Consider starting phasing out Promoted Listings now

Interesting thoughts.  I have wondered this as well and have been considering removing PL from my listings.  Especially for items that are more long tail and less high throughput.  I can see how PL might benefit for items where you might have significant competition, but then you’re battling your way to the top though PL and to the bottom with price on those items.  You have a significant number of items and sales, so what you say carries some weight.  Look forward to seeing your results.

I just talked to a new seller earlier this week who was confused as to why their $500+ sale only paid out a few hundred. They either accidentally promo’d the listing or it was turned on by default, not sure. I walked them through turning it off but told them they needed to check every new listing they made to ensure it wasn’t turned on again. They were upset and wanted to know if they could contact eBay and get their money back. Bad news LOL.

At this point a large majority of my sales are from promos, so if this change goes into effect I don’t really see it impacting me that much. I’m more curious if sellers see a drop in sales if they exit the PL program entirely. Like you said, it’s probably up to what you’re selling and how crowded the market is. I really need that top 1, 2, or 3 spot in search to move stuff sometimes, otherwise it never sells despite multiple of that same item selling daily/weekly – the influx of new & promo’d listings never gives my listing time to shine.

Short of finding ways to get new sellers on the platform, eBay has to squeeze more out of existing sellers.

Ebay is experimenting in other countries soon with charging you a PL fee if ANY person clicks on your listing in the last 30 days whether the actual buyer did or not.

“I was the victim of a click farm” claims bankrupt eBay seller.

Ebay frequently runs these experiments overseas.  I think the sellers will not like it and US sellers are more vocal and chances are they won’t roll it out here.  They probably are taking some notes as well on the trouble changes at Poshmark and Mercari.  This one is a bit sneakier, but I still think big sellers would object.

I am careful about my PL settings because I have heard they will pound you for stepping out and it lasts a while.

Unfortunately, it seems that eBay US will move to the European model for promoted listings after the holidays. This means that if you have a promoted listing, eBay will almost certainly collect promoted listing fees, no matter who buys your item.

“Starting January 13, 2026, for items listed on ebay.com, ebay.ca, and cafr.ebay.ca (and currently for items listed on ebay.co.uk, ebay.de, ebay.com.au, ebay.fr, ebay.it, and ebay.es): eBay will report an Attributed sale from a general campaign when a buyer purchases the same item that was featured in the ad that was clicked on by any buyer in the most recent 30 days.

“The ad fee is charged when a buyer purchases the promoted item from a general ad that any buyer clicked on in the most recent 30 days. The item must be promoted at the time of click and the time of sale. The ad fee is based on the ad rate in effect at the time of the sale.”

Read the stealth announcement.

Yeah this is bs.  Someone suggested that if they promote to one person and the person likes, then in theory the algorithm will show your item to other people finding it organically.  I’m not so confident they deserve the whole fee for that.  Sellers in Europe report no increase in sales along with the additional fees.  I sent feedback they should try to grow their customer base rather than to keep raising fees.

I feel like we are getting squeezed by the consumer and the platform.  Seeing the Poshmark (soon to be roughly equal to promoted Ebay) up front you realize that you had better get good, fast selling items and get them cheap.  I’m being really careful sourcing and doing less of it.  I guess one plus of having a death pile is that I bought some of it while thrift store prices were lower.

Well, here we are.

Doing the following:

• Lowering my PL rate to 3% (down from 4%.)
• Turning off automatic promotions. Will manually add listings once they hit 30-40 days on the site and need the bump in search.
• Upping what price point I consider worthy of promoting. Currently $20, might raise to $30.

I’m too worried to turn them off entirely, but curious if others do and what happens.

There is now a formal announcement (including some FAQs):

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Seller-Announcement-Updates-to-eBay-s-Promoted-Listings-are/ba-p/35311118

One thing to note:

If I’m promoting an item before the attribution update to general campaigns, how will sales and ad fees be attributed after the update?

We will consider clicks from up to 30 days before the attribution update takes effect to apply the updated logic. The sale must occur after the update (January 13, 2026 onward).

For example, a buyer clicks on a promoted listing that uses a general campaign strategy on December 20, 2025.

<li aria-level=”1″>If that promoted item sells on December 26, 2025, Direct or Halo item attribution will be applied.
<li aria-level=”1″>If that promoted item sells on January 13, 2026 or after, the updated attribution logic will be applied.

(In other words, while this policy change begins Jan 13, there will be a 30 day lookback period, which means ad campaigns active from mid December on could result in the new rule being applied is the sale is made after the 13th.)

I started using automatic promotions on all listings just over a year ago.  My sales didn’t change. The only thing that changed was I was paying more fees to eBay.  Upon reading the announcement yesterday, I have turned off the auto promotions and my sales were actually pretty great overnight.

I have several old campaigns running and a few items at 9% (clothing).  I think I’m going to end them all and go with 2.1% on eveything.  The policy starts tracking clicks mid-December so before then.