Promoted Listings Changes - You Must Be Joking, eBay

[superchallenge]

Email from eBay this morning. 

If I read it correctly, from 24th June, if you use promoted listings and ANYBODY clicks on the ad one time...if the item then sells to ANYBODY ELSE within the next 30 days, you get charged as if the first guy bought it.

That means that if Bob in Scotland clicks an ad and doesn't buy, but Steve from Wales rolls in 29 days later and finds the item in search and buys it without clicking on a promoted listings ad, you get charged because Bob clicked it almost a month ago.

It's all well and good saying "You'll still only pay when your items sell" eBay, but that isn't the point. We pay for promoted listings in order to help find A BUYER, not a browser. If somebody comes in and buys an item organically, then the ad hasn't done its job and we're not paying for it.

We'll be removing all of our promoted listings campaigns later today, as this starts in 32 days, which is extremely underhanded. The reason being that there's a 30-day attribution window, so if Steve clicks on one of our ads this Sunday, on June 24th when Bob buys the item without clicking an advert, we'll get charged.

[ashwill-3742]

kat@ebay  could we get some clarity on the above? 

As an example if someone clicks into my sponsored listing just to hit sell similar ( which I do myself to other listings ) I would be charged a fee if this item sells in the next 30 days ? 

Further more what protections do you have in place to prevent abuse of this by my competition clicking into many listings. 

Surely there must be a mistake ? If I watch a TV advert for chocolate and someone 100 miles away who doesn't own a TV buys a bar of chocolate the TV advert had no impact on there decision ? 

Please clarify ? 

[moneycruncher]

I can't see anything but a big backfire for eBay - trading a short-term win for their P&L for a long-term loss for their platform as sellers switch off ads, and start selling more volume through alternative channels 

[555njp]

Exactly.
It started with buyer protection, then SD which must of lost them 1000’s of genuine private sellers. They are also buyers who having been stitched up by the platform won’t want to use it again which means less sales for everyone remaining.

Add in all the other lost revenue from legislative changes (GPSR’s and most recent bladed items) along with the lower fees now being paid by the remaining private accounts and eBay’s revenue in the UK at least must be plummeting?

Even those businesses hanging on will likely try to increase prices to mitigate the enforced PL requirements in order to sell which just makes the platform pointless to discerning buyers who can now find most products elsewhere for a lot less.

The USP for eBay was the ability to source second hand stuff, largely from private sellers. That has diminished so much the site is now a just a poor copy of Amazon.

Who is going to even look here when most items can be bought from Temu, Amazon, Vinted for a lot less money?

‘Death spiral’ springs to mind…🤔

[suzukikatana]

So glad i quit this site for selling,i have a new acc just for the odd thing i need now,i sell elsewhere and its great,no spam,no hassle from idiots,no hidden charges or being told what i can and cannot do and no *bleep* from eblag!

[bojangled]

@555njp I do think the app upgrade lost a percentage of users too. I know it’s accessible from the web version, but one the annoying thing about that is the pop up offering incentives to buy in app for a discount. 

I think my low value collectibles and ephemeral listings are no longer on eBays requirements anymore, promoting just isn’t feasible for me any longer.

I’ll be using my remaining shop allowance up for the month and see what the next curve ball is. I do think it’s a period of transformation, and I’m taking a wait and see approach that won’t cost me anything!

Jo

[555njp]

@bojangled Yes you are right, I forgot about that one!

EBay’s account age demographic is much more biased towards over 40’s (well over in my case!) who are a lot more likely to be keeping older phones/iPads (yep, me again!).

That said I much prefer the web version’s full functionality, so would never list via the app or on a phone for that matter.
I had the app on my phone just for sale notifications and questions but of course it doesn’t work now. I’ll just do without until I have to upgrade my phone 😁

[jlovie]

Promotions were a classic eBay bait-and-switch tactic.

I started using promotions because eBay offered a £10 a month credit for them with my shop.

The credit was pretty much covering the fees.

Then they removed the credit (offering nothing to compensate).

Then they upped the min. %.

Then they added halo sales fees.

Now they're charging the fee on ever sale.

[lord_and_lady_m]

2pm today (Wed 28th) is the community chat with the ebay reps. Whilst we know they will have been seeing these comments lets get as many on there today asking questions directly for them to get answers to.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Chat-with-the-eBay-Community/Weekly-Chat-with-the-eBay-Community-Tea...

[art2own]

I am quite sure the wording, "The item must be promoted at the time of click and the time of sale", hints that they are removing the 30 day attribution rule after a general campaign ends. So at the end of the campaign, any sales within 30 days would no longer be an attributed sale, regardless of who clicked or did not click before the campaign ended. The omission of the Halo Attribution in the updated wording, also implies from the 24th June an attributed sale would only be applied to the promoted item that was originally clicked on.

If the wording is exactly what it says and omits (which is probably the complete opposite knowing eBay's previous announcements), with careful management through an intentionally timed ending of a general campaign or removal of item(s) from it, this update could be taken advantage of by some sellers. For example about 95% of my sales (all single items) come through offers sent or received, over which I have some control. As a seller I could promote items with a general campaign, wait for watchers, timely end the campaign or remove items from it, before sending any offers, then receive sales that possibly originated from marketing campaign clicks that would not be billed for. 

[bojangled]

@lord_and_lady_m I know the community team are limited in what they can say, today would be a good day to have someone in the chat from eBay who can answer directly. 
Jo

[hugothecockapoo]

I think pigs would be flying and showering correctly registered business sellers with more offers than they can eat if any answers are given

[pal_version]

are promoted listings just the "The Emperor's New Clothes" fable of the reselling world, with eBay being the underhanded Tailors "only the "best sellers" understand and use promoted listings, dont miss out (and give us lots of extra fees)".

I've used  promoted listing for years now - always worried to turn them off just incase i get lost in the mix. 

unsurprisingly day one of no promotions today and my sales are still coming through with eBay now taking a little less of the cut (which is most pleasing).  just one promotion fee paid for an item i must have sent on offer out on when it was being promoted.

i am feeling somewhat ashamed to say that i definitely feel a little duped by eBay and their promoted listing ways.

if they just made it completely transparent and a completely level playing field (like Vinteds Spotlight system) it would probably be a much easier pill to swallow.

[555njp]

Sadly the chat team can only talk to a script. You won’t get a straight or honest answer or worse you might get completely incorrect information. That’s certainly been the way of community chat recently. Oh, and whatever you do, do not bad mouth them, criticise or come back with anything other than a question otherwise you might find yourself banned from the boards for a while!

[dave@ebay]

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@tribalgiftsuk wrote:

I would like to hope that is the case but sadly i think it will be every subsequent sale within the 30 days of the original click. Hope for clarification soon.

Theres a lot of questions that need to be answered about this.

marco@ebay  dave@ebay kate@ebay 

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Hi @tribalgiftsuk 

I spoke to the ads team on this and they confirmed it will not count as a click when you click on your own listings.

Thanks,

Dave

[valueaddedresource]

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dave@ebay wrote:

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@tribalgiftsuk wrote:

I would like to hope that is the case but sadly i think it will be every subsequent sale within the 30 days of the original click. Hope for clarification soon.

Theres a lot of questions that need to be answered about this.

marco@ebay  dave@ebay kate@ebay 

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Hi @tribalgiftsuk 

I spoke to the ads team on this and they confirmed it will not count as a click when you click on your own listings.

Thanks,

Dave

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dave@ebay  the question wasn't about clicking on your own listings. The question was if any person (besides you) clicks on your ad and it is a multi-quantity listing, will all subsequent sales of that item for the next 30 days be assessed the ad fee because of that one click?

[dave@ebay]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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dave@ebay wrote:

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@tribalgiftsuk wrote:

I would like to hope that is the case but sadly i think it will be every subsequent sale within the 30 days of the original click. Hope for clarification soon.

Theres a lot of questions that need to be answered about this.

marco@ebay  dave@ebay kate@ebay 

---

Hi @tribalgiftsuk 

I spoke to the ads team on this and they confirmed it will not count as a click when you click on your own listings.

Thanks,

Dave

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dave@ebay  the question wasn't about clicking on your own listings. The question was if any person (besides you) clicks on your ad and it is a multi-quantity listing, will all subsequent sales of that item for the next 30 days be assessed the ad fee because of that one click?

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Apologies @valueaddedresource I replied to the wrong post. That should have been a reply to a question from @ett1954.

Thanks,

Dave 

[valueaddedresource]

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dave@ebay wrote:

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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dave@ebay wrote:

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@tribalgiftsuk wrote:

I would like to hope that is the case but sadly i think it will be every subsequent sale within the 30 days of the original click. Hope for clarification soon.

Theres a lot of questions that need to be answered about this.

marco@ebay  dave@ebay kate@ebay 

---

Hi @tribalgiftsuk 

I spoke to the ads team on this and they confirmed it will not count as a click when you click on your own listings.

Thanks,

Dave

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dave@ebay  the question wasn't about clicking on your own listings. The question was if any person (besides you) clicks on your ad and it is a multi-quantity listing, will all subsequent sales of that item for the next 30 days be assessed the ad fee because of that one click?

---

Apologies @valueaddedresource I replied to the wrong post. That should have been a reply to a question from @ett1954.

Thanks,

Dave 

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Thanks for clearing up that confusion dave@ebay  - but it would still be nice to get an answer to the question about multi-quantity listings. 😉

If you could please get with the ads team and come back to let us know what they say on that, it would be much appreciated - thanks!

[lupo-store]

Hi Dave,

Can you please clarify how many PL Priority places there will be at the top of search after June 25?  There is some ambiguity in wording.  Concierge say 1.  

Apparently when eBay rolled out Promoted Listings cost per click ads (previously called Advanced, now called Priority) in 2022, they were originally only eligible to be shown in the 1st ad slot in search, then that expanded to the top 4 slots in 2023, then top 4 plus 3 other placements in search in 2023, and finally they became eligible to be shown in any ad spot in search results and they can also be shown in ad modules on listing pages as well.

[tribalgiftsuk]

Thanks for the reply Dave,

But that wasnt my question as you have now read from @valueaddedresource  It was with regard to multi quantity listings and Promoted Listings Standard. 

I would urgently like to know if  1 promoted listing click will equate to 1 promoted sale there after within the 30 days following the click. Or will it be all sales on that listing after the initial PL click in the 30 day period. I have seen the question has been asked in the weekly chat also so look forward to clarification on that soon.

[ett1954]

dave@ebay   Thanks for the clarification Dave.  The mix-up is understandable as there are a lot of questions on this topic.