eBay Ads Basics: Common eBay marketing terms

If you’ve ever been asked about “improving your ROAS” or “what’s your ROI” and left wondering what that really means, you’re not alone. Marketing can sometimes sound like a foreign language. Being able to not only speak the language of marketing, but also understand how to put it to use can make a huge difference in growing your business on eBay. 

Our goal is for all of our sellers to become fluent in marketing so they can take advantage of the helpful tips, tricks and tools available on eBay. To help sellers out, we’ve created a list of common marketing terms every eBay seller should know. So hit the “Bookmark button” and check out the list below.

Basic eBay terms

• Buyer. A person who makes a purchase from an online seller on eBay.
• Seller. A person or business that has a registered account on eBay and who has items listed for sale.
• Online marketplace. A website (such as eBay) that facilitates transactions between buyers and sellers.
• eBay store. An optional subscription-based virtual storefront hosted on eBay that provides sellers with tools to help them sell more.
• Advertising campaign. An advertising campaign can have multiple meanings depending on the situation. It can be used to describe a strategy for creating more awareness by promoting your listings on eBay. It can also describe the organizational structure for how a seller sets up and manages the listings they want to promote.
• Budget. The maximum amount of money you are willing to spend on an advertising campaign.
• Keywords. Keywords are terms buyers use to find listings they want. It is important to have strong relevant keywords to ensure interested users find your listings.
• Keyword bid. For each keyword, you’ll set a bid, which is the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a buyer to click on your ad.
• Optimize. Making changes to your listing or advertising campaign in order to improve its performance.
• Ad rate. The percentage of your item’s final sale price (excluding shipping and sales tax) that’s paid to eBay when using Promoted Listings Standard. Sellers set this rate themselves when creating a Promoted Listings Standard campaign.
• Impressions. The number of times your ad(s) have appeared on any eBay site.
• Search engine optimization (SEO). Improving how your listings appear in search engines. By including the right keywords, phrases and information in your product listing, more buyers will find your items when they’re searching for it.
• Cost-per-click (CPC). An online advertising model that charges sellers based on the amount of times a buyer clicks on their ad.
• Cost-per-sale (CPS). An advertising model that charges sellers based on an agreed percentage of the final sale price. For example, the ad rate set by a seller for a Promoted Listings Standard campaign.
• Return on investment (ROI). A marketing metric used to measure the performance and effectiveness of an investment. This is commonly shown as a percentage and calculated using the formula, ROI = (revenue – cost of goods sold) / cost of goods sold.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS). The amount of revenue earned for every dollar spent on advertising. This is commonly shown as a dollar amount and calculated using the formula, ROAS = dollar amount of sales/dollar amount advertising cost.
• Sales velocity. How fast items are sold. 
• Ad groups. A way to group together similar listings that share keywords and keyword bids. Ad groups are available to use with Promoted Listings Advanced^BETA.
• Automated campaign. Campaigns that allow sellers to set rules to automatically promote/advertise their listings using a flat bid or automated ad rates.

Terms for eBay Products

• Promoted Listings portfolio. Our suite of Promoted Listings campaign types, including Promoted Listings Standard, Promoted Listings Advanced^BETA, and Promoted Listings Express.
• Promoted Listings Standard. A campaign type that boosts the visibility of listings on eBay using a cost-per-sale model, which means the seller only pays an ad fee if their listing sells within 30 days of the buyer click on their ad . Promoted Listings Standard ads are shown across the eBay network.. 
• Promoted Listings Advanced^BETA. A campaign type that targets the top spot in eBay’s search using a cost-per-click model. Promoted Listings Advanced^BETA campaigns give sellers more control over budget and keyword targeting.
• Promoted Listings Express. A campaign type used to promote auction-style listings using a flat fee model.
• External Promoted Listings. eBay Promoted Listings Standard listings that appear on search platforms and partner sites such as Google.

Knowing basic marketing terms will open the door to long-term success on eBay. New sellers can begin their journey by creating an eBay account and listing their first product. Start selling today, and be sure to test out our Promoted Listings portfolio to help your business grow further on eBay.