Promoted listing fees now far too expensive for business sellers competing with private sellers

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

This situation has become totally impossible to deal with.

How do Ebay expect business sellers to be able to compete with private sellers when using promoted listings ? As a business seller we have to pay 10.9% plus VAT plus listing fees, shop fees, regulatory fees, fees on postage, the list goes on. How are we expected to be able to compete with private sellers when using promoted listings when they have a massive advantage, i.e.

Business seller - basic fees of say 15% before using promoted listings.

Private seller - no fees before using promoted listings.

We are not prepared to / cannot pay more than circa 5% for promoted listings however these days that provides next to no traffic, if there were no final value fees we could pay more.

I don't understand how Ebay thinks this situation is either fair or viable for a business seller.

I rarely post on these forums these days as I do consider things on here to be a lost cause for my business however I just cannot understand how the above is not blindingly obvious to Ebay management. It seems they are happy to force business sellers away from the platform to push private sales. 

[messier44000]

Forced me away last April when I closed the eBay shop. Now down to about 20 listings 

by natural wastage.

Not throwing in the towel. eBay did me a favour pushing me away. Sales on the website 

are better than the crazy lock-down frenzy and increasing.

But back on the topic of PLs. Ended all mine, because eBay pay themselves for Google 

PPC, where I see a number of my listings. Why pay when they do it for free.

Like the OP I spend less time on here. Less time on here means more pushing sales 

on the website, public open days and you-tube. Talking of which , best rig up the camera , mic 

and start filming. Lost count of how many times each month I get sales from you-tube demos.

Costs nothing but time to try.

[4_bathrooms]

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@british-ceramics-and-paintings wrote:

How do Ebay expect business sellers to be able to compete with private sellers when using promoted listings ?

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Can you give an example of one of your listings that you believe receives no views/interest due to competition from private sellers?

I noticed you had a few oil paintings by an artist called Richard Blowey so I searched eBay for "Richard Blowey oil painting". That search returned 68 results as follows:

60 results from yourself

6 results from one other business seller

1 result from another business seller

1 result from a private seller

In terms of promoted listings on eBay your competition appears to be yourself rather than private sellers. Have you tried using "Promote Offsite" instead of promoted listings? Obviously you know your market better than I do but is someone interested in purchasing a "Richard Blowey oil painting" only going to be looking on eBay for one?

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

I understand your point however a lot of my sales came from general searches, i.e. oil painting, seascape painting etc, not a specific artist search. 

Further to your last point most of my sales for the artist you mention now come from my own website however they used to sell strongly on ebay.

[4_bathrooms]

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@messier44000 wrote:

But back on the topic of PLs. Ended all mine, because eBay pay themselves for Google 

PPC, where I see a number of my listings. Why pay when they do it for free.

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Are you sure it is eBay that is doing that? Who does the advertiser (not the store) show as? I've seen my eBay listings appear in (sponsored) Google product results but the advertiser is always an affiliate like Producthero, Productcaster etc.

As far as I am aware the actual advertiser is only eBay if the seller is willing to pay for "Promote Offsite".

[cernak.m]

Have the same concerns.

Those are the short sided profits for ebay so they can show growth on their profit sheets for their investors.

And while they are not able to attract more new customers they need artificially find money elsewhere like this.

There is no clear vision for the future (at least not presented for the people), unfortunately .
There is no captain steering this ship, the company is just too big and right hand dont know what the left is doing.

They should reconsolidate, streamline their staff, simplify the pages and procedures here on eBay.

For example there are currently 6 different evaluation matrics on seller performance (Seller performance, Seller matrics, Feedback, Detailed seller ratings, Reviews and Cross-Border Selling Performance).

Why do we need so much of them? 

Things like this need people working on them and are creating complexity where the resources could be handled elsewhere

Of course private sellers are on a big advantage here, but no one cares.
I am a EU seller so my fees are even higher + international fee, conversion fee + 50% higher postage I need to pay from my profits, just to stay competitive.

Its clear eBay needs a plan and they should share this plan otherwise this is not sustainable.

Especially here on eBay UK, where business sellers have no advantage at all over the private sellers, while paying sooo much more 

[messier44000]

Ah yes, good point. But whether it be eBay or a 3rd party, its not the seller paying.

Off back now to setting up for another YT video

[4_bathrooms]

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@british-ceramics-and-paintings wrote:

I understand your point however a lot of my sales came from general searches, i.e. oil painting, seascape painting etc, not a specific artist search. 

I don't believe anyone looking to buy an oil painting is just going to search for "oil painting" any more than I believe someone looking to buy a sculpture is just going to search for "sculpture". However, I tried the second example you gave - "seascape painting" - and one of your Richard Blowey listings was in (non-sponsored) 10th position in "Best Match". Interestingly, 5 of the listings above yours were from business sellers whilst 5 were from private sellers so I'm not seeing a private seller bias in those results. I will mention that one of those private sellers is incorrectly registered as she states she is selling her own original creations on her "about" page.

I then sorted by price and the vast majority of first page results were from two (incorrectly registered) private sellers. Whilst I'm no expert in oil paintings their efforts look quite amateurish to my untrained eye; I can't imagine someone looking to buy such a piece for it's artistic merit would consider purchasing a painting from either artist. 

So, not giving up I searched for "professional seascape oil painting". The whole first page of results are from a single (incorrectly registered) private seller stating they are a "Professional British artist" in all their listings.

So, is your eBay competition private sellers or is it artists (businesses) masquerading as private sellers?

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@british-ceramics-and-paintings wrote:

Further to your last point most of my sales for the artist you mention now come from my own website however they used to sell strongly on ebay.

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That is likely because if you google the artist's name your website is the first result (your eBay shop is the fourth result). I can see your eBay listings in the shopping results and the advertiser is eBay so "Promote Offsite" would appear to be a waste of time and money.