eBay to Launch CPC Ads as It Seeks Revenue

by: The End

How Stupid.

by: angryllama

No thanks ..   I'm losing quite enough $ right now and there are vetted stories of GOOGLE CPC advertisers who LOST THEIR SHIRTS on similar program.

by: pace306

1) " larger sellers who don't use Seller Hub" - why dont they? why are they exempt from using it????? We TOLD you - eBay isnt a level playing field - what liars!

2) NO ONE asked them for CPA. Its simply another way to sell the same space 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x. Only fools will pay for it (if anyone at all).

3) Since its eBay there will "of course be" a way verify all these clicks ... right? Since sellerhub works SO WELL, and Cassini works SO WELL, as does CPC .... it will of course be as smooth as ... sandpaper.

4) its another way to crowd out smaller sellers who cant/wont do these crazy schemes. If business is bad NOW, imagine what it will look like with BOTH campaigns in place!

Like all of other eBays cr@appy ideas - just stay away.

by: shut1968

I noticed today that when you do a search for something and use the drop downs to select "search for lowest price + shipping" it no longer pulls up the items that are lowest priced, in this case I had to scroll past a dozen items priced significantly higher in some cases double the price of the actual lowest item for sale....

And yes, the seller that had it listed was a "Top Rated Seller" so that's not the issue either, they appear to be lying to buyers who are looking for the best deal and/or manipulating them into paying more than they should for an identical item that others are selling cheaper.

by: notfunanymore

This is just another money grab. Sadly, many will pay, and pay, and pay, until they’re deep in debt.
This should be interesting for the arbitrage dropshippers, they basically work off 2 to 5 % profit. They’ll get drowned out by legit, and I use that term lightly, sellers, who will be suckered into paying for this “new” very old concept that has made google very wealthy... can’t wait to see the spin on this one.. maybe they’re giving up on trying to be like amazon and set their sites on google? Look, anything is possible with these guys..

by: RKTOYS

When you can't deliver results, I guess that just leaves games of chance.

by: iheartjacksparrow

"... sellers who are willing to pay extra to promote their listings."

Sellers are constantly complaining about not getting enough sales through Promoted Listings, so why would this work any better? It will probably work better as far as putting money in eBay's collective pockets, since they'll most likely put a big red arrow with the words "CLICK HERE" just to siphon off as much money from the sellers as they can. Just like they have "Return This Item" as the default selection for your list of purchases in My eBay.

by: Frank Abagnale

Somehow I envision ebay hiring people working next door to their offshore call centers to click on all the paid CPC ads.

by: Ina

@Frank Abagnale Or competitors. Or disgruntled buyers. Will eBay have a system in place to monitor abuse...

by: TomH

''Will eBay have a system in place to monitor abuse...''

I'm sure eBay will say so.  But considering the ''high level'' of mis-trust of eBay among many of us, total belief will probably be pretty low.

by: Silver Ice King

Or competitors. Or disgruntled buyers. Will eBay have a system in place to monitor abuse...

What incentive does Ebay have to act as overwatch on the abuses of this program?  Just like all the glitches they have that never get fixed because it generates additional income for Ebay.  This one will be no different and will be what ultimately causes another revenue idea to fail and drive away more sellers.  

Ebay has already shown they want everything to be run by bots so they can continue to shred employees and payroll expense.  However, they do not have the expertise nor talent to create an AI program that learns or catches these issues so once again it will be lets dig further into the Sellers pocket.

All I can say is anybody foolish enough to leave the control of revenue in Ebays hands which is exactly what CPC will be doing deserves what they get as they have been shown what Ebay considers important and relevant over and over again, and its always Ebays bottom line.

by: Rexford

There is indeed proof that  a fool  isborn every minute. That fool is the fool who trusts eBay to deliver any value as it relates to paying for any promoted listings schemes.

If revenues begin to pour in from these schemes there is no hope that they will actually fix their broken search because they will be making money from search being broken.  The downward spiral continues.

As I mentioned in an earlier post this week, and if you needed any proof here it is--eBay has become nothing more than an advertising billboard.  They are so far from being a true marketplace where sellers can actually sell anything  and where buyers can actually find what they are looking for that it isn't even funny. They should refrain from calling themselves an ecommerce platform.

WENIG, YOU OWN THIS!!!!    Wenig's Scheme Factory will be Wenig's folly.

by: pace306

Will eBay have a system in place to monitor abuse...???

Do they monitor RETURNS ABUSE now?
Do they monitor VERO abuse now ?


Besides ... why would ANYONE believe that eBay would be honest about it? eBay profits from click abuse - like they profit from returns fraud, counterfeits and other abuses ... its in their best interest NOT to monitor "such ause" ... so they wont ...

Anyone who does this is a fool - and a fool and his money is soon parted

by: NoMoreEbay

When growth is flat and sales our down, you don't bleed the source of said sales for more money. Life doesn't work that way. No more than a tax increase during a recession.

Clean up your site, get back to basics. Work towards cleaning up your toxic environment and give sellers incentives to be here, not more fees and certainly not more ads. ebay is becoming junk-central. It's embarrassing.

One would think with the executives all being financial guys, they would have a basic understanding of the market.

by: maxmad

I'd like to say this company is full of good idea's , but again, they are full of,

Not sure how much more sellers will pay, CPC can add up quick, plus it's internal to ebay, very limited highly manipulated audience, along with other issues of using CPC, I would never personally use it, at ebay, but I'm sure it will be a temporary money maker for ebay, they still have plenty of desperate sellers.


I'd like to say this company is full of good idea's , but again, they are full of, ( )

by: Ina

Added an update to this post linking to today's Newsflash article on a new eBay promotion to entice sellers to use Promoted Listing ads.

by: mcposty

CPC is a horrible idea with Ebay, I do not trust them to use those advertising dollars intelligently.

If they want to increase sales, fix their search. End of story.

by: moto-science

"If a buyer clicks one of your ads and then buys the item within 30 days, you'll be charged an ad fee based on the rate you chose."

I don't want this obligation.

by: DeathFromAbove

Simple.  Hire a bot network to "click" on your competitor's ad, and put them out of business.

eBay will never give you a list of origination IP addresses, date, time, or conversions (for the 1 in a million chance it may happen) of supposed "clicks" either.  You know, the exact thing a scrupulous business must provide to prove these "clicks" are really happening.  

No different than their current program - there is no proof any of these "clicks" result in a sale, so they can charge whatever they want.  Hello FTC, here's your chance.

Can the board fire this man already?  

by: Bubbles

CPC is a fast way to go broke - another money grab by eBay. I think many have already tried Google CPC and found it was a bad idea like paying for Google Shopping. It is all about cash in the coffers for eBay.