eBay

filamenthead · ‎08-07-2023

is using the promote listing option popular ? i used it and it cost me a fortune ! i did not realize that the promote listing fee is in addition to the regular selling fee . i ended up in paying fees that totaled 50% of the sold item .

has anybody experienced the same thing ?

2nd-time-around-jewelry · ‎08-07-2023

I used promoted listings a few times in the past for some of my higher priced item but only at 1%. But now eBay makes you start at 2%. Also their suggested percentages on my items are for 13% & higher. I refuse to use promoted listings anymore. It is just a big money grab for eBay.

reallynicestamps · ‎08-07-2023

It does help to read the directions.

I use PL standard on about 1/4 to 1/3 of my listings, usually older ones.

At2% only. PL is optional.

I find that PL listings make up less than 1/4 of my sales.

However, when I have PL on some items, my Views on those are significantly higher, and since I have started using PL, my sales have increased.

What I think is happening (and anecdote is not data) is that PL is drawing a few eyeballs , and those customers then browse other listings and buy those rather than the PL item.

Like going to the grocery for canned tomatoes and coming home with fresh tomatoes, a bottle of olive oil, some Gouda and toothpaste.

Your 50% is an outlier, but there is a life lesson there.

Read the directions.

mrdutch1001 · ‎08-07-2023

I use fixed price format very little as it proved over the many years to be futile in increasing sales and/or achieving any sales at all after 10-14 days so therefore do not use PLs...but to be honest yes PLs can be beneficial for some item categories and/or to some sellers, but for myself, I have no use for PLs whenever I do list items at fixed price. Having experimented with PLs several years ago for a period of nearly a year, with absolutely 0 affect/0 increase in sales/0 proof that PLs were of any value to me or to my items, I do not/will not use PLs.here on eBay or any other selling site.

pjcdn2005 · ‎08-07-2023

I'm sure everyone will have different opinions but I think that promoted listings works best when you have items that have a lot of competition, especially new ones. Your category is quite specialized and unique so I am guessing that people are looking specifically for your specific items so promoted listings might not help. But as stamps mentioned, you might want to try putting a few items at a low promotion rate to see If that helps more people find your listings.

Now that PL is based on the total transaction not just on the item cost, it does seem to cost a lot more, especially when you are shipping heavy items like you are.

epsilon-collectibles.store · ‎08-07-2023

I think it really depends on the item that you're selling and how fast you're looking to sell.

If there are already a lot of listings for the same item you're selling and you're looking to sell fast, then promoted listings could be a good way to get your listing up to the top of the search results.

Conversely, if it's something you're in no rush to sell, then you can probably leave it and let it get gather organic views over time so you aren't having to pay the promoted listings fees.

I use a maximum rate of 5% on my promoted listings, and I wouldn't reccomend exceeding a rate of 10%. In my experience, I have found it increases my sales by around 30%-50%. Of course, the items you're listings and the price point can cause that to widely vary. When I initally list my items, I always add a rate of between 2%-5&. However, if the item doesn't get many views, I'll remove it. Promoted listings could also be an effective way of attracting extra views not only to your specific listing, but to your store where customers may purchase other items.

There's lots of free eBay fee calculators online that can calculate your earnings for a listing. It takes less than a minute to fill out information on the calculator (item sold price, shipping cost, promoted listing fee, etc). I use them with most of my listings to help me find a price point that will ensure the item is competitively priced and I will still provide me with a sustainable profit margin. In my experience, there's never been a descepency of more than one dollar between the calculator and the actual fees incurred.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎08-07-2023

@epsilon-collectibles.store wrote:
I think it really depends on the item that you're selling and how fast you're looking to sell.

If there are already a lot of listings for the same item you're selling and you're looking to sell fast, then promoted listings could be a good way to get your listing up to the top of the search results.

Conversely, if it's something you're in no rush to sell, then you can probably leave it and let it get gather organic views over time so you aren't having to pay the promoted listings fees.

I use a maximum rate of 5% on my promoted listings, and I wouldn't reccomend exceeding a rate of 10%. In my experience, I have found it increases my sales by around 30%-50%. Of course, the items you're listings and the price point can cause that to widely vary. When I initally list my items, I always add a rate of between 2%-5&. However, if the item doesn't get many views, I'll remove it. Promoted listings could also be an effective way of attracting extra views not only to your specific listing, but to your store where customers may purchase other items.

There's lots of free eBay fee calculators online that can calculate your earnings for a listing. It takes less than a minute to fill out information on the calculator (item sold price, shipping cost, promoted listing fee, etc). I use them with most of my listings to help me find a price point that will ensure the item is competitively priced and I will still provide me with a sustainable profit margin. In my experience, there's never been a descepency of more than one dollar between the calculator and the actual fees incurred.

Views and watchers have become totally meaningless...at least from a buyers perspective. Views counter does not show on ca/com listings and watchers only show on dot com sellers listings. At 1 point of time when watchers did always show in some cases it could trigger a buyer to purchase...especially if the listing was for a 1 of.

-Lotz

flipistics · ‎08-07-2023

It's important to note that the promoted listings percentage is on the shipping as well. If you sell a $15 item and shipping is $15, your effective promoted listings percentage is essentially double what you enter.

As far as effectiveness, I would recommend promoting (fixed rate only or variable with a cap) at least at the minimum 2%. In theory it should improve your product placement slightly as well as have the items be more visible in Google. In competitive categories you can experiment with higher percentages.

Some people have run tests with running a sale (say 10%) and increasing promoted listings percentages by 10%, and they've found drastically better results with the promoted listings even though the item price was higher. Take that for whatever you will. Maybe next time you decide to run a sale, try the promoted listings approach instead and see if you get good results or not.

38e_avenue · ‎08-07-2023

I use 7% on around 3.000 of my listings and I am basically happy with the results. 7% (which makes 10% with the shipping) is max I can accept without making me feel unfomfortable ....

rocketscollectibles · ‎08-07-2023

You messed on percentage selected or used the scammy dynamic rate. I talked about it recently and got charged a few times 40% too. Gotta be very careful with this feature. Otherwise there's some categories where you can't be competitive without promoting at least the minimum rate on everything. As exemple right now, past 31-days, 63.6% of my sales comes from promoted. I'm like condamned to use it, i could not sell without it. eBay got us.