changes to eBay’s Promoted Listings programme

soolin

It's always worth checking out these little updates that ebay add to your messages - in future if you use promoted listings you will pay the selling fee if anyone clicks on the ad and it then goes on to sell to anyone else within 30 days. So the moment a seller gets a watcher or a view on a promoted item, the fees kick in if sold within the next 30 days.

announcement as follows:

Hi xxxxxx As a user of eBay Advertising, we want to make you aware of an update to general strategy campaigns on ebay.co.uk, ebay.fr, ebay.it, ebay.es and ebay.com.au. Starting from 24 June, items promoted with a general strategy will use the following attribution definition when reporting sales and charging ad fees:

An attributed sale will be when any buyer purchases the promoted item within 30 days of any click on the ad, regardless of whether the buyer themselves clicked on the ad. The item must be promoted at the time of click and the time of sale. The seller will be charged the ad rate at the time of sale. Learn more

You’ll still only pay when your items sell, so this will remain the same. As always, we recommend monitoring your performance and adjusting your strategy accordingly.

Thank you, Your eBay Advertising Team

RedImp_2

That’s an improvement, not.

soolin

At this rate I 'might' start believing that ebay aren't having quite the success with their profits as they used to . I'm not saying they are struggling, not with millions of pounds worth of income, but perhaps they are seeing profits remain stable rather than increasing year on year like they used to. 

I'm just about to post something about Vinted, which I believe may be causing some of their lower end woes.

se2020

How does this work then?
Surely the final buyer will have to click on the item to buy it? So the fee would be due anyway even if nobody else had clicked on it before?

sonearandyetsofa

That's great, I love the way eBay makes it completely impossible to tell what's an effective strategy or not. Now we won't know if the item sold because it was promoted, or if it would have sold anyway. Oh, unless you manage to mess up your listing so badly that nobody clicks on it at all and someone somehow manages to buy it.

I suppose there's one plus to this, if I read that correctly. The fee will only apply if the item is promoted at the time when it's sold, unlike now where you pay the fee if it sells to a buyer who clicked on it while it was promoted. I'd theorise if you're selling high value items where people usually need a little time to think about their purchase, you could probably end up paying less in fees overall just by regularly rotating which items are promoted. The fees won't be charged if the item isn't promoted on the day it sells.

I don't think they've really thought this through...

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

soolin said:

not with millions of pounds worth of income

Billions  

soolin said:

 but perhaps they are seeing profits remain stable rather than increasing year on year like they used to. 

I believe they had a surge over the Covid period (not surprising) but it's dipped back down, the issue is that eBay hasn't really evolved much, they seem to depend upon their existing brand and customer base whilst increasing fees and yet companies like Temu and whatnot have appeared in recent years taking a big chunk of their sales.

eBay is full of tat from China which is exactly the same as that from Temu, just more expensive. Amazon is the same but they've hooked customers into their cult ecosystem with Prime, Tech, video, cloud storage, eBooks and on the list goes.

se2020 said:

How does this work then?

This is promoted standard so if no one clicks the ad (over the last 30 days) and a buyer finds it in the search results/shop view, etc and buys there is no fee.

If anyone clicks the ad (over the last 30 days) and some random buyer purchases the % fee will be charged regardless of where the actual buyer found the listing.

From eBay's side it's smart as pretty much most promoted listings will get a click in 30 days so they'll get that % on most sales where the seller is using promoted. 

It wouldn't surprise me if the min 2% goes up next time they need to squeeze more out of the program. 

As more and more people use the various online spaces to sell stuff the platforms are laughing as revenue from paying extra to gain exposure must be significant. 

As a private seller paying 2.4% isn't the end of the world, as a business seller the bigger companies probably won't care and will price in the fee, the smaller and medium will have to decide whether promoted standard is worth it. 

Comes a point where a website and social media advertising may be cheaper than paying these marketplaces, assuming you sell something unique enough. 

prowla

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

soolin said:

not with millions of pounds worth of income

Billions  

soolin said:

 but perhaps they are seeing profits remain stable rather than increasing year on year like they used to. 

I believe they had a surge over the Covid period (not surprising) but it's dipped back down, the issue is that eBay hasn't really evolved much, they seem to depend upon their existing brand and customer base whilst increasing fees and yet companies like Temu and whatnot have appeared in recent years taking a big chunk of their sales.

eBay is full of tat from China which is exactly the same as that from Temu, just more expensive. Amazon is the same but they've hooked customers into their cult ecosystem with Prime, Tech, video, cloud storage, eBooks and on the list goes.

My eBay score is 1500+ (mostly as a buyer).

Their policies on buyers surcharge and counterfeiting have turned me away.

I have hardly shopped there recently (bought just one small item this year).

I have bought things via AliExpress and Temu though - why pay eBay an uplift for the same item?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

prowla said:

I have bought things via AliExpress and Temu though - why pay eBay an uplift for the same item?

On eBay their returns cover is pretty good, label given and you'll get your refund.

I'm sure people will say Temu just refund you but there will come a point where they have the customers they want and that kind of "generosity" starts to fade. 

The buyer fee doesn't bother me, counterfeiting has always been there (sadly).

There was a Channel 4 doc on Shein and they found unacceptable levels of lead in an item of clothing for kids, lead exposure can damage the brain's development and IIRC jewellery items as well. 

Obviously you get the same tat on eBay so the hard part is avoiding the tat and finding something that's been made to meet UK safety standards. 

My answer has been to stop buying stuff, pretty much completely.