eBay announced a roll-out of it's new AdCommerce feature with which sellers can purchase additional advertising for their listings and eBay stores.
How eBay AdCommerce works:
For example, let's say you want your ad to appear when buyers shop for computers. First you would need to decide how much you're willing to pay each time a buyer clicks your ad after running a search for the keyword "computer”. You could also choose to advertise across an entire category or sub category.
If you're one of the highest bidders for that keyword or category, your ad -- which can include a title, a short description, and an optional image -- will appear near the bottom of search results pages. Buyers will see your ad, click on it and hopefully buy your items!
It's no secret that the massive amount of eBay changes have infuriated and confused users.
Will this new feature help or hurt the wounded giant to regain some footing in the online selling platform arena? It's too early to say.
Here are some questions and concerns I have:
Will these new ads take away exposure from the listings of those that do not choose to spend extra money on this ad format?
Will the new service function as promised? The company has had poor results with it's "Best Match" search, DSR and numerous other software glitches. Is the technical ability there to pull this off?
Will eBay be able to sell this? Their PR department is widely seen as having a "let them eat cake" attitude. Do they have a team that can sell this in a way that builds value. After all, many sellers on eBay will likely wonder why they have to pay on top of their other fees to get good exposure for their listings.
That all said, I may do an A/B test to see if these ads work. If I do, I'll post the results here and let you know if I think it's worth the extra money.