15 min article

Priority campaign strategy

Using the priority campaign strategy

You can promote your listings with the priority strategy from the Advertising dashboard, Active Listings, and through the advanced listing tool. Here's how to get started:

To promote your listings with the priority strategy from the Advertising dashboard - opens in new window or tab:

To promote your listings with the priority strategy using the advanced listing tool:

To promote your listings with the priority strategy from Seller Hub Active Listings - opens in new window or tab:

Priority campaign targeting strategy

A targeting strategy is a method used to determine how your ads will reach potential buyers. When promoting your listings with a priority campaign strategy, you'll choose from one of two targeting strategies: Smart targeting or Manual targeting.

Smart targeting

Smart targeting enables easy setup when you promote your listings with a priority strategy. You'll determine how much you pay each day and we'll automatically target your ads. Your campaign will automatically update over time to optimise your ads. Here's how to get started:

Navigate to the Seller Hub, click on the Advertising tab.
Select Create new campaign.
Choose Promote your listings from the available ad type options.
Select a Priority campaign strategy.
Add listings to your campaign.
Select Smart targeting to automatically target your ads to buyers.
Set a target daily budget for your campaign and, if you would like, you can set a maximum cost-per-click (CPC).
Enter a Campaign name and set your Start date and End date.
Launch your campaign.

Maximum cost-per-click

When you set up a priority campaign with smart targeting, you can edit your campaign's maximum cost-per-click (maximum CPC). This setting determines the highest amount you are willing to pay for each click on an ad. The amount you pay for each click will be up to - but never more than - any maximum CPC you set.

The maximum CPC you choose is essentially your bid in an auction that determines ad placement. Leaving the maximum CPC blank, or setting a higher maximum CPC, increases the likelihood that your ad will win the auction and appear in a prominent position. This means that your listing is more likely to be shown and clicked on by potential buyers. Conversely, a lower maximum CPC might save you money per click but could result in your ad being shown less frequently, potentially leading to fewer overall sales.

Tip
Using smart targeting can help you save time while reaching your advertising goals.

Manual targeting

Manual targeting gives you advanced control with keyword targeting and bids, so you can determine how much each click on one of your ads is worth to you. You'll select how to manage ongoing optimisations to help your campaigns remain competitive. Here's how to get started:

Navigate to the Seller Hub, click on the Advertising tab.
Select Create new campaign.
Choose Promote your listings from the available ad type options.
Select a Priority campaign strategy.
Add listings to your campaign.
Select Manual targeting to use keywords to target your ads.
Choose your bidding strategy: Dynamic bidding strategy or a Fixed bidding strategy.
Review or manually edit your ad groups, keyword targeting, and keyword bids.
Set a target daily budget for your campaign.
Enter a Campaign name and set your Start date and End date.
Launch your campaign.

Ad groups

Ad groups help you build more effective manual targeting campaigns by organizing your listings and keywords into a common goal or category. Grouping together similar listings allows you to target them with the same set of keywords.

Campaigns can have up to 500 ad groups and up to 1,000 listings in each ad group.

Example:

Tip
We recommend 10-15 keywords per unique product type.

Keywords

Keywords are words or phrases used to target buyers with your priority ads using manual targeting. Use relevant keywords and add relevant search terms as keywords to help improve the visibility of your ads. Suggested keywords can help you identify queries buyers are using to look for items like yours.

You can also use negative keywords to prevent your ads from being matched to shopping journeys that include your negative keywords. Meaning, when a buyer searches for a term that you've added as a negative keyword, your ads will not be eligible for display. You'll never be charged for negative keywords.

You can use up to 1,000 targeted keywords per ad group. Additionally, you can add up to 1,000 negative keywords per ad group.

Keyword match types

Match types determine how closely a buyer's query must match the meaning of your keyword in order for your ad to appear.

Broad match matches your ads to keywords based on how related they appear to buyers' shopping journeys.

Broad match can help you reach a wider audience with fewer keywords. For example, if you add the keyword "kid's shoes" with broad match to your campaign, your ads could show for search queries like "children's footwear".

Example:

Phrase match allows your listings to appear when a buyer's query or shopping journey matches your keyword's meaning and may include other words before or after your keyword.

Example:

Exact match allows your listings to appear when a buyer's shopping journey closely matches the meaning of your keyword.

Example:

Negative keywords

Negative exact match keywords are terms which are excluded from your ad group. Meaning, when a buyer searches for a term that you've added as a negative keyword, your Advanced ads will not be eligible for display.

Negative keywords are exact match without variants, meaning that for a keyword to be excluded, it needs to match the buyer's search term character-for-character.

Example:

Negative phrase match keywords will exclude your item from appearing for search terms that include your exact keyword and may include other words before and/or after your keyword, but not between

Example:

Bidding strategy

A campaign bidding strategy is the option you can select to determine how your keyword bids are managed throughout the duration of your campaign. There are two campaign bidding strategies you can choose from: fixed and dynamic.

A dynamic bidding strategy will automatically update keyword bids daily to the suggested bid. With this strategy, sellers do not need to make daily, manual updates to keep their keyword bids competitive in the marketplace.

Suggested bids are calculated using factors that may include item attributes, seasonality, available performance data, keyword match types, and competition, along with market dynamics, to help you find the optimal balance between performance and cost for each individual ad group.

A fixed bidding strategy will not change once it's been set. You can review your performance and update your campaign bidding strategy at any time.

Target daily budget

Your target daily budget is the average daily amount you're comfortable spending throughout the calendar month.

The amount you spend per month won't exceed 30.4 times your set target daily budget, unless you set or adjust it during the month. Changes made to your target daily budget during the month can impact your campaign's maximum spend
On any given day you could spend less than your target daily budget, or up to double the highest target daily budget set on that day
If your campaign reaches double your target daily budget on a given day, it will stop showing ads until the target daily budget window resets the following day. Listings in a campaign will be eligible to begin surfacing again if you increase the target daily budget of an out-of-budget campaign

Best practices

To calculate your target daily budget, assuming your campaign will be active the entire calendar month, divide your total monthly budget by 30.4 (the average number of days in a month). This helps your spending align with your monthly goals while accommodating daily fluctuations.

You can leverage campaign end dates to maintain more control over your target daily budget. Your total monthly spend will not exceed your target daily budget multiplied by the number of days from the start of the calendar month up to and including the campaign's end date, allowing you to shorten the spending window of a campaign, if desired
You can change your target daily budget at any time. If the campaign's spend for the day already exceeds the new budget, the change will take effect the following day. Adjusting the budget impacts the month's spending limit, recalculating based on the new budget and days left in the calendar month

How changes to your target daily budget affect your campaign's total spend

On days when you change the target daily budget, the daily spending limit is double the most recent target daily budget for that day, unless you've already spent equal to or more than that amount. If you decrease your daily budget and your total ad spend for that day is below the spend limit based on your new budget, your new budget may start to be used on that day.

For example: If you decrease your target daily budget from £50 to £30 at noon, but your campaign has only spent £25 that day, your new budget (£30) and potential daily spend limit (£50) could be used that day

However, if your daily campaign spend has already exceeded your new budget, your new budget will come into effect on the following day.

For example: If you decrease your target daily budget from £50 to £30 at noon, but your campaign has already spent £80 that day, then you will be charged £80 for that day and your ads will stop showing until the target daily budget resets the following day

Note: There is a £3 minimum and a £1,000,000 maximum target daily budget.

Updating your budget during the month

You can set and edit your target daily budget at any time during the month. Carefully consider the following scenarios when making changes to your budget during the calendar month:

Starting a campaign during the month: Your total monthly spend will not exceed your target daily budget multiplied by the remaining days in the calendar month, including the start day.

For Example: If you start a new campaign with a £10 target daily budget on January 15th, there are 17 days left in the month (including the 15th & 31st). Therefore, the maximum spend for the remainder of the month would be £170 (£10×17 remaining days)

Adjusting your budget during the month: Your total monthly spend will not exceed the amount already spent plus your new target daily budget multiplied by the remaining days in the calendar month. If the campaign's spend for the day already exceeds the new budget, the change will take effect the following day.

Note: A minimum change of increase or decrease of £0.50 is required when updating a published campaign's Target Daily Budget
For example: If you raise your campaign's target daily budget from £10 to £15 on January 15th, assuming you've spent £150 by then, your total monthly budget will increase from £304 to £405 [i.e. £150 + (17*£15)]. Therefore, you will have £255 left to spend for the rest of the month

Ending your campaign during the month (scheduled): If your campaign has an end date scheduled in the middle of the month, your total monthly spend won't exceed your target daily budget multiplied by the number of days from the start date to the end date, unless you end the campaign prior to the originally scheduled date.

Ending your campaign during the month (manually or before its scheduled end-date): If you manually end your campaign during the month or before its scheduled end date, it may have spent more than the average of your target daily budget for the elapsed days, as the system optimises for the full calendar month (or full campaign duration, if scheduled with an end date).

Your campaign ends (scheduled) and you restart it during the month: If your campaign ends with a pre-set end date and you later restart the campaign during the same month, we'll consider what you've spent so far, your target daily budget and the remaining days left in the month to calculate your monthly spend limit.

You manually end or pause your campaign and restart it during the same month: If you manually pause or end a campaign without an end date during the month and later restart the campaign during the same month, we won't exceed double the highest target daily budget in effect for the remaining days of the month.

Limited by budget

The "Limited by budget" status will appear on your campaigns if your campaign has spent all of its daily budget, has been out of budget several times over the past week, or your daily budget is lower than our suggested amount.

Our suggested budget takes into account factors like listing details and marketplace competition to help find the best balance between performance and cost.

To reactivate an out of budget campaign, the new budget must exceed the initial budget value set at the beginning of the day. If the adjusted budget is less than or equal to the maximum budget at which the campaign went out of budget, it will remain inactive.

Budget pacing

Our pacing model is designed to optimise your spend by using your target daily budget as a signal toward the average daily amount you expect to spend over the course of a calendar month (or partial month, if you set a campaign end date during the month). The model opportunistically allocates spending during certain days in the month, with safeguards designed to help avoid premature spend exhaustion before month end.

We take into account several variables to help pace your spend throughout the month. We use real-time platform data and forecasted traffic to anticipate periods of high engagement, such as Black Friday, and consider historical data and seasonal trends to optimise budget allocation. Our systems also account for factors like current market trends and category-specific traffic to shift your advertising budget to times with better sales potential.

It's important to note that mid-month changes to a lower target daily budget may affect this distribution, so adjustments should be made thoughtfully to maintain optimal pacing.

Automated Campaign Controls

During the priority campaign setup process, you have the option to opt-in to automated controls to optimise your campaigns based on performance metrics like Return on Ad Spend if you leverage smart and manual targeting. Simply select the controls you wish to apply to your campaign, such as extending end dates or increasing budget, based on your campaign goals and performance criteria. You can also edit your campaign to opt into these controls.

By using automated controls, you can ensure your campaigns remain active and well-funded during peak performance periods, reducing the risk of missing valuable sales opportunities. This feature also helps streamline campaign management, allowing you to focus more on strategic business activities.

Please note:

This option is only available for campaigns with an end date
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is determined by the campaign's last 14 days of performance data or the entire duration, whichever is shorter
After a control has triggered, the budget will not automatically revert to its original amount. Once a control has increased your budget, you have the flexibility to keep the new budget or adjust it to any value that suits your strategy
A control can only be triggered once. We will automatically uncheck the box after the control is triggered the first time. You can choose to enable the control again by editing your campaign and opting in
You can easily cancel or modify the control settings within the campaign edit flow

Priority ad fees

Priority ad fees are based on your bid, the level of competition for queries in which your ad appears, and the clicks your ads have received.

For each campaign, the amount you pay per month won't exceed 30.4 times your target daily budget, unless you set or adjust it during the month.

Here's how priority ad fees work:

The amount that you will be charged for each click is based on a second-price auction
All priority ad fees are charged at a listing level. Charges are determined by the sum of all cost-per-click clicks a single listing receives within a day
When you promote your listings with the priority strategy there are two ways to bid, manual targeting and smart targeting
- With manual targeting, you select a keyword bid for each keyword and keyword match type combination;
- With smart targeting, your bids will automatically be applied for you subject to any max CPC you set
Because the listings, keywords, and bids in each second price auction are unique, each cost per click calculation is dynamic
Sales of promoted and non-promoted items will be attributed within a 30-day window of a click on your ad

While it is possible to be charged for multiple legitimate clicks from the same buyer, we have checks in place to filter out invalid clicks. If clicks on an ad are identified as invalid, you will not be charged. Note that you will also be charged if you click on your own priority ad.

Viewing your fees

Fees for your promoted listings campaigns using the priority campaign strategy will appear as "Promoted Listings - Priority fees" in your Payments tab or on your seller invoice
We combine all clicks a seller receives on a priority ad in a given campaign on a daily basis and sellers are generally charged for these clicks up to 72 hours after the clicks take place
Your charges are reported at a listing level. From your Payments tab or invoice, you'll see the campaign ID, click date, total number of clicks, and average cost-per-click per listing

Monitoring your campaigns

Advertising and Campaign dashboards

Once you have activated a campaign, you can view the performance of all of your Promoted Listings campaigns from the Advertising dashboard - opens in new window or tab.

Your Campaign dashboard lets you see detailed ad group-level, keyword-level, and listing-level reporting for each individual campaign. While on the Campaign dashboard you can make edits quickly within the context of your performance. To find the Campaign dashboard:

Go to your Advertising dashboard - opens in new window or tab.
Click on the campaign name in the Campaign overview section of the page.

On the Campaign dashboard and Advertising dashboard you can monitor:

Impressions – The number of times your ads have appeared on any eBay site
Clicks – The number of interactions with your ads, including add to watchlist, add to cart, quick view, or other interactive functionality
Quantity sold – The number of items purchased within 30 days of a click on your ads. Includes both promoted and non-promoted items, provided the buyer purchased one of your non-promoted items in the 30 days following a click on one of your priority ads
Sales – Total amount of sales for the selected period. Includes both promoted and non-promoted items, provided the buyer purchased one of your non-promoted items in the 30 days following a click on one of your priority ads
Ad fees – Ad fees incurred by your promoted listings. When using a general strategy, ad fees are incurred by your items sold within 30 days of a click on your ads. When using a priority strategy, ad fees are incurred by clicks on your ads. Visit the Payments tab for final fees, including any applicable taxes or credits
Sales conversion rate - Quantity sold divided by clicks, multiplied by 100. Includes both promoted and non-promoted items, provided the buyer purchased one of your non-promoted items in the 30 days following a click on one of your priority ads
Return on ad spend (ROAS) – Return on ad spend. Your sales, divided by ad fees. Includes both promoted and non-promoted sales, provided the buyer purchased one of your non-promoted items in the 30 days following a click on one of your priority ads
Average cost-per-click (CPC) – Total cost of clicks divided by total clicks

Campaign name, Status, Start and End date, and listings are updated in real time, as those events are happening. Performance metrics are reported in near-real time though they may take up to 72 hours to reconcile.

Campaign recommendations

Campaign recommendations will appear at the top of your Advertising dashboard and provide customized tips to help you optimise your advertising campaigns for performance. These recommendations are updated daily based on your campaign's performance, eBay's historical data and best practices.

Getting started with campaign recommendations is easy:

Go to your Advertising dashboard - opens in new window or tab.
If there are any opportunities to improve your advertising campaigns, you will see your recommendations at the top of the page.
Review and implement any or all of the recommendations for your advertising campaigns by clicking on the recommendation.

Check your Advertising dashboard regularly for new recommendations and apply changes to campaigns.

Downloading and scheduling reports

From Seller Hub, you can download and schedule search query, keyword-level and listing-level reports for each of your priority campaigns, here's how:

Downloading reports from the Advertising tab

Go to the campaign overview section in your Advertising dashboard - opens in new window or tab.
Find the campaign you'd like to download a report for, and expand the menu in the Actions column.
Select Generate listing report, Generate keyword report, or Generate search query report.

After launching your campaign, allow up to 72 hours for some reporting metrics to appear in downloaded reports. Campaign details and reporting will be in the time zone for the site your campaigns were created in.

Downloading reports from the Reports tab

You can also save time by scheduling and downloading reports from the Seller Hub Reports tab by downloading reports at the account level and for multiple campaigns at once.

Go to Seller Hub Reports - opens in new window or tab.
Select Download.
Select Download report.
Select the following report parameters:
- Source → Advertising
- Campaign strategy → Promoted Listings - Priority
- Type → Keyword, Listing, Campaign or Search query

Scheduling reports from the Reports tab

Go to Seller Hub Reports - opens in new window or tab.
Select Schedule.
Select Schedule report.
Create a download schedule by selecting the following report parameters:
- Source → Advertising
- Campaign strategy → Promoted Listings - Priority
- Type → Keyword, Listing, Campaign or Search query
- Frequency → Daily, Weekly or Monthly

Tip
Visit the Seller Center - opens in new window or tab to learn more about promoting your listings with the priority strategy.