This all seems a tad suspicious to me....

[lulicool]

In a nutshell, my sales have been sh*t. The past few years have seen sales in my modest little store drop from close to  $500 a week (MINIMUM!!) to some weeks these days, ZERO.

Imagine my delight when these past few days sales seem to be picking up, slowly but surely...WOO HOOOOO!!!!!

Then, this morning I get a call from an ebay rep asking if I was aware of, or considered Promoted Listings, and that because I was such a special litle petal, they'd give me a 20% discount should I decide to give it a go.

Now call me suspicious lol, but I'm thinking someone hit a button out there at ebay HQ that allowed my items better visibility as a means to buttering me up in preparation for this morning's phone call.

So....as if it isn't enough that they get a piece of the pie via Store Subscription fees, listing fees, FVF's (which in most cases INCLUDE postage fees), PLUS Paypal fees (have I left anything out?) they are now pretty much holding our listings to ransom UNLESS we pay them EVEN MORE MONEY, just so that our items can be SEEN??????

This is all so disheartening - I feel like I'm flogging a dead horse (for want of a better term) Time to throw in the towel?

[kopenhagen5]

I also think eBay have in the past employed people to buy items.

IMO, your scenario is more likely that a marketing flag went up because of a certain percentage rise in recent sales.

[rocket2retro]

There recently was a 10% off coupon code for everyone on everything on eBay (ended midnight March 2). This temporarily increased my sales but now they're back to being pathetic again. I'd say this might explain your sudden increase.

I won't use promoted listing as I pay enough fees.

[*bellee*]

They called me today about the promoted listing promotion. She said it will be for the month of march. Unlike you, OP, my sales have not improved at all. It's rather depressing. I think they have turned off the lights on purpose to get sellers to pay for advertising.