay Canada, with much the same sort of discussion.'

But one poster actually had a little data.

He has found that using PL at 10% - which I find astonishingly high- is more effective than having a 10% off Sale.

I am now thinking about that, after being adamant about never having discount sales and sticking with one percent PL.

     I have seen several postings where people have claimed PL actually improves sales but it is hard to substantiate that claim or those figures since there is no way to determine whether the item would have sold without the PL or sold at a lower PL level. 

     I would suspect even eBay with their bigger picture and larger data warehouse could not make that determination and be 100% sure. Good hypothesis but difficult to prove. I would simply try lowering my price first. 

[femmefan1946]

people have claimed PL actually improves sales but it is hard to substantiate

I agree.

I definitely have more Views when something is PL, but what I think I see is that while sales go up too, it is not actually the PL items that sell necessarily.

The PL seems to bring eyeballs into my Store, and sometimes the customer buys something entirely different from the PL.

But anecdote is not data.

[inhawaii]

---

@verdaviolavintage wrote:

I see that I now have to increase my promoted listing fees for you to above 2%. 

---

Incorrect. 

You don't have to.