eBay recently reported plans to test a new advertising program that will give some sellers the opportunity to raise the profile of some products above the pack.
Called promoted listings, the service launches next month by invitation only for items bought and sold on eBay.
Under the proposed program, sellers pay only when an ad is clicked and a product is purchased.
eBay’s business blog notes:
“Most other advertising services will charge you for a click, whether or not a sale takes place. This is a more efficient way to advertise and one more example of our focus on seller success.”
Sellers can use the promoted listings program to help generate more views for their best-selling merchandise or for any seasonal products. These listings would appear when customers search for specific products at eBay.
The potential boost in visibility is expected to drive an increase in the potential for sales.
Touted features of the new ad tool include quick and simple set-up. The seller just chooses the products they want to promote, sets the ad rate, and then launches the campaign. Sellers retain the ability to control the campaign in terms of when they start or stop it and also to revise it.
Detailed analytics provided by eBay are available to highlight each campaign’s performance.
The seller also chooses how much they want to pay to promote an item—a price that can range from 1 to 20 percent of the item’s sale price. Promoted listings fees appear on the invoice for each item sold.
Promoted listing ads will appear in prominent locations on eBay based on the seller’s chosen ad rate and how relevant the item is to a potential buyer’s search.
Internet Retailer reports that promoted listings ads will first appear on eBay’s desktop and mobile sites, including both Apple and iOS, and will appear in Android apps in August.
The service is invitation-only and is being rolled out to a limited number of eBay sellers based in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Australia. eBay does not plan to expand the program this year, though it’s soliciting interest from its client base.
You can join the waiting list by entering your contact information on a designated landing page.
Geekwire notes that one clear advantage of the promoted listings program is that it offers the opportunity to pay to have products promoted above others, “which will be helpful for popular categories were there’s hundreds of duplicate listings.”
Image: eBay
Meanwhile, the dark side of eBay is being revealed in an eBook that just came out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V2UZ0ZC?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
Only having to pay when an item sales is genius because theoretically it gets sellers to bid up to their margin, thus allowing eBay to maximize the revenue while still ending up with an auction winner that is happy.
Aira Bongco
So Ebay also have promoted listing. Much like Facebook and Pinterest. I guess it is inevitable and one of the great ways to serve their market (the sellers)
Eryn
As a buyer I now have to wade through multi-listing AND promoted listings just to find out that the price advertised on my screen is in fact for a tiny spare part not the actual item! JUST LIST MY SEARCH IN ACTUAL PRICE ORDER PLEASE! I put up with this stuff on Gumtree because it’s free, aren’t you rich enoigh yet eBay??!