Ebay Promote Your Listings Ads

[David P]

Hi,

Apologies if this has already been posted. I did a search and didn't find anything.

I was just wondering what peoples thoughts were on the new option to promote your listings at the base of relevant searches by offering ebay a % of the sale price.
It only costs if you get a sale.

We have just been invited to do it and I am interested to see what impact it might have.

I am a bit concerned it will just encourage a lot of listings with an inflated price to cover the maximum bid allowed (20% of sale price)

If you didn't know about it then there is more info here - http://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/promote-your-listings.html

Cheers

 

[Thomas Harvey]

How long has this been out? Don't remember this when I was selling heavily on ebay late last year?

 

[silvermusic]

If this goes full scale and in the categories I sell in then I'm leaving eBay. Just another way of milking sellers with no extra sales. I'd much rather invest any money outside of eBay on my own site than paying twice for the same third party platform.

In regards to eBay generally I'm down around 50% against last year despite much new and unique to me product which is selling well through other channels. Chucking money at a sinking platform for less and less profit makes no sense.

 

[BartJr]

I used to sell on eBay before the defect system was introduced. I ship a lot of fragile goods therefore its normal that a lot of them will break (that's why there is an insurance), customers understand it but eBay doesn't. Top rated account went to below standard in less than a week since it was introduced, but Hey I've had 100% positive feedback, 0% negatives 0% neutrals, but eBay doesn't care :l

 

[David P]

How long has this been out? Don't remember this when I was selling heavily on ebay late last year?

It only just came out. Still in beta mode apparently. Although i think that just means it isn't open to everyone.

If this goes full scale and in the categories I sell in then I'm leaving eBay. Just another way of milking sellers with no extra sales. I'd much rather invest any money outside of eBay on my own site than paying twice for the same third party platform.

In regards to eBay generally I'm down around 50% against last year despite much new and unique to me product which is selling well through other channels. Chucking money at a sinking platform for less and less profit makes no sense.

I can't believe it won't be expanded. As you say it is an opportunity for ebay to make more money.

Having said that I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing for sellers. Its a way to get onto the first pages of search without requiring a high volume of sales. This gives more niche / new products more of a chance.

 

[silvermusic]

I can't believe it won't be expanded. As you say it is an opportunity for ebay to make more money.

Having said that I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing for sellers. Its a way to get onto the first pages of search without requiring a high volume of sales. This gives more niche / new products more of a chance.

The whole idea for Best match was a search engine that shows people what's good value and/or popular based on what's sold and how many views it's had. Don't have a problem with that, makes perfect sense. You get sales by having a good item at a good price that people want. If you're going to start playing with that by injecting any old crap into the top of the listings how is that best for the buyers?

Now you could argue that's how Google works, indeed but everyone knows it works that way, they freely display that what's at the top are adverts above natural search results.

As a long time (circa 16 years) eBay seller and buyer I'm not keen on this for all sorts of reasons. I actually think Best Match does a decent job, sure it's not perfect. But from my own sales it's clear to see that getting the right product and the right price works every time, get it 100% right and sales can really fly. Start messing with that by putting any old junk at the top if you pay enough defeats the whole system and certainly doesn't benefit buyers.

Adwords on eBay have been tried before and failed as have featured listings and home page featured listings. 10 or more years ago it worked to a degree but the world of e-commerce has moved on, hence eBay retired those paid for features many years ago. .

 

[David P]

The whole idea for Best match was a search engine that shows people what's good value and/or popular based on what's sold and how many views it's had. Don't have a problem with that, makes perfect sense. You get sales by having a good item at a good price that people want. If you're going to start playing with that by injecting any old crap into the top of the listings how is that best for the buyers?

Now you could argue that's how Google works, indeed but everyone knows it works that way, they freely display that what's at the top are adverts above natural search results.

As a long time (circa 16 years) eBay seller and buyer I'm not keen on this for all sorts of reasons. I actually think Best Match does a decent job, sure it's not perfect. But from my own sales it's clear to see that getting the right product and the right price works every time, get it 100% right and sales can really fly. Start messing with that by putting any old junk at the top if you pay enough defeats the whole system and certainly doesn't benefit buyers.

Adwords on eBay have been tried before and failed as have featured listings and home page featured listings. 10 or more years ago it worked to a degree but the world of e-commerce has moved on, hence eBay retired those paid for features many years ago.

You seem to be under a slight misconception about the promoted listings. They won't be at the top of searches. They are in a side column lower down and at the base of each search page. They are also labelled as promoted.

I too don't mind best match. We continue to do ok on ebay so why should I? But it does tend to favour a certain type of item. It relies heavily upon sales velocity which favours cheap items (generally of average-poor quality), promoted listings will enable us to advertise our better quality, higher priced items to customers who may not have otherwise seen them / realised the option existed. This benefits buyers imo.

If ebay have the formula right for the listings then it should still only show decent listings that are relevant . They will want to do this as generating sales from the ads is the only way they will make money. This is how it differs from the previous ad programs and may work where they didn't.

 

[TMGG]

Sales on ebay have reduced dramatically in the past week. Is it down to this?

One thing that sort of pees me off is after I buy something on Ebay and think I've found the best value etc. my checkout finalised page comes with numerous other sellers I didn't see. As a seller this obviously works against me too. Just promotes people cancelling their orders after ordering.

 

[David P]

Sales on ebay have reduced dramatically in the past week. Is it down to this?

One thing that sort of pees me off is after I buy something on Ebay and think I've found the best value etc. my checkout finalised page comes with numerous other sellers I didn't see. As a seller this obviously works against me too. Just promotes people cancelling their orders after ordering.

I rarely buy on ebay so I hadn't clocked that happening. Seems crazy to me. Not only will it harm sellers but surely ebay will also lose some FVFs that they could have gained. If the purchase was a bit of an impromptu one surely this is the sort of thing that could just make you give up rather than go through the process of cancelling the order and then reordering from the cheaper person.

 

[silvermusic]

Sales on ebay have reduced dramatically in the past week. Is it down to this?

One thing that sort of pees me off is after I buy something on Ebay and think I've found the best value etc. my checkout finalised page comes with numerous other sellers I didn't see. As a seller this obviously works against me too. Just promotes people cancelling their orders after ordering.

It's been going on for a long while, madness. I bought some Jiffy bags this morning low and behold I'm shown a whole variety of options after payment. Personally I ignore them but I always buy my Jiffy bags from the same seller because they're 100% reliable and fast, the absolute lowest price is not important. But I've had people ask to cancel sales in the past for no good reason, but I'm damn sure this is the reason. Thankfully much of my stuff is unique.

 

[silvermusic]

You seem to be under a slight misconception about the promoted listings. They won't be at the top of searches. They are in a side column lower down and at the base of each search page. They are also labelled as promoted.

Interesting, thanks for that. I haven't gone looking outside of the categories I sell in which as far as I'm aware aren't included yet. I'd assumed (obviously wrongly) that they just get stuck at the top of the standard listing pages, that's how it use to be many years ago. Am I the only one who's been on eBay long enough to remember "Featured" and "Home Page Featured" you use to be able to pay extra to have your listing highlighted in Bold text too. takes me back.

 

[Carl Feldman]

whoa I didn' know about this thank you very much.

 

[Carl Feldman]

Has anyone actually used this promote ebay thingy before judging? I mean as actively used it for more than a week? please tell me your insights on it.

 

[JJWinst]

We are using it now, haven't seen an increase. You can put the percentage from 0-20% based on how much you're prepared to give away. We have set this to be at the lowest rate possible as I don't think there's too many people doing it now..

I've not seen it 'live' as such and have searched for the products we are testing.

I think it will work for some and won't for other's, the best way to approach is is to try and make it work for you.

 

[boring-friday]

can't see how any seller will think its a good idea, just means the same amount of buyers on ebay and the sellers are paying a higher % to ebay

 

[TMGG]

But I've had people ask to cancel sales in the past for no good reason, but I'm damn sure this is the reason. Thankfully much of my stuff is unique.

Yep, I've had a few cancel with some dubious reasons and I'm sure it was down to this.

 

[silvermusic]

can't see how any seller will think its a good idea, just means the same amount of buyers on ebay and the sellers are paying a higher % to ebay

Exactly, what I what to know is what eBay intend to do to drive more customers and traffic to the site. So far what's been said after the split from PayPal is meaningless corporate spin. Over the last few years they've screwed up on a core competency of the site in getting people to it. All I'm seeing is fleecing sellers even more and an increase in third party adverts driving people off the site. You can only get so much blood out of a stone.

 

[David P]

Exactly, what I what to know is what eBay intend to do to drive more customers and traffic to the site. So far what's been said after the split from PayPal is meaningless corporate spin. Over the last few years they've screwed up on a core competency of the site in getting people to it. All I'm seeing is fleecing sellers even more and an increase in third party adverts driving people off the site. You can only get so much blood out of a stone.

If you were in charge how would you increase traffic?

I think they are in a tight spot. They can't compete with the likes of Amazon for fulfilment which seems to be a key battleground. I know I always opt for the convenience of Amazon over ebay.

I suppose an obvious answer would be to drop fees a bit to ensure that sellers could be cheaper on ebay than on Amazon.

It is hard to work out exactly what ebays USP is these days. Obviously it used to be the auctions but that is becoming less and less used every year. What is the incentive for a buyer to shop on ebay rather than somewhere else?
I think ebay will may become less and less of a big player as time goes on due to this. It has a large amount of buyers to draw on because of its uniqueness back in the 00's but how people want to shop online has changed and there are loads of sites offering an equal or better experience than Ebay can. A lot will shop there out of habit but at some point that habit will break and some will go off elsewhere. I think we have seen this happen a bit already with the security issues last year.

Maybe ebay need to work out how they can draw a positive from the sheer number of sellers it has available. This is what is different to a lot of other marketplaces. However it needs to do so without regressing it to where it was a few years ago where there was no buyer trust and it was a hassle to shop on. I am not sure how they could do this.

 

[silvermusic]

If you were in charge how would you increase traffic?

I think they are in a tight spot. They can't compete with the likes of Amazon for fulfilment which seems to be a key battleground. I know I always opt for the convenience of Amazon over ebay.

I suppose an obvious answer would be to drop fees a bit to ensure that sellers could be cheaper on ebay than on Amazon.

Stop trying to game Google for starters, they got their backside kicked into touch for that one which is well documented.

Start building trust with sellers, it's been eroded over the last 5 and more years down to an all-time low. For me that is something that would make me change the direction my business is going in. No matter how much you do it's never enough, they seem to delight in inventing ways of beating sellers down. Not content with normal feedback they introduced Detailed Seller Ratings, and not so long back a third layer called defects. The whole thing is like some insane convoluted game. It doesn't take too many buyers to stuff up your account over a few low value items. The power buyers have over sellers is completely out of whack with any perceived wrong doing. I have 3 defects on my account at this moment for no other reason than people not reading what they're buying, it's not even something hidden away in small text its the product size which is also in the first few words of the title and several times in the description. Will eBay remove these defects, no because it's "buyers opinion" Two hours spent on that one over items totalling less than a tenner each. I could go on but I'm sure those of you who sell on eBay are all too aware of the day to day problems.

As for lowering fees, I have no problem with eBay fees, The more I make the more they make. Compared to other methods of selling it's not that expensive.

Despite what you might think I like eBay, I like the fact that there's very little you can't get on it, even the most obscure stuff. From a huge range of sellers big and small.

As for fulfillment services that's been on the back burner for years but never come to fruition. Their Argos click and collect and Global shipping programme however are both excellent ideas for those who want them.

 

[e-vulture]

Based on what I've seen as a buyer - these promoted listings will not do anything for a seller. All of the ones I've seen have been irrelevant to my search, and they only appeared at the very bottom of the search results. In my eyes if you pay to be promoted, you should be at the top, not the bottom. I can get to the bottom of the first page results without any effort, why pay ?

For example I was searching for jiffy bags, the promoted listings were for wooden spice racks ? How does that work ?

 

[David P]

Start building trust with sellers, it's been eroded over the last 5 and more years down to an all-time low. For me that is something that would make me change the direction my business is going in. No matter how much you do it's never enough, they seem to delight in inventing ways of beating sellers down. Not content with normal feedback they introduced Detailed Seller Ratings, and not so long back a third layer called defects. The whole thing is like some insane convoluted game. It doesn't take too many buyers to stuff up your account over a few low value items. The power buyers have over sellers is completely out of whack with any perceived wrong doing. I have 3 defects on my account at this moment for no other reason than people not reading what they're buying, it's not even something hidden away in small text its the product size which is also in the first few words of the title and several times in the description. Will eBay remove these defects, no because it's "buyers opinion" Two hours spent on that one over items totalling less than a tenner each. I could go on but I'm sure those of you who sell on eBay are all too aware of the day to day problems.

Rebuilding some trust is definitely needed. Sellers have been messed about a lot. I imagine we will be messed about some more now Devin Wenig has taken over. Hopefully the changes will benefit sellers so no one will mind too much.
I do have some sympathy for what they did with DSR's and defects though. Ebay really needed to rebuild its trust with buyers. There were too many scammers and crap sellers on there and they needed weeding out. Feedback wasn't enough to identify them so they needed DSR's. That left good sellers and ok sellers. Then defects allowed them to do a second clear out so now we are left with just good sellers.
As you say, they now need to readjust to reduce the levels of power buyers have.

The problem is though; that isn't going to increase levels of traffic to the site. Ebay have long pissed off sellers but I don't think the site suffered all that much for it because sellers generally put up with it. I don't think the levels of choice have decreased. if anything I think there is more choice (in my categories anyway).

Based on what I've seen as a buyer - these promoted listings will not do anything for a seller. All of the ones I've seen have been irrelevant to my search, and they only appeared at the very bottom of the search results. In my eyes if you pay to be promoted, you should be at the top, not the bottom. I can get to the bottom of the first page results without any effort, why pay ?

For example I was searching for jiffy bags, the promoted listings were for wooden spice racks ? How does that work ?

Certainly in the categories I sell in I can't get anything I want to the bottom of the 1st page.

With regards to the spice racks, I guess if there was nothing that relevant to your search bidding for ads ebay will just show something random as it doesn't cost them anything and they may get an off chance sale?
From the searches I have done (admittedly limited) all the results have been relevant.

 

[BartJr]

There were too many scammers and crap sellers on there and they needed weeding out. Feedback wasn't enough to identify them so they needed DSR's. That left good sellers and ok sellers. Then defects allowed them to do a second clear out so now we are left with just good sellers.

You see, if you don't sell a lot, each defect has got massive impact. I've used to ship fragile items which were insured always and buyers were aware of it. However if they've received damaged, and they've opened a 'Request' the seller gets an instant defect which will never be removed. Don't bother contacting eBay customer service because they are robots

 

[David P]

You see, if you don't sell a lot, each defect has got massive impact. I've used to ship fragile items which were insured always and buyers were aware of it. However if they've received damaged, and they've opened a 'Request' the seller gets an instant defect which will never be removed. Don't bother contacting eBay customer service because they are robots

Don't get me wrong. I in no way think the system is close to perfect. I bet every seller has unfair defects and for a situation as you described it must have been a nightmare. I was just saying that I can understand why they have taken the approach they have.

 

[BartJr]

Don't get me wrong. I in no way think the system is close to perfect. I bet every seller has unfair defects and for a situation as you described it must have been a nightmare. I was just saying that I can understand why they have taken the approach they have.

I know, I was just sharing my experience on the topic