Visibility & Search Engines: How do Germans search? [Republished]
Where do consumers in Germany begin their product search? And how are your offers found in the first place? In this episode, we take another data-based look at the shopping behavior of German online shoppers.
Felix Marum from eBay uses a representative study to show which platforms dominate the search, what your buyers expect, and how you can respond to these needs in a targeted way.
Especially with an eye on the upcoming peak season, it’s worth listening to the April 2024 podcast episode again during the summer break. We’ve also added some current updates. Just in time for the start of peak season in e-commerce, we’re sharing interesting insights into purchase triggers for consumers in Germany. Enjoy the episode!
**Important links**
- eBay Summer Shopping Report 2025
- eBay Advertising marketing calendar 2025
- Questions and answers about external ads
- Product search in e-commerce - blog post
- More info on eBay Open
- eBay Community
- eBay for Business on Facebook
- eBay for Business on Instagram
- More info on the eBay podcast “All top-notch. Again anytime!” and our podcast hosts
**Mentioned podcast episodes**
- More traffic for my eBay listings - here’s how it works!
- CRO - conversion rate optimization for online sellers
- SEO for online sellers
** Chapter markers **
- 00:00:00 to 00:02:45: Info on the eBay Summer Shopping Report
- 00:02:45 to 00:04:30: Intro
- 00:04:30 to 00:08:55: Study: Where are items searched for?
- 00:08:55 to 00:16:35: Visibility on eBay
- 00:16:35 to 00:20:59: Visibility beyond eBay: External ads
- 00:20:59 to 00:22:40: Info on eBay OPEN
- 00:22:40 to 00:25:58: Tips on eBay Advertising
- 00:25:58 to 00:27:03: Outro
Vincent: How do consumers make purchasing decisions today? Where do they start their product search, and what ultimately influences the purchase? If you’re asking yourself these exact questions and want to know how to make your offer visible, you’re in the right place. We’re nearing the end of our summer break. So it’s high time for an episode that shows you how German online shoppers actually tick. Just the right thing before the Christmas shopping season kicks off. Our colleague Felix uses a representative study to show how online buyers’ behavior is evolving, what they pay attention to when searching, and how you as a seller can respond to it in a targeted way. So let’s go - your visibility is waiting.
AI voice: News from the world of product visibility? Vincent just asks the colleagues directly.
Fabian: Hi Vincent, what can I do for you?
Vincent: Hi Fabian, I hope you have a moment for us. We’re re-releasing the episode "Visibility and Search Engines: How Do Germans Search?" today during our summer break. Your colleagues, including Felix, were heavily involved in the content of the episode. Are there any new updates or exciting developments on the topic that you can share with us in advance today?
Fabian: Yes, actually. We recently published the eBay Summer Shopping Report 2025, and one key insight stood out: discounts and sales promotions are still a strong purchase trigger. Many consumers actively look for offers and discounts, which drives demand. Right now, sellers can increase their visibility through targeted promotions.
Vincent: Yes, that sounds pretty exciting. What does that mean concretely for sellers who are selling on eBay now? Do they already need to adjust their strategy?
Fabian: Yes, sellers need to position themselves now so they can be found by early buyers. My tip: sellers should use promotions now to draw the target group’s attention to their listings.
Vincent: Yes, and of course we’ll put the info on the Summer Shopping Report in the show notes for you.
Fabian: I’ve got something else. We’re also currently working on a Peak Season Playbook for sellers, which will help them prepare optimally for the upcoming season. It includes tips and strategies for getting ready for peak season.
Vincent: Yes, that kind of playbook really sounds great. I’m sure it will be a huge help for many sellers. But until the playbook is out, let’s go back to the beginnings of selling. Back to where product search begins, with the episode mentioned in the intro. Fabian, thanks a lot for your input and see you next time.
Fabian: Thanks for the conversation, Vincent. Enjoy the episode.
Lisa: Whether birthday gifts, garden tools, or kitchen accessories. We buy many everyday items online, but on which websites do we actually search for these products? In search engines or directly on marketplaces like eBay! If you as sellers know where, when, and how your target group shops, you can increase the visibility of your products. This works best through ads and advertising solutions that let you specifically boost your sales. Sounds complicated, but it isn’t. How all of this works, you’ll find out now.
Felix: If I now show listings that have a poor quality index, then I simply can’t expect that just because I’m showing them to more people, more will buy. There are certainly a few exceptions, so if I’m dealing in rare Porsche parts of which there are only two or three pieces on the market, then consumers will sometimes overlook it if there are only two product images. But if I’m operating in a market environment with high competition, it is incredibly important to secure that foundation.
Lisa: Welcome to "All top-notch. Again anytime!" the eBay podcast about commerce and e-commerce. I’m Lisa Haak, Head of Seller Community and Brand- Relation Program at eBay, and I’m very happy to welcome my guest today: Felix Marum. He is Advertising Partner Manager at eBay Ads Germany. The team advises commercial sellers on eBay when it comes to making their offers more visible. And that’s exactly what Felix is going to do for you out there today. Explain how marketing solutions can help optimize your business, and what you need to pay attention to if you want to place ads outside our marketplace. With that, a warm welcome, Felix!
Felix: Hi Lisa, thank you so much for the invitation.
Lisa: It’s so great to have you here, and you also brought a super exciting topic, because you and your eBay Ads team have conducted a brand-new representative study on product search in e-commerce. Together with Civey and you, you asked 5,000 people in Germany about their behavior in online shopping. Felix, that was probably a super extensive study. What are the results or key takeaways that stuck with you or that you found most interesting?
Felix: The key takeaway of the study is that around one in two Germans uses online marketplaces and search engines to find items when shopping online. And if you look at the survey results a little more closely, especially whether there are age or gender differences, you can see that men and women basically agree when it comes to product research, meaning that the choice is primarily made via search engines and online marketplaces. And what stands out is that men and, in general, the 40-plus generation like to use price comparison platforms as well, while women are more likely to search for products directly in the manufacturers’ online shops. The 40-plus generation, apart from search engines and online marketplaces, generally prefers to search directly with the manufacturer.
Lisa: Okay, so lots of findings about where which target group may be searching for my product, cool. Let’s dig into that a bit more, because the results are all super interesting. If you’ve just mentioned price comparison platforms or search engines or marketplaces, which channels play a more minor role in product research? So what can we set aside for now?
Felix: Okay, so searches on the aforementioned price comparison platforms and in manufacturers’ shops play a rather minor role. That’s especially true for consumers aged 50 to 64. Social media and social commerce basically play no role across ages or genders.
Lisa: Really none at all. From my own user behavior, I’d have seen that very differently, because with how often I, for example, click on ads on Instagram, I’d say: falling for them is not representative in the survey then.
Felix: Yes, I mean, it’s the same for me - you always tend to draw conclusions about the rest of consumers from your own shopping or research behavior. But that’s actually how it is. And that’s why it’s always good to have study results that broaden the view a bit, so to speak.
Lisa: How often do you do surveys like this, and what do you do with the results then?
Felix: In general, we do this regularly, simply to understand how potential consumers move and how we can best reach them. Basically, it’s often referred to as the customer journey. To know and understand the customer journey. Where can I meet the customer, the potential one? And also to provide the corresponding consulting service for our sellers and explain why it’s important to be visible there and what helps best.
Lisa: Yes, and probably also to build promising products in your eBay Ads portfolio, or for sellers, so you know what’s needed there and how we can support our sellers accordingly?
Felix: Sure, absolutely, that’s of course also very, very helpful for product development for the colleagues then!
Lisa: It’s good that you do these studies and then also make them available to our sellers, so they don’t just learn from their own user behavior, but can hear what the majority of people out there do. So let’s maybe talk about why the findings from this study are especially interesting for our listeners, meaning our eBay sellers.
Felix: Exactly, we learned that a large share of potential buyers basically search either directly via marketplaces or via search engines. And the question I can then ask myself as a seller is: am I already pulling all the levers to ensure maximum visibility for my inventory there?
Lisa: Visibility is such a buzzword, almost something we’ve already covered very often in podcast episodes. What do you understand by visibility on eBay in relation to the study or in the eBay Ads team?
Felix: Yes, good question. Basically, you can first say that visibility refers to the number of times my offers or the offers of sellers are shown. So if a potential buyer searches on eBay for an item and my results or my listings appear on the search results page, then that can be called an impression or a display, and in total that makes up visibility. You can look at it very well in Seller Cockpit Pro in the Performance/Traffic section, and there you see all the key figures, including impressions, which measure visibility.
Lisa: And visibility with the hope of more sales, of course.
Felix: Exactly, the expectation is naturally that if I increase my visibility - my inventory is relevant in some way for consumers - then more clicks will basically happen, meaning more interaction with my listings, and ideally, of course, more sales as well.
Lisa: Very true, as a small note from the editors here. Visibility on eBay works very well through the products that our eBay Ads team provides. But of course, visibility on eBay involves much, much more. We’ve already done several podcast episodes about that, and later in the episode we’ll hopefully come back to visibility in general. Advertising, I’d say, is part of the key to success. Cool, Felix! Then let’s talk about the visibility you can achieve for sellers from the Ads team. So what products do you have at eBay? What topics in your Ads portfolio can sellers discuss with you or book through you at eBay to gain visibility?
Felix: Okay. Yes, so let’s assume I have my inventory and want to increase its visibility in order to generate more revenue in the best case. eBay offers various ways to influence that. The classic is eBay Promoted Listings Standard. There I simply set a percentage rate that I’m willing to invest, for example 4 or 5 percent. eBay then begins to display the listings on the additional platforms to create increased visibility. And in the case of a transaction, meaning when a sale is successful, this additional percentage is charged; that’s called cost per transaction, or cost per sale, you could say - that’s one option. Another format is Promoted Listings Advanced, which means it’s detached from the transaction, and then I basically address my potential buyers with search terms, for example, and assign the matching listings to them. And whenever a potential end customer clicks on the listing, an amount is charged per click, so to speak. Pay per click, cost per click.
Lisa: Cool, if we maybe tie this back once more to the survey we talked about at the beginning. It’s also about not just finding products on eBay, but where are people searching in the first place? And that’s not always on eBay at first. Even if we might wish it were. What do you have in your portfolio to get visibility outside of eBay and then direct it to eBay?
Felix: So let’s assume I’ve already done quite a bit to increase the visibility of my listings within eBay and now I also want to fish in the second pond, namely the pond of search engines, and want to increase visibility there and influence it deliberately. For that, eBay offers external ads, which then basically give sellers the opportunity to actively cast several lines in this pond of search engines and positively influence the visibility of their own listings there, with the expectation that the additional clicks will also generate more sales.
Lisa: So we reach potential buyers where they’re searching, and bring them on eBay to the sellers’ listings.
Felix: Exactly!
Lisa: Sure, there are a lot of questions around this, and you’ve already looked into it and created a document with the most frequently asked questions and the corresponding answers. What’s the story behind that document? What are you trying to answer there?
Felix: Basically, we want to make sure the product is clearly explained at first and that everyone knows how to use it best for themselves. In addition, when it comes to objections or misunderstandings, we want to provide content that helps with understanding and also answer the most frequently asked questions we’ve already been getting about external ads.
Lisa: Then let’s take a look at some of those questions and the answers you gave, not the ones in the document. For the questions we don’t have here on the podcast, there’s a blog where the document is also linked. We’ll put that in the show notes, but let’s start, Felix. Do external ads actually provide added value?
Felix: Very good question! Of course, it depends on how I define added value for myself as a seller. If I understand added value as higher visibility, greater reach, reaching more potential buyers, then I would personally say: "yes, definitely" and what’s also good is that I have good cost control through a fixed budget.
Lisa: And if I’m a listener here and think to myself, actually I’m already an ad pro on eBay because I already use Promoted Listings Advanced - that should be enough, right?
Felix: Yes, that also depends on the strategy of the respective seller. If I’m satisfied with the sales I’m seeing and it fits into my planning: okay, then one could say it might be enough. But if I still have enough stock, enough capacity to step things up, then it’s definitely worth considering using this as an additional tool to increase visibility.
Lisa: Okay, and then I picked another point from the document. More of a myth? Hopefully a myth. Campaigns are complicated time drains. Setting them up and implementing them requires expertise and a lot of time. Felix, how do you feel about that statement?
Felix: Well, I thought that too at the beginning when the product was introduced. The same points you mentioned, and if you look at it from the perspective of a seller who runs their own webshop, that may well be true. On eBay, the advantage is that it’s basically a super simple setup. In essence, I simply define how much daily budget I’m willing to invest: click start, and eBay does the rest. So it’s super intuitive, very easy. I don’t need additional staff capacity to manage the campaign, as might be the case in my own shop, exactly.
Lisa: Actually sounds pretty comfortable. Then for more difficult and complex questions about the product, we’ll link the blog in the show notes, and at this point maybe a little other note for our listeners out there. Of course we’re always super happy about your feedback on our podcast episodes, what you want to hear, and so on. You can send that to us via the eBay Community, among other places, or on our Facebook page: eBay for Business Germany. And if you like the podcast, please leave a subscription or a like wherever you’re listening to us right now. Felix, let’s come back to the topic: if skeptical sellers have now been convinced by the arguments you’ve made and are thinking, okay, I’ve already tried ads, and now I want to step it up, as you said. How can they get started?
Felix: Yes, basically that’s relatively simple. I log into Seller Cockpit Pro as usual, click the Marketing tab at the top, then go to the Advertising Cockpit, click on "Create new campaign" on the right, and then I get a form where I basically see all formats, all ad formats, and I choose external ads all the way on the right, click on "Get started now," then I’m taken to the next page where I simply define the daily budget I’m willing to invest, click on "Start," and done.
Lisa: That actually sounds child’s play, and if I want to run these ads, are there any conditions or requirements I need to keep in mind, especially regarding the items I might want to advertise there? So are there any basic prerequisites in the setup or in the selection of items?
Felix: Good point you’re raising - there are. You have to distinguish between criteria that I can influence as a seller and points that I cannot influence. So, there are certain items that are generally not exported for external visibility, but that’s only a very, very small percentage. And if I look at the points I can influence with my listings, the biggest sticking point is the first product image - that’s the point that can more often lead to rejection of external visibility. The reason is either that the first product image has watermarks or overlays, or that the resolution isn’t sufficient. To analyze whether that’s the case for your own inventory, there’s the quality report in the Performance tab of Seller Cockpit, and there you get a clear overview of which listings could not be exported, and the reason as well. Then I have the opportunity to look at how relevant those listings are for me and my business, and I can make adjustments accordingly to qualify them for export to the search engines.
Lisa: And do I understand correctly that the reason I can read there may not be an eBay reason at all, but rather a basic requirement of the external platform where I want to advertise?
Felix: Exactly, so those are the criteria set by the external platforms that must be met for this transfer of listings to take place there for increased visibility.
Lisa: Because watermarks and such aren’t allowed there.
Felix: Exactly, those are quality standards that the platforms want to ensure. And...
Lisa: Makes sense, and once my campaign is running. So I’ve set it up. I found the right items, they go through. What do I still need to pay attention to in the day-to-day process?
Felix: Actually not much. The only thing I need at first is a bit of patience. Yes, so they say it really needs to run for at least three to four weeks so that valid data can be collected and performance can be assessed. So just check in every now and then to see how it’s going, maybe adjust the daily budget if necessary, otherwise nothing else.
Lisa: But that’s a super important point, that if I choose this kind of campaign, I need to give it time and not check after two days and think maybe not much has happened yet, and then stop, but rather it’s a product that needs time.
Felix: Absolutely! Very important: don’t interrupt the campaigns, but really let them run continuously so that this data-gathering process works properly.
Lisa: So the data machine behind it keeps running.
Felix: Yes, exactly!
Lisa: More on the podcast in a moment. But you’ve surely already heard: our eBay Open is back. After a two-year break, I’m very excited to be able to invite you again to eBay Open, our biggest seller event of the year. Celebrate with us a day full of inspiration, networking, growth opportunities for your business, and 30 years of eBay. When and where exactly is it happening? On September 25, 2025, from 9:30 a.m. at BrewDog Dog Tap here with us in Berlin. What are the highlights of our eBay Open? Of course, a keynote on the strategy of eBay, Germany, and eBay in general under the theme Embrace the Future. With AI, we’ll take a look at artificial intelligence and all of it as a future trend, how it will accompany us. We’ll give outlooks on the market and take a joint look at Gen Z. Because that’s a target group we should all feel closer to. We’ve prepared many masterclasses for you, in which you can take away a lot of knowledge for your eBay business. And we also want to give you the chance to network with others. So learning from each other is the goal of eBay Open and a fantastic reason to just buy a ticket and come by. We’ll round off the day with a little party, and for you as a loyal listener of this podcast, we even have a code. That gives you 10% off the ticket price. The code is ADGW ten, all top-notch. Again anytime. Tickets can be found at eBay deevents eBay open. And now quickly go, buy tickets, and enjoy the rest of the podcast. Okay, good. Felix, do you have any general tips for our listeners? According to which criteria or when they should best run ads?
Lisa: Okay, good, Felix. Do you have any general tips for our listeners, according to which criteria or when they should best run ads?
Felix: Good question, that of course always depends on what inventory I’m working with. In general, there are always shopping highlights that can definitely be used as occasions, seasonal periods that my inventory may be subject to. Special purchase occasions: Easter, carnival, Christmas, that’s every year, the European Football Championship in summer, maybe big concerts, festivals - so there are quite a few points that may play a role, as I said, depending on the respective inventory. Here, eBay Ads has provided a marketing calendar for the current year, which may offer a bit of inspiration about which purchase occasions could exist this year from an eBay Ads perspective.
Lisa: eBay marketing calendar or eBay Ads marketing calendar sounds super exciting, and of course we’ll link that for you in the show notes too. As teased briefly earlier, there are of course many more ways to make your own listings more visible and to increase listing quality.
Felix: Exactly, listing quality is a good keyword. Even though this is certainly a topic that eBay often addresses to sellers, I think it’s also super, super important to talk about it in connection with advertising. Because essentially, it’s the listing quality. Good listing quality is the foundation for successful advertising. The better the quality of the listing in terms of title, images, everything that goes with it, retail standards, shipping times, etc., the higher the likelihood that if I show the listing to more potential buyers, more will buy. So if I show listings that have a poor quality index, then I simply can’t expect that because I’m showing them to more people, more will buy. There are certainly a few exceptions, so if I’m dealing in rare Porsche parts of which there are only two or three pieces on the market, then consumers will sometimes overlook it if there are only two product images. But if I’m operating in a market environment with high competition, it’s incredibly important to secure that foundation, and we will probably never miss the opportunity to talk about it. But I can also only join the ranks of preachers, or join the sermon, in saying that it’s incredibly important to do this.
Lisa: Would it maybe also be fair to say that eBay Ads works particularly well when you’ve got the basics in good shape?
Felix: Absolutely, definitely!
Lisa: Cool, if you had to put it in a nutshell. What are your top go-to things that should be considered or checked again in listing optimization before you start creating campaigns?
Felix: Good question, what would I look at? Well, naturally the basics: title, clear and informative, item specifics. Are all the search terms that might be used included there? The product images: incredibly important that I have, the more the better, basically. Especially when I look at which devices consumers are increasingly coming to us from, images play a big role. The price of course has to be competitive, shipping times, handling times all have to be right. Yes, those would probably be the points I’d focus on.
Lisa: Very good, and for anyone still interested in reading more, for example that in terms of title length, brand, size, color, material, or, if applicable, item, model, or part number are especially important, or when the number of images affects visibility, we can direct everyone to our seller portal. There’s a lot of information there, plenty to read up on, and for Felix there’s really only one question left today, and we always ask it at the end: Felix, what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Felix: That’s easy to answer. It was lighting for my son’s Lego train.
Lisa: Funny, mine was also lighting, but a dining room lamp.
Felix: Cool.
Lisa: Felix, thanks so much for your helpful tips and all the info we didn’t get to put into the show notes, and of course many thanks to all the lovely listeners out there and thanks for being here
Felix: Thank you so much for letting me be part of it today. Thank you.
AI voice: News from the world of product visibility? Vincent just asks the colleagues directly.
Fabian: Hi Vincent, what can I do for you?
Vincent: Hi Fabian, I hope you have a moment for us. We’re re-releasing the episode "Visibility and Search Engines: How Do Germans Search?" today during our summer break. Your colleagues, including Felix, were heavily involved in the content of the episode. Are there any new updates or exciting developments on the topic that you can share with us in advance today?
Fabian: Yes, actually. We recently published the eBay Summer Shopping Report 2025, and one key insight stood out: discounts and sales promotions are still a strong purchase trigger. Many consumers actively look for offers and discounts, which drives demand. Right now, sellers can increase their visibility through targeted promotions.
Vincent: Yes, that sounds pretty exciting. What does that mean concretely for sellers who are selling on eBay now? Do they already need to adjust their strategy?
Fabian: Yes, sellers need to position themselves now so they can be found by early buyers. My tip: sellers should use promotions now to draw the target group’s attention to their listings.
Vincent: Yes, and of course we’ll put the info on the Summer Shopping Report in the show notes for you.
Fabian: I’ve got something else. We’re also currently working on a Peak Season Playbook for sellers, which will help them prepare optimally for the upcoming season. It includes tips and strategies for getting ready for peak season.
Vincent: Yes, that kind of playbook really sounds great. I’m sure it will be a huge help for many sellers. But until the playbook is out, let’s go back to the beginnings of selling. Back to where product search begins, with the episode mentioned in the intro. Fabian, thanks a lot for your input and see you next time.
Fabian: Thanks for the conversation, Vincent. Enjoy the episode.
Lisa: Whether birthday gifts, garden tools, or kitchen accessories. We buy many everyday items online, but on which websites do we actually search for these products? In search engines or directly on marketplaces like eBay! If you as sellers know where, when, and how your target group shops, you can increase the visibility of your products. This works best through ads and advertising solutions that let you specifically boost your sales. Sounds complicated, but it isn’t. How all of this works, you’ll find out now.
Felix: If I now show listings that have a poor quality index, then I simply can’t expect that just because I’m showing them to more people, more will buy. There are certainly a few exceptions, so if I’m dealing in rare Porsche parts of which there are only two or three pieces on the market, then consumers will sometimes overlook it if there are only two product images. But if I’m operating in a market environment with high competition, it is incredibly important to secure that foundation.
Lisa: Welcome to "All top-notch. Again anytime!" the eBay podcast about commerce and e-commerce. I’m Lisa Haak, Head of Seller Community and Brand- Relation Program at eBay, and I’m very happy to welcome my guest today: Felix Marum. He is Advertising Partner Manager at eBay Ads Germany. The team advises commercial sellers on eBay when it comes to making their offers more visible. And that’s exactly what Felix is going to do for you out there today. Explain how marketing solutions can help optimize your business, and what you need to pay attention to if you want to place ads outside our marketplace. With that, a warm welcome, Felix!
Felix: Hi Lisa, thank you so much for the invitation.
Lisa: It’s so great to have you here, and you also brought a super exciting topic, because you and your eBay Ads team have conducted a brand-new representative study on product search in e-commerce. Together with Civey and you, you asked 5,000 people in Germany about their behavior in online shopping. Felix, that was probably a super extensive study. What are the results or key takeaways that stuck with you or that you found most interesting?
Felix: The key takeaway of the study is that around one in two Germans uses online marketplaces and search engines to find items when shopping online. And if you look at the survey results a little more closely, especially whether there are age or gender differences, you can see that men and women basically agree when it comes to product research, meaning that the choice is primarily made via search engines and online marketplaces. And what stands out is that men and, in general, the 40-plus generation like to use price comparison platforms as well, while women are more likely to search for products directly in the manufacturers’ online shops. The 40-plus generation, apart from search engines and online marketplaces, generally prefers to search directly with the manufacturer.
Lisa: Okay, so lots of findings about where which target group may be searching for my product, cool. Let’s dig into that a bit more, because the results are all super interesting. If you’ve just mentioned price comparison platforms or search engines or marketplaces, which channels play a more minor role in product research? So what can we set aside for now?
Felix: Okay, so searches on the aforementioned price comparison platforms and in manufacturers’ shops play a rather minor role. That’s especially true for consumers aged 50 to 64. Social media and social commerce basically play no role across ages or genders.
Lisa: Really none at all. From my own user behavior, I’d have seen that very differently, because with how often I, for example, click on ads on Instagram, I’d say: falling for them is not representative in the survey then.
Felix: Yes, I mean, it’s the same for me - you always tend to draw conclusions about the rest of consumers from your own shopping or research behavior. But that’s actually how it is. And that’s why it’s always good to have study results that broaden the view a bit, so to speak.
Lisa: How often do you do surveys like this, and what do you do with the results then?
Felix: In general, we do this regularly, simply to understand how potential consumers move and how we can best reach them. Basically, it’s often referred to as the customer journey. To know and understand the customer journey. Where can I meet the customer, the potential one? And also to provide the corresponding consulting service for our sellers and explain why it’s important to be visible there and what helps best.
Lisa: Yes, and probably also to build promising products in your eBay Ads portfolio, or for sellers, so you know what’s needed there and how we can support our sellers accordingly?
Felix: Sure, absolutely, that’s of course also very, very helpful for product development for the colleagues then!
Lisa: It’s good that you do these studies and then also make them available to our sellers, so they don’t just learn from their own user behavior, but can hear what the majority of people out there do. So let’s maybe talk about why the findings from this study are especially interesting for our listeners, meaning our eBay sellers.
Felix: Exactly, we learned that a large share of potential buyers basically search either directly via marketplaces or via search engines. And the question I can then ask myself as a seller is: am I already pulling all the levers to ensure maximum visibility for my inventory there?
Lisa: Visibility is such a buzzword, almost something we’ve already covered very often in podcast episodes. What do you understand by visibility on eBay in relation to the study or in the eBay Ads team?
Felix: Yes, good question. Basically, you can first say that visibility refers to the number of times my offers or the offers of sellers are shown. So if a potential buyer searches on eBay for an item and my results or my listings appear on the search results page, then that can be called an impression or a display, and in total that makes up visibility. You can look at it very well in Seller Cockpit Pro in the Performance/Traffic section, and there you see all the key figures, including impressions, which measure visibility.
Lisa: And visibility with the hope of more sales, of course.
Felix: Exactly, the expectation is naturally that if I increase my visibility - my inventory is relevant in some way for consumers - then more clicks will basically happen, meaning more interaction with my listings, and ideally, of course, more sales as well.
Lisa: Very true, as a small note from the editors here. Visibility on eBay works very well through the products that our eBay Ads team provides. But of course, visibility on eBay involves much, much more. We’ve already done several podcast episodes about that, and later in the episode we’ll hopefully come back to visibility in general. Advertising, I’d say, is part of the key to success. Cool, Felix! Then let’s talk about the visibility you can achieve for sellers from the Ads team. So what products do you have at eBay? What topics in your Ads portfolio can sellers discuss with you or book through you at eBay to gain visibility?
Felix: Okay. Yes, so let’s assume I have my inventory and want to increase its visibility in order to generate more revenue in the best case. eBay offers various ways to influence that. The classic is eBay Promoted Listings Standard. There I simply set a percentage rate that I’m willing to invest, for example 4 or 5 percent. eBay then begins to display the listings on the additional platforms to create increased visibility. And in the case of a transaction, meaning when a sale is successful, this additional percentage is charged; that’s called cost per transaction, or cost per sale, you could say - that’s one option. Another format is Promoted Listings Advanced, which means it’s detached from the transaction, and then I basically address my potential buyers with search terms, for example, and assign the matching listings to them. And whenever a potential end customer clicks on the listing, an amount is charged per click, so to speak. Pay per click, cost per click.
Lisa: Cool, if we maybe tie this back once more to the survey we talked about at the beginning. It’s also about not just finding products on eBay, but where are people searching in the first place? And that’s not always on eBay at first. Even if we might wish it were. What do you have in your portfolio to get visibility outside of eBay and then direct it to eBay?
Felix: So let’s assume I’ve already done quite a bit to increase the visibility of my listings within eBay and now I also want to fish in the second pond, namely the pond of search engines, and want to increase visibility there and influence it deliberately. For that, eBay offers external ads, which then basically give sellers the opportunity to actively cast several lines in this pond of search engines and positively influence the visibility of their own listings there, with the expectation that the additional clicks will also generate more sales.
Lisa: So we reach potential buyers where they’re searching, and bring them on eBay to the sellers’ listings.
Felix: Exactly!
Lisa: Sure, there are a lot of questions around this, and you’ve already looked into it and created a document with the most frequently asked questions and the corresponding answers. What’s the story behind that document? What are you trying to answer there?
Felix: Basically, we want to make sure the product is clearly explained at first and that everyone knows how to use it best for themselves. In addition, when it comes to objections or misunderstandings, we want to provide content that helps with understanding and also answer the most frequently asked questions we’ve already been getting about external ads.
Lisa: Then let’s take a look at some of those questions and the answers you gave, not the ones in the document. For the questions we don’t have here on the podcast, there’s a blog where the document is also linked. We’ll put that in the show notes, but let’s start, Felix. Do external ads actually provide added value?
Felix: Very good question! Of course, it depends on how I define added value for myself as a seller. If I understand added value as higher visibility, greater reach, reaching more potential buyers, then I would personally say: "yes, definitely" and what’s also good is that I have good cost control through a fixed budget.
Lisa: And if I’m a listener here and think to myself, actually I’m already an ad pro on eBay because I already use Promoted Listings Advanced - that should be enough, right?
Felix: Yes, that also depends on the strategy of the respective seller. If I’m satisfied with the sales I’m seeing and it fits into my planning: okay, then one could say it might be enough. But if I still have enough stock, enough capacity to step things up, then it’s definitely worth considering using this as an additional tool to increase visibility.
Lisa: Okay, and then I picked another point from the document. More of a myth? Hopefully a myth. Campaigns are complicated time drains. Setting them up and implementing them requires expertise and a lot of time. Felix, how do you feel about that statement?
Felix: Well, I thought that too at the beginning when the product was introduced. The same points you mentioned, and if you look at it from the perspective of a seller who runs their own webshop, that may well be true. On eBay, the advantage is that it’s basically a super simple setup. In essence, I simply define how much daily budget I’m willing to invest: click start, and eBay does the rest. So it’s super intuitive, very easy. I don’t need additional staff capacity to manage the campaign, as might be the case in my own shop, exactly.
Lisa: Actually sounds pretty comfortable. Then for more difficult and complex questions about the product, we’ll link the blog in the show notes, and at this point maybe a little other note for our listeners out there. Of course we’re always super happy about your feedback on our podcast episodes, what you want to hear, and so on. You can send that to us via the eBay Community, among other places, or on our Facebook page: eBay for Business Germany. And if you like the podcast, please leave a subscription or a like wherever you’re listening to us right now. Felix, let’s come back to the topic: if skeptical sellers have now been convinced by the arguments you’ve made and are thinking, okay, I’ve already tried ads, and now I want to step it up, as you said. How can they get started?
Felix: Yes, basically that’s relatively simple. I log into Seller Cockpit Pro as usual, click the Marketing tab at the top, then go to the Advertising Cockpit, click on "Create new campaign" on the right, and then I get a form where I basically see all formats, all ad formats, and I choose external ads all the way on the right, click on "Get started now," then I’m taken to the next page where I simply define the daily budget I’m willing to invest, click on "Start," and done.
Lisa: That actually sounds child’s play, and if I want to run these ads, are there any conditions or requirements I need to keep in mind, especially regarding the items I might want to advertise there? So are there any basic prerequisites in the setup or in the selection of items?
Felix: Good point you’re raising - there are. You have to distinguish between criteria that I can influence as a seller and points that I cannot influence. So, there are certain items that are generally not exported for external visibility, but that’s only a very, very small percentage. And if I look at the points I can influence with my listings, the biggest sticking point is the first product image - that’s the point that can more often lead to rejection of external visibility. The reason is either that the first product image has watermarks or overlays, or that the resolution isn’t sufficient. To analyze whether that’s the case for your own inventory, there’s the quality report in the Performance tab of Seller Cockpit, and there you get a clear overview of which listings could not be exported, and the reason as well. Then I have the opportunity to look at how relevant those listings are for me and my business, and I can make adjustments accordingly to qualify them for export to the search engines.
Lisa: And do I understand correctly that the reason I can read there may not be an eBay reason at all, but rather a basic requirement of the external platform where I want to advertise?
Felix: Exactly, so those are the criteria set by the external platforms that must be met for this transfer of listings to take place there for increased visibility.
Lisa: Because watermarks and such aren’t allowed there.
Felix: Exactly, those are quality standards that the platforms want to ensure. And...
Lisa: Makes sense, and once my campaign is running. So I’ve set it up. I found the right items, they go through. What do I still need to pay attention to in the day-to-day process?
Felix: Actually not much. The only thing I need at first is a bit of patience. Yes, so they say it really needs to run for at least three to four weeks so that valid data can be collected and performance can be assessed. So just check in every now and then to see how it’s going, maybe adjust the daily budget if necessary, otherwise nothing else.
Lisa: But that’s a super important point, that if I choose this kind of campaign, I need to give it time and not check after two days and think maybe not much has happened yet, and then stop, but rather it’s a product that needs time.
Felix: Absolutely! Very important: don’t interrupt the campaigns, but really let them run continuously so that this data-gathering process works properly.
Lisa: So the data machine behind it keeps running.
Felix: Yes, exactly!
Lisa: More on the podcast in a moment. But you’ve surely already heard: our eBay Open is back. After a two-year break, I’m very excited to be able to invite you again to eBay Open, our biggest seller event of the year. Celebrate with us a day full of inspiration, networking, growth opportunities for your business, and 30 years of eBay. When and where exactly is it happening? On September 25, 2025, from 9:30 a.m. at BrewDog Dog Tap here with us in Berlin. What are the highlights of our eBay Open? Of course, a keynote on the strategy of eBay, Germany, and eBay in general under the theme Embrace the Future. With AI, we’ll take a look at artificial intelligence and all of it as a future trend, how it will accompany us. We’ll give outlooks on the market and take a joint look at Gen Z. Because that’s a target group we should all feel closer to. We’ve prepared many masterclasses for you, in which you can take away a lot of knowledge for your eBay business. And we also want to give you the chance to network with others. So learning from each other is the goal of eBay Open and a fantastic reason to just buy a ticket and come by. We’ll round off the day with a little party, and for you as a loyal listener of this podcast, we even have a code. That gives you 10% off the ticket price. The code is ADGW ten, all top-notch. Again anytime. Tickets can be found at eBay deevents eBay open. And now quickly go, buy tickets, and enjoy the rest of the podcast. Okay, good. Felix, do you have any general tips for our listeners? According to which criteria or when they should best run ads?
Lisa: Okay, good, Felix. Do you have any general tips for our listeners, according to which criteria or when they should best run ads?
Felix: Good question, that of course always depends on what inventory I’m working with. In general, there are always shopping highlights that can definitely be used as occasions, seasonal periods that my inventory may be subject to. Special purchase occasions: Easter, carnival, Christmas, that’s every year, the European Football Championship in summer, maybe big concerts, festivals - so there are quite a few points that may play a role, as I said, depending on the respective inventory. Here, eBay Ads has provided a marketing calendar for the current year, which may offer a bit of inspiration about which purchase occasions could exist this year from an eBay Ads perspective.
Lisa: eBay marketing calendar or eBay Ads marketing calendar sounds super exciting, and of course we’ll link that for you in the show notes too. As teased briefly earlier, there are of course many more ways to make your own listings more visible and to increase listing quality.
Felix: Exactly, listing quality is a good keyword. Even though this is certainly a topic that eBay often addresses to sellers, I think it’s also super, super important to talk about it in connection with advertising. Because essentially, it’s the listing quality. Good listing quality is the foundation for successful advertising. The better the quality of the listing in terms of title, images, everything that goes with it, retail standards, shipping times, etc., the higher the likelihood that if I show the listing to more potential buyers, more will buy. So if I show listings that have a poor quality index, then I simply can’t expect that because I’m showing them to more people, more will buy. There are certainly a few exceptions, so if I’m dealing in rare Porsche parts of which there are only two or three pieces on the market, then consumers will sometimes overlook it if there are only two product images. But if I’m operating in a market environment with high competition, it’s incredibly important to secure that foundation, and we will probably never miss the opportunity to talk about it. But I can also only join the ranks of preachers, or join the sermon, in saying that it’s incredibly important to do this.
Lisa: Would it maybe also be fair to say that eBay Ads works particularly well when you’ve got the basics in good shape?
Felix: Absolutely, definitely!
Lisa: Cool, if you had to put it in a nutshell. What are your top go-to things that should be considered or checked again in listing optimization before you start creating campaigns?
Felix: Good question, what would I look at? Well, naturally the basics: title, clear and informative, item specifics. Are all the search terms that might be used included there? The product images: incredibly important that I have, the more the better, basically. Especially when I look at which devices consumers are increasingly coming to us from, images play a big role. The price of course has to be competitive, shipping times, handling times all have to be right. Yes, those would probably be the points I’d focus on.
Lisa: Very good, and for anyone still interested in reading more, for example that in terms of title length, brand, size, color, material, or, if applicable, item, model, or part number are especially important, or when the number of images affects visibility, we can direct everyone to our seller portal. There’s a lot of information there, plenty to read up on, and for Felix there’s really only one question left today, and we always ask it at the end: Felix, what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Felix: That’s easy to answer. It was lighting for my son’s Lego train.
Lisa: Funny, mine was also lighting, but a dining room lamp.
Felix: Cool.
Lisa: Felix, thanks so much for your helpful tips and all the info we didn’t get to put into the show notes, and of course many thanks to all the lovely listeners out there and thanks for being here
Felix: Thank you so much for letting me be part of it today. Thank you.
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