eBay ads have expanded their click definition for Promoted Listing fees, which will ultimately result in advertisers using the programme facing higher bills.
- eBay have expanded the click definition for Standard and Advanced ads to include interactions with new features and functionality of your ads. In addition to when a buyer clicks through to your listing page, eBay will now include when a buyer clicks on the heart icon to add an item to their watchlist from a Promoted Listing.
- eBay have also expanded what they qualify and report as an Attributed Sale for Promoted Listings Standard to include when a buyer clicks on one of your Standard ads and then purchases any of your Promoted Listings Standard items within 30 days.
Clicking the heart icon to add an item to a buyers watch list will probably have limited impact. The chances are they’re browsing, adding a ton of items to their watch list and will open the listing at a later date to view it – if they hearted your item from a promoted listing they’ll probably have opened your item from a promoted listing anyway before they completed the transaction.
The attributed sale is the part that is the big change – you’ll now be billed for what are considered ‘Halo’ items. If a buyer clicks on say a promoted listing for red sneakers from a seller and then go on to purchase blue sneakers, that will now be considered billable if the blue sneakers are also promoted. Direct vs Halo Item sales will be available to view as a split in your sales reports. The ad rate that you are charge will be your bid on the item that actually sold, regardless of whether it is higher or lower than the original item clicked from search.
The final thing to bear in mind, is the ‘past 30 days’ time frame. If I click on on of your Standard Ads and 29 days later navigate directly to your eBay shop and purchase any of your other listings, you’ll still be charged due to the previous click almost a month ago.
Previously, we only reported a sale and charged the ad fee if the same buyer clicked on a Standard Ad and purchased that same item within 30 days, also known as a Direct sale. This model didn’t account for a buyer clicking on one of your Standard ads and then purchasing a different promoted item from you. Since the buyer originated from a Standard ad and came back to purchase another Promoted Listings Standard item in your collection, there is a broader effect your Standard Ads have. New reporting will show the wider impact of your advertising spend.
– eBay
In some ways, it’s understandable that eBay should be billing you for sales that result in clicks from your promoted listings – buyers may not have found the item they eventually purchase if you hadn’t paid the additional advertising fee. However sellers will be miffed at this change as it does mean they’ll be paying a bit more when their invoice arrives at the end of the month. The really big advantage of eBay Promoted Listings Standard is that you only pay when you get a sale, you only pay for clicks if you opt to use Promoted Listings Advanced which is a CPC rather than CPA model.
