Promoted Listings Standard is an eBay selling tool, tasked with helping sellers boost the visibility of their listings.

A form of paid advertising, the increased visibility offered by Promoted Listings usually results in more traffic to a listing and therefore more sales.

It is important to note that Promoted Listings Standard works on a pay-per-sale basis only, unlike the new Promoted Listings Advanced tool, which is pay-per-click.

To use the Promoted Listings feature most effectively, consider the following advice:

Be selective

Not every listing is worth promoting – eBay recommends concentrating on bestsellers, new listings and seasonal must-haves. Promoted listings are ideal for eBay users who sell common mass-market items with lots of competition. As per the 2017 Fall Seller Update, single quantity listings are now eligible to be promoted, not just multi-quantity listings.

Plan ahead

Consider and anticipate item trends before they happen, just like the traditional stores do. Take advantage of annual events by stocking up and promoting essential seasonal items exactly when most people are looking for them. Think school supplies at the end of summer, leaf blowers in autumn and shovels in winter.

Great listing = great ad

Information within the original listing is automatically transferred to the promoted listing. Make sure that items are listed in the right category, the main photo is high quality and the title contains suitable keywords. Details within a Promoted Listing cannot be changed without editing the original listing.

Success is not certain

Keep in mind that listings promoted using this feature are not guaranteed to appear on eBay. The level of competition and ad rate selected are important factors to take into consideration. Some categories will have more competition and are therefore likely to have a higher ad rate.

Choosing an ad rate

One of the most important factors of promoted listings is the set ad rate for each item. Since October 2020, eBay has provided suggested ad rates. Staying competitive while also still maintaining a good profit margin is key here.

Check campaigns often

Keep an eye on your Promoted Listing campaigns to keep them current. Prices and ad rates do fluctuate, so regularly checking campaigns is important to be able to compete with other sellers in similar categories. Adjust ad rates or remove campaigns as necessary.

Keep testing

As with so many other features on eBay, a bit of trial and error is necessary with Promoted Listings. Due to the commission structure of Promoted Listings, no fee is required until an item sells. Sellers have nothing to lose by experimenting with Promoted Listings; if an advertising campaign doesn’t work, no money is wasted.

Use the metrics

eBay provides easy to understand metrics to help sellers improve their Promoted Listing campaigns. The clicks and impression statistics on the Promoted Listings dashboard can be analysed to see what items are selling well.

Sellers can use these metrics to choose new items to promote and fine tune existing campaigns. Do keep in mind however that once a campaign is deleted, the data for that campaign will also be deleted.

Anchor Store and Top Rated Seller benefits

Be sure to take advantage of any applicable Promoted Listing credits. Starting April 1st, 2017, all Top Rated Sellers on eBay.com are eligible for a quarterly $30 Promoted Listings credit. Anchor Store and Enterprise owners are entitled to a Promoted Listings credit ($25/quarterly), in addition to the Top Rated Seller credit if eligible.

Claim ad fee credits

If a buyer does not pay or returns an item after purchasing it via a Promoted Listing, the seller is eligible for an ad fee credit. Keep track of what is owed as these credits (as with Final Value Fee credits) can really add up over time.

Not for everyone

Some sellers will not find Promoted Listings to be applicable to their business at all, especially if they sell specialist items and/or already find that their listings are high up in the search results already.

After all, there are plenty of free ways to help listings crawl up the search engine results on eBay. Don’t forget to check how a listing is already performing before considering whether to promote it.

Growing profits with Promoted Listings

For sellers looking to stand out from the crowd, the Promoted Listings feature offers an easy and low-risk way to do so. The cost-per-sell model means that sellers can experiment with the service without committing a lot of money to see whether it is profitable.

Planning ahead, keeping competitive with ad rates, creating great listings and analyzing personal metrics are easy ways for sellers using Promoted Listings to take full advantage of the feature.

Do you have any advice for using Promoted Listings most effectively? Let us know in the comments below.