eBay introduced “cost-per-click” ads this month, but that’s not stopping the company from promoting its existing cost-per-sale ads, pitching them as a lower-risk way for sellers to get attention for their marketplace listings.
eBay published a post on its eBay Ads blog today titled “How to get started with Promoted Listings on eBay,” and cited as one of four key benefits, “pay only for sales.” It explained: “Decide how much to spend on advertising. eBay won’t charge you until a buyer clicks on your promoted listing and purchases that item within 30 days.”
That’s different from the new ad model, called eBay Promoted Listings Advanced, which charges sellers when shoppers click on the ad, whether or not they purchase the item. The new program is still in beta.
It’s likely eBay sees the existing Promoted Listings program as a stepping stone to the new CPC ad model, making sellers comfortable with the concept of advertising, and then pitching them on the benefits of CPC ads, which eBay’s head of Global Advertising Alex Kazim called an “exciting complement” to the standard ads.
“We recommend, when possible, sellers use both campaign types to test and learn,” Kazim wrote in an August 23rd blog post on eBay. “Using them together provides maximum reach and maximum visibility. And because of the different fee models, sellers can manage risk — thanks to Promoted Listings Standard cost-per-sale model — with the predictability of a daily budget and control keyword targeting.”
Today’s post made no mention of the new model, and it embedded a video from May 5, 2021 explaining how the existing model works. (Could there be some concern on eBay’s part that sellers might experience some confusion and think that all eBay ads are cost-per-click? It’s certainly possible given the fact the CPC and the cost-per-sale models share the “Promoted Listings” branding.)
eBay is looking advertising revenue for growth, and in 2020, it broke a record, passing $1 billion in revenue for the year. It will be interesting to see how much eBay grows ad revenue in 2021.
