Trends, Tips & Revenue Boosters: The eBay Advertising Marketing Trends Calendar 2025
Whether for Valentine’s Day, during the summer holidays or on Black Friday: there are buying occasions in e-commerce all year round. But what specific trends can we expect in 2025 and when should you prepare for more sales? The brand-new eBay Advertising marketing trends calendar has the answers.
Felix Marum, Advertising partner manager at eBay Advertising Germany, explains together with our hosts Vincent and Isabell how you can use this calendar to maximize your sales potential. They discuss the calendar’s features and share valuable tips on suitable advertising strategies and marketing tools that will help you make your products visible during hot trend phases.
Enjoy listening!
**Important links**
- eBay Advertising marketing trends calendar
- eBay product research
- Advertising formats from eBay Advertising
- eBay Community
- eBay for Business on Facebook
- eBay for Business on Instagram
- More info on the eBay podcast “Alles top. Gerne wieder!” and our podcast hosts
** Chapter markers **
- 00:00:00 to 00:02:14: Intro
- 00:02:14 to 00:07:34: What is the eBay Advertising marketing trends calendar and how do I use it to my advantage?
- 00:07:34 to 00:14:31: Which ad models help me increase the visibility of my products?
- 00:14:31 to 00:23:36: Product research, discounts and strike-through prices: These eBay tools help you make the most of seasonal occasions.
- 00:23:36 to 00:24:42: Outro
Isabell: Whether for Valentine’s Day, during the summer holidays or on Black Friday. There are buying occasions in E -commerce all year round. But what specific trends can we expect in 2025 and at what time can you do big business? Answers are in the brand-new eBay Advertising marketing trends calendar for 2025, which we’ll be introducing to you today. Also on the agenda: smart advertising strategies and the best tools for you so you’re prepared for trends in good time.
Felix: And we have definitely seen that when our sellers, resellers, brands, their deals that they had planned there, promoted their strong offers additionally with premium ads, that worked really well. They then had good visibility for their deals, combined with a marketing campaign and a price reduction. And that’s simply both together a perfect way to increase sales.
Vincent: Welcome to "Alles top. Gerne wieder!" - the eBay podcast about retail and e-commerce. My name is Vincent Rek and together with my co-host Isabel Butterwegge, today we’re taking a look at a particularly exciting topic: how online sellers can use eBay to tap into the right buying occasions and trends to boost their sales.
Isabell: Yes, exactly. Because in e-commerce, it’s not just about what you sell, but also when and, above all, how you advertise your products. And our guest today knows exactly what it’s all about: Felix Marum. Felix is Advertising partner manager at eBay Advertising Germany and supports business sellers in making their products more visible on eBay. Welcome Felix! #00:01:36-5# Felix: Hello Isabell, hello Vincent, thank you very much for the invitation.
Vincent: Felix, this is your third time here now and you’ve also already recorded a webinar with Isabell. So we already know you pretty well professionally, I’d say. So what’s something personal you could tell us that we don’t already know?
Felix: Phew, that’s difficult, but very current, I don’t know if I should really share this now, but I’m probably able to lip-sync the title song from Frozen.
Isabell: How come?
Felix: When I drive my daughter to daycare, it doesn’t take long, but ideally that song should have played at least ten times during that time.
Vincent: Then I’d probably know it too. Yes, Felix, you’ve brought us the eBay Advertising marketing trend-trends calendar today. Quite a long name! Can you tell us what it actually is?
Felix: So technically speaking, first of all a six-page PDF filled with, in my opinion, pure marketing gold. So it offers a wealth of information. We’ll definitely talk more about that in a minute, but basically it’s a representation of the current calendar year with a focus on and an attempt to provide a trend forecast, map buying occasions and seasonality on a monthly or quarterly basis.
Isabell: And why is this calendar so practical for sellers? So you just said, of course, forecasts for the year, when what kind of things are bought a lot?
Felix: Exactly, the calendar essentially bundles a lot of valuable information that I’d otherwise have to painstakingly research myself. And here I basically get it presented to me in one document. For example, there’s an overview of general buying occasions by month. There’s an overview of various peak shopping periods by month and quarter and category. And each time that’s linked to the percentage increase in demand, which I think is the interesting part here. So the percentage increase in demand in the respective peak shopping period or season compared with the average values from the previous months, October 23 to September 24.
Isabell: So you looked at the previous years and saw what was bought when, and now you’re basically using that as a template for what could happen this year?
Felix: That’s exactly right.
Vincent: And how should sellers best use the calendar then?
Felix: That’s a very good question. So maybe first of all, quite simply, if I had the option, the full effect really comes into its own when you print it in A3. So just print it out. Six A3 pages, if I can manage that. And then maybe hang it up in the office first, spend some time with it, make notes on what is relevant for me etc. etc. and then check, you know, our sellers know their seasonality very well. They are basically the experts for their respective product range. But still do a comparison. Does the seasonality the calendar tells me about match my observations and experience? Are there maybe connections that I haven’t really been aware of yet that I should also take into account?
Isabell: Do you have an example of that?
Felix: For example, in the Motors category, we see that when it gets cold, car batteries are of course very relevant. I think all of us may have seen the ADAC by the roadside in recent weeks, holding a battery and helping someone whose battery has died. And now I don’t sell car batteries, but jump starters or boosters that I can use to give myself a jump start. Then I should probably also see an increase in demand there. Or maybe I don’t see the increase to the same extent as the calendar shows? And then I just look at what could be causing it? So the classic topics: listing quality, retail standards, visibility etc. etc..
Isabell: And that’s exactly what we want to talk about again. So the calendar can first of all give me a good foundation: When are my seasonal peaks? When has eBay also obviously seen more buying at certain times in recent years? And based on that, which then becomes especially exciting, I can align my marketing activities, right? So the calendar can help me with that too. What exactly can that look like?
Felix: So definitely, I think it can help. Because if we see or identify an increase in demand, that can mean several things. For example, we observe that conversion rates then go up during that period. So the willingness to buy is higher than in the off-season, yes. Or the number of visitors. I imagine I’m at a marketplace, a physical marketplace, have my stall there, so either the willingness to buy among the otherwise same footfall increases or simply more people come to the marketplace who are interested and want to buy. And then that’s linked to the question of whether my stall is positioned so that it’s highly visible and whether I’m ready to meet the increased interest?
Vincent: And once you’ve identified a segment like that, it naturally makes a lot of sense to run marketing activities.
Felix: Exactly.
Isabell: But that also means, in terms of seasonality, as you just said, can I meet that demand? So yes, I can run marketing activities, but I also need the corresponding inventory for that. So if there’s more demand, I naturally have to be able to handle it too. That means before these seasonal peaks, sellers naturally need to stock up their inventory accordingly, right?
Felix: A very good point. Yes, of course. That depends in part on how I plan my year, i.e. how much lead time do I need to order goods? What stock coverage do I work with? Etc. etc. But in the best case I can make a forecast, also with the help of the marketing calendar. By what percentage will demand increase? How much more inventory do I need to meet demand without running out?
Isabell: And now we’ve already said many times that marketing activities should of course be ramped up then. What exactly can I do at eBay? #00:07:40-9# Felix: Okay, so there are of course plenty of ways in the eBay Advertising area to generate additional visibility. We know the basic ads, the premium ads, the shop ads or external ads, so several formats that help me increase visibility and that I can use depending on where I want to generate more visibility? At what point? And in my opinion, premium ads offered by eBay are a good tool for proceeding with a certain level of precision.
Isabell: Certain level of precision means?
Felix: Certain level of precision means, for example, that I want to have an influence on where the ads are served. So, for example, I focus on the search results page. There’s a lot of attention there, which I can use. And premium ads can help us with that.
Vincent: What are the main advantages of premium ads?
Felix: Maybe a quick explanation of what are premium ads on eBay? That’s a classic CPC, i.e. cost-per-click format. That means I only pay when a click is made on the ad by a potential buyer. From a setup perspective, I think about which items I want to launch with? Which items should, in my opinion, be pushed especially hard? I define those and then I set a daily budget. So I have very good cost control because I can decide for myself how much budget I’m willing to spend per day at most. What is a click worth to me at most? What do I want to bid or spend at most for the click and then, if I win the placement, so the auction, it runs through an auction format, then through a second-price auction. And if I then win with my bid, so let’s say I bid €0.40 per click, then I have a high chance of appearing right at the top of the search results page with that ad. And it’s so important because, in our experience, there is a very, very high level of attention, or rather click-through probability, there. And of course that’s what I want for my offer, that high attention. It should be clicked on and, ideally, bought too.
Isabell: Okay, so to sum up, the main advantages are really that with premium ads I can appear very far up on the search results page. And I have a lot of flexibility and control over my budget. Anything else?
Felix: Those points are definitely correct and, in addition, I also have the option of defining the target group, i.e. my audience, a bit more specifically. So if I work with search terms, for example, I can say exactly for which search terms I want to be shown. Yes, of course I also have more influence there than with other formats on this point.
Isabell: Ah, very good. And you also just said I can basically set my daily budget. Today we’re explicitly talking about buying occasions. Would you say that in general it’s worth planning more budget for ads around very specific buying occasions?
Felix: In theory, that could of course be the case, that one should do that because there is more attention and more clicks. Whether I should then do that also depends to some extent on the performance, i.e. the performance metrics of the respective campaign. So if the, if the profitability of the respective premium campaign works for me, the lever for sales is large enough, then it can certainly make sense to take advantage of more visibility by increasing it, definitely.
Vincent: Felix, which findings from 2024 are particularly exciting or particularly relevant for this year?
Felix: I think it’s generally difficult to say, because it also depends very much on the product range. Yes, every product range has its own seasonal patterns that need to be taken into account. But I can imagine that the overlap in these classic shopping events like Easter and Christmas is greatest there, and I should of course be well prepared for that. For example, in the collectibles and toys category, we see that the whole model railway theme naturally runs through to Easter, and LEGO sets also see stronger demand, exactly.
Vincent: Since you’re talking about LEGO now, maybe a question to the group. What trends do you see for 2025?
Isabell: Well, of course we don’t have the Euros this year. Last year that was of course a big event, a major trend, which of course was also reflected on our marketplace. I would definitely go with the classics Felix just mentioned: Easter, Christmas, but something like the wedding season should definitely not be underestimated either.
Vincent: Yes, I think the refurbished area or the whole topic of circular economy will certainly also be very relevant this year. We still have a tense economic situation. People’s wallets are a bit smaller for many people and refurbished products, which are usually a little cheaper than new products, are of course especially interesting.
Vincent: Before we talk about how you can get the most out of these occasions and seasonal trends, we’d like to know: Have you already had any initial experience with promoting your items? Feel free to tell us how that went for you. If you’re listening in the Spotify app right now, you can respond directly via the Q&A features in the app.
Isabell: Felix, which items should I choose for my campaigns and where can I set all this up?
Felix: That always depends a little on the expectations I have. In principle, it makes sense to choose products that I know are relevant for potential buyers. So, products where I already know the history, that they have a solid baseline, let’s say yes. Because of course I want to avoid promoting products that get a lot of clicks but few purchases; instead, they should get few clicks and as many purchases as possible. So I should always choose products where I know, okay, they’re already doing pretty well, are definitely relevant for the respective season or peak. But if I don’t have the time to deal with it that deeply, then we also offer help for that, namely when I go into the Advertising Cockpit and scroll down a bit, there’s the point "Make trends pay off". And here we try to provide support. We compare the product range of the respective seller with possible demand peaks that we observe, match them and then create a ready-made premium campaign from that. And then basically I only have to check the campaign once, launch it and I can get started.
Isabell: That sounds super practical.
Vincent: We’ve talked a lot about advertising campaigns now. Let’s talk about what other strategies and tools we have for exploiting seasonality and trends. Isabell, you actually run the brand program with us now, but you’re also pretty familiar with this area. Why is that?
Isabell: I’ve now been at eBay for six years and have spent most of my career here working on the seller experience on the marketplace. And the marketing tools are part of that too. That means I worked closely with our developers for a long time. Exactly, that’s why I know my way around quite well.
Vincent: Which eBay tools are particularly well suited to taking advantage of seasonal occasions?
Isabell: For seasonal occasions, voucher codes are particularly well suited. That’s also our newest marketing tool that we offer. That means I can create a classic code like "Sommer15" or "Motorradsaison20" or whatever fits my seasonal occasion at the moment. And with this voucher code I can then decide whether to give a percentage discount or an absolute discount. And the nice thing about these codes is that I can decide for myself whether they’re displayed publicly. That means they’re also shown directly on the search results page or on the product page and buyers can then enter the code directly at checkout. Or I can choose to use them only privately and then, for example, print them out and include them in my packages. Or I share them on my own social media channels and can control a bit more who actually sees this code. And the cool thing about this differentiation is that if I use them privately, it naturally makes sense to be a little more generous with the discounts, because people have already bought from me once, so they’ve already had a good experience, and if I bring them back again, it’s actually cheaper for me to keep a repeat buyer than to keep acquiring new buyers over and over again. Exactly, and you can play around with that a bit, so to speak.
Vincent: I’m hearing that the flexibility and, let’s say, the versatility of how you can use it is really the main advantage.
Isabell: Exactly.
Vincent: What other strategies are there for special promotions?
Isabell: Exactly, so we also have other tools, other marketing tools that sellers can use, but in general we recommend them more as a sort of baseline, I’d say, for example multi-buy discounts, which are a classic tiered discount. That means if I buy two of the same item, I get a discount, if I buy three I get more discount, etc. Then we have quantity discounts, where buyers basically get, for example, €50 off if they buy three items or something like that. Of course, I can also connect this across categories with my inventory and thus simply increase the basket size. And of course price suggestions, where I as the seller can send a price suggestion directly to my watchers. That’s the baseline, so to speak. And Felix has just said that it naturally pays to dig a little deeper into your pocket when there’s a seasonal occasion. Of course, that can also be applied to the tools. So if I know something is coming up soon, my discount at that time may be a little more generous in a targeted way, and that can pay off. Exactly, that’s why you can still play around quite well with the discount levels.
Vincent: What does that look like if I move down to the product level? So how do I really optimize these things with product research?
Isabell: Exactly, so we’ve talked a lot about trends, which often basically include a whole category or, let’s say, are very broadly defined. We offer a tool called "product research". And this can now even be used on mobile in the Seller Cockpit Pro. And in the tool I can search for my item, i.e. my specific product, and basically look at the trends from recent months and years. Which is also pretty exciting because then I can see even more precisely for individual products when what went up. And of course I can use that as a basis to optimize my campaigns or to use my tools accordingly.
Vincent: Yes, very exciting. We’ll also link something for you in the show notes.
Isabell: Yes, definitely.
Felix: Speaking of product research! It’s also helped me a lot in recent weeks. I had an old printer in my hand and thought, okay, I don’t need this thing anymore, it’s just collecting dust, and I was already about to take it to the recycling center. But then I looked at product research out of curiosity, on my phone, and saw that the market value of a used device, in good condition, is €140. Yes, so...
Vincent: That’s a great example. What other options are there to make my products more attractive or to target advertising to buying occasions?
Isabell: Of course I can also run strike-through prices for my offers in the classic way. This works really well for very specific occasions. Before that, and you know more about this, prices have to be very stable, they can’t be changed anymore. And then, just as you know it from classic offline advertising, I can have my price struck through on the eBay page and then display it with the reduced price. And here too, of course, the percentage discount or generally the discount I give should be obvious. Sometimes you see something reduced from €300 to €299. That naturally isn’t worth it. Exactly, but it can also be a great tool if I really know the dates for my buying occasion on a point-by-point basis.
Vincent: Yes, you’ve also already hinted quite well that there’s a legal component to this, or rather something I’m familiar with. When advertising with strike-through prices, it’s very important to comply with what we call the 30-day rule. According to this, if I announce a price reduction, the strike-through price, i.e. the price I’m discounting and that appears crossed out, must be the lowest price charged within the last 30 days before the start, i.e. before announcing this price reduction. There are certain exceptions, for example for perishable goods, but that’s the rule in general. And to prove or demonstrate that, it’s of course extremely helpful to have receipts or other evidence or other documents showing that the price was not touched within the last 30 days.
Isabell: Exactly, but with our tool it actually doesn’t work at all if the price has been changed, then I can no longer set a strike-through price at all.
Vincent: And since we’re already on legal topics, there’s of course the general rule that applies to all marketing activities: there must be no misleading content. And what’s particularly important here is that the key restrictions of a discount campaign or any other marketing campaign are communicated openly and transparently. This includes, in particular, a minimum discount, if there is one. And of course the start and end date of a campaign.
Isabell: That’s of course also the case with our marketing tools. A strike-through price, for example, can only be live for 14 days. For a voucher code, all the conditions you just mentioned are of course also displayed accordingly.
Vincent: Yes, and now we’ve talked about ad campaigns and marketing tools. Isabell, how do these two areas fit together?
Isabell: That’s a very good question. As we always put it, ads help me become more visible on the eBay marketplace so that buyers can even find my products in the first place. And with the marketing tools I just described, I can create an additional purchase incentive. So basically I can increase my conversion again and, if in doubt, also expand my basket. And so the two actually fit together very well and are by no means mutually exclusive. Felix, you probably know this from your daily business, from working with sellers. Do you maybe have any success stories of how a marketing strategy worked successfully for a seasonal occasion?
Felix: Yes, speaking very generally now, and looking back at the recent past. So Q4, there was the Christmas season, we had Black Friday and everything that happened around it. And we definitely saw that when our sellers, resellers, brands promoted their deals, those strong offers they had planned, additionally with premium ads, that worked really well, because exactly what you just said, Isabell. They then had good visibility for their deals, combined with a marketing campaign, a price reduction. And that’s simply both together a perfect way to increase sales.
Isabell: Exactly, and what we just touched on in passing, the basis for all of this is of course retail standards and good offer quality. So if I know that a very busy season is coming up soon, it may be worth screening the offers again now and really tweaking the levers I can influence, such as images, item specifics, etc., and of course making sure my retail standards are right. And then, in combination with a marketing strategy like the one you just described, nothing can really go wrong.
Isabell: But before we end this episode, Felix, we’d like to play a little game with you. Namely, "finish this sentence". We brought you a sentence: The biggest surprise in the eBay marketing calendar for me was... We’re not a video podcast, but right now we can see Felix flipping through the marketing calendar.
Felix: So in January, when I look at January, so further up under the general buying occasions, I saw that shoe care is seeing a plus 110% increase in demand, which I found surprising because I would have thought that after December 6th, that topic is basically over and won’t come back so quickly...
Isabell: Shoe care in January, that’s something to remember.
Vincent: Yes, that’s a good point. Yes, thank you very much for all the input, Felix. I think this episode has definitely increased the anticipation for what’s still to come this year. And thanks to you and dear Isabell, of course, everyone out there is now hopefully well prepared to make the most of the many occasions and trends for themselves.
Felix: Thanks for the invitation and the nice conversation.
Isabell: Yes, from my side, a heartfelt thank you and for your visit here in the studio. And until next time.
Felix: Until next time.
Felix: And we have definitely seen that when our sellers, resellers, brands, their deals that they had planned there, promoted their strong offers additionally with premium ads, that worked really well. They then had good visibility for their deals, combined with a marketing campaign and a price reduction. And that’s simply both together a perfect way to increase sales.
Vincent: Welcome to "Alles top. Gerne wieder!" - the eBay podcast about retail and e-commerce. My name is Vincent Rek and together with my co-host Isabel Butterwegge, today we’re taking a look at a particularly exciting topic: how online sellers can use eBay to tap into the right buying occasions and trends to boost their sales.
Isabell: Yes, exactly. Because in e-commerce, it’s not just about what you sell, but also when and, above all, how you advertise your products. And our guest today knows exactly what it’s all about: Felix Marum. Felix is Advertising partner manager at eBay Advertising Germany and supports business sellers in making their products more visible on eBay. Welcome Felix! #00:01:36-5# Felix: Hello Isabell, hello Vincent, thank you very much for the invitation.
Vincent: Felix, this is your third time here now and you’ve also already recorded a webinar with Isabell. So we already know you pretty well professionally, I’d say. So what’s something personal you could tell us that we don’t already know?
Felix: Phew, that’s difficult, but very current, I don’t know if I should really share this now, but I’m probably able to lip-sync the title song from Frozen.
Isabell: How come?
Felix: When I drive my daughter to daycare, it doesn’t take long, but ideally that song should have played at least ten times during that time.
Vincent: Then I’d probably know it too. Yes, Felix, you’ve brought us the eBay Advertising marketing trend-trends calendar today. Quite a long name! Can you tell us what it actually is?
Felix: So technically speaking, first of all a six-page PDF filled with, in my opinion, pure marketing gold. So it offers a wealth of information. We’ll definitely talk more about that in a minute, but basically it’s a representation of the current calendar year with a focus on and an attempt to provide a trend forecast, map buying occasions and seasonality on a monthly or quarterly basis.
Isabell: And why is this calendar so practical for sellers? So you just said, of course, forecasts for the year, when what kind of things are bought a lot?
Felix: Exactly, the calendar essentially bundles a lot of valuable information that I’d otherwise have to painstakingly research myself. And here I basically get it presented to me in one document. For example, there’s an overview of general buying occasions by month. There’s an overview of various peak shopping periods by month and quarter and category. And each time that’s linked to the percentage increase in demand, which I think is the interesting part here. So the percentage increase in demand in the respective peak shopping period or season compared with the average values from the previous months, October 23 to September 24.
Isabell: So you looked at the previous years and saw what was bought when, and now you’re basically using that as a template for what could happen this year?
Felix: That’s exactly right.
Vincent: And how should sellers best use the calendar then?
Felix: That’s a very good question. So maybe first of all, quite simply, if I had the option, the full effect really comes into its own when you print it in A3. So just print it out. Six A3 pages, if I can manage that. And then maybe hang it up in the office first, spend some time with it, make notes on what is relevant for me etc. etc. and then check, you know, our sellers know their seasonality very well. They are basically the experts for their respective product range. But still do a comparison. Does the seasonality the calendar tells me about match my observations and experience? Are there maybe connections that I haven’t really been aware of yet that I should also take into account?
Isabell: Do you have an example of that?
Felix: For example, in the Motors category, we see that when it gets cold, car batteries are of course very relevant. I think all of us may have seen the ADAC by the roadside in recent weeks, holding a battery and helping someone whose battery has died. And now I don’t sell car batteries, but jump starters or boosters that I can use to give myself a jump start. Then I should probably also see an increase in demand there. Or maybe I don’t see the increase to the same extent as the calendar shows? And then I just look at what could be causing it? So the classic topics: listing quality, retail standards, visibility etc. etc..
Isabell: And that’s exactly what we want to talk about again. So the calendar can first of all give me a good foundation: When are my seasonal peaks? When has eBay also obviously seen more buying at certain times in recent years? And based on that, which then becomes especially exciting, I can align my marketing activities, right? So the calendar can help me with that too. What exactly can that look like?
Felix: So definitely, I think it can help. Because if we see or identify an increase in demand, that can mean several things. For example, we observe that conversion rates then go up during that period. So the willingness to buy is higher than in the off-season, yes. Or the number of visitors. I imagine I’m at a marketplace, a physical marketplace, have my stall there, so either the willingness to buy among the otherwise same footfall increases or simply more people come to the marketplace who are interested and want to buy. And then that’s linked to the question of whether my stall is positioned so that it’s highly visible and whether I’m ready to meet the increased interest?
Vincent: And once you’ve identified a segment like that, it naturally makes a lot of sense to run marketing activities.
Felix: Exactly.
Isabell: But that also means, in terms of seasonality, as you just said, can I meet that demand? So yes, I can run marketing activities, but I also need the corresponding inventory for that. So if there’s more demand, I naturally have to be able to handle it too. That means before these seasonal peaks, sellers naturally need to stock up their inventory accordingly, right?
Felix: A very good point. Yes, of course. That depends in part on how I plan my year, i.e. how much lead time do I need to order goods? What stock coverage do I work with? Etc. etc. But in the best case I can make a forecast, also with the help of the marketing calendar. By what percentage will demand increase? How much more inventory do I need to meet demand without running out?
Isabell: And now we’ve already said many times that marketing activities should of course be ramped up then. What exactly can I do at eBay? #00:07:40-9# Felix: Okay, so there are of course plenty of ways in the eBay Advertising area to generate additional visibility. We know the basic ads, the premium ads, the shop ads or external ads, so several formats that help me increase visibility and that I can use depending on where I want to generate more visibility? At what point? And in my opinion, premium ads offered by eBay are a good tool for proceeding with a certain level of precision.
Isabell: Certain level of precision means?
Felix: Certain level of precision means, for example, that I want to have an influence on where the ads are served. So, for example, I focus on the search results page. There’s a lot of attention there, which I can use. And premium ads can help us with that.
Vincent: What are the main advantages of premium ads?
Felix: Maybe a quick explanation of what are premium ads on eBay? That’s a classic CPC, i.e. cost-per-click format. That means I only pay when a click is made on the ad by a potential buyer. From a setup perspective, I think about which items I want to launch with? Which items should, in my opinion, be pushed especially hard? I define those and then I set a daily budget. So I have very good cost control because I can decide for myself how much budget I’m willing to spend per day at most. What is a click worth to me at most? What do I want to bid or spend at most for the click and then, if I win the placement, so the auction, it runs through an auction format, then through a second-price auction. And if I then win with my bid, so let’s say I bid €0.40 per click, then I have a high chance of appearing right at the top of the search results page with that ad. And it’s so important because, in our experience, there is a very, very high level of attention, or rather click-through probability, there. And of course that’s what I want for my offer, that high attention. It should be clicked on and, ideally, bought too.
Isabell: Okay, so to sum up, the main advantages are really that with premium ads I can appear very far up on the search results page. And I have a lot of flexibility and control over my budget. Anything else?
Felix: Those points are definitely correct and, in addition, I also have the option of defining the target group, i.e. my audience, a bit more specifically. So if I work with search terms, for example, I can say exactly for which search terms I want to be shown. Yes, of course I also have more influence there than with other formats on this point.
Isabell: Ah, very good. And you also just said I can basically set my daily budget. Today we’re explicitly talking about buying occasions. Would you say that in general it’s worth planning more budget for ads around very specific buying occasions?
Felix: In theory, that could of course be the case, that one should do that because there is more attention and more clicks. Whether I should then do that also depends to some extent on the performance, i.e. the performance metrics of the respective campaign. So if the, if the profitability of the respective premium campaign works for me, the lever for sales is large enough, then it can certainly make sense to take advantage of more visibility by increasing it, definitely.
Vincent: Felix, which findings from 2024 are particularly exciting or particularly relevant for this year?
Felix: I think it’s generally difficult to say, because it also depends very much on the product range. Yes, every product range has its own seasonal patterns that need to be taken into account. But I can imagine that the overlap in these classic shopping events like Easter and Christmas is greatest there, and I should of course be well prepared for that. For example, in the collectibles and toys category, we see that the whole model railway theme naturally runs through to Easter, and LEGO sets also see stronger demand, exactly.
Vincent: Since you’re talking about LEGO now, maybe a question to the group. What trends do you see for 2025?
Isabell: Well, of course we don’t have the Euros this year. Last year that was of course a big event, a major trend, which of course was also reflected on our marketplace. I would definitely go with the classics Felix just mentioned: Easter, Christmas, but something like the wedding season should definitely not be underestimated either.
Vincent: Yes, I think the refurbished area or the whole topic of circular economy will certainly also be very relevant this year. We still have a tense economic situation. People’s wallets are a bit smaller for many people and refurbished products, which are usually a little cheaper than new products, are of course especially interesting.
Vincent: Before we talk about how you can get the most out of these occasions and seasonal trends, we’d like to know: Have you already had any initial experience with promoting your items? Feel free to tell us how that went for you. If you’re listening in the Spotify app right now, you can respond directly via the Q&A features in the app.
Isabell: Felix, which items should I choose for my campaigns and where can I set all this up?
Felix: That always depends a little on the expectations I have. In principle, it makes sense to choose products that I know are relevant for potential buyers. So, products where I already know the history, that they have a solid baseline, let’s say yes. Because of course I want to avoid promoting products that get a lot of clicks but few purchases; instead, they should get few clicks and as many purchases as possible. So I should always choose products where I know, okay, they’re already doing pretty well, are definitely relevant for the respective season or peak. But if I don’t have the time to deal with it that deeply, then we also offer help for that, namely when I go into the Advertising Cockpit and scroll down a bit, there’s the point "Make trends pay off". And here we try to provide support. We compare the product range of the respective seller with possible demand peaks that we observe, match them and then create a ready-made premium campaign from that. And then basically I only have to check the campaign once, launch it and I can get started.
Isabell: That sounds super practical.
Vincent: We’ve talked a lot about advertising campaigns now. Let’s talk about what other strategies and tools we have for exploiting seasonality and trends. Isabell, you actually run the brand program with us now, but you’re also pretty familiar with this area. Why is that?
Isabell: I’ve now been at eBay for six years and have spent most of my career here working on the seller experience on the marketplace. And the marketing tools are part of that too. That means I worked closely with our developers for a long time. Exactly, that’s why I know my way around quite well.
Vincent: Which eBay tools are particularly well suited to taking advantage of seasonal occasions?
Isabell: For seasonal occasions, voucher codes are particularly well suited. That’s also our newest marketing tool that we offer. That means I can create a classic code like "Sommer15" or "Motorradsaison20" or whatever fits my seasonal occasion at the moment. And with this voucher code I can then decide whether to give a percentage discount or an absolute discount. And the nice thing about these codes is that I can decide for myself whether they’re displayed publicly. That means they’re also shown directly on the search results page or on the product page and buyers can then enter the code directly at checkout. Or I can choose to use them only privately and then, for example, print them out and include them in my packages. Or I share them on my own social media channels and can control a bit more who actually sees this code. And the cool thing about this differentiation is that if I use them privately, it naturally makes sense to be a little more generous with the discounts, because people have already bought from me once, so they’ve already had a good experience, and if I bring them back again, it’s actually cheaper for me to keep a repeat buyer than to keep acquiring new buyers over and over again. Exactly, and you can play around with that a bit, so to speak.
Vincent: I’m hearing that the flexibility and, let’s say, the versatility of how you can use it is really the main advantage.
Isabell: Exactly.
Vincent: What other strategies are there for special promotions?
Isabell: Exactly, so we also have other tools, other marketing tools that sellers can use, but in general we recommend them more as a sort of baseline, I’d say, for example multi-buy discounts, which are a classic tiered discount. That means if I buy two of the same item, I get a discount, if I buy three I get more discount, etc. Then we have quantity discounts, where buyers basically get, for example, €50 off if they buy three items or something like that. Of course, I can also connect this across categories with my inventory and thus simply increase the basket size. And of course price suggestions, where I as the seller can send a price suggestion directly to my watchers. That’s the baseline, so to speak. And Felix has just said that it naturally pays to dig a little deeper into your pocket when there’s a seasonal occasion. Of course, that can also be applied to the tools. So if I know something is coming up soon, my discount at that time may be a little more generous in a targeted way, and that can pay off. Exactly, that’s why you can still play around quite well with the discount levels.
Vincent: What does that look like if I move down to the product level? So how do I really optimize these things with product research?
Isabell: Exactly, so we’ve talked a lot about trends, which often basically include a whole category or, let’s say, are very broadly defined. We offer a tool called "product research". And this can now even be used on mobile in the Seller Cockpit Pro. And in the tool I can search for my item, i.e. my specific product, and basically look at the trends from recent months and years. Which is also pretty exciting because then I can see even more precisely for individual products when what went up. And of course I can use that as a basis to optimize my campaigns or to use my tools accordingly.
Vincent: Yes, very exciting. We’ll also link something for you in the show notes.
Isabell: Yes, definitely.
Felix: Speaking of product research! It’s also helped me a lot in recent weeks. I had an old printer in my hand and thought, okay, I don’t need this thing anymore, it’s just collecting dust, and I was already about to take it to the recycling center. But then I looked at product research out of curiosity, on my phone, and saw that the market value of a used device, in good condition, is €140. Yes, so...
Vincent: That’s a great example. What other options are there to make my products more attractive or to target advertising to buying occasions?
Isabell: Of course I can also run strike-through prices for my offers in the classic way. This works really well for very specific occasions. Before that, and you know more about this, prices have to be very stable, they can’t be changed anymore. And then, just as you know it from classic offline advertising, I can have my price struck through on the eBay page and then display it with the reduced price. And here too, of course, the percentage discount or generally the discount I give should be obvious. Sometimes you see something reduced from €300 to €299. That naturally isn’t worth it. Exactly, but it can also be a great tool if I really know the dates for my buying occasion on a point-by-point basis.
Vincent: Yes, you’ve also already hinted quite well that there’s a legal component to this, or rather something I’m familiar with. When advertising with strike-through prices, it’s very important to comply with what we call the 30-day rule. According to this, if I announce a price reduction, the strike-through price, i.e. the price I’m discounting and that appears crossed out, must be the lowest price charged within the last 30 days before the start, i.e. before announcing this price reduction. There are certain exceptions, for example for perishable goods, but that’s the rule in general. And to prove or demonstrate that, it’s of course extremely helpful to have receipts or other evidence or other documents showing that the price was not touched within the last 30 days.
Isabell: Exactly, but with our tool it actually doesn’t work at all if the price has been changed, then I can no longer set a strike-through price at all.
Vincent: And since we’re already on legal topics, there’s of course the general rule that applies to all marketing activities: there must be no misleading content. And what’s particularly important here is that the key restrictions of a discount campaign or any other marketing campaign are communicated openly and transparently. This includes, in particular, a minimum discount, if there is one. And of course the start and end date of a campaign.
Isabell: That’s of course also the case with our marketing tools. A strike-through price, for example, can only be live for 14 days. For a voucher code, all the conditions you just mentioned are of course also displayed accordingly.
Vincent: Yes, and now we’ve talked about ad campaigns and marketing tools. Isabell, how do these two areas fit together?
Isabell: That’s a very good question. As we always put it, ads help me become more visible on the eBay marketplace so that buyers can even find my products in the first place. And with the marketing tools I just described, I can create an additional purchase incentive. So basically I can increase my conversion again and, if in doubt, also expand my basket. And so the two actually fit together very well and are by no means mutually exclusive. Felix, you probably know this from your daily business, from working with sellers. Do you maybe have any success stories of how a marketing strategy worked successfully for a seasonal occasion?
Felix: Yes, speaking very generally now, and looking back at the recent past. So Q4, there was the Christmas season, we had Black Friday and everything that happened around it. And we definitely saw that when our sellers, resellers, brands promoted their deals, those strong offers they had planned, additionally with premium ads, that worked really well, because exactly what you just said, Isabell. They then had good visibility for their deals, combined with a marketing campaign, a price reduction. And that’s simply both together a perfect way to increase sales.
Isabell: Exactly, and what we just touched on in passing, the basis for all of this is of course retail standards and good offer quality. So if I know that a very busy season is coming up soon, it may be worth screening the offers again now and really tweaking the levers I can influence, such as images, item specifics, etc., and of course making sure my retail standards are right. And then, in combination with a marketing strategy like the one you just described, nothing can really go wrong.
Isabell: But before we end this episode, Felix, we’d like to play a little game with you. Namely, "finish this sentence". We brought you a sentence: The biggest surprise in the eBay marketing calendar for me was... We’re not a video podcast, but right now we can see Felix flipping through the marketing calendar.
Felix: So in January, when I look at January, so further up under the general buying occasions, I saw that shoe care is seeing a plus 110% increase in demand, which I found surprising because I would have thought that after December 6th, that topic is basically over and won’t come back so quickly...
Isabell: Shoe care in January, that’s something to remember.
Vincent: Yes, that’s a good point. Yes, thank you very much for all the input, Felix. I think this episode has definitely increased the anticipation for what’s still to come this year. And thanks to you and dear Isabell, of course, everyone out there is now hopefully well prepared to make the most of the many occasions and trends for themselves.
Felix: Thanks for the invitation and the nice conversation.
Isabell: Yes, from my side, a heartfelt thank you and for your visit here in the studio. And until next time.
Felix: Until next time.
By
0 comments
