eBay Back to Running Ads that Take Shoppers Off eBay

by: Rexford

Chicago48--Amazon, eCrater, Etsy and Poshmark.  On all three you need to have many hundreds of listings to see regular sales but it is worth the effort.  I was approved to sell in some gated categories on Amazon and that was a big boost. I had been turned down by them a few times but I kept asking.  Poshmark have really stolen eBay's thunder as it relates to small sellers of clothing and accessories and they treat their customers wonderfully and don't micro-manage.  I had to build up to hundreds of products their to see regular sales but I am extremely pleased.  That site is very social so you must share, share and share. If you do it works.

by: glasspackaging

I can sell the same items off eBay for 15% less....  so can my competitors who are running 3PS ads for off eBay sales...  same items show up on my listings.... perhaps help explain why my sales are now down 72% on eBay... while sales on my own website are way up. eBay is tellin* buyers to search the web.... good policy eBay.... good policy (sarcasm font)

by: Rexford

....and I meant build up to hundreds of products "there", not "their"

by: Bignfuzzy

One more reason to have your own website and put the 10-15% commission into Adwords.  Ebay is just showing google Adwords ads.  

We have a couple popular & unique items on ebay that we consistently get the top spot in Adwords for.  When we're running a campaign on those items, the ebay sales drop way off as the web sales take off.   Pause the ads and the ebay sales recover.  I don't have hard numbers but talking to customers, they are clicking on the ads, leaving ebay and coming to our site.

And in both cases, we're paying ~ $2.00 per conversion from Adwords vs ~$12 in ebay commission.   I don't understand how this works financially for ebay.

by: blueribbon1844

Ina,
Thanks for publishing this, I was going to email you screen shots yesterday of my items showing ads for off site purchases. At first I thought these must all be ebay pro-stores right?? But this confirms its not.

Its near spam level if you go to an ended item and see all the ads. I wonder if I can run ads on ebay for my ecrater store, hmmm?

by: Bidonmine

This is not industry standard for Amazon or Discogs or Etsy...  

by: pace306

Rexford said "eBay is not going to tell you how they are eliminating you through mission creep.  Their conundrum however is that they still want your fees but they don't know how to fully sever their ties with you and still get your fees. Until they do, they will continue to write algorithms that hide you. "

%1000 correct ! =)

Stealing from your sellers is "industry standard"?

I understand Amazon doing it - its THEIR site. Imay hate it - but its their sandbox.

eBay needs to stand up and finally tell people whether they are a managed marketplace (like they tell the SEC), or "just a venue" like they tell the courts and the press.

If eBay is my partner - then let THEM take back defectives, let THEM collect sales tax, let THEM handle VERO issues.

eBay wants to have its cake and eat it too... and thats unfair, and dishonest.

They took money from sellers (discount) and used the excuse thatit was going to balance out these ads and their removal, then lied again and tried to sell everyone who would listen "sponsored ads" ... oh the fools who bought into the lies.

Now as everyone said, eBay cant make enough coin on those ads (not enough suckers) and tried to sneak them back in. Shame on Burke the crook and Wenig the Weasel .... You may dislike Amazon - but at least they are honest about the rules and the platform!

by: eXtinctBay

Guess eBay is already throwing the towel in on the Promoted Listings program, huh? Back to the drawing board for the next idiotic policies to help rid themselves of us filthy small sellers.........

This so-called limiting of ads was just a ruse. They thought they could conjure up a plan to ''give'' a mere $30 monthly to participate in this program, and charge higher commissions on the back end. Then they could also write off the $30 on their taxes as some kind of promotional expense. Smart sellers simply did the math, and didn't take the bait.

Stealing half of all the top-rated seller discounts did boost their revenue increase from 4 to 7 percent, so I guess this is an accomplishment. When they introduced this, even the most unabashed cheerleader on this blog proclaimed ''F**K YOU EBAY!! Perhaps this is another accomplishment.

by: epuise

GONE are the days where eBay was the BULK of your income source.

by: RL15

what a surprise....said no one!!

by: pace306

I need to agree with eXtinctBay - the whole program was a ruse. They were simply charging you MORE and again (2x) to do the same job they should have done the FIRST time - show your listings.

How foolish of the people that participated - I purposely did not look or buy from ANY sponsored listing(s).

Well Sellerhub was a failure (in mine you cant even search (in either sold or active) for specific brands or items - only god knows how its orking or not for others, this sponsored listing programs a failure, eBay Authenticate will soon go the way of the do do bird - whats next Wenig/Burke?????

by: ebayout

Sounds like sellers have found the "This Way to Egress" sign inside the circus called ebay.

by: eXtinctBay

Also, while it is not OK to even come remotely close to including contact information or links on a listing (so there can be no off-site sales), they do not hesitate to allow non eBay competitors to post ads. Can you say HYPOCRITICAL??

The fee-paying customer who took the trouble and paid their money to list an item is just being used as a vehicle to feature these ads on their listing page. Of course, this is if eBay shows the item in the first place.

by: pace306

With exinct's last comment .. its like he/she went into my brain and saw what I was thinking, then wrote it here - just alot better (not to mention NICER) then I would/could have.

ty exinct :)

by: Whatever

Maybe Pierre could come by and straighten things out? Why can't ebay just embrace who they actually are? The weird - the unusal - the hard to find unique items - I went to a page yesterday - blahblahkind  pin rhinestone - it was hard to find anything that didn't come from china - and repeat listing after repeat listing - thought that wasn't allowed? I know if I do it by mistake an error message pops up - is china immune to that? or is china holding ebay up with thousands of repeat listings?  I think it would be very interesting to see how many items are left on ebay with china gone.

by: TomH

@toolguy

Sounds like you are in another eBay test to copy Amazon.

At least you got the ''buy box'' you paid for..... lol

by: Volvo351

@Whatever

Isn't it great to know that the listings for which you pay [if you're a sucker, that is*] are nothing more than click bait for the REAL profit centers: Third Party advertisers?
*I won't pay even 30c to put up a listing anymore; once my free ads for the month are gone, I wait 'til the 1st!

by: BargainzBabylon

I think Froggy was being sarcastic.  

by: Don Wagner

The oddest third party ad I have seen on eBay was for a Hitler Coffee Mug. I clicked through to find Hitler Tee-shirts and (no kidding) Hitler Baby Bibs. Of course, the Company was in China.

by: maxmad

Running these ad's work great for us, paying google instead of ebay makes us much more profit, when a sale goes to our website, no fees on shipping, no FVF fees, plus we gain a customer, and we can actually communicate with them, like a normal business.