To promote or not to promote, that is the question?

[musicyouneed]

To promote or not to promote, that is the question?  At one time I promoted everything at 1%.  Then reduced that to only items that there were a lot listed.  Now since they have changed the way the promotion amount will be, based on selling price, taxes and shipping, it almost doubles for me.  I checked my sold and 33% were sold using promoted listings. 

Are you still using promoted listings or not?  Did you find them affective?  

[flipistics]

In my media store, approximately 50% of my sales this year have been promoted listing sales. I won't give the exact promotion amount I'm using, but it's definitely higher than 1%.

You could always A/B test it. Put 1/3 of your listings as unpromoted, 1/3 at 1%, and 1/3 at a higher percent and see what happens.

[kawartha-ephemera]

Altogether different category but have seen similar results. All listings are promoted with half of sales linked to PL. I've noted that the percent of sales linked to PL has been slowly but surely increasing every year. I've not altered the rate I'm using for two years now but during that time the percent of sales linked to PL has pretty much doubled. 

[dobo5250]

i have since march of this year moved over to promo listings on  all my new  listings---listings that are promo listed have a chance to sell those even best  sellers from before that don't have promo just  dont -- i have tried 1% then 4%  now i just put on what they recommend 4% to 7 % usually  -- i feel if you don't use their cost methods you don't get seen as often thus lower sales i even tried giving things away to see if non-promo still worked  four weeks not a single free thing was sent out- all good items needed by all houseowners  -- that ended my experiment - iam afraid promo is a cost  making it's a high cost of doing business here -- its their site its their rules --- i just got to 52% cost of sale for ebay and canada post  together -- with the cost of goods going up also (thanks god for write inventory at tax time)  -- it won't be long for you know---- time to step aside-- 

[dobo5250]

did that -----see above post ---

[msmaggie060]

Just read a post on the .com sellers board that the 1% promoted listing cost is being raised to 2% minimum. Does that also apply to .ca sellers? Anyone know?

[pjcdn2005]

Here is the thread for anyone that wants to read about it.  Apparently the info was sent via email to some sellers. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/promoted-listings/m-p/33003394

They just started charging the percentage on the full amount of the purchase rather than just on the item. I would have though that would be enough of a price rise for now.

Going to start a new thread and ask page ebay reps asking about it.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Yes, you should use promoted listings. 

The idea is that you pay to increase your volume of sales, but you make less per sale because you have to factor the promoted listing fee into your margin.

Most people over the last 2-3 months state that they have seen a major drop in sales. I think we're either in, or approaching a consumer recession, and that it will only get worse. Depending on what category you sell in, you should take every opportunity to increase your volume of sales, even if it comes at the expense of lowering your margin. 

You will have to experiment to figure out what percentage works for you, and what percentage leads to diminishing returns. Unfortunately, that is difficult to do. You can go with your total sales, and breakdown of promoted vs natural sales. There are so many factors, that it is difficult to make interpretations from that info. Also, some of your promoted sales will cannibalize your natural sales. Meaning, a few of those promoted sales might have sold regardless of whether you promoted them.

Ask anybody who accidentally forgot to renew a promoted listings campaign, or had their promoted listings accidentally turned off for a period of time. If you do any reasonable volume of sales, you will see a significant drop without promoted listings. For most categories, you will want promoted listings on. 

It depends on your situation with your eBay store, and whether moving inventory is important. With how things are trending, I think it is a good idea for people to re-evaluate what they are willing to sell their items for in terms of sale price/margin. Because there is a reasonable chance, people's willingness to buy consumer items going forward might become even lower. It is better to get ahead of it and move inventory, even if you're making a bit less, than to refuse to do sales, drop prices, or lower margins with promoted listings, and then get stuck holding the bag so to speak.

[femmefan1946]

i just got to 52% cost of sale for ebay and canada post together

Why is Canada Post a cost?
The buyer pays shipping.

Even "Free Shipping" just means that you have included your shipping cost in the asking price for the item.

Which is cheaper: A $10 item with $5 shipping or a $15 item with Free Shipping?

[femmefan1946]

@ilikehockeyjerseys 

As a survivor of the 1970s (stagflation and the OPEC price war and the housing crisis as we Boomers started buying in a tight market) I'm pretty sanguine about 7.8% inflation.

But it's an easy story for lazy journalists.

• The high cost of gas in the 1970s led to much more efficient engines ---- and the near** death of the North American car industry as fuel-efficient Japanese cars entered the market.
• Mortgages could cost upwards of 20%, more than double what is being charged today, which in turn is about what my parents paid* in the 1950s. And those rates were designed to promote home ownership among returning veterans.

The trouble with this lazy journalism is that it can easily cause a consumer panic.

It's the 2022 equivalent of toilet paper hoarding.

When you actually look at the US economy, employment is up to the extent that people are quitting because they are unhappy instead of holding to a miserable job in fear. 

And production is up too, including a few brave industries deciding to move their supply chain closer to home, having found that cheap overseas labour involves expensive long distance shipping.

And Canada is actually doing better than the USA.

I don't disagree with you. I expect that online shopping will drop off over the next couple of years. I think it will settle higher than the 2019 percentage of the market and will continue to grow.

Partly based on trying to find a pair of suspenders in downtown Toronto this week, and seeing only two pairs available. Not two designs, two pairs, one in each of two different high end stores.

All of which rambling to say, find a niche.

**FWIW - Honda makes all its cars in North America. They used to make the Fit in Japan, but they have dropped the line.

*https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-210-x/2010000/t098-eng.htm

[musicyouneed]

So I am trying an experiment. I am promoting several listings that don't have any views.  I want to see if it increases the views or sales.  I will let you know the result. 

[ricarmic]

Some time ago, I decided instead of running sales of 10% off my items, I'd run promoted listings with 10% as the promotion amount.

The high % definitely made a difference in terms of more sales. I don't know if it would be "affordable" out of the context of being an alternative to a sale.

I also one time had 4 items which were separate but if purchased together created a larger group. I accidentally had one of them with a higher % promotion rate than the other 3. I was confused for some time as to why I was selling only the one part of the 4 so much more often until I realized it's promoted % was erroneously higher than the others, so it does make a difference.

[femmefan1946]

@ricarmic 

This is likely the most useful bit of data in this thread.

I had not thought of using PL instead of a discount to promote sales.

The effect on the seller's bottom line is the same.

The buying price is the same.

The sticking point for many sellers would be not that they were giving up money, but that someone else was getting that money.

Interesting.

[dobo5250]

the buyer for most of my listings sold  either gets it free or pays partial shipping cost  tried doing it with the customer paying for shipping and it dropped to almost zero sales most of my customers are from reservations or way up north out east out west on islands nowhere close to me or even a big city and even with those prepaid boxes the cost is paid by the seller some how-- wish as a busniess card holder for canada post  they would give you a discount on those boxes but they don't  

maybe iam getting something wrong in my thinking am an old man mind you and have made alot of bad mistakes here over the three years listing here on on other sites -

--but as an example  item cost 10 dollars to buy - item sells for 39.99 which normal  below retail price for that item with free shipping -- it sells - take 39.99 take 5o %off for ebay and postoffice fees that leaves 19.99 less cost of good 10 dollars thats profit of 9.99 - less gas to get to post office - less tape and storage fees  etc etc - so maybe a 7-8 dollar in my pocket - 

-so if i lower the price of the goods to $34.99  the price of the goods to say  and have partial expedited shipping at $11.11 which roughly half the prepaid box fee to send an item  which all my customers demand if going somewhere up north or out west or to a reservation or out east to the rock or lab. the goods sells almost as fast not quite but close ---and  i get about $9-10 profit margin in my pocket  not much more but on a few sales it adds up 

now if the customer pays for the shipping --- well bc is never under 24 dollars and  to any of the  islands out ther much more  -- nfld and lab never under $29.99  anything up north or out west is $22 -26 - so i get very little sales that way --  because the customer looks at the bottom line item plus shipping and for these goods, the cost is over what they could get that item in a store for  almost doubling the cost of the goods -- so i lose 

at least thats what i think maybe i looking at it wrong -- tried the customer pays  for shipping but that was a while ago--- maybe i should try it again? - you seem to have alot of  descent  answers on this forum -- so i will try a couple of new items listings this weekend and try your  method we will see 

i still have about  1000  new items  left to list  so i guess i can take a chance of a few of them  

[femmefan1946]

Since all the payment comes from the buyer, the buyer ALWAYS pays for shipping.

• Which is cheaper a $39.99 item with Free Shipping?
• A $34.99 item with $5.00 Flat Rate shipping?
• A $24.99 item with Calculated Shipping that happens to be $15.00?

The difference is whether the shipping cost is presented as

• "free" (meaning included entirely in the asking price),
• Flat Rate (meaning partly included in the asking price)
• or Calculated (meaning entirely transparent to the buyer).

It's true the Boxes don't offer much of a saving even purchased in bulk

https://store.canadapost-postescanada.ca/store-boutique/en/8/c/flat-rate-prepaid-products

but the price you purchase at can be a discount if you are buying before a rate increase.

most of my customers are from reservations or way up north out east out west on islands nowhere close to me or even a big city

I guess that's on your plumbing supplies?
Remember that your customer doesn't have a local shop to run to. Your competition is Amazon not Home Hardware.

[musicyouneed]

So I tried promoting 100 or so listings that hadn't had any views.  They were all listed in the past 30 days.  It did not increase my views at all and no sales.  So for me it didn't work.  Now trying a promo sale for the weekend.  

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

A note about promoted listings that I discovered last night. 

Some Adblock software will block promoted listings from the search results. For example, you search the exact title of one of your promoted items, the search bar will claim that one listing was found, but the search will be blank. 

This would not have been a problem under the old system, since listings were duplicated. Meaning your promoted listing would show up twice under the same search (once promoted, once organic). 

Based on how much I sell via Promoted, I do not think this effects everybody. It is still a major gaff on eBay's part that is likely costing sellers sales. It doesn't effect mobile browsing, and it may not effect every adblock. But there is still a chunk of customers not seeing your listing because you promoted it. How many? Who knows.

I only discovered this last night, it doesn't merit a new thread because there is already many multi-page threads on the US board about this. 

It also might be the answer a lot of people are looking for to the "why don't my listings show up" threads that sometimes happen. They do show up, but your Adblock software blocks them because they are promoted. 

[sarahsales88]

Hi, thank you for posting this interesting topic. Yes, we've been promoting, but in an ambivalent way.  It seems like a LEAP of FAITH!! Who knows for sure... Probably eBay has statistics.

However, our previous percentages given to promotions are being eliminated, downgraded, etc by this seller.

Ebay now has shipping cost included in the promotion percentage fee, if the item sells.

Grits at ya! Doesn't it!

Another cost🤔

Same feeling as when we found out we had to pay eBay fees on shipping cost.  

Understandably, back then, before eBay charged a fee on our shipping costs, some sellers were charging too much in shipping in an attept to lower purchase price and lower fees. But most didn't. Most sellers have integrity, (don't we?) 

Still, we all get hit. The company appears to be making more money for our hard work.  

Grits at ya, doesn't it?

"Last straw" feeling arrives again.

Oh well, sometimes eBay is more fun than eating a bucket of worms, eh?

All the best from Canada, Sarah 🎶

[mrdutch1001]

no...

successful selling is about the product- it's uniqueness, quality, supply & demand, target market, etc and sellers do not need to feel obliged to pay extra for a "service" that is more a brainwashing technique/ a gimmick to suck more money from sellers.  PL's are an  option for those who think it works for them, but having done my own experiments with PLs years ago, found  PLs are totally useless, total waste of $ ...

it's just a race to see which sellers are willing to pay the most to get their listings to the top first.. and which sellers want to pay to keep their listings on top of the pile..

It makes no difference to the buyers...

If buyers are searching on the internet for what they are looking for, they will find it with or without PLs paid for by the seller.

no thanks, but you are most welcome to continue to pay extra for your "needs"

[musicyouneed]

Promoting doesn't work for me at this time.  There was no increase in views that I can see.  I have been running a sale for the past 1.5 weeks and that hasn't helped either.  I blame summer slowdown, high inflation and lack of interest in purchasing CD's at this time (although) my competitors see to be doing fine.