Sellers noticed a change eBay made to Promoted Listing ads in search results – and an eBay moderator confirmed on Thursday it had made the change in early October. Promoted Listing ads now only show in the default Best Match and Top Picks, and not when a shopper changes the sort order of search results.
Note that shoppers can change from the default Best Match sort to one of the following options:
Time: ending soonest
Time: newly listed
Price + Shipping: lowest first
Price + Shipping: highest first
Distance: nearest first
Those sellers discussing the unannounced change generally viewed it positively. “I do personally think it’s a better buyer experience not having ads in those other sort options – as a buyer I always find it annoying when results are inserted that don’t actually follow the sort order I selected,” one seller wrote.
The eBay moderator posted the following message from the Product team in a response on October 23:
“We made an update to search in early October to keep results as relevant as possible for how people choose to browse. You’ll no longer see ads in certain sort types (like “nearest first”), but Promoted Listings will still show in Best Match and Top Picks to help connect buyers with items they’re most likely to love.”
A seller responded to the change by writing, “Even as someone who uses promotion, I’m glad of this change. If other sellers of items similar to mine are annoyed by my ads on their listings, well too bad (they can do the same thing if they want!). But I don’t want my ads to annoy BUYERS, ever.”
