I dont thik we will ever know the workings around Ebays Algorithms - I know people see different things depending on their search history also have a look at your traffic in detail - is it going organically or externally - but I wouldnt read too much into it - I have lots of listings with lots of view and no sales and vice versa, its the sales that count -

Re the 5% promotions - I ditched them over a year ago and my organic views, after a month, matched previous promo views so from my personal experience of paying doesnt equal more - infact I think you are paying for nothing extra but that also can depend on the category you are in.