‘Pay to promote’ and views on your item.

[shearsntones11]

Ever since ebay introduced ’Pay to promote’ the views  on my items have plummeted.. I think it’s because I don’t pay the promotion fee.

thoughts?

[twyngwyn]

yep:  eBay Commits to Ad Solution for Auction Sellers - EcommerceBytes

[davewil1964]

I don't pay, and my sales are marginally down. That is probably due more to my inability to source stock than to not paying 'protection'.

I sell books. I find that generally sales are steady. If I have a good day, I won't sell anything for a week. Seems to be that lights on/off is triggered. It has been that way since long before paid promotions were a thing.

I have found in the past, and hope to again in the future, that increasing listings increases sales. Not by as much as the listing increase, but enough to make it worthwhile.

[papermoon.lady]

I prefer to check my saved sellers myself (in spite of the unpleasant look of the new saved sellers page) for that very reason, as my feed is mostly uninteresting and full of promoted uninteresting listings of sellers I haven't even saved.

[shearsntones11]

So sorry, but I’m not really sure what you mean by checking your saved sellers. I’ve never done that. 

[davewil1964]

That's because papermoon is speaking as a buyer. I don't have saved sellers either.

[papermoon.lady]

When you visit a seller's page there is a "heart" and the word "save" next to it. If you click on it, you will have this seller on your saved/favourite sellers page. In the past, I remember that I got all their new items in my feed, but not any more, and I suspect it has to do with promotions, as many of the sellers I have saved are small and probably wouldn't bother with paying for promotions.

[shiver_me_shrimp]

I only promote bundles, because they generally offer far better value than single items and I want them to be seen above the single items before the buyer filters "lowest price + postage". I rarely do more than 2%.

If you have a hot item that you know will sell quickly, don't bother with promoted.

Also ebay works on an algorithm, not this light on lights off thing. Ebay loves activity: editing listings, ending and selling similar instead of relisting, updating item specifics, posting quickly, responding to messages quickly, sending offers, leaving feedback and recieving positive feedback. Anything that increases ebay's chances of making money off your items will usually trigger the algorithm.

They especially love it when you start a fresh listing or update photos on stale listings. I've noticed whenever I start a brand new fresh listing, ebay sends buyers my way (not referring to this account by the way - it's fairly inactive). 

I hate that it works this way, but unfortunately that is what the site has become. Many of the fulltime sellers who have YT channels have documented this and I agree that they're right.

Gone are the days when you could list literally anything and have it sell within a couple of weeks.

[p9games]

Interesting.  I have noticed newly listed items often attract orders.  I'll print out my pick list for the day and notice "Hey I only listed that last night".  Just my own experience, but it's something I've observed a lot

[lukesp_1984]

hi, i have noticed that as well. used to get 5-25 views on all my items but now lucky to get 2-3. 😞