Promoted Listings - how are you handling it?

[phaz0rz]

I've spent months now trying to tune "promoted listings" into something that gets me enough traffic without destroying my profit margin.

Recently I've started disabling "promoted listings general" because the recommended ad rate was creeping up towards 20%. They have no problem advising you to incrementally bump up the ad rate until you're taking a loss on every sale. A lot of sellers are being forced to eat the losses just to move inventory.

For a while I was using promoted general and advanced but with the recent changes to the pay per click model, it seems like eBay is charging for clicks even if the buyer doesn't purchase. It quickly became unfeasible for me to use both ad types. On a $30 order I would have $15 in promoted listings costs.. then I would still have to buy postage.

Promoted advanced gets the best search ranking. I've started using Promoted advanced (PPC) for faster moving items and promoted general for slower sellers. I have the per click rate capped around 25-30 cents because again with that.. eBay will allow you to compete against yourself.. advising you to raise your per click rate to a dollar or more (as high as you're willing to go, really). The marketing team at eBay seems to have gone with the same strategy as the rest of wall street - extract maximum profits at all costs.

Just curious how other are navigating this changing landscape, if there are any eBay sellers left here.

[Nimble]

Unfortunately this is the only way to make decent sales nowadays. Like you, for my fast sellers I don't promote and slow sellers I'll end up promoting around 10 - 15%. It is starting to get unfeasible, I need to move away from eBay, but it has the most traffic after Amazon.

[phaz0rz]

What category are you in?

[agent006140]

I have the per click rate capped around 25-30 cents because again with that.. eBay will allow you to compete against yourself.. advising you to raise your per click rate to a dollar or more (as high as you're willing to go, really). The marketing team at eBay seems to have gone with the same strategy as the rest of wall street - extract maximum profits at all costs.
------------
I used to give Google $50,then $100,then $150,and get no results.
BTW,this is what Etsy is doing,and we have to pay,

[Nimble]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

What category are you in?

Tech Accessories, probably the most cut throat out there.
Also seasonal e.g Christmas, Halloween , and other popular holidays.
I try to delve into higher risk activities on rare occasion, which never ends well.

[agent006140]

try to sell something few people are selling.
I sell gold with 25% discount off spot price and do very well

[Nimble]

It depends on if you can source a good supplier.

[agent006140]

Originally Posted by Nimble

It depends on if you can source a good supplier.

I am just joking,I do not sell gold online,buyers just want to pay you scrap value,then there are credit card fee,FVF .
If you can find some folks who own gold from way back,and offer to pay cash,they may be willing to sell you their gold.
Even goldfill items are worth good money ,12K,14k goldfill.

[james_112233]

My main business sells niche, I don't promote listings. My sales took a big hit after Brexit, I lost the EU market. Otherwise it's been the same for me for years. eBay have called me insisting I work with them to scale up but I have no plans to do so as it just won't be feasible for me with my personal circumstances.

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by james_112233

My main business sells niche, I don't promote listings. My sales took a big hit after Brexit, I lost the EU market. Otherwise it's been the same for me for years. eBay have called me insisting I work with them to scale up but I have no plans to do so as it just won't be feasible for me with my personal circumstances.

I guess it depends on the category you're selling in. As a fellow tech accessory seller, promoted listings for me means the difference between getting enough sales volume to cover the bills or having to dip into savings. Being in the US probably makes a difference also. I think it's more cut throat over here. It's certainly less regulated with more loopholes being exploited (endless shell companies run by foreign actors, postage fraud, tax evasion, etc.)

Originally Posted by agent006140

try to sell something few people are selling.
I sell gold with 25% discount off spot price and do very well

Nobody thought you were joking.. you're just lying, as usual. You've never posted anything to suggest you're even a seller. Much less anything to suggest you're in one of the highest risk categories undercutting Apmex on precious metals. Get real. I'll take all of your stock right now for 25% under spot.

[Wordpresguy]

Pls donot bother promoting outside ebay.

Be very careful in reguards to the Promotion features on ebay
Otherwise, you'll end up selling without making any profit ok?

You can choose to promote 1 compettive product
and link other ebay listing to the promoted page/item

Kindly reach me via pm if, you need further elaboration.

Note; promoting every items on ebay is like selling
and giving back your money to ebay!


Regards
Wordpresguy from Rome

[dsdominators]

(Dropshipping Model)What I've noticed is:

Absolutely no difference if I promote at 8% or 20%. The results are always the same, I just pay more...
And promoting outside of eBay is an overkill... That puts my listings in competition with websites that already have better pricing than me and are oriented around the specific product and have better SEO.

Best results I've ever had are at 4%-7%.

[phaz0rz]

I agree with both of you - promoted offsite is a massive waste of money. It turns into a hole that you're throwing money into with little to no sales increase.


My ROAS is sitting around 4 on one account and 6 on the other. I've started dropping the % I pay through promoted general a few percentage points at a time. For the things I'm selling though.. dropping from a (recommended) ad rate of 20% to 8%, I lose almost all visibility.


Pay per click ads are the biggest obstacle now that we are being charged for clicks even when the buyer doesn't make a purchase. That kind of thing can easily be exploited via a python script to increase competitor ad spend, ad infinitum.

[Automasters]

Yes, I'd say the majority of my listings stay at 5%, standard promoted listings...

[rsot]

Originally Posted by agent006140

sometimes a buyer will click to look at your item,and buy it later !

Quite the possibility

[phaz0rz]

ROAS is a different metric. Return on ad spend.

[agent006140]

Is it worth paying for promoted listings?
Just read more people have maxed out/become delinquent in paying their cc bills,they would not be able to use their cards to buy on Ebay!

[rsot]

Originally Posted by agent006140

Is it worth paying for promoted listings?
Just read more people have maxed out/become delinquent in paying their cc bills,they would not be able to use their cards to buy on Ebay!

Just read where? Lot of ppl are always delinquent with cc bills - not new...

[agent006140]

Originally Posted by rsot

Just read where? Lot of ppl are always delinquent with cc bills - not new...

The % has gone up,it has been creeping up every month,not just cc but auto and home mortgage as well/

[phaz0rz]

That's what I keep hearing. Can't say that I know anyone in debt though.
Makes me feel kinda comfy to not be in debt.

[agent006140]

Those who are deeply in debt do not go around and talk about it/

[phaz0rz]

Are you deeply in debt?