Seller Says eBay Growth Advisors Push Promoted Listing Ads

by: Fruitylovesyou

They're doing it on the phone so they can control the fallout.  if you're getting it, their file on you says you represent a high likelihood they can get more money out of your wallet. How many sellers are there, they're not calling them all. Think about it. Growth advisor....for whom?

by: Snapped

Imagine that.

There’s a great deal of ‘growth advice’ from a lot of folks right here too, that ought to be heeded by eBay.

They call it “noise”.

by: AddyUp

The only thing I find surprising by "growth advisor" is that it isn't a "growth team".

by: GetAGrip

When are you people going to realize that anything Ebay does, tries, or lies is going to have a direct impact on their bottom line. They hate you and could care less about you unless they can get more money out of you for some nonsense program. To Ebay you people are just NOISE and nothing more.

by: comments

I had one that called me a few times. He was an absolute gentleman. I did find him helpful and he had a lot of great information. It was ultimately agreed that some promoted listings would not benefit me and I am already promoting others.

Its really too bad that ebay doesn't reach out to more sellers with quality staff to resolve real problems and assist with growth. I think the money would be well spent and it would allow them to get feedback from experienced sellers.

by: Rexford

Yep, it appears that they are bus dev for eBay, not for sellers.

I've always wondered how one does grow a business on eBay.  How do you receive the keys to the castle?  Backroom deal?   They've had me capped at a certain amount of sales revenue for decades.  I know when I'm being throttled.  I know when they un-throttle me.  And HE** no I will not give them ad money for monthly sales that pretty much stay the same no matter how many items I list.

by: toolguy

Promoted listings? Never use them.

I think I pay eBay enough for finding me customers.

15% is acceptable but I find I have to overcharge my customer for shipping to pay for the thievery of FVF on shipping. . .

by: Snapped

They won’t be calling you, Tool.  You already know everything about everything.

by: Rexford

Snapped, gets the "snap of the day" for best comment,

And as they say, if you ask a know-it-all something that they do not know they will tell you about it anyway.

by: Fruitylovesyou

What i like about Grip, he/she cuts right to it. Lol
There are too many sellers brainwashed or vulnerable to marketplaces.  They will exploit you for all you have. If you're holding your last nickel, they want it.  

by: Alfacar

Nothing is working anymore. I promote and  increase rates, do markdown, relist, list and it doesn't even boost any traffic at all. They throttled the traffic to probably 7% min (old organic traffic from 3 years ago was 0 now it is above 7% or more).
I bet they would have better results if they abandoned that canny advertising scheme and focused on real old school growth. They throttle store if you don’t pay for store ads, throttle listings internally if you don’t pay for standard ads, throttle listings externally if you don’t pay for external advertising. They ruining economy and small , no high volume guys. Buyer loses, seller loses, Ebay gains. Store subscription is not really valuable anymore- considering downgrading for the 2nd time int the past 2 years as items are throttled and don’t sell so why keep it up?horrible business model. Oh and promotions (markdowns, coupons) seem not to work except for insiders- especially when Ebay features their sellers with their coupons. It looks like they throttle all other sellers so their traffic is directed to those on main page.

by: comments

I am not quite sure ebay is still throttling sellers anymore. Why would they anyway when they have selling limits to do that openly now? I think the buyers just aren't there.

Current policies, taxes, and fees have caused a steady decline the base of buyers with higher prices. Interest rates are through the roof and that makes buyers think twice. Prices of all goods have gone up leaving customers with less money. The items I am served up by ebay are just plain crap. The internet sales taxes combined with fees essentially make a large portion of the sale going to a void and that is all paid by the buyer. Also the buyer base for resellers was also fee'd away. PR, site limitations, and bad sellers also account for the decrease in sales.

Some of this can be fixed by ebay but some needs to be fixed by government.

by: Dreamedreamer

I have been selling on eBay for many years, and I am a small seller. I am selling off my coin collection of many years, and the activity on eBay is much, much less than it was even 10 years ago.
If I didn’t pay for promoted listings, I wonder if anyone would even see my items because that market is so saturated. Also, the economy, taxes, and more platforms like eBay for potential buyers, are also factors in why the activity on eBay has come to a drip, compared to what it used to be. As a small seller, I lose money on almost every piece I sell because of all the fees. I have to underprice my items because of the seeming inactivity of potential buyers on Ebay.

by: toolguy

@snapped

"You already know everything about everything."

Actually I know nothing about nothing, but I do know enough NOT to use promoted listings!

Stuff sells when you price it right. . .I sold (5) Leathermans this weekend because I had the right item at the right price. . .NO promotion needed!

by: Alfacar

Ebay advertising is a scam. They took away what was free (organic traffic) and instead of boosting it through advertising sellers pay , they throttled that traffic and shifted parts of it to distribute into other advertsing schemes such as pay per click, external adverstising, store advertsing etc. nothing is boosted - it is throttled and divided/taken away from previous normal traffic.
Saturation has nothing to do with your successful sales- it was always like that. First Ebay insiders sell than you if you advertise. You don’t advertised, you don’t sell- i tested that recently when i ended listings and was relisting them slowly observing impressions and traffic after i boosted advertising rate higher than before and lowering pricing and doing markdowns (none of that boosted impressions and for those days that i didn’t advertises there was 0 impressions and traffic).
There is active throttling on Ebay. Some sellers sell but you don’t- why?

by: Alfacar

Sellers need to go back to their timelines and see traffic and impressions changes when there were major changes done  (new types of advertising introduced). How was that shaped . Do you remember when it started? Do you remember the supposed bots elimination from platform? How were your sales and traffic after? 3 months later there were advertising changes done along with fees noise. Was your traffic recovering after every type of advertising added? Look at timeline , look at numbers. It is easy for me because I have always had same items to sell and same number of items yet my traffic prior to covid was about 20k (in the busy months) and now it is less than 4k for promoted (i didn’t promote for high rates that i do now) and my organic now is less than 1k when it was 6x more back then.
Throughout this time we all heard lies that it ia bad economy , recessions when it wasn’t true as people were spending like crazy but guess not at Ebay?- no they were not spending with you.
There is 0 buyers and that is why there is 0 traffic? - is that possible when Ebay stock is not falling? Is that possible when some sellers still sell?
It doesn’t add up.

by: CBW

Question: Why are the people that constantly complain about Ebay on here. or worse, still selling on Ebay? Seems like their time would be better spent on doing something else.  

by: Alfacar

It is unfair practices that hurt people. People complain because they want changes. When Ebay gets no feedback and criticism how can they improve?
Better question is who is trying to make sellers silent and why?
Truth is that sellers don’t compliment Ebay for doing right things because there is little of them and they are usually temporary but i am positive that if there are good things does , there is less complainers. Makes sense?

by: None Such

No surprise that eBay is pushing promoted listings and ads.  Revenue from those sources is the only growth area for eBay.  They’ll keep pushing them.  They will also keep pushing higher and higher ad rates for promoted listings, asserting that “sellers need to do this to keep buyers’ eyes on their items.”   Meanwhile revenue from actual seller sales and buyer purchasers will keep declining.  I predict that ebay, like Google, will see the bulk of its revenues from ad income.  At least that’s the model present eBay management seems to be pursuing, and will continue to pursue as long as Wall Street is happy with it.  

by: Sierra

As far as I can tell, it's DEFINITELY "pay to play" on eBay these days (and for at least the last 18 months). The vast majority of my sales come from "promoted listings" and represent about 90% of my eBay orders.

I only wish Etsy's on-site ads worked as well. Funny thing is, when Etsy called their on-site ads "promoted listings," they worked very well. Then they changed the name (and apparently some algorithm or something else) and they stopped working for me. I refuse to throw more money at Etsy with the hope of making a sale. They've got their off-site ads; if they want more money from me, they can show my things "off-site" more than they apparently do.