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.

[iceblue_uk]

I don't know how long you've been on ebay but that did not used to be the case. Listings did not have to be refreshed in the past to remain visible. Even well performing listings can now suffer a heavy traffic reduction for no apparent reason.

I accept that it wasn't intentional and perhaps I am old school, but 'maybe you should read it?' sounds quite sarcastic, it just seems a fairly impolite way of saying 'here is some useful info' but hey. 

[planet78]

What counts as refreshing a listing? Is just a price or quantity tweak enough, or does it expect new photos?

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Well, it was never meant to be.  So if it came across as such, my apologies.

I've been off and on Ebay pretty much since it first started, though not necessarily in a big way early on.

@planet78   Refreshing a listing is literally ending/sell similar.

Tweaking it, will have very little effect, unless the listing is active already.  ie. selling items regularly.

It's all to do with search.  A new/newer listing, will rank higher in search than one that has sat there doing nothing.  This is why if you are selling a multi quantity listing, you need to get sales in the first few days, in order to get it ranking higher in search.

[tabletop-hobbies]

I'm sure ebay would deny it vigorously but you do seem to get punished for reducing your PL percentage.  I've been there many times, the punishment beating seems to last a few weeks before things settle down again.  It's all part of the boiling a frog shakedown, stay in the pot and boil and if you try to get out you'll be hit in the pocket.

[annemann-2009]

I've noticed a difference in recommended advert percentages eBay shows you, depending on time of day, and day itself. All for the same item, same description and photos etc. 

[sheba-knows-best]

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@kickin.assets wrote:

@sheba-knows-best 

Do not think you are safe by waiting a week to see if a sale has PL fees. On June 6th in the US sellers woke up to eBay taking PL fees out for sales that seemingly were sold organically MONTHS before. Some sellers had fees taken out as far back as January of this year! I had several PL charges myself from April/May sales that were sold as ORGANIC! Now eBay says those were PL. No. No they were not. Sellers also that day were getting double charged for PL fees!

How did ebay respond to this?

eBay eventually addressed this saying it was some “glitch” that they had found in March where sellers were not being charged for some PL listings. MARCH! Did they address this issue in March? No. Did they ever even give a heads up about some “glitch”? No. Did they just one morning in June decide to take millions from sellers with absolutely no notice? Yes! Did they also at the same time, “conveniently” and “quietly” re-word some of the terms of service so people could not dispute this? Yes.

After all this chaos all eBay had to say was; sorry not sorry and nothing has been done/said since. They quite literally stole millions from people that day.

I’ve never been one that was for or against promotions, believing sellers should do what works for them. I still believe this. What is concerning though is the sheer lack of transparency and down right shady behavior. This isn’t acceptable. 

A week after all this chaos, I quit ALL promotions. Done and done.

Kiks

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Co-funded coupon fees get taken weeks/months later which is really confusing. And I agree everything is impossible to keep on top of per sale. So I just double-check YTD levels throughout the year. 

So - bear in mind I gun for sales of 80k  a year - currently 2025 YTD (end of June) Ebay's sales figure and my spreadsheet differ by a mere £300 in terms of total sales. Our PL figures differ by £30. I'd say that's pretty accurate (honest) and any error is likely to be my own or some fees still needing to come through.

[kickin.assets]

@sheba-knows-best 

Agreed! Normally when an error happens, I'll be the first to admit, it was surely something I did. 😂

Just sharing an experience that in the US was absolutely on eBay and not the sellers. More of a "this happened post" to keep people aware of how eBay knew of issues, failed to communicate and responded in the most unprofessional of ways.

It's wonderful to hear that PL works for you and that you stay on top of things. As I've stated, I'm certainly not against sellers doing what works for their business; whether that's using PL or not.

Wishing you much success!

Kiks

[pidgeun1]

eBay Promoted Listings money grab is a wake up call for the sellers who blindly promote without understanding the nature of items and necessity for promoting vs selling it organically. In this new method, the item will sell and will give a false sense of happiness to the seller who will think that the promotion is working. But, most sellers will fail to understand that eBay is merely painting the organic sale as promoted sale and eating into the seller's share. 

[theelench]

When ebay tells me that a rare pattern bowl made in the 1930s by a very collectable manufacturer of quality glass.  One moreover that in over a decade of watching that maker on ebay I have never seen for sale on ebay before and that was still in near perfect condition and for sale at £15.  When ebay says it needs Promoting at 12% I smell a rat.

When, after a 7 day auction followed by at least 1 full BIN cycle of 30 days not only has it not sold, but has only had a handful of views I smell something worse (💩).   That is that I'm not paying for what should be un-necessary 'extra' visibility, but that if I don't pay, ebay guarantees I won't get ANY visibility.

[thealuminiumshop]

Still no answer about multivariation listings. I sell sheet metal with 250 different sizes on some listings.

eBay's answer is that the person who will be able to advise us is out of the office (it's been a month)

The answer is 100% going to be all 250 variations are considered "promoted". 

I just don't understand how eBay don't have this information about a sitewide change.

Props to the user who keeps asking in the weekly community chat. Not all heroes wear capes...

[smarts-gaming]

Thats insane and very eye opening. I have switched over to a platform that shall not be named, and my views are 5x as much as eBay with no promotions on either. Even if I did promote on eBay, I wouldnt be getting as many views as I do on the other platform. 

I still list on ebay because it does bring in the odd sale still, a sale is a sale at the end of the day. But always dissapointing when eBay help themselves to a large wedge, when on the other platform it all goes in my pocket. 

What are eBay offering exactly that puts them above the competition? They used to be able to say that youll have more eyes on your items. Thats simply not true anymore because theyre being beaten by other platforms. So why pay eBays fees or promotions? For what? Just list elsewhere and save your money and time. They are in very deep water if they dont sort it soon, other platform is growing rapidly every day and tbh I dont see a way back for eBay now. I would migrate while you still can and build up feedback/become an established seller elsewhere in preparation for when the big flip happens, because believe me its coming, if not already happened. 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I presume that you are talking about Vixtxd.

If so, then I'm afraid that this statement, though factually correct, is not really true.

 "But always dissapointing when eBay help themselves to a large wedge, when on the other platform it all goes in my pocket. "

You still pay fees, it's just that on that platform, the buyer pays them.  As a result of this, your prices are reduced.  And though it is growing, it's still a very restrictive place to sell as a business and unless they branch out vastly on items to sell, they are going to get stuck in a rut.

And one of the biggest issues, is that you cannot sell multiples.  Everything is setup to sell a single item and they frown on you selling more than one.

Ebay is still the place to be for the majority of collectibles etc.

[bojangled]

@therenewalworkshopltd 

I have to say they made some nice category changes yesterday, which certainly suits my business model for collectible memorabilia.

I do agree it doesn’t have business processes in place for pro sellers, and CS is rubbish. 
But I was silly enough to have all my eggs in one basket for far too long, so happy learn while V**ted grow.

Jo

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I agree, I'm selling there myself and have been since they allowed us in!  🙂

I've yet to work it out properly though.  Some days stuff flies, others are dead and there is no rhyme nor reason for it.  At least that I can see anyway.  

CS is abysmal, worse even than Amazon!  If they don't know an answer, they simply tell you to go away, that's how it is.  And not much more politely than that.

[smarts-gaming]

Ive been lucky, about 20 sales and no need to contact CS yet, I have heard its bad so we will see when it comes to it! The only gripe I have is with all the lowballers, ill price something at £5 and they want it at £4 even if £5 is a steal. I just ignore most of them though unless its sensible. 

People say it isnt as big as eBay, which is true, and yet my listings get many more views.... 

Out of curiosity, do you garner more views on there as well? Im interested to see if im just being favored by their algorithm, or if its true across the board. 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

The lowballers are a real pain in the arxx!

At least here, you can put something in to stop the ridiculous ones.

But you will find that is a gripe that virtually all sellers have over there.

I got one the other day for 50p on a £2 item, I mean really?  And they actually think that you will sell at those kind of prices.....

As regards views, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other.  I still sell more on Ebay.  Unless I reduce my prices to absolutely silly levels....

I have a shed load of t shirts, that I could probably sell over there for about £1.50 a go.  And at the prices I buy at, that is still a very good margin.  However, when you look at the time taken to get them listed, it's not really worth the time.  So they get sold off in bulk instead.  Though I may just drop them at the local cash for clothes as with the other stuff, I've already made the money.  I just wish things would sell quicker.

[technthread]

Might be worth having a look at thrift.plus and their brand checker. They have a site to check that out and send in stuff you think they could sell for you. They have their own site and sell on eBay with a big following. 

I have only sent a few bags of personal stuff in so I’m not sure about businesses but they have taken and sold things for me for an ok rate. Other stuff just never appeared on my items list so I presume it didn’t meet their quality checks or fell below a value threshold. 

[technthread]

* these are their fees. 

For items sold for £4.99 or less, you'll receive a 10% payout.

For items sold in the £5 - £49.99 range, you’ll receive a 20% payout.

For items sold for more than £50, you'll receive a 40% payout.

 I’d recommend them. Some people on Trustpilot as ever don’t read the T&C’s and have wild expectations.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Thanks, I appreciate that.

But the stuff I've got isn't worth the hassle and a lot of it, they probably wouldn't take anyway.

I can take what's left to the cash for clothes and get 50p per kilo for it.

I paid a little more than that, but not much.  And as I said, the good stuff has already gone and the money made.  Anything extra now, is just the cream.  🙂

They sound quite expensive though.  And though the pay-outs go higher with the value, I would rather sell myself.  40% return on an item when selling at £50! Even here on Ebay, you would probably end up with more like 75-80% of the value.  Allowing for fees and postage.

[technthread]

That’s true, personally I only sent in items

I thought were worth under £15 and was happy to see the back of. Anything over that I’m happy to deal with myself at some point.

They sold some Hammond & Co jeans for me for £23 and Jasper Conran jeans for £16 as 2 examples where I only got 20% of the money but I don’t think I could have achieved those prices, I’d have put them on Vinted for £5 each and earned less after costs and petrol money. 

For a while Music Magpie were taking clothes but they quickly scrapped it so I found thrift as an alternative. It definitely works for people who just want rid, the stuff that does sell will achieve more than 50p a kilo on average.