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.

[valueaddedresource]

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@ventexclutches wrote:

Thanks for the info - but even then a double charge wouldn't have applied if the buyer clicks a listing in a Priority (PPC) Ad slot as their only click prior to the sale. The double charge would only apply if the buyer clicks a listing in a General Ad slot, doesn't make the purchase then clicks the same listing but in a Priority (PPC) Ad slot within 30 days, then buys the product.

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@ventexclutches  apologies , but I think the confusion here is in thinking about this in terms of what "the buyer" does.

It's much more accurate to think of "user" actions rather than "buyer" actions, with the understanding that user doesn't necessarily mean registered with an account, it just means any entity using/navigating the eBay site.

As it currently stands (and has been since cost per click was introduced) - if you have an item enrolled in both a Priority and a General campaign, you will pay both the per click fees for any Priority clicks and the General ad percentage on sale (if the sale happens to be attributable to that ad.)

So if the Priority ad for that item gets 10 clicks at $0.20/click,  you pay $2 - regardless of whether or not any of those clicks was from the person who ends up buying the item.

And, if the person who ends up buying the item does so in a way that is attributable to a General ad, you will then also pay whatever percentage rate you agreed to on top of the $2 for those 10 Priority clicks.

Nothing about how the Priority version is attributed/charged in that multi-campaign scenario really changes with this attribution update.

You will still be charged for any and all Priority clicks and also charged for the General ad percentage - the only thing that will change is that whether you use both kinds of campaigns or just General, the number of sales attributable to the General campaign will skyrocket.

[padanpcparts]

This took me less than 15 minutes to set up by the way...

[iceblue_uk]

@tribalgifts... I am sure that you are mistaken here.

I you are right then 1 click could result in hundreds or even thousands of attributed sales per month. Not even ebay would expect hundreds of pounds in ad fees in exchange for a single click from an uninterested buyer. Surely common sense tells you that this means 1 click/1 sale, so if 10 buyers click on the promoted ad and you get 20 organic sales, ebay will expect you to pay the ad fee on 10 of them. In reality thought most will get more clicks than sales, so every sale attracts an ad fee. 

This is now far worse than Pay Per Click, because each click received pays ebay (let's say) 15% of the sale price rather than a small click fee. 

[pal_version]

i'm not entirely shocked by this move, it is eBay after all. it wouldn't surprise me if ever fully investigated that users that promote have been paying the promoted fees without a promotion being clicked all along. this is eBays way of getting ahead of that faux pas before the news breaks a few years down the road.

I've decided to not promote going forward and will try to beat the "friendly" algorithm in other ways.

only problem is that if everyone takes that approach eBays revenue will undoubtedly drop even further. then will just squeeze us users other ways to get their blood.

[jonatjonatjonat]

You are assuming things that ebay haven't actually said though.

Currently - they are saying 'An attributed sale will be when any buyer purchases the promoted item within 30 days of any click on the ad, regardless of whether the buyer themselves clicked on the ad' and that is all we have to go on.

I would still assume that if you get 1 click of an add, then 100 sales via any method (organic, direct etc) - you will be charged an ad fee on all those 100 sales.

[ventexclutches]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

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@ventexclutches wrote:

Thanks for the info - but even then a double charge wouldn't have applied if the buyer clicks a listing in a Priority (PPC) Ad slot as their only click prior to the sale. The double charge would only apply if the buyer clicks a listing in a General Ad slot, doesn't make the purchase then clicks the same listing but in a Priority (PPC) Ad slot within 30 days, then buys the product.

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@ventexclutches  apologies , but I think the confusion here is in thinking about this in terms of what "the buyer" does.

It's much more accurate to think of "user" actions rather than "buyer" actions, with the understanding that user doesn't necessarily mean registered with an account, it just means any entity using/navigating the eBay site.

You are correct, although feel free to substitute my use of the word "buyer" for "user". I only used the word buyer as in this particular example the user eventually became a buyer.

As it currently stands (and has been since cost per click was introduced) - if you have an item enrolled in both a Priority and a General campaign, you will pay both the per click fees for any Priority clicks and the General ad percentage on sale (if the sale happens to be attributable to that ad.)

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To clarify - If a user clicks on an item promoted in a Priority Ad slot and then purchases the item then the only fee that would charged would be the Priority Ad (PPC) click fee. General Ad fees would only be charged if the listing was also clicked from a General Ad slot within 30 days before the purchase.

Nothing about how the Priority version is attributed/charged in that multi-campaign scenario really changes with this attribution update.

You will still be charged for any and all Priority clicks and also charged for the General ad percentage - the only thing that will change is that whether you use both kinds of campaigns or just General, the number of sales attributable to the General campaign will skyrocket.

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The General Ad fee is only charged if a user clicks on a General Ad slot then purchases the item within 30 days. If the same user also clicks on the item in a Priority Ad slot then these clicks will also be charged, and the sale may be attributed to both the General and Priority campaign. However it is incorrect to say that every sale of an item promoted using both campaigns will attract both fees.

For example:

A single click on a Priority Ad slot followed by a purchase will bypass any General Ad fee (even if the product is being promoted using the General Ad campaign) as the ad was not clicked in a General Ad slot.

The example I provided in my previous response backs up my own experience of this, where for certain items I sell attract no General Ad fees despite being a part of this campaign, yet perform very well in the Priority campaign, which garners most of its sales due to the algorithm deciding to only place the item in the Priority Ad slots.

So if the Priority ad for that item gets 10 clicks at $0.20/click,  you pay $2 - regardless of whether or not any of those clicks was from the person who ends up buying the item.

Correct.

Nothing about how the Priority version is attributed/charged in that multi-campaign scenario really changes with this attribution update.

You will still be charged for any and all Priority clicks and also charged for the General ad percentage - the only thing that will change is that whether you use both kinds of campaigns or just General, the number of sales attributable to the General campaign will skyrocket.

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What changes is that a user clicking a listing in a Priority Ad slot and then purchasing the item will now also attract the General Ad Fee even if it was their only click, and they never clicked on the listing in a General Ad slot.

It's not about how Priority Clicks are attributed / charged, it's to do with the fact that for sellers using  General Campaigns it will be no longer possible to set up a Priority campaign for the same product and only pay the Priority fees, as they will be attracting the General Ad fee as well (as it's almost guaranteed to get 1 click per month from the General Ad slot placements).

Before this change it was completely possible to avoid this double ad spend.

[iceblue_uk]

For the life of me I cannot imagine why you would think that.

Look, whilst it may not be 100% clear from their poor choice of words here, basic common sense tells us that it simply cannot be the case. It would be completely ridiculous, beyond the pale in fact, to attribute hundreds or perhaps thousands of sales from buyers all over the country to a single click on a promoted ad. Ebay means to charge 1 ad fee for each click received, it simply cannot be any other way.

[valueaddedresource]

@ventexclutches  sorry but you are misunderstanding/misinterpreting what I'm saying. 

I said: currently "if you have an item enrolled in both a Priority and a General campaign, you will pay both the per click fees for any Priority clicks and the General ad percentage on sale (if the sale happens to be attributable to that ad.)"

You said:  "If a user clicks on an item promoted in a Priority Ad slot and then purchases the item then the only fee that would charged would be the Priority Ad (PPC) click fee. General Ad fees would only be charged if the listing was also clicked from a General Ad slot within 30 days before the purchase."

Under the current policy, the sale would be attributable to the General ad if the listing was clicked from a General ad slot within 30 days before the purchase so we are actually both saying the same thing there.

I never said it was on every sale under the current policy, in fact I very clearly said it only happens if the sale is attributable to the General ad - so I'm not sure why you would say I said that or that I'm incorrect?

[ventexclutches]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

@ventexclutches  sorry but you are misunderstanding/misinterpreting what I'm saying. 

I said: currently "if you have an item enrolled in both a Priority and a General campaign, you will pay both the per click fees for any Priority clicks and the General ad percentage on sale (if the sale happens to be attributable to that ad.)"

You said:  "If a user clicks on an item promoted in a Priority Ad slot and then purchases the item then the only fee that would charged would be the Priority Ad (PPC) click fee. General Ad fees would only be charged if the listing was also clicked from a General Ad slot within 30 days before the purchase."

Under the current policy, the sale would be attributable to the General ad if the listing was clicked from a General ad slot within 30 days before the purchase so we are actually both saying the same thing there.

I never said it was on every sale under the current policy, in fact I very clearly said it only happens if the sale is attributable to the General ad - so I'm not sure why you would say I said that or that I'm incorrect?

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My apologies - we are indeed in agreement on this point, I must have misread this part of the post.

I'm just surprised more people aren't talking about the knock-on effect this will have on Priority Campaigns as the effect that the skyrocketing attributions to General campaigns that you correctly predicted will also cause Priority Ad promoted listings' ACOS  to skyrocket!

[valueaddedresource]

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@jonatjonatjonat wrote:

You are assuming things that ebay haven't actually said though.

Currently - they are saying 'An attributed sale will be when any buyer purchases the promoted item within 30 days of any click on the ad, regardless of whether the buyer themselves clicked on the ad' and that is all we have to go on.

I would still assume that if you get 1 click of an add, then 100 sales via any method (organic, direct etc) - you will be charged an ad fee on all those 100 sales.

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@jonatjonatjonat yep and not only has eBay not said that, but the experience of German sellers who have already been operating under this policy since February shows that the 1 click counting for all sales of that same item for the next 30 days does appear to be how it's actually working in practice - and I've seen nothing to make me believe it will work any differently in the UK or anywhere else than how it is already working in Germany.

[lupo-store]

eBay have confirmed to me that Priority will only have 1 placement.  If this is true I don't know.

Pre Sept 2023 when there was 1 slot for Priority at the top of search I was getting a ROAS of 6+ and doing very well.  As soon as the change to 4 Priority slots my ROAS when down to between 4-5 and has never fully recovered.

My feeling is that eBay know there is not enough sales to share with 4 Priority winners and nobody is making the profit.  Unlike Amazon there is no real way to increase cost price without losing sales.  I think what eBay maybe doing is reverting back to top spot as Priority only and no more priority slots and to subsidise the lost of the 3 other priority slots (where they make more money with no real seller winners) they are charging more on general via these 'attributed' sales.

[iceblue_uk]

Thanks for the info, if I stand corrected and it does indeed work that way then I'll be happy to eat a big piece of humble pie. I can't see how this could ever be justified, charging a10-20% ad fee (currently necessary for many business sellers) on a full 30 days sales in exchange for 1 lead who didn't even purchase. This will surely push up ebay prices, driving more customers to other platforms where goods are already cheaper.

[valueaddedresource]

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@lupo-store wrote:

eBay have confirmed to me that Priority will only have 1 placement.  If this is true I don't know.

Pre Sept 2023 when there was 1 slot for Priority at the top of search I was getting a ROAS of 6+ and doing very well.  As soon as the change to 4 Priority slots my ROAS when down to between 4-5 and has never fully recovered.

My feeling is that eBay know there is not enough sales to share with 4 Priority winners and nobody is making the profit.  Unlike Amazon there is no real way to increase cost price without losing sales.  I think what eBay maybe doing is reverting back to top spot as Priority only and no more priority slots and to subsidise the lost of the 3 other priority slots (where they make more money with no real seller winners) they are charging more on general via these 'attributed' sales.

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@lupo-store was it a customer service rep who confirmed that for you? If so, I'm not sure how reliable that answer might be and that's not what I took away from the eBay Ads blog post about this change.

https://www.ebayadvertising.com/en-gb/2025/05/22/seller-announcement-updates-to-ebays-promoted-listi...

When eBay rolled out Promoted Listings cost per click ads (previously called Advanced, now called Priority) in 2021, they were originally only eligible to be shown in the 1st ad slot in search, then that expanded to the top 4 slots in 2022, 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.

But none of those were ever "exclusive" placements - eBay only said that Priority ads would get "priority access" to those spots, which meant in most scenarios they would get preferential placement vs General cost per sale ads but that didn't prevent General ads from possibly being displayed in one of those spots if a Priority ad didn't take precedence for a particular search.

The FAQ in that blog post makes it clear this change gives "exclusive" access to the top spot to Priority ads and that once it goes into effect, General ads will not be eligible for that spot, period - if there isn't a Priority ad to be displayed there for a given search, it may revert to an organic placement, but will never be a General ad.

However, just because Priority will now have exclusive access to the top spot does not necessarily mean it will no longer have access to any other ad slot.

In fact nothing in the policy update or that blog post mentions any other ad slots, so if we have to assume one way or the other on that, I would lean much more heavily toward eBay keeping Priority still eligible for other slots, just still under the previous "priority placement" rules where General ads will also still be eligible for those other slots if/when there isn't a Priority ad taking precedence.

[lupo-store]

Hi,

It was a concierge agent.  I did ask them to check with the ads team but even so I cannot be 100% sure if correct.

[valueaddedresource]

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@lupo-store wrote:

Hi,

It was a concierge agent.  I did ask them to check with the ads team but even so I cannot be 100% sure if correct.

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Thanks @lupo-store .

In the blog post it also says this:

With exclusive access to the first ad slot position in search results, you’ll soon be able to drive greater visibility for your priority listings helping you generate more sales. This also means campaigns that use a general strategy will no longer be eligible to show ads in the first ad slot position in search results.

We’ll continue investing in the priority strategy to ensure you have access to the best ad placements and can increase sales velocity with greater efficiency. If you’re already using priority campaigns, your ads will automatically be eligible to show in the first ad slot position at the top of search results.

The use of the plural in "access to the best ad placements" I would think would indicate there will still be more than one spot available for Priority ads - but I realize that assuming eBay is using words correctly for their grammatical meaning may be a stretch. 😂

[valueaddedresource]

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@iceblue_uk wrote:
For the life of me I cannot imagine why you would think that.

Look, whilst it may not be 100% clear from their poor choice of words here, basic common sense tells us that it simply cannot be the case. It would be completely ridiculous, beyond the pale in fact, to attribute hundreds or perhaps thousands of sales from buyers all over the country to a single click on a promoted ad. Ebay means to charge 1 ad fee for each click received, it simply cannot be any other way.

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@iceblue_uk there are already scenarios within the current policy with Halo attribution where 1 click can equal more than 1 ad fee so unfortunately, not only can it be the case with the new policy, but it is already sometimes the case with the existing policy.

For example, under current Halo and Direct attribution model, if someone clicks on a General ad for your Item A and adds it to the cart (Direct), then goes to your store page to look at what else you have for sale and chooses to add Item B to their cart as well, if that Item B is also enrolled in an active General ad campaign, you will be charged the ad fees for B as well under Halo attribution even though the buyer only clicked on the ad for Item A - so 1 ad click equals 2 fees in that scenario.

It also works the same for repeat buyers of the same item.  Let's say you have Item A listed with a quantity of 10 - a buyer clicks on your General ad and makes a purchase for qty 1, you get charged the ad fee.

Now say that same buyer really likes the item once they receive it and decides they want more, so a week later they go to their purchase history, click back through to the item from there (not clicking on the ad again), and place another order for a qty of 5 to stock up on it.

Since it is still within 30 days of their first click on the ad for that item, you will also be charged an ad fee for that repeat sale, even if they didn't click on the ad a second time - so again, 1 ad click equals 2 fees, and if they kept coming back and placed additional orders within that 30 days, it would be more than 2 fees.

I know both of those scenarios are true because I have personally had sales play out exactly that way and have also spoken to many other sellers who have had those exact scenarios happen as well.

Because this change means the click does not have to come from the actual buyer of an item, it exponentially expands the potential impact. But fundamentally, eBay has already been able to attribute more than 1 fee for each click on a General ad in certain situations, so it's not out of the realm of possibility they will continue to do so just on a much larger scale under the new model.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Frankly, because I prefer to believe what is written as opposed to filling in the blanks with what may or may not be true.

it would be great indeed if it didn’t work the way eBay have written the rules, but until they clarify them, I’ll believe the terms as written.

[censualite]

If you try to bulk edit promoted listings, it does not work, i had to do all mine manually. I have priced competitively and removed all promotions, was not getting much traction with Promoted sales at recommended rates. I spend more time with eye catching pics and listings and using external analytics to generate traffic. 

[cobwebcottage]

It's a shame that your buyers have to pay a buyer protection fee though.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Are the completely incorrect prices part of the eye catching images plan?