Promoted listing costs - what a con.

[berkshire-bazaar]

As a 20 year veteron of selling on ebay at various levels (£1m+ business to a hobby business), ive seen lots of changes.  What I am quite alarmed about is the costs of promoting your listing on effectively a closed site (ebay!).  Ive experimented and it makes little difference as to whether I put 15-20% promoted listing levy on an item, or just rely on organic search.  Ebay have effectively doubled their fees in a sneaky way with promoted listings, yet they release videos of how much they care about business.  Ive never seen such a hike in costs of sale on ebay as in 2023, and yet one of the most difficult years for business.  Instead of spending thousands running roadshows and giving out awards, just reduce  your fees and cap it at 10%.  I fear that the decline of ebay as a viable place to sell with just intensify.

[mybrandoutlet*]

100% Agree.

Independent sellers are paying marketing fees for not much in return as the big boys on eBay have larger marketing budgets to burn on this type of advertisement.

Controlling customer choice is ultimately illegal under the Monoploies act. Google The Us Justice dept acting against Google in respect to search term tech and monopoly.

[tech-tonix]

Of course it's the combination of the promoted listings (aka fee hike) scam *combined* with the impenetrable  & non-transparent algorithm favouring the big sellers. To the detriment of buyers who no longer effectively see the cheaper stuff from smaller sellers. Problem re: Monopolies Act is Ebay would always claim there are other "channels" like Amazon, Etsy, Facebook & the rest to "provide choice"

[mybrandoutlet*]

Amazon does promote price... But the other SE's and Market places agreed do not.  Be interesting to see how the case for the US Justice dept develops against google in the US... As they are targeting SEO, Sponsored ads etc under the guise of the technology that controls the SE is ultimately resticting the customer's 'freedom of choice'...  Even though there are hundreds of other channels a customer can buy from, if the customer's freedom of choice is being restricted / controled and consiquently that controlled choice is of financial gain to the SE then the US Justice Dept see that this ultimately defies US the monoplies laws in place there, hense the case.

Not so long go all the the US Market Places were avoiding co-orporation tax etc and now have to have UK registed businesses for tax purposes of both the market place and us as business sellers.. So I personally do believe that SEO will in turn come under the government spotlight, it's gained too much pace the past 5 years to not do so. 

Also, interestingly enough my store's number of impressions have halved in Dec without paying for ads....  The decline corrolates with eBays claim that the sponsored ads improve impressions by 200%... Rant over 🙂 

[nigel_paul_wright7557]

If someone wants your items then it doesnt matter if its promoted or not they will find it.

The problem comes when your selling same thing as hundreds of other sellers.

Best way to use ebay is with rarer items that no one else sells.

You can then jack up the price and make some money.

[mfkv4568]

eBay' s promotion fees algorithm is so crazy that even if you choose the highest % they suggest, as soon as your listing is published you check again and their % suggested has significantly gone up 🤨