 Welcome back everyone to another episode of eBay life the podcast now this particular Content was going to be released as a video content During the course of the next couple of days once I'd got the details together But as a result of receiving a response back from eBay on the subject at hand which is around the off-site ads and What external channels etc that they use I? Felt that it was more of an urgent response to get this the information out there as soon as possible Now we're all well aware of the Move to the off-site ads paper click Option that eBay are now enforcing across the platform Instead of giving that off-site traffic as part of your promoted listing standard campaign Now obviously you may well have noticed the considerable drop in your Impressions and if this has affected yourself You may well want to check out my video from about three days ago Covering the off-site ads and a telephone call that I made to customer services to clarify some details On exactly what you're actually getting for your money Now with this we'll start off with a little bit of background information from the previous video So let's begin So it started off once they'd introduced this off-site ads campaign I'd noticed that the traffic had Exceptionally dipped over a course of several days in a very steady line downwards reducing my Promoted listed impressions by a good two to three good two-thirds to three-quarters. Sorry and From there I started investigating into the off-site ads facts and the very first paragraph Left me wondering what was actually happening So let's just read this back to you in their words And then I'll go into explaining what my query was and then from there the response that I've now received back Which could be either taken one of two ways One would be pretty much what I expected and the other way could be potentially huge information But we'll start from the start so the off-site ads facts stated how do off-site ads work? Off-site ads let you promote your entire eligible inventory on external channels Like Google ads Every time a buyer clicks on your ad they will be directed to your listing and you will be charged at a fee excluding VAT for the click Now it was a specific Paragraph that had me questioning Because the way the sentence was worded was firstly on external channels But it didn't tell you what those channels were Now if you're entering into a financial legal agreement It would make sense to me and I'm sure it would to you You want to know what you're actually paying for Does that not make sense? It does to me But because it says external channels, but doesn't actually tell you what they are I Feel this is very vague and I wanted some clarity Also, the way word is words is on external channels comma like Google ads Now I wanted to know is it actually using Google ads or is it stating that they are now using channels that are like Google ads, but not actually Google ads a Very good plan words that leaves things vague enough To imply that they're using Google ads, but doesn't actually clarify this fact or which other channels are used So I made the call which you're able to listen to as I say the content was from three days ago I'll leave a link in the video for you Just top of the screen about now for you So if you want to listen to that and then come back to this by all means do and From there. Let's just carry on so After the call the basic end of that particular call was yes We needed to wait for them to come back to us with the details So the the actual external channels and the clarification around whether it was Google ads or like Google ads The advisor did not have that information But they did promise that they would get back to us within 48 hours, whether it be by phone call or by email So as things turned out it was by email and I shall read back to you the email that was Bonded to myself from them now. This will be broken into several sections. So I will go through it and Once I've read through it, please bear with us. It's well worth listening to there are multiple points of vast interest So here we go. So the content of the email back to me was hello, Carl Following up on your contact. I was able to gather a few pieces of information regarding your queries I decided to send you an email because I have a lot of information for you So first off was around off-site ads Your ads will be eligible to appear wherever Google shopping ads appear including on Google's search and shopping pages Full stop Google ads are displayed across several platforms including Google itself Instagram Facebook amongst others Now I'm going to stop right there before I carry on because this is this is a massively important section here So the question that was simply asked was Are you using Google ads as well as this? What are the external channels that you use and This is what they came back to us with Now this particular paragraph does not say yes, we use Google ads It refers to Google ads, but it still doesn't clarify that it uses Google ads So I'm still not sold as to whether it is they use platforms that are like Google ads or that they are using Google ads still But even with this It's now stating that your ads will be eligible to appear wherever Google shopping ads appear Including Google search and shopping pages Now it's not just Google ads that do this you can like before you could buy Sorry, not buy you could use promoted listings and pay for Promotion through eBay who would then purchase the promotion through Shopping ads on Google, but Google ads aren't the only way to advertise on Google shopping At least my knowledge if I'm wrong, please correct me But it does say then separately in the next sentence Google ads are displayed across several platforms Which is fine, but what still doesn't say we use Google ads and they are displayed across several platforms But either way, let's carry on with that and this is an interesting very very interesting point So Google ads are displayed across several platforms including Google itself, which everything is Instagram Facebook amongst others and There it is if we take it from the assumption on the Positive side and saying yes, let's just to assume that they do mean they use Google ads They're also stating if you read it that way that they promote on Instagram and they promote on Facebook all ready Now we have speculated that that would be and myself amongst others Josh as well as mentioned that he thinks that will be the way they go and if we take this For the way they're wishing for us to interpret it They're already stating we are already doing it So whether we knew they were or not They are now stating if that is the way it's worded. They are already doing it So there you have it you can take it one way or the other one way is They're still not being straightforward and forthright with the wording and telling us yes or no They're also not telling us all the external channels that you're paying for Alternatively if you take them at their word and the accepting it as they're trying to interpret it Then yes, they are using Google ads, which is fine They're not explaining all the external channels, but they are stating that they already use Instagram and Facebook Which is where we thought they were going Now whether or not they take that to the next level so that you can specifically choose Which of those external platforms you want to promote on in the future that could well be the next step So just moving on from there the next part of the inquiry obviously was to drop in the impressions Which I was stating on the call that could well be down to the Removal of the promotion that's being paid for by eBay from promoted listing standard And you now have to use the off-site ads and their answer to this is getting pretty standard Which is drop-on impressions there may be changes in competitive landscape that could be affecting impressions So here comes the the cop-out response in all fairness These changes can be a range of things Competitors could be promoting more items e.g. Other sellers start or stop promoting items in the same category and or make Significant changes to their ad rates using higher ad rates Demand may be decreasing or other similar competitive changes and seasonality Unless your impressions drop to zero. It's considered normal to have some fluctuation on your impressions So that's basically just saying Yeah, we're not interested unless you flat line. There's no reason for us to look at it Because it's saying that the decrease could simply just be people promoting more That that would be a fluctuation in their own words some fluctuation. This is not fluctuation This is a landslide in impressions and It doesn't landslide getting closer to Christmas and closer to Black Friday Than the other way So this is just a standard response to fill in the gaps because they don't have the answers or won't give the answers It also goes on to say it's possible for a third party to promote a listing that you have promoted as well This effectively increases the ad rates on that promoted listing and the likelihood that it will appear in prominent locations across the eBay network I honestly do not understand what that had to do with anything that I've asked. I seriously think that is a copy paste You will only be charged the ad rate based on the final price of the item, which we already know this This is definitely just standard Malachi response back to kind of fob you off. Nothing really important here Let's look further down The eBay network is a group of sites where your promoted listings could be featured including eBay and partner sites across the internet So yet again, it's not actually telling you Where those partner sites are? Even though you are paying for that service Your promoted listings may appear in external sponsored placements Included search and including search engines to help drive traffic to your listings when buyers are actively searching and shopping across the internet well, I Begged to differ unless you're actually specifically talking about off-site ads now because You don't promote off-site for promoted listed standard anymore. We know this we can see this And here's an interesting one How can you improve your promoted listing stands now a lot of us already know the answers to these ones? And I think this again is just a copy paste bit of information, but at least they tried Some of the metrics to keep an eye on are your click-through rate CTR sales conversion rate and average sold ad rate Those will give you insight into your overall health of your promoted listing standard campaigns Namely, they can tell you where you can work to improve your performance They want to actually tell you and That's half the problem. You can only gauge it and work out yourself For example, if your CTR unexpectedly drops It can be a signal that you're receiving the same volume of impressions But something has stopped the bias from clicking through to your listing pages That would indicate that key buyer signals like price shipping and Selling rate may have recently changed and he's having a negative impact on your CTR hmm Pretty basic response to be fair not much in that And that's pretty much what I responded back. So quite simply No, they haven't answered my question They haven't clarified. They've just put more Vague responses back that can be taken and interpreted in two ways They can either be interpreted as to we haven't really answered your question or Here's a big one. We're already promoting on the social media platforms on your behalf with your ads Now as I say that could well be a precursor to a more Micromanaged off-site ad ability coming down the pipeline, which I think is probably more likely so Once again, we don't have a clear picture But you can make your own assumptions from that information there and gather what information you need and You feel is relevant to your business But I tried We pushed for a response and we pretty much got what we expected Which was they won't give us the answer Yet again another letdown from eBay in my view But at least the particular advisor Kind of gave us a little bit more information than they've actually already got on the website Which surprises me that they don't actually just put it on the website in the first place Good ol eBay Well everyone, I hope that's been a bit of more of an insight for you And thanks for stopping by and taking in the content. I hope there's more coming for you soon and keep it real See you