This is obviously not my primary selling account.
With the recent update to general campaigns which will now force sellers to pay general ad fees on ANY item clicked by ANYONE within the prior 30 days regardless if the clicker made a purchase, eBay have all but guaranteed almost zero organic sales on eBay will be feasible starting 24 June.
For those unaware, general promoted items currently will only attract a seller-nominated percentage fee if Customer A both clicked on AND purchased a promoted item within the last 30 days. A good deal, in my opinion, as much as I protest additional fees. But, starting 24 June, eBay is changing this to be if Customer A clicks on your item and does not buy it, Customer B could then buy that same item and you will be liable to pay that general ad fee, whether or not Customer B clicked on your ad. This destroys and undermines the very principle and point of the original intention of general promoted ad fees.
In other words, all it now takes for eBay to guarantee a listing will generate them additional fee revenue for the next 30 days regardless who buys it is one single click on your generally-promoted listing by anyone. That's it. One click, from anyone, and any future sales made by any third-party customer within 30 days will then attract additional fees, even if that third-party customer is a loyal repeat customer whom navigated directly to your eBay store page. You'll still pay fees.
And not just a set percentage of fees. A seller-nominated additional fee, which is even better for eBay because this is variable from 2-100%, meaning some sellers will unfortunately be paying far too much in fees because not everyone will know how it works, and eBay knows this but ensures their sellers are given just enough proverbial rope of freedom to you-know-what themselves with.
This is obviously and clearly a shameless, predatory and desperate grab by eBay for any and all fees, sucking and draining the margins from the very sellers they rely on to uphold their platform. This is going to mean sellers need to push their prices higher and 'play along' with the (essentially) guaranteed ad fees lest your organic items be buried by their algorithm which will obviously actively favour promoted listings. This will cause an even poorer buying experience for users and inflame an economy already struggling with inflation and cost-of-living pressures, but instead of delivering innovative seller-friendly solutions, it's additional ad fees for corporate eBay.
This has been a continuing and transparent trend from eBay for a number of years now since eBay first introduced general ad fees, followed by cost-per-click models. eBay are happy to sell this as 'additional options for sellers to innovate', but in reality all this is doing is causing sellers to actively pit themselves against fellow sellers. eBay essentially throwing a pile of weapons in the middle of the seller arena, and saying, 'now fight for my top search results', all while eBay sits back on their golden throne and feasts on the margins we're collectively willing to sacrifice while we clamber and fight our way to the top spot while losing our precious margins in the meantime, too busy focusing on out-bidding our competition for that sweet top search result to realise who actually started this war of promoted fees.
The blatant level at which eBay shamlessly pushes sellers to promote, promote, promote, is actively a problem eBay themselves have introduced to sellers and continue to push it on us using fear tactics. "Hey, want to remain competitive? All your competition are boosting their listings using promoted listings. Let us help you supercharge your sales so you don't get left behind! We'll even assign you a promotions expert..!" Oh, you mean someone who will gaslight me into overpaying for fees in a problem you created yourself? No thanks.
How about this, eBay, you improved your algorithm to bolster and reward well-made listings by sellers with fantastic reputation as opposed to whom among us is willing to sacrifice the greater margins and scalp their customers. Because all this is leading to are higher prices for the customer, and lower margins for sellers, all while pushing overpriced slop to the top artificially and forcing everyone else to play along or risk being left in the dirt, all just to boost your own bottom line. It's a scam, and I have no clue how the ACCC hasn't gotten involved.
It's a lose-lose preposition. And eBay is swiftly losing my respect. I will be paying more attention to other selling platforms and making more of my products available on eBay's competitor sites.
I encourage every to get in contact with eBay and provide feedback that we are not happy with the fees becoming more and more transparently predatory. eBay will ONLY stop when we the sellers say "no more", so long as we are quiet and play along, you can expect higher fee prices in the future. Guaranteed.
eBay are banking on and praying for your silence.
