Dissapointed with Promoted results

[triber]

With sales being slow, I decided to put some of my higher priced items with Promoted. I listed some silk yarn. Most people looking would put "silk yarn", which I tried. I scrolled though 2 pages, no sign of it. I put in the full title which has a long German brand, I think few people would put that. I comes up first. That really is a waste of time, if I was looking for some silk yarn, that is what I would put in the search.

[msau4301]

I did a quick peak for you searching just "silk yarn" which had 4700+ results, I scrolled down a few pages and did not see yours...I knew because the locations were primarily UK, India, Australia & China. I then tried "silk yarn" but went down side sub categories and changed location to show only "Canada" and this brought results down to 86 and you were 17th down. Some people may try doing this if they see all the top listed group coming from international sellers that would take a long while to arrive.

I have never tried the promoted myself but have seen overall that there has been a drop in activity since they changed the category and search criteria (over the past several months). I know I've looked for things (I am a collector), I have to be much more specific to find what I'm looking for which I don't like because sometimes you are looking for a particular kind of item, not necessarily a brand, year, etc. specific.

Thanks for posting this since I have been on the fence about trying the promoted since I have not done so yet. On an interesting side note although my views and sales (amount of items) are down I've noticed more of the items I'm selling have been the more expensive ones, not sure if the shipping costs come into play here since the more you are paying for something the more shipping doesn't seem as bad.

Good luck, you have sold tons of items compared to me so you are certainly doing something right!

[triber]

Thanks, it doesn't seem worth the extra cost for promoted listings if it is not coming up any quicker than this.

[ricarmic]

I do think that experimenting is VERY important in this selling venue.

I've seen folks who have had very good luck with sales, sales are awful for me.

In my own case use of promoted listings has been exceptionally good for me. I'm still running nearly 50% of sales coming from promoted listings and a large % of new, or returning customers that I haven't seen for years are coming back as a result of the promoted listings.

Results are going to vary from category to category.

Something that differentiates me from some folks is that I've got 4,000 promoted items across a large number of categories and types of items within my categories so using promoted items may work better for me because of this.

The good news is that there are a number of ways one can try to make oneself more visible, with the millions of items on this site certainly experiments using the various options are a requirement in this day and age!

PS I'm not sure what extra cost means but one should be able to experiment in the 1% to 2% range, margins have to be large enough to survive that amount of cost. Never IMO use the suggested rates.

[femmefan1946]

I use PL on about a third of my listings. I notice that only five of my last 50 sales were of PL items.

I have noticed that PL items get more Views. They don't seem to get more sales of PL items.

Anecdote is not data, but when I use PL, my sales go up.

It's just that the PL items don't improve sales of the PL items.

As if my milkshake (PL) is bringing the boys to the yard, but they are buying sodas (other items entirely).

BTW - in theory the first four words in a Title are supposed to be the most important. Yet it looks like nobody in the category puts "silk yarn" or the manufacturer as those words, which many believe are the ones seen on phones.

[flipistics]

How long did you wait after promoting the items to search for them? I believe it can take up to 1 or 2 days in some cases (not positive).

[triber]

A week

[pjcdn2005]

Keepin mind that Protestant listings is not always about where your listing is seen in search results.  It may also be seen in other places.  According to eBay...

Where do Promoted Listings Standard ads appear?

Promoted Listings Standard may appear in prominent placements across the eBay network, including the search results page and and product pages.

The eBay network is a group of sites where your promoted listings could be featured, including eBay and partner sites across the internet.

Your promoted listings may appear in sponsored placements off eBay, including search engines, to help drive traffic to your listings when buyers are actively searching and shopping across the internet.

By default, all listings in Standard campaigns are eligible to appear in external sponsored placements. Those ads may preempt other eBay-funded marketing efforts we may take on your behalf.

[recped]

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@triber wrote:

Thanks, it doesn't seem worth the extra cost for promoted listings if it is not coming up any quicker than this.

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What "extra cost", if the PL's don't lead to sales there are no fees (PL Standard)

[femmefan1946]

No sale= no fee.

Makes my Scottish heart go pittypat.

[triber]

I realise that I won't pay extra fees unless it sells. My point is that I think if it sells, it will not be because of the promise that my promoted listings will be easily found, so I will be paying for a service that I didn't get. It is just as likely to be seen by anyone rather that the fact that it is easy to find.

[shallow_karl]

Some categories are so glutted you simply will never been seen no matter what.  A friend of mine wanted me to sell a diamond ring for him on Ebay.  I just laughed.  First page results gather something like 85% of sales, that has never changed.  This is why those SEO companies desperately tell you they can put you on the first Google search page (yeah, ahead their other  1000 clients they promised the same thing to).  And if you complain, they tell you you actually had "a lot" of views, but items just did not get bought...