eBay is prompting sellers to pay higher rates for their Promoted Listings, according to a reader who shared a screenshot with EcommerceBytes that showed the following message: "35% of sold items in Other Historical Memorabilia had an ad rate of 8.0% - 15.0%."
Recommending higher ad rates isn't new for eBay, but the reader said new prompts have increased for his account as of late.
The seller said that when he chooses to use Promoted Listing ads, he pays a rate of 2%. Referring to eBay's prompt, he wrote, "This kind of prompt has been showing up in my few promoted listings recently - I guess eBay is really pushing for extra revenue before the end of this quarter?"
Last year, eBay published a guide showing how it derived the recommended ad rates it shares with sellers,
as we reported on April 1, 2025. The guide said eBay uses machine learning to help sellers find the ideal balance between performance (like clicks and sales) and cost (ad fees), and takes into account competition; listing attributes; listing quality; and past performance.
"An ad rate strategy is the option you can select to determine how your ad rates are managed throughout the duration of your campaign. There are two ad rate strategies you can choose from: fixed or dynamic.
"A dynamic bidding strategy will automatically update your ad rates daily to the suggested ad rate. With this strategy, you do not need to make daily, manual updates to keep your ad rates competitive in the marketplace.
"Suggested ad rates are calculated based on a variety of factors that may include item attributes, seasonality, past performance, and current competition in order to find an optimal balance between performance and cost.
"A fixed ad rate is consistent and will not change once it's set. You can edit your ad rates any time during your campaign."
In reaction to eBay's current prompts to boost his ad rates by citing a statistic sharing that 35% of sold items in the Other Historical Memorabilia category had an ad rate of between 8% and 15%, our reader had this to say: "I think it's amusing to conclude that 65 percent of items sell without the higher rates eBay is pushing."
eBay Pushes Higher Rates for Promoted Listing Ads
by: Bill