eBay Promoted Listings
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Any eBay sellers here use eBay promoted listings?
I was just watching the CEO of eBay talk about promoted listings and how that feature doubles the seller's sales.
I believe my inventory would sell very well with eBay promoted listings, but I have not tried yet.
Anyone here with experience with promoted listings on eBay?
How exactly does the extra advertising fee work and the amount?
Please discuss and thank you, Chris
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i wonder if it would even benefit the selling of a 4 digit one of a kind coin.
Yes if the coin sold specifically because of the advertising.
Also, the ad could draw clients to my other inventory.
I don't sell coins on eBay, but anecdotally it has helped with selling random stuff. It is difficult to get data, but items definitely sell more quickly. I tend to use it for items that are harder to sell vs things with high demand and sell frequently at similar prices.
I have tried it on a few lingering listings at the 1% level and sold 2 or 3 that say it was due to being "promoted" (out of 10 or so I tried it on), so it probably helped a little. But probably not a significant enough sample size. Like others posted maybe it would help with more "unique" type coins such as varieties or premium priced toned coins.
Question: Any insight as to what percent level works best? And what is the difference in promotion at, say, 4% compared with 1%?
Is the percentage paid upfront or only if the item sells?
I have never used the promoted listing feature so my opinion may be of little value.
I have reviewed it and don't think it is any great advantage, seems like a way to collect more fees.
I look at my browsing habits and just because something is promoted doesn't mean I will click on it.
As an example, you are into errors, If I post a common Morgan in MS-66 and promote it are you going to click on it?
Look at your item views, if you are getting plenty of views already it may not help much.
Ebay already promotes certain sellers based on performance & price of items.
Good chance your items are already promoted above many other sellers.
You do a good job with your listings and from my browsing habits your listings pop up early in my searches.
I know you do .99 start auctions and those seem to draw in people that look at your other items.
Why pay ebay more for something they should be doing or may already be doing for you?
If you use the markdown and lower by 5% for a limited time it promotes your listing.
The 5% discount may make your product more attractive to buyers.
There is no advantage to the buyer if you pay ebay 5% more.
On the other hand, I'm sure if you opt for a high promoted percentage like 15-35% ebay will push your exposure a great deal.
I am not a seller so I cannot comment form that standpoint, but as a buyer I can say that it would not make one bit of difference to me as I pay no special attention to promoted items. I search for the item I am looking for and in many cases I completely ignore the promoted items as I expect the seller to ask a higher price due to the higher fees, ymmv.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Believe it or not I never look at promoted items because I know promoted = over price.
It works! When you list you have the option to check the box. It will then have you choose %. Under that box is their recommended % level.
You are only charged the % if the listing sells due to buyer finding and buying your item by the promotion.
What promoted listing does is bump your listing to the top of the listing page when searches are sorted by Best Match which is the default option for buyers so you get more views.
I recommend you try it and see for yourself. There is much more to it but I don't have the time to post an in depth discussion right now😎
Yes. It should but that is just my opinion
WQuarterFreddie .... Thank you very much for your response.
What would be the optimal number of coins to promote at one time for the most efficiency?
My eBay inventory is over 600 coins and I can not see eBay putting all 600 upfront on the first page of a search.
That is why I recommend you try just 1 or 2 at first. Get your feet wet. Pick 2 of your coins you think need the benefit of promotion.
If you don't know just pick 2 at random and see how you like it.
I have done so with higher end sports cards. $100 and up...
Usually single out listings when I get several people watching it...
Success? Yes and no.
The card sells, but always with giving up quite a bit more than you might like.
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
If you know, Does a 4% ad rate have 4 times the exposure of a 1% ad rate?
Well, it has to be a related search. If they just search "Error" or "PCGS", they are going to get a useless number of hits anyway.
I've used it for widgets that I had multiples of. I used anywhere from 1% to 5%. Honestly, I didn't notice a significant increase in volume but stuff did sell.
It really can't hurt, especially for stuff that has been languishing as you don't pay the fee until it sells.
Do not know... my thought was always to target the onlookers.
... and my efforts were strictly hobby related to buy something else.
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
I agree with this to a large degree. If I'm looking at a widget where I want the lowest price (or, when buying something like a used book, perhaps the lowest price once I get to an acceptable level of quality) then I purposely skip sponsored listings because I know they are inserted into the middle of the sort even though they aren't in the right position based on their price. If I'm searching for something more unique like a non-widget coin, I usually sort on newly listed, and sponsored items get considered like anything else, but I look through all the search results, so I don't think their being sponsored will make me more likely to look... if I'm interested, I'll look.
Perhaps of note, I never browse categories... I'm always searching for something, so ideally I don't have a lot of results to wade through in the first place. For saved searches, once I look through everything the first time I search, I then only look at the newly added stuff (usually few enough pieces that they all get shown in an email), so sponsored listings really don't matter.
So what happens when everyone promotes their listings?
The person who pays 100% promotion fee goes to the top.
I have used it for common stuff I have multiples of, and although it prompts my gag reflex to hand over more $$$ to eBay, it does appear to work.
I say "appear" because I am very cynical by nature and while I see my listings sometimes at the top of the page for a certain date/grade search, I wonder if that view is skewed for me to see it that way and feel good about my additional investment.
If some other IP address were looking at the listing, would it be at the top of Page 1 or buried on page 3?
Another thing I have thought about.
Suppose for illustrative purposes I have, say 20 PR67 1964 Kennedy Halves for sale. I have them for sale individually with qty of 20.
And I promote them at 3%.
Great, I sell 10 of them.
8 are "promoted" sales, 2 are not.
As a seller how would you in any way know that you weren't being gigged on the 3%?
So, EOC, I would say if you bought the coin(s) cheap and can afford the extra couple of points, try it out.
It will either piss off possible buyers or you will get new eyeballs.
Ok, I just gave it a try and promoted 5 listings.
I report back if I start seeing the promotions and or if I sell any.
One of my promoted listings just showed up on one of my searches. Kinda cool. No sales yet.
Just like sponsored articles - I know they area waste of time and not worth a look.
I actually have bought many sponsored coins on eBay that were brought to my attention from an ad.
eBay has gotten a lot better at targeting the right coins to me with their ads.
Tried it, somewhat successful I would say. No scientific data to provide but my perception is that on a popular series with a higher price point its worth a try.
Good luck!
No I never followed that. I look and go that's it
You might rethink that analysis. As several people here have indicated, we use it to try and move items faster. When I do it, I promote at 1 to 3% and I do NOT raise the price from what it originally was.
Well I canceled my eBay store with the managed payments as I want the money in my hands before I ship something. Anyhow in regards to the promote feature they spank you if you don't use it on listings that renew. Let's say you have a 1,000 items running that automatically renew in 30 days. If you don't promote eBay will renew your listings however they stay stale at the bottom. They do not become new listings on the top and do not get sent to buyers awaiting new daily items in their search categories. You are forced to end all 1,000 items on day 29 and manually relist each to get around this penalization.
The downside is multiple offers and messages I have to delete. These days you just can't watch...
BST: KindaNewish (3/21/21), WQuarterFreddie (3/30/21), Meltdown (4/6/21), DBSTrader2 (5/5/21) AKA- unclemonkey on Blow Out
It makes setting a search for anything a total nightmare as the promoted listing come up mixed in with stuff you aren't even looking for. For example if I set my search for North America only I don't want to be swamped with promoted International located items. Or doing a $100 max search yields promoted items that are priced way above that.
I think the type of promotion matters. It could be useful if people that otherwise wouldn't see it, would suddenly see it.
For coins, I don't see a big difference for me. Usually when something is promoted it's already in my search results and I just see 2 of the same thing, which isn't a great benefit and more of distraction. It actually makes me think less of the coin since I get the impression that it can't sell without the promotion.
Only if the coin sells
So....your plan is to no longer sell on Ebay? Apparently everyone that sells on Ebay has to have managed payments not just sellers with Ebay stores.
My plan is to resist for as long as possible. They keep sending me notices but so far I can still list with just accepting PayPal.
I will say that I despise promoted listings. I feel that ebay is profiting by allowing ebay sellers to spam my search results relentlessly. I have no option to exclude promoted listings (that I know of) from my results, so I often see the same unwanted coin 10 times a day. I decided never to buy a coin from a promoting seller, even the coins they don't promote. Eternity Coin comes to mind. I am sure others don't mind, but to me it is the electronic equivalent of cracking your gum when you chew.
Excluding sources for coins seems silly but hey do what you want.
I buy coins myself, and I could care less how I saw the coin who the seller is.
Promoted listings work. The few buyers that don't like it haven't affected my sales negatively at all.
You asked for feedback on promoted listings and people's experience with them and I gave you the experience of an active buyer of coins on ebay. Just because something doesn't bother you, doesn't mean it doesn't bother others, and as a business owner, you would be better served to consider that than not. I think irritating potential customers into not wanting to do business with you is pretty silly, but hey do what you want. I do care when I am getting spammed, and so do many.
From your response, it seems clear that you already decided before posting that you are going to use promoted listings, and I wish you nothing but success with the decision as the risk/reward is all yours. Out of curiosity, how does ebay calculate the dollar amount of business that you never got because of promoted listings? Thanks
They don't obviously. However, you can calculate your sales increased by the use of promoted listings and in my experience it is worth it.😎
This is interesting.
Do you do the same with internet searches? [Serious question]
Can you be more specific in what you are asking? When I search something on the internet I use Google. Started using internet with Yahoo as my preferred home, page but the relentless increase in advertisements slowing the loading of the page made Google a better option.
When I search something like 'car insurance' for the first time, I look through the listings, but I skip those at the top listed as Ads and go to the sites of the businesses. If I become a customer of the company and I am curious about something insurance related, I would go straight to the site of the company I use to seek information. I would not want to be forced to use Google to again search the term 'car insurance' and then wade through Ad listings of other companies before I was able to get to the site of the company I wanted to see. Does that answer your question, or no?
I am also not sure that the question is comparable to eBay promoted listings. If I search the term CAC and ask that results be listed by 'Newly listed' am I telling eBay that I want to see 6 listings on the first page of which none are actually new listings? And do I want to see those same six listings on the first page of my 'new' search, ahead of actual new listings for weeks on end? No, I am not telling them that and I am unaware that ebay offers a feature to click that eliminates promoted listings from my search, so I have no choice but to scroll past them.
EBay plays the same game by having listings always appear as 'Best Match' when you first do a search. It is remarkable that sellers who promote always seem to list coins that best match any numismatic terms I can think to search.
"It is remarkable that sellers who promote always seem to list coins that best match any numismatic terms I can think to search."
You make a very good case for sellers to promote their coins
OK, so ebay is able to tell you that your coin sold faster and at a higher net profit to you as a promoted listing than it would have as a non promoted listing? How are they able to determine when and for how much net profit the same coin listed for the same price at the same time would have sold? I am legitimately asking.
In my mind, it is the same scenario as me deciding to go to Burger King for lunch and looking around for any coupons which I then use when, in reality, I was going to Burger King either way. Sure, lots of folks regularly go to places because they have a coupon and Burger King is making a sale, albeit for less profit, that they otherwise would not have made. But on my purchase, they are simply losing profit for no reason.
No obviously you have to try things running a business, and if you are satisfied that your strategy is working for your business then it it likely is because you know your business. But there are negatives to any strategy and a trustworthy source of factual data on the negatives of promoted listings will never come from ebay :-) I am glad that it is working for you as I want sellers to support the hobby. Thanks
Yet none have ever managed to sell me a coin....go figure.
I actually have bought many coins that were promoted. I did not find the coins on my own. The eBay algorithm found them for me
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Not sure if they do that in a report or not but I think you are confused as to what a promoted listing does for a seller and a buyer.
My experience is that paying the extra fee gets me extra views from potential buyers and that results in faster sales and higher priced sales with some items.
I don't use promoted listings all the time and quite frankly I don't want to reveal my selling strategy in a public forum.
I will tell you that if you find promoted listings annoying just change the search from Best Match to another choice and that should solve your problem.
Ok. I am going to take your advice to try it. I just promoted 8 items based on eBay recommendation. 3.6% for coin 8% for one none coin item. Let see what happens. Thanks.
I find the strong negative feelings towards promoted listings somewhat odd. Advertising is ubiquitous. On television, the radio, in magazines, in the mail, in email, road signs. Current estimates are that the average American sees between 6,000 to 10,000 ads per day.
The vast majority of products I buy are advertised. I don't conclude that because Dodge advertises their vehicle they are overpriced and that I shouldn't buy a Dodge. And good luck buying a car from a company that doesn't advertise. Even used cars are advertised online, in classified ads, etc. And it goes down to very simple things as well. I bought red peppers at the grocery store because the flyer I received in the mail advertised them as on sale.
Yes, nearly all advertisements I would prefer not see. But I'm not going to view eBay or eBay sellers negatively for doing what essentially every business in America does: advertise.