Promoted listing fees getting a wee bit more expensive....

[ricarmic]

Soon to be in your inbox....

Hi ricarmic

We wanted to let you know that starting on Jun 1, 2022, we’ll be changing how Promoted Listings Standard ad fees are calculated and updating our marketing program terms. As a result, you may see some changes in your ad fees.

Currently, these fees are based on the final price of the item, but starting June 1, they’ll be calculated based on the total amount of the sale, using the same basis we use to calculate final value fees (including applicable taxes, shipping, and other applicable fees described here).

What will change for you

•             Your ad fees will be calculated once you’ve made a final sale
•             The Ad Fees estimation will no longer be available. The new ad rate calculation will include variables, like buyer location and shipping costs, that are not determined until the sale is complete. You’ll still be able to view your ad fees from the Transactions section of your Payments tab, or in your sales report.

Updates to our terms

We’ll be updating our marketing program terms to reflect these changes. We are also taking the opportunity to clarify certain other terms relating to our marketing programs including, for example, issues relating to account security, confidentiality, and updates. Our updated marketing program terms will take effect with the ad fee calculation change on June 1, 2022. Click here to read our updated marketing program terms of service.

Thanks for being part of the eBay community.

[biglittleape]

As usual never ending bull*hit fees from eBay.  Charge extra for promotion because a tax is being collected?  Basically a fee for complying with government laws. eBay now collects taxes when shipping to a bunch of US states, how is it OK to charge us a fee on money we never even touch.

[recped]

This was announced a few months ago (Winter Seller Update?).

For those that use a PL rate of 2% or higher you can just reduce your rate to compensate

The only sellers that will really need to rethink their strategy would be.......

1 - People like me who are already using the lowest rate possible (1%)

2 - People who are selling $10 items with $10 shipping

It will have zero (or nearly) impact for sellers that offer "free shipping" or those that sell $100 items with $5 shipping.

[38e_avenue]

It has never worked for me. I tried to promote 50 items or so - only some of them sold, maybe 10% or so. Will not try again. 

[rocketscollectibles]

Thanks for being part of the eBay community

I laughed

[femmefan1946]

So using my usual 1% fee, if I sell something for $10 with $5 Flat Rate shipping, I will now be charged 15c for the PL sale instead of 10c?

But if I sell something for $10 that requires $15 Calculated Rate tracked parcel shipping. I will now be charged 25c or if the Calculated Rate shows $17.65 I would pay 28c as the PL fee?

As long as I can still choose my own rate (and that rate will be one percent since that seems to work just fine) I'm happy to know about it, but I don't think I will worry about it.

@38e_avenue 

PL has been interesting for me.
Certainly it leads to many many more Views.

But what seems to happen  (and anecdote is not data) is that those Views lead to sales of entirely different items.

So I use PL, get more Views -which costs nothing-- and sell something that is not a PL promotion.

No added fees.

YMMV.

[38e_avenue]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

@38e_avenue 

PL has been interesting for me.
Certainly it leads to many many more Views.

But what seems to happen  (and anecdote is not data) is that those Views lead to sales of entirely different items.

So I use PL, get more Views -which costs nothing-- and sell something that is not a PL promotion.

No added fees.

YMMV.

---

It makes sense to me. I think you are right! I must re-evaluate my politics concerning PL .....  

[galeascomics]

This really annoys me. I sell comic books as a hobby. I'm already hit with the highest selling fee, 12% + 30 cents. I use an add fee up to 4.6% to improve sales. When I am looking at a $3 to $6 book with $4.26 shipping this new formula kills me. ebay might no longer be viable for me. Bull**bleep**!

[femmefan1946]

You are not at the highest selling fee.

I sell ordinary paperbacks and my fees on those is 14.5%+30c.

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/store-selling-fees?id=4809

Using a 4.6% PL fee is your choice. What happens to sales if you use a lower rate?

And as I explained above, that would be all sales not just the PL ones, based on my anecdotal observations (which again are not data).

When I am looking at a $3 to $6 book with $4.26 shipping

So let me tell you the Good News about Cookie Jar Insurance.

Basically this means going commando on tracking.

A comic book, without a stiffener, just the ordinary bag and board, weighs 82gr.(at least the one I grabbed from my collection did)

Without tracking that ships for $1.94 domestic and $3.19 US.

Do you have a Solutions for Small Business number? There are discounts on parcel rates with that.

Not on LetterMail, which can be used for documents-- like comics or sewing patterns.

But it is possible to buy discounted postage on eBay- older mint never hinged stamps.

The SSB gives you a 5% discount. Postage is sold at discounts of 20% to 40% off face value.

So .

Raise cost of all your books by a dime. Ship without tracking using letter rates.

Put those virtual dimes in a virtual Cookie Jar as self insurance premiums against the occasional claim for loss or NAD. Pay out the refund and move on.

Most sellers have a less than one percent loss rate annually.

You are new to selling, but seriously most people are honest and most complaints are going to be valid- although buyer and seller may come at a problem from different points of view (like your buyer who says your packaging is minimal but admits that the contents were undamaged - sheesh).

I could go on , but I'm planning on going to KeyCon in Winnipeg next month, and today is the last day for the advance membership. Gotta go burn a hole in my credit card. I think this is the first SFF live con in Canada since 2020 shut things down.

[busybeas_books]

I have 7200 listings, 6000 or so with promoted rate of 4.5 or 5%. Sales for the last little while seem to be about 2/3 promoted, 1/3 not promoted.  Just changed them all to 1%. Will see if it makes a difference in sales. 

[38e_avenue]

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@busybeas_books wrote:

I have 7200 listings, 6000 or so with promoted rate of 4.5 or 5%. Sales for the last little while seem to be about 2/3 promoted, 1/3 not promoted.  Just changed them all to 1%. Will see if it makes a difference in sales. 

---

WOW, that much..? I have 3.000 listings, but I promoted only 50 or so. Definitely, It is worth of trying! Thank you for your advice! 

[ricarmic]

@galeascomics have you experiemented with lowering the promoted percentage?

For many of us the 1% version works just as well, it might be worth trying the 1% verison to see if there's any difference aside from saving money?

At one time when I got some free ad$ because of my store level, I ran promotions up to 10%. I found that there might be an initial burst in higher selling volume and perhaps a wee increased level ongoing, but not enough of a difference especially after some time as a consistent lower 1% level like I use now. Of course if everyone uses 1% then all everyone is doing is giving ebay an extra 1% so you'll (if you haven't already) have to experiment to see where your promoted items come up vs "competitors" in your category at any given promoted % level.

[ricarmic]

All 4,131 of my items are promoted at the 1% rate. I am not running any non-promoted items aside from auctions.

The last time I took some time to add it up, more than 50% of sales were a result of promoted sales.

A quick look this morning says nothing has changed.

I've also noted things like:

Buyer buys a non promoted item, subsequently buys a couple promoted ones, so something is pushing it up after the person buys something.

Buyer buys a promoted item(s) along with a number of non promoted items. Presumably the promoted item brought them in and they got other stuff out of the store.

Like @femmefan1946 I have very much observed that promoted items views influences the search algorithm to show folks the items more NON promoted (when I had both). Theoretically this is because the more views an item or "me" has, the more the search algorithm thinks I'm selling good or interesting stuff.....but that's crystal ball keep in mind!!!

[recped]

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@38e_avenue wrote:

It has never worked for me. I tried to promote 50 items or so - only some of them sold, maybe 10% or so. Will not try again. 

---

PL is not magic pixie dust! Monitor your Impressions to see the additional exposure you get and you should see the numbers climb dramatically.

The bottom line is that no amount of exposure will sell dead items, it only works when somebody is shown your listing AND they already have some level of interest.

I'm not a frequent buyer these days but I do have some saved searches that cause me to look at listings. I can think of only one time when I saw a Sponsored listing that was interesting enough for me to click and buy and that's out of no doubt many thousands of promoted listings I've been shown.

The beauty of PL Standard is that if it doesn't generate sales it costs you nothing. I spent money on traditional advertising back in the pre-internet days, it cost a lot of money and you never knew if it was money down the drain or if it actually generated new business. Even if sales went up there was no way to determine if it was a direct result of the advertising.

[galeascomics]

Aye thanks. The $4.26 is lettermail without tracking plus the cost of a flat mailer. I use a new bag and board for everything (about $0.40 deducted from profit) because I understand as a collector that things should look pretty when they arrive. I use a stiff flat mailer to protect the book. I don't spend the small profit, it just goes into the bank. I split it 50/50 with my friend who asked me to move a stash he aquired from a family member. So far I have had very positive results. It's literally pennies but I still enjoy it as a hobby two months in. I have put an end date on my adverts and will be trying the 1% solution and offering more bundles to save on shipping and cut down on the 0.30 final listing fee. I am likely to stop offereing parcel service because of the extra fee. 

[ypdc_dennis]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

... I sell ordinary paperbacks and my fees on those is 14.5%+30c.

... I could go on , but I'm planning on going to KeyCon in Winnipeg next month, and today is the last day for the advance membership. Gotta go burn a hole in my credit card. I think this is the first SFF live con in Canada since 2020 shut things down.

---

Latest fee increase has FVF for Paperbacks at 14.6% on ebay.com or 12.9% on ebay.ca  (plus 30 cents)

One reason I stopped listing additional media items on ebay.com

As for promoted listings, I do it for some items (at 1%) and it does seem to help some of my listings. If you get more eyeballs, a few will check to see what else you have for sale if the promoted item looks interesting.

@femmefan1946- you made me realise that I have been con deprived... 🤔

[galeascomics]

These points confuse me.

•             Your ad fees will be calculated once you’ve made a final sale
•             The Ad Fees estimation will no longer be available. The new ad rate calculation will include variables, like buyer location and shipping costs, that are not determined until the sale is complete. You’ll still be able to view your ad fees from the Transactions section of your Payments tab, or in your sales report.

Does this mean we cannot set the ad fee limit, as we do now? Does it also mean that we will not be able to calculate the fee until the sale is made? We'll be agreeing to an undisclosed fee if we use advertising?

[reallynicestamps]

@ypdc_dennis   KeyCon will be live and I think I read AdAstra in Toronto will be too.
Various comicons have been live-- but they are commercial and I prefer the fan run ones, as well as the writer's cons. 

I was really disappointed by the end of Creative Ink in Vancouver- a slightly weird mix of SFF and Romance writers, skewing female. (The most popular panels were the one on "How to Murder Your Husband"  well, really on poisons, drug side effects, treating knife and bullet wounds, you know, the usual stuff a writer needs.)

And When Words Collide in Calgary is still virtual.

My home con, way back East in Ottawa, is CanCon, will be live in October and I'm trying to decide whether I should attend.

There has been some talk of a comicon in Nanaimo late this spring, but I'm really not a comics person, except for following the rest of the Firefly story in graphic and text formats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUn-eN8mkDw

[reallynicestamps]

The ad fee will still be the percentage you chose.

But variables will change the absolute amount.

For example, a $10 book might cost $5 to ship* domestically by Letter Rate, but $10 to the USA. And your US buyer may be paying Internet (state) sales tax. Your MP fee is based on the total payment and therefore varies with destination. Same with the PL fee, now based on the total payment, not just the selling price.

This is fairer to sellers like me who use Flat Rate/Free Shipping. 

(I use Free Shipping to both Canada and the USA).

BTW -continuing the off topic convo with dennis and I- any live cons coming up  in your area?

*When you get to the point of opening a Store, you will be getting a coupon for branded shipping supplies quarterly.  That can reduce the cost of your mailers.

https://www.ebay.ca/str/ebayshippingsuppliescanada?mkevt=1&mkpid=2&emsid=0&mkcid=27&bu=43006325857&o...

The prices are crazy high, but the coupon I got meant I got 100 mailers for under $4.00 - the BC sales tax which cannot be paid with a coupon.

Oh! Are you buying Canada Post mailers? Or are you getting them from U-line or Staples and adding mailing labels. Anything with Canada Post branding is priced high.

[galeascomics]

Thanks for the explanation. I do have the basic store. My first lesson was not to purchase shipping supplies from Canada Post. With the coupon flat mailers from eBay are far less than from Canada Post. The $35 coupon helps a fair amount and my volume will continue to be low by design. I use a fixed rate for shipping and refund any overpayment on multiple purchases if the buyer doesn't request an invoice. My shipping is at cost (Canada Post + tax + mailer). No one has requested small package with tracking yet. I have provided it a couple times because it eventually becomes the most cost-effective option with multiple comics in a single order, particularly in a flat rate box within Canada.