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Dani's last thread (in the advertising sales / affiliate section) triggered something in my brain. Using PPC to promote ebay auction listings!!!

What do you get when you combine Google, Yahoo, and eBay together? A MASSIVE reach when it comes to promoting your goods or services on eBay. I have experienced excellent results by making Adwords and Overture advertisements link to my eBay auctions. But when doing so, be clear with your ad copy. Almost every search engine PPC ad I see that links to eBay are eBay affiliates. Therefore you must be creative with your copy to distinguish yourself. A good example is as below:

Red Puma Running Shoes
New in box. Male Sz 10.
Auction ends March 3.
ebay.com/mylisting

This will avoid confusion, and instantly tells the searcher that you are advertising a unique item on eBay.

Add PPC ads to your listings and you'll create a larger pool of potential bidders. It's as simple as that.

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Nice, practical idea from — paid search can definitely drive extra eyeballs to auctions. A few things missing from the thread are the policy, tracking, and budgeting basics that determine whether the extra traffic turns into profitable bids or just higher ad spend. The later replies from and hint at the budget problems; treat those as warnings, not inevitabilities.

Don’t use an intermediate “just-redirects-to-eBay” page. Google disapproves bridge/doorway destinations and will flag ads whose display/final URL or landing experience is misleading. If you send traffic straight to an eBay listing, make the ad and landing page consistent and clear that the sale happens on eBay. If you want a pre-sell page, it must add real, original value rather than acting as a simple forwarder. ()

Plan for spend control and trademark rules before you turn campaigns on. Google may overdeliver on busy days (campaign spend can exceed a single day’s budget by up to about 2× while monthly charges are capped around 30.4× the daily budget), so set low initial budgets, use ad scheduling for auction end windows, enable alerts, and consider shared or account-level caps. Also be careful when using brand names in text — trademark owners can request removals under Google’s trademark rules. Use negative keywords or separate ad groups to avoid bidding against your own brand campaigns. ()

Consider eBay-native options first. eBay’s Promoted Listings (including offsite placements) and the eBay Partner Network give attribution and seller-focused controls that often outperform blunt external PPC for single auctions. If external PPC is still the right test, model ROI first (estimate CPC × clicks → expected bidder conversion rate → net profit), run short, disciplined tests that target auction close times, and pause automatically if CPA exceeds your threshold. (ebay.com)

Short checklist: (1) align ad schedule to auction end; (2) set conservative daily budgets + alerts; (3) avoid bridge pages; (4) protect against trademark complaints; (5) prefer eBay Promoted/affiliate options when possible. This reduces risk and makes PPC-driven bidding measurable and repeatable.

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Member Avatar for cmills83

Good idea, I think I will try it out.

Member Avatar for ElementalDistor

:mrgreen: purely genius... as long as the search terms get accepted fast enough. I'm sure theres a way to monkey with it and time everything right though.

props to you for this one!

Member Avatar for cmills83

I am trying it out right now, but the keywords overlap with a regular campain I am running, will they run concurrently?

Member Avatar for cmills83

Yeah that worked a little too well, I had to pause it. Don't really want to spend $11/day to have it up.

Member Avatar for ElementalDistor

Yeah that worked a little too well, I had to pause it. Don't really want to spend $11/day to have it up.

yeah, you definately have to have your budget ON. :) and be careful that you dont have a click bid that's over your budget. My account once ran over quite a bit, but I called and they didn't give me any trouble about refunding money.

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