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.

[mawels_87]

I was wondering if i ever get around to promoting will my Blocked members be included in the Frist click on my sponsored adds? And what is there to stop members from clicking on the sponsored adds just for the sake of it boing that the seller will likely have to pay the extra fees

? 

[jlovie]

If my items are promoted at 2% and I change one listing to 10%, does that mean that all my sales of all items will then be charged at 10% for the next 30 days?

[jonatjonatjonat]

ebay have stated this already. You will be charged the ad rate at the time of the sale.

So if you were promoting at say 10% and got a click, but then dropped to 2% and then got a sale (even if this buyer didn't click the ad of course!) then you should be charged 2%.

It is essentially nothing more than an increased FVF on all sales now

[oceanartsnorthdevon]

Quite agree with what you are saying, yes they fail to mention that the charges will still be applied even at a lower price as it is currently within the 30 days if anyone were to click on listings that were promoted, even if items were taken off promotion to reduce prices thus loosing more profit. Also the wording "to drop that feature temporarily" used, either to not be seen as advising to remove promotions permanently and to give the impression of helping or the fact that I will still be charged in the 30 days and pay higher fees. 

[emsbitsandbobs]

the Q&As seemed to suggest it was the ad rate at the time of the click, as that's the one that registers the PL click. 

[valueaddedresource]

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@emsbitsandbobs wrote:

the Q&As seemed to suggest it was the ad rate at the time of the click, as that's the one that registers the PL click. 

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@emsbitsandbobs  for the new attribution model coming next month, it very clearly says:

"The ad fee is based on the ad rate in effect at the time of the sale."

[jlovie]

But is that the ad rate on the item they bought, or on another item they (or someone else) clicked on up to 30  days ago?

[jlovie]

Another query:

Is the 30 days fixed, or does it work like the GTC month period which can be 28, 29, 30, or 31 days?

[jonatjonatjonat]

Its on the ad rate of the item bought at the time it was bought (and will trigger on any sale provided someone clicked on it in the last 30 days).

I've always assumed its a fixed rolling 30 days.

[valueaddedresource]

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@jlovie wrote:

But is that the ad rate on the item they bought, or on another item they (or someone else) clicked on up to 30  days ago?

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@jlovie the new attribution model gets rid of the "Halo effect" so once it goes into effect, clicks on another item will no longer be part of the equation.

Under the new attribution model, if any user clicks on a Promoted Listings General ad for an item, and then either that user or any other user purchases that same item within 30 days - as long as that item is still enrolled in an active PL General campaign at the time of the sale - the seller will be charged whatever ad fee percentage is set for that item at the time of sale.

[auctiongabble]

So with the already high fvf % on sales.  Those that do also advertise and pay an additional amount,  can some give examples of how much in % you are paying to ebay per sale? 

I've read mixed reviews about promoting working/no working.   I'm amazed that even with high  final value  fee, members are still happy to give even more money to ebay.

[iceblue_uk]

When ad promo was started, it used to be common to promote listings somewhere between 2% and 7%. However as sellers competed for position in search results, this soon began to rise. Then ebay changed the maximum you can bid from 20% up to 100%. Now, ebay's recommended % for what they SAY this will give you the best bang for your buck has reached over 20% in some categories. So they expect to take 35% of sales.

[designedinashed]

With what eBay have been pushing out the last quarter trying to compete with other platforms they cannot compete with due to how the other platforms are setup, I've now started porting all my shop across to another platform. £100 a month shop which is currently seeing a 57% drop in sales when this time of year is booming.
Spoken to a CS rep and they agreed that the amount of people calling asking why sales are so dire, that they have been told by eBay corp to note all complaints , which he said never happens.

eBay is a dying platform and they are just milking what they can before pulling the plug completely.

[iceblue_uk]

I've also found that pay per click is also no longer viable.

 2 years ago on a particular item, we used to pay 15p-20p per click and the listing enjoyed a near 50% conversion rate.

However, ebay now recommends a 60p per click bid on the same item, same listing. Even if we bid low at 15p per click, the conversion rate is now so poor that ebay take 60p per item sold. That means we make 25p per item sold and ebay makes £1.20. Marvellous.

In another category we sell in, ebay now recommends £1.70 - £2.50 PER CLICK! 2 years ago this was 20p-30p and the category has hardly changed in that time.

Last year (I think) ebay added 'CONSOLIDATED DATA FROM PLACEMENTS' to everyone's PPC campaigns without warning. These 'placements', which are impressions from non-search results ads, can't be turned off or adjusted in any way and the conversion rate on those placements is even worse, making your overall ACOS higher than before.

[simplyessential_uk]

I see you sell quite a lot of low cost items - Have you tried removing all your ads and reducing your prices by the 20-15p Or sending out Offers 5/10%? - I removed ALL my PLs about 8 mths ago and the 4wks after it really hits the traffic (and sales)  but after 4wks my sales are pretty much the same as with PLs.  I could see on my traffic stats  when I was paying PLs the organic traffic was very low, but once the PLs were removed the organic traffic increased - weird I know (but really that proves to me Ebay are taking money for nothing).  I send offers out daily (I select the items that are not moving or bigger profit margins) - theres a comment by triple512 on this tread who said the same - If you do remove PLs stick with it for 4wks,  Ebay send you into a panic after removing them. 

[watches_to_be_watching]

I think it is terrible, even if you have built up a following of repeat buyers you will still be paying a promoted listing fee for any item that they purchase which has been clicked on through an ad within 30 days.

[neil-simulant]

I have turned off promoted listings now completely on one of my accounts, and 1 week in sales have dropped by 50% at first but slowly the sales have returned, down about 30% currently. Like has been said organic views have started to rise. So im pretty confident that sales will eventually even out over time. I tested a few times in the past turning off promoted listings but after a few dismal days I would cave and reactivate them but with this fresh news I'm gonna try to hold my nerve and not go back.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

If you have built up a good following of repeat buyers, why on earth would you still be promoting?

There comes a point, when it's an utter waste of money to run a promotion.  Especially if your talking all of the time and not just the occasional one to boost sales....

[simplyessential_uk]

Yes I did a few on/off trials when sales just plummeted Id switch back on (and get sales so it reinforced my belief that it really effected my sales even only on 2% PLs) but the last time I didnt and decided to use the money saved to send out vouchers/offers/reduce prices - it returns after about 4wks so stick with it.  My Organic traffic is now just where the PL traffic was so begs the question what was I paying for.

I just also close any listings with no sales after 3mths and "sell similar" changing the title a little and that gives those listings a bump up for 7 days - so often its just being ontop of listings about to end.  

[watchfan700uk]

This is absurd and demotivational to activate PL standard.

I will be reducing down my PL significantly very shortly.