My biggest complaint about Promoted Listings is this. Before PL was a thing I used to get X amount of sales per week. Then they invented PL and the idea was,
"Hey, pay us a little more in fees and we'll show your listings higher up in the search results to try and drum up more sales for you."
So I gave it a shot. When it first started you could choose 1%, so I promoted at 1% just to give it a test run.
I noticed little change.
Then they made it so you could only do a minimum of 2% and the "suggested rates" started climbing higher and higher. I made most things 2%. Sales started tanking.
Eventually, I got discouraged and "I guess I'll see what 10% does". My sales picked back up (to normal) again. I was making X amount per week.
I started going as high as .1 above the suggested rate (as long as it wasn't crazy high) to about an average of 12.1%. I saw a slight boost in sales for about a month. Higher than average. But then it fizzled down to about X amount per week.
The biggest difference I can see with PL, and I'm only being honest, not trying to criticize ebay or complain, the change is this... Now that I promote above the "suggested rate" I still get X Amount per week the difference being that now 75% of my sales are through PL, and I'm paying upwards of 12.1% MORE to ebay in fees for the same amount of sales I made per week before PL was a thing.
In short, ebay delivers the same results but at a much higher cost. Almost double what it used to be in fees. No boost in sales. No "X+A" to speak of.
Here's another thing I noticed. Why is it that on my most popular sellers the "suggested rate" is upwards of 17%? Especially on items where competition is low and other items in that category still only say 7-12% suggested?
My theory is that the Algo will always bump your "suggested rate" about 5% on your biggest sellers. Of course this is their way of saying "Hey give me more money on these that you sell a ton of!" But in reality, why should you? They aren't promising selling more of that item, just that they'll show it at the top alot. But if your customers already find it, what sense does that make?
In reality, what ebay should be doing is looking to combine all their "Promoted listing" schemes into one, if you want people to participate there has to be a benefit for the customer in real dollars. Sales. Not the same as before at higher fees but ADDITIONAL sales. Less manipulation in the results, less "shadow banning". And perhaps banner ads on and off site. Not "pay per click" but just the final sale percentage. Combine the two and I believe you'll benefit the seller with more sales, and incentive to participate.
In my humble opinion it was in poor taste to implement a scheme like this without a benefit to the sellers at a time when the economy for many people is suffering. It was like "throwing a weight to a drowning man." That 12.1% extra in fees they're taking from X amount per week is taking from me at a time when everything is going up in price.
If PL was X+A and A = 12.1% more in sales revenue weekly, that would have been a benefit. Instead of PL being X-A and A = 12.1% more in fees.
