ANOTHER MONEY GRAB ??? - "Boost Your Items Visibility" ......

[annieoakley2000]

As if the confusion (expense) and hassle with "Good til Cancelled" is not enough, there is now a new little E-Bay invention to shake your wallet; it is called: "Sell It Faster" - Promoted Listings - Boost Your Items Visibility.

It is a sliding chart at the end of your listings to set your ad rate for premium placement, starting at the "trending" rate of 8.2% @ $ 0.74

You can move the chart up to (I presume 100%); I did slide it upwards to 25% and that will cost $ 2.25 per listing.

It goes without saying that in future any listings not using this chart are going to be more invisible than they already are now !!

Of course the good news is that E-Bay gives you plenty of "free" listing promotions and the bad news is that your listings are going to be invisible unless you pay extra!

Happy E-Baying !!

[enigmabear]

At least you're not poking the bear 

[digital*ghost]

I wouldn't dare..... or would I....? 

Spoiler

[lyndal1838]

Somehow I don't think Our Bear would sit there and take all that poking.

Watch your fingers Digi....she might bite.

[tangledstitches]

Promoted listings was previously only available for stores but they've extended it to non-stores now.

The only people I see using it are the Chinese but most of their products are cheap enough that they can afford to absorb the extra fees.

[annieoakley2000]

It may already have been a feature in store listings, but it is definitely a new addition to non store listings and most likely to offset the avalance of so many non store good til cancelled listings that from now on are going 'round and 'round forever (unless cancelled or sold) and E-bay has not been backwards in taking the opportunity to "enhance the selling experience" by now offering additional charges to non store sellers to get more (any ??) visibility for these items ........

It also begs the question how much of a percentage is required for ones items to become noticeably "visible"

If based on E-Bays own "trending"figures, it would be around 8% (depending on category), so if the majority of sellers would increase the visibility of their good til cancelled listings by 8%, then in fact nothing would change; the only benefit would be to E-Bay itself !

Just saying !

[springyzone]

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@annieoakley2000 wrote:

It may already have been a feature in store listings, but it is definitely a new addition to non store listings and most likely to offset the avalance of so many non store good til cancelled listings that from now on are going 'round and 'round forever (unless cancelled or sold) and E-bay has not been backwards in taking the opportunity to "enhance the selling experience" by now offering additional charges to non store sellers to get more (any ??) visibility for these items ........

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It sounds like a feature non store sellers probably need to be aware of, so that it is not in place unless they want it to be.

But do you think there will be an avalanche of good till cancelled listings going round & round forever? From what I have read (and I could be wrong as I have not actively investigated, as I'm not selling), although the ads potentially can stay up 'forever', they will cop a new relisting fee every 30 days. Some sellers may not realise that immediately and may get hit with unexpected fees. 

One effect it will have is the effect it had on us as sellers over a decade ago, where we paid for each & every listing (and they were only up for 7 or 10 days at a time). It made us really evaluate an item after a couple of rounds and make decisions about whether it was really worth the cost/risk of relisting.

I can't see too many sellers letting ads go round & round forever if they are actually paying for the ads after 30 days. I suspect that is deliberate ebay strategy too.

[digital*ghost]

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@annieoakley2000 wrote:

It also begs the question how much of a percentage is required for ones items to become noticeably "visible"

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More than any other seller promoting similar items.

If eBay say 8% is "trending" they are basically suggesting if you pay more than that, you'll have a better chance of being selected to appear, ahead of other sellers who are paying for promoted listings on similar items.

Part of the idea of them - or more specifically, the common result of these kinds of features - is you end up in a situation where sellers are effectively bidding against one another for ad placement. (Just another reason why I personally have no interest in participating). 

[brerrabbit585]

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@annieoakley2000 wrote:

If based on E-Bays own "trending"figures, it would be around 8% (depending on category), so if the majority of sellers would increase the visibility of their good til cancelled listings by 8%, then in fact nothing would change; the only benefit would be to E-Bay itself !

Just saying !

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You don't increase your visibility by 8%, you're paying an extra 8% in fees to get more visibility.  As digi said, the sellers who are willing to pay the highest percentage get promoted the most.  I'm not sure I'd trust ebay to be telling the truth when it comes to those figures either!

Unfortunately, the Chinese sell cheap enough that they can afford to pay to have their listings promoted so anyone who's competing against them is fighting a losing battle.

What bugs me most is that the items being promoted are rarely relevant to specific searches.  They may be items in the same overall category but they're a different type of product.  Maybe they promote those products because there aren't any relevant products that sellers are paying to promote.

[1iampolly]

I noticed after this "Promote your listing" appeared everywhere that my listings have become practically invisible.  I've been selling on eBay, under a few different accounts, since 1997 so I'm familiar with viewing trends.   All of my listings over the years would have at least 5 views, up to a couple hundred views, depending on the item.  Now, almost all my listings have ZERO views.  I think eBay is suppressing exposure to members unless the seller pays this additional fee.  We are getting charged twice now for selling an item - if we want the exposure we used to get.

[sandypebbles]

I am not sure how accurate it is to compare your views and sales in the US to what was going on here on the Australian site four and a half years ago