eBay Inserts Boost Button In Search Results In Effort To Get More Sellers To Promote Their Listings
As eBay continues to rely on ever increasing ad revenue to bolster their financial results, sellers have noticed a new Boost button inserted on their own items when viewed in search pages promising higher search placement for a price.
Sellers are discussing the new Promoted Listings nag button in the eBay community forum.
Boost Icon, Anyone notice this?
There is a New boost icon on my Listings at the top,Like where the heart is, Does anyone know what this is, I was afraid to click on it, Thinking I would be charged a fee or something.
Some say they are only seeing it on items they don't already promoted.
Noticed this a few weeks ago on listings that I do not promote. Just another eBay attempt to have you “boost/promote” things.
Other say they are also seeing it on items they already promote and that eBay is just trying to get them to increase their ad rates.
Another $$$ grab to increase the rate on already promoted items. Enough already!!!
A Value Added Resource reader provided screenshots, requesting anonymity due to fear of retaliation against their account.
They said if they do just a regular sitewide eBay search, when scrolling through results this Boost button appears on their listings with a pop up saying "Reach more buyers. Show up in highly-visible places, including the top of search results. Only pay when you sell. Click Boost to get started."
They also said if they use the search bar from their Store page, which returns results that are only their listings, it shows the Boost button on all of their items.
Note: this only shows to a seller when looking at their own listings, it does not show to potential buyers or competitors.
If the seller clicks the Boost button on an item that is not already promoted, eBay will prompt them to opt the item into Promoted Listings General ads with a suggested ad rate already filled in that can be edited - and if the item is already promoted, eBay encourages the seller to increase their ad rate percentage.
There are still multiple steps required to actually activate an ad this way, so there's no real risk of accidentally enabling it, but sellers may still find the not at all subtle "nudge" annoying - especially since they are already inundated with calls to action and other promotions trying to get them to sign up for ads in multiple places within Seller Hub as well as emails and in the eBay app.
What do you think of eBay's introduction of the Boost button? Will it entice you to promote items you have already or to increase your ad rates? Let us know in the comments below!
