Are "Promoted Listings" just not "hidden listings?

[Elliot]

I have 3 accounts, on my main selling every day I list and ship daily. I notice that when I put 2% or 5% into promotional option as I list, the listing gets noticed faster and overall slightly more views.

But when I list "Rubbermaid Dishpan Model 123456Z (for example) and price is $10 less than everyone else's $50-$70 price so I get a quick sale, when I search for "Rubbermaid Dishpan 123456Z" from another account after THREE AND A HALF DAYS from the time I listed it, with a BIN price, NONE of mine come up.

It's one thing to pay to get suggested to someone, but are the "promoted listings" just letting you show up in the search results at all?

Any suggestion to get around that? My other two accounts don't even offer the option to select a promotional fee percentage, and I'd like to sell a few things quick. All accounts are years old, 5 star average with 100% feedback and it's so frustrating.

Anything you think of I can do to get a few sales through faster, I'm open for suggestions, even if it costs me off the total or in some other way.

Thanks!

[yobar]

Usually in the two accounts that do not have the option active you can go to settings and search for it, sometimes you just have to activate it.
Regarding the other two, it is a problem or a configuration of eBay's argorism, they upload your ad the first few days and after two days it tends to go down, I imagine due to having other people or accounts that offer better %

[rsot]

Originally Posted by yobar

U
Regarding the other two, it is a problem or a configuration of eBay's argorism, they upload your ad the first few days and after two days it tends to go down, I imagine due to having other people or accounts that offer better %

logical analysis

[agent006140]

VRubbermaid Dishpan Model 123456Z
try something exciting,like 24K gold nugget,auction starting price ) $1

[guccimane]

That's how the world is going on lately, you need to pay for everything to get sales, views, etc.

[Mr_Blue_Sky]

Originally Posted by guccimane

That's how the world is going on lately, you need to pay for everything to get sales, views, etc.

Absolutely. I used to think Amazon were bad but eBay are determined to outdo them.

Promoted listing, Promoted Listings Advanced, eBay Social, etc etc etc.

You could find yourself paying for a promotion and those with big budgets will push you into the oblivion that is page two - where no buyer these days ever ventures.

[guccimane]

Originally Posted by Mr_Blue_Sky

Absolutely. I used to think Amazon were bad but eBay are determined to outdo them.

Promoted listing, Promoted Listings Advanced, eBay Social, etc etc etc.

You could find yourself paying for a promotion and those with big budgets will push you into the oblivion that is page two - where no buyer these days ever ventures.

Totally agree with you, I think that eBay will be out of the game in terms of sellers soon, many people abandon the platform.

[Mr_Blue_Sky]

Originally Posted by guccimane

Totally agree with you, I think that eBay will be out of the game in terms of sellers soon, many people abandon the platform.

I don't really know where I stand on this. My logic says there will always be sellers because there's not that many viable platforms to go to who don't operate similar 'pay for visibility' promotions.

It could be said that there's always a new entrepreneur looking to replace a seller who's given up - cycle of life kind of analogy, new replaces old.

It could also be said that to pay for promotions sellers will be forced to increase prices, but I recognise this just become a vicious circle and the only winner is ebay. (assuming buyers still find their prices acceptable/competitive).

But one thing I am sure of is all selling platforms will see more and more big corporate-style sellers and the smaller outfits will dwindle.

Just look at how the Chinese have swamped the market, in the UK they clearly pay handsomely for visibility with them dominating page 1 in many sectors even with some pretty grim delivery times and feedback.

But as you said, the world is changing and it seems and hard to predict what awaits us tomorrow never mind what to future will look like.

[guccimane]

Originally Posted by Mr_Blue_Sky

I don't really know where I stand on this. My logic says there will always be sellers because there's not that many viable platforms to go to who don't operate similar 'pay for visibility' promotions.

It could be said that there's always a new entrepreneur looking to replace a seller who's given up - cycle of life kind of analogy, new replaces old.

It could also be said that to pay for promotions sellers will be forced to increase prices, but I recognise this just become a vicious circle and the only winner is ebay. (assuming buyers still find their prices acceptable/competitive).

But one thing I am sure of is all selling platforms will see more and more big corporate-style sellers and the smaller outfits will dwindle.

Just look at how the Chinese have swamped the market, in the UK they clearly pay handsomely for visibility with them dominating page 1 in many sectors even with some pretty grim delivery times and feedback.

But as you said, the world is changing and it seems and hard to predict what awaits us tomorrow never mind what to future will look like.

Absolutely with you here, but I've been selling on eBay worldwide for 13 years - real products: sourcing, packing and posting myself, not dropshipping (high price used items too) and I can see the difference. It is really bad now, the buyers become dumb and stupid everywhere in the world causing more and more problems compared to the profit and eBay really f***ed everything, higher commissions, promotions, BBE rating and everything you can think of.

I have many friends, big sellers with massive business already abandoning eBay and start selling on their own platforms, paying the same amount they paid for commissions and promotions now for online advertising, but that way you can do whatever you want - as the platform is yours, it really depends on what you're selling after all.

[yobar]

You are very right about this, in the coming years I think the future is to create our own websites and start selling with our rules.
Obviously bringing clients would be a little difficult, for this difficulty the ideal is to use that payment that you would give to eBay to pay for your advertising

[Camaro2SS]

LOL @ anyone claiming they can sell **** on their own website. Good luck with driving enough traffic that converts into sales!

[yobar]

That may be but do other platforms really also work like eBay?
I believe that the situation that eBay is experiencing today is a cyclical process and those of us who have been selling on eBay for some time have experienced similar processes.
I think the best thing we can do is stay on eBay and have alternatives while this cycle changes,

[rsot]

Originally Posted by guccimane

Totally agree with you, I think that eBay will be out of the game in terms of sellers soon, many people abandon the platform.

kind of doubt that - ppl will always like the auction style of sales...no other platform really has this auction power...but yes other platforms will offer more product selection etc

[yobar]

Sales through auctions are great but I think that only for a few types of new products I sell many things at auction but mostly new high-cost products.
It sells faster and you have more views

[Camaro2SS]

The truth is all eCom platforms today are saturated. Be it Amazon Etsy or eBay. And those of you who claim you can find success on your own Shopify website either don’t know how expensive, time consuming and inconvenient is to drive paid traffic to your own website. That’s why I find it laughable. Reminds me when I was a noob 20 years ago.

[guccimane]

Originally Posted by Camaro2SS

The truth is all eCom platforms today are saturated. Be it Amazon Etsy or eBay. And those of you who claim you can find success on your own Shopify website either don’t know how expensive, time consuming and inconvenient is to drive paid traffic to your own website. That’s why I find it laughable. Reminds me when I was a noob 20 years ago.

I'm not talking about Shopify or something like that - that kind of services are sh!t, If you know what you're doing it will take time, but is all good, I've been selling with custom made personal WooCommerce websites (for many years actually + client websites, WordPress is the way to go) on a personal hosting with a lot of SEO, I do everything myself. The main factor is WHAT you're selling, if you sell something that is rare and hard to find and people need it, trust me your website will be known for that. The other factor is how good you're at the SEO and marketing stuff, and that takes time - the whole process takes time, but it is possible to be out of the matrix.