External ads can't be controlled, discount is being wasted for nothing
Summary: bixtron discusses issues with running campaigns on eBay, including problems with search result visibility and image display. They mention that some of their listings, such as a specific game title, do not appear in search results unless certain options are clicked. bixtron considers that special characters might be influencing the issue but remains open to exploring more examples to clarify the situation. They also note challenges in managing discounts linked to their campaigns.
Hello,
Yesterday I started premium ads with the 100€ discount. This discount was initially shown as active, but after I started another external ad, it's no longer active...
What's even worse is that only 5 random offers are promoted in the external ads.
How can I ensure that the discount applies to the premium ad again, and why can't I add offers to the external ads?
dachauantiques
·4 months agoI also tried the ads, the statistics were reportedly good, but they only just covered the costs....
bixtron
OP4 months agoBy now there aren’t any offers left at all(?)
0 impressions, 35 clicks, and this gets discounted, while the other campaign works without a discount...
gebraucht-ist-gut
·4 months agoHello @bixtron ,
you can’t influence external ads.
The entire range is advertised (if relevant).
I also tried it once with the (for me) free campaign.
It takes 2-3 days after activation for things to settle in.
The statistics in the cockpit also lag behind by about 2-3 days.
In the ad itself, though, it’s a bit more accurate.
You can just end everything again once it’s inactive, and then restart it and set it up again.
From my own experience: with mostly items under EUR 20, it’s basically just burning money anyway.
You can take the test budget along, sure - but if it had been my own money, I would’ve been seriously annoyed.
bixtron
OP4 months agoHello @gebraucht-ist-gut,
I did intend to end them again, only can I then reactivate the discount as well (for the premium ads)? I would then forgo the external ones.
gebraucht-ist-gut
·4 months agoHello @bixtron ,
if you go via the link, it should actually work if you recreate it.
But I can’t guarantee anything - you never know with ebay.
Ads on a click basis actually only make sense for items that are expensive, at least that’s my experience.
During the test, I think I once set a daily limit of EUR 5 - it was used up at 2 a.m. - and then nothing more was shown as an ad - that was crazy too
bixtron
OP4 months agoHello @gebraucht-ist-gut ,
could you maybe tag an employee? I can’t find anything on the topic and I also don’t want to waste the discount now...
The reason for running these ads is also just eBay’s search engine, which no longer works. It was more or less a test to see how drastically the broken search engine is hindering sales. And lo and behold - it’s an absolute disaster...
I have variant listings where I offer various video games.
If I search for a game now - for example "Ab durch die Hecke", my listing doesn’t appear in the search results (it does for this game, but not for many others).
But wait a minute! "We have adjusted the search results to show you even more relevant offers." Yeah, great! You turned "Ab durch die Hecke" into "Ab durch die Hecke"... 🤣
Behind that is the "show more results" button... When I click it, my listing suddenly appears... With a bit of luck, the game photo is even shown, and if you’re really lucky, numbers like items sold or watchers are at least somewhat correct...
What I’ve also noticed is that the search engine picks up invisible formatting and therefore can’t deliver any (relevant) search results. None of this used to happen... I know eBay has developed drastically in a negative way, but this is new to me...
To counter that, I let the titles of the games run as keywords - that actually worked. Too bad...
miriam@ebay
Hello @bixtron - I was happy to take a proactive look at this, and as @gebraucht-ist-gut already wrote, with External Ads you can only advertise your entire suitable inventory through external channels.
On your overview page in Verkäufer Cockpit Pro, I still don’t see any activation of the price promotion under "Special promotions" "Save up to €100 (excl. VAT).* for your ads" - so I would also recommend setting up the campaign again and letting it run over the weekend.
Depending on the activation date of the price promotion, it can take up to two days for the discount to be credited to the account.
Although slightly off the actual topic, is there a specific offer that you currently can't find via search? With item number 117093506765 "Ab durch die Hecke" it works right away.
Thank you and kind regards
Miriam
bixtron
OP4 months agoHello @miriam@ebay,
thanks for the info. Once the campaigns are over, I'll just start a new one. The discount link is still being shown to me, so I think I can (re)activate the discount then.
As for the search results, I quickly found one example. I could certainly find more, but I'd have to go through over 700 different titles for that, which takes a bit..
The issue with the images seems to be there in general, because I always only get shown the title photo, which used to be different if I remember correctly.
116189493026 Variant "Chibi-Robo!: Zip Lash" 6,90€
-Is not shown in the search results:
https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_nkw=Chibi-Robo%21%3A+Zip+Lash+&_sacat=139973&_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_odkw=Asterix%3A+Die+Trabantenstadt+&_osacat=139973
Here my listing is only shown when you click on "See more results":
https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_nkw=Chibi-Robo%21%3A+Zip+Lash+&_sacat=139973&_from=R40&_blrs=recall_filtering
Could of course be due to the special characters, but even when I simplify it, the problem still persists:
https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_nkw=chibi+robo+zip+lash&_sacat=139973&_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&LH_TitleDesc=0&_blrs=recall_filtering&_odkw=Chibi-Robo%21%3A+Zip+Lash+&_osacat=139973
If more examples could perhaps help clarify things, I'd be happy to take care of that.
Thanks 🙂