Do you believe EBAY is "THROTTLING" your sales?

[@AK36677]

Yes 100%. They throttle sales based on how much fees you pay them. In a few years they won't be around. Squeezing every dime they can out of sellers.

[@aaronm.3398]

Yes eBay 100% throttles your eBay sales. We have been at 20k a month for many months. Month after month no matter how much we list or don't list.

[@NashTV8]

Yup, I did 24K each of the last 2 months from a 3,100 item store, -I should be happy right?, nope,...every day I go about 10 hours without a sale or anything,...My extremely high sell-through-rate items get 0 views for 30 days, and then I simply re-list them and they suddenly get 20 views in 1 hour???, doesn't make sense,...many of my items don't show up in basic searches, and I had about 500 items mysteriously disappear from my store in the last year. I don't do promoted listings,...I just have good stuff. People who don't realize that ebay can control your sales down to the penny are unobservant in my opinion.

[@stefan8303]

@@NashTV8 I've had this many times with the 0 views then loads after relisting (sell similar). I've a feeling you sometimes get put on a funny server. It always happens with all the items I listed around the same time.

[@beejj6190]

100% correct. In the UK (as of 1 /Oct/24) ebay are now offering free selling - frankly as our cost of living crisis is bad / people are fed up of ebay / more competition not charging fees. Yippee? Well, here's part of my today's Trustpilot review on their BS practises: No fees - great? : ebay have only just introduced no selling fees to remain competitive in their market. Funnily enough, I've re-listed the bulk of my items and have hardly had any views - over a weekend?! So, in keeping with their throttling games, it's clear they are 'giving' with one hand and taking away with the other! Absolutely fed up with their corporate BS. They know exactly what they're doing and it's boring. *They simply don't want you to make money if you aren't paying hand over fist for 'promotion' (that helps your business by about 1% - if that! )* Off to explore Vinted and see if they work with what I sell. Muppets!

[@loricarrizales4335]

Love extra videos I love my box cutter from the shed

[@AK36677]

That's the problem eBay should put all of the items available. Not just once they think will sell. They pushed the items that will make them the most fees. 🤮🤮🙄

[@mis7089]

Honestly, i do believe this and that the search is broken. We have had our sales drop over 50%. We have tried all the ideas. New labels, photos, take down & relist, promote. Right now we're going through our inventory, donating, expanding to only certain items & brands. We have been pulling promotions off a little at a time. It doesn't make a difference in our case. We used to do a few hundred a week. This week we are at $89. So if you're adding time, searching, etc. Is it worth it anymore? It has been so sad to watch this.

[@patyeaman]

Yay! An extra video. . Thanks for the surprise.

[@williampeterson4416]

I know that I throttle my sales at times… WITH BAD MERCH! I must stop throttling myself! 😂

[@ebayvideo6383]

Me too!😂

[@willconner3318]

My experience is if my listings slow, so do my sales. Constantly maintain around 350 items and if I list 2 or 3 a week, my sold items tend to match. If I list 20 in a week, I get about half that much in sales. Terribly frustrating.

[@tippint1]

You are absolutely correct you can list 2 or 3 items in a week aka small amount and Ebay will give you that back in sales 2 or 3 but if you really up your listing to 20 they will give you 10. Alot of folks say they match what you do nope not in my experience especially lately even when I'm listing every single day including weekends. So I've learned if you want 20 sales in a week you better list 40-50 to be safe basically double what you want. Anyone else notice that??

[@campisimike]

Surprisingly they only seem to throttle my bad buys, and my good buys usually sell extremely fast. Now why on EARTH would eBay do that to me? 😉

[@JessicaNeville-e9d]

Lol!

[@ebayvideo6383]

Ya ebay is always picking on me and my bad items!!! Lol

[@mikec3949]

Yeah my bad items with 100% sell through that get 0 views 0 watchers are horrible buys. Well, with search being completely messed up who knows what the sell through really is any more

[@ebayvideo6383]

@@mikec3949 Can you share your store?

[@Charmeliciouslife]

You would think it would be in their best interest and it is when it's time to pay for my store subscription. So I may not have very good sales for 2 weeks straight and then literally the day before 2 days before. My store subscription is To renew, It never fails. all of a sudden.... I'll get enough sales to pay the store subscriptions and then they immediately take your Money and its dead again. And then no sales again. It's like they're like oh. We need to get money from them. Let's Show your items..😮

[@adelesmith1768]

Delighted to hear the new is beginning. Loved the “state sales”.

[@findsanddeals]

"Maybe they're not drinking anymore." 🤣 I'm going to try to remember that quote the next time someone offers me three cents for something.

[@lyndi9082]

I liked the states only as it was fast moving, adding a few pins each day. Adding the capitals would slow down the momentum that everyone enjoys each day. Maybe add multiple pins everytime a state has a sale vs only one. Then we can see the "Best State of the Month". Always enjoy your videos!! Love the interaction between you two along with all the know-how you so willingly share!!

[@KB-gj5tr]

Great suggestion!!!

[@foscoe2496]

how to sell like if have box of knifes like if was 20 to box how do u list more then more at a time

[@combatmicah4501]

How do you apply cubic rate ground advantage to your ebay listing? I dont ever see cubic rate as an option.

[@stefan8303]

I think the 2k buy / garage sale question isn't really a fair comparison. The buy you did you usually have to take the lot and there's going to be a fair amount of duff bits, sometimes you have to pay up as well but the massive plus side is you've got hundreds of items that you haven't had to go out searching for. How long would it take to find that much inventory from garage sales. I think the best scenario is sort of inbetween - the Beverly/Guy buys, you can pick and choose or they know what you like

[@sarahgabel1528]

YES they are throttling. As soon as I make a 100 it stops if I go over I dont get sales for 2 days

[@Panzer-xi5uj]

Bonus video get in 💪😊 some great questions

[@goldtopsrock]

I recently shipped a lot of 2 books in my shipping zone using Priority Mail because it was only .45 more expensive than Media Mail and I got to use a free box. Just have to check.

[@kimbeatty7284]

Just found your channel and have binged watched your content. EXCELLENT CONTENT!! Especially for those of us that are in the beginning stages of our reselling business (like myself). Thank you thank you thank you for your dedication to educating the reselling community … we are definitely a family!! PS… ya’ll are too cute with your banter with one another…and I love her laugh!!! ❤❤❤

[@Chelletoth1]

Thanks for the bonus video. I was pleasantly surprised to see you in my new videos this morning.!

[@MrDantheman611]

Good example on the media mail! I stand corrected!! We give buyers options for media mail, ground, priority. Never have seen ground cheaper than media mail.

[@brianhenry2385]

I’ve also seen Media Rate beaten by Ground Advantage, in the same way, I sometimes see Priority equal or beat Ground Advantage for packages of certain sizes, weights and travel distances. I watch and compare prices on the eBay Shipping Page and Pirate Ship routinely, especially right after a USPS price change.

[@tufferguy5651]

Jinx...."Shot in the Dark" was my thought too, "Its Been A While" and "Biggie Smalls drawer". Just like Barry Manilow; Lonnie makes the whole world sing. Great stuff as per usual.

[@DixiesBargains]

Thx for the extra video 😊

[@brianwillis8757]

I think it would be neat to keep track of the number of sales each state gets so you can see which ones get the most sales 😉

[@scottishracer]

That should be the March challenge

[@BeachBarnThrifts]

My mom & I sure enjoy your channel. So much fun, so much good info. Y'all are a joy to watch. I learned some of the states too with your state sales challenge. 😊

[@dlbartlett9078]

Thanks for reading and answering my question. I agree with Lonnie always send a return answer on email and accept or decline offers sent to you. Ebay loves activity on the site and in your business i.e. listing, shipping, reviewing old listings, ending old listings and answering messages everyday or on a schedule. One other thing about ebay throttling or not - I was not actively maintaining my 1500 listings while I took a new managers position at work (when I was a retail employee a couple years ago) and somehow I would every month sell just enough to cover the cost of the ebay store fee, I wouldn't make very much for myself but just enough for the ebay fees...very interesting. But I am glad because there was a point when I thought about shutting it down. Again, thanks for answering my question.

[@FantasticFusionDan]

Thank you, guys! I appreciate all the time you put into the shows. I lived in Pascagoula at one time. The Gulf Coast is a hard place to make it. I have been in the business for 30+ years , but never filmed my work. I just started a youtube channel, but just list vacations. I may start doing other videos. Regardless, you guys are great and greatly appreciated. Dan

[@jessie0437]

As far as the throttling goes, the only thing I would add to that is it could be a situation where they are trying to retain new sellers who are testing the waters of selling on EBay and those individuals may get more priority and more views for the identical item for sale, I have experienced that selling a video game that normally sells minutes after listing it and having to lower the price to get it to move

[@heartofdixieflipper9629]

I have noticed sales slowing down and only newly listed items selling. I then end and all listing and sell similar and get a Hugh boost in sales especially older items. Another theory is maybe the servers they have your listing on. If they do maintenance on them it kills sales and end and sell similar puts them on another one ? Also noticed getting a lot of sales in a certain region like all west coast for a few days. I have wondered about server storage

[@krisschrader9756]

My husband heard about some lady that has surgery and on heavy pain medicine. She shopped on the Home Shopping Network and bought a lot of stuff that she had to send back later.

[@S.A.D.i.S.T.I.C]

If your package is under half cubic foot, and assuming its going to a higher zone, then media mail is cheaper for up to 3 pounds, anything above will be GA cubic, if your package is over the half cubic foot, and going to a further away zone then media mail will be cheaper up to the 10,11,12 ish pound range

[@robertwehle7596]

It's like being at Great America. All the regular folks are standing in line waiting while those who paid extra for the fast pass keep going to the front of the line. Ebay throttles up sellers listings who paid extra while everyone else waits.

[@whysoblutube]

eBay doesn’t spend the bandwidth on stores with crappy inventory. Sellers that have huge volume/scale tend to stock their store with mediocre items and some refuse to tweak their store. For smaller sellers that also feel they’re being throttled it is the same thing. The smaller seller also has mediocre inventory.

[@eyeswideopen866]

eBay should allow a buyer to see ALL listings

[@ebayvideo6383]

They do allow buyers to see all listings. If a category has 10000 plus items how could a buyer look at every item?

[@bennystratton7734]

100% they need to back to search from 2000's and early 2010's prior to best match! when you type in search and you see everything let the buyers decided what they want eBay certainly does not know what the buyers want

[@raymondmaybery1516]

Yes, I average around the same $ sales each week. As long as I'm listing 30 a day.

[@williampeterson4416]

LONNIE AND CANDACE PLEASE READ. Candace yes it was a poop emoji 😂. Lonnie is speaking facts about media mail vs ground advantage. I have a bunch of piano rolls in my inventory. Yesterday someone asked if I could do a bundle on 15 of them. It was almost $4 cheaper to send them Ground Advantage than media mail. Also media mail just went up again. If it’s going cross country Media Mail is generally cheaper but if it isn’t many times GA is cheaper and sometimes considerably by using Pirate Ship cubic rate. Also I use a 3% cashback credit designated just for shipping to get a 3% rebate monthly. I sell about 200 items a month and it adds up (but you have to pay it completely off). The rebate is also not taxable, so you get to write off the cost of the shipping and when you actually pay you only pay for 97% of it. Yearly for me it’s enough for a 3 day vacation!

[@gem_drops]

The turn on store, I have heard ebay representatives say that several instances over the year. They would ask if you have promoted listing, look at "open returns/case" and say they would have someone look at your account on the backend. I have heard several people from ebay offshore on onshore locations over various times of the day/months. More recently, I have had representative tell me that your account is actually doing well for you, alot of other sellers have not been doing this well, just how it is. I was actually shocked they said it because these are on recorded lines, but it happened the next agent I spoke to then said they would speak to the back-end to review the status of account. Literally a day later my account sales were back up and running (not saying amazing sales, but actually active). Its very strange.

[@garymazoki3168]

On your state map …. You may also include Washington DC as another destination similar to your addition of Puerto Rico Good luck many thanks for all your help and enjoyment watching your videos

[@Dana-x4p]

I wish you would do a video or in one of your videos talk about silverware. Example, what type of silverware to buy what to look for any interesting markings.

[@ilind2021]

Great video guys have a great week 😊

[@cyndyhouse6886]

My father-in-law use to say he'd rather work 80 hours for himself than 40 hours for "the man". We always say that when someone asks how many hours we put in. I thought of the capitals idea as well, but forgot to post it. So YAY! Print off your state capitals list. Let's go! LOL!

[@Iforgotme]

We have less that 300 items on eBay. We’re small, sell 5 items on an average day, going 10-15 days with some sales. Then, a day with 0 sales. Why?

[@shedflips]

Just like you’ll see a star nba player that averages 30 points a game. There will be some games they only score 10 and some they score 50. You just aren’t going to get a flat sales graph, there’s too many chaotic variables in play to expect that.

[@tdawg082]

I think when you were discussing throttling and especially when you were talking about multi qty listing you were talking about conversion rate. I have worked for multiple ecomm sites and the one thing they all want is a higher conversion rate. When your multi qty listing finally sells it now has a conversion rate which it can compare to other items in that search result or category. Items with higher conversion always get pushed to the top of the search results. that is one of the reasons I like multi qty listings over single listings when possible

[@tdawg082]

Like you mentioned throttling makes zero sense because Ebay wants the sales. People just need to look at their metrics that Ebay provides and make small adjustments to see if that makes an impact on conversion rates.

[@GlassLakeFlips]

I sent $330 dollars in Chevy Repair manuals. It was 30 Lbs. I sent it Ground Advantage for the insurance. The package was lost in the mail. I had to refund the customer. I had paid 20 for the books. USPS gave me 100 plus the 24 in shipping cost. I would have been out of luck without insurance.

[@combatmicah4501]

If you would have paid the extra dollar or so to insure the full amount it would have worked out even better.

[@aslobos]

Thank you for the extra video. 😁🙏

[@Lindabseattle]

As a newbie I'm learning that success is all made at the buy and watching STR. I'm an everything seller which I believe is harder...takes longer to find those BOLO's. Love your videos they help me lots. 😊

[@jabezcreed]

99 percent of my buying on eBay is by direct search. The suggested items are almost always duplicates of things I bought in the past. I can't imagine how many of a seller's sales come from this randomly served display. I believe your sales come from having inventory that matches the searches of consumers. Hence the dog clothes in winter, etc.

[@DixiesBargains]

You could do the states but would have to get those skinny pins and just do it for whole month 😮

[@martinpierson4552]

hello can i get some advice to get my sales up?

[@ellizabethwilliams357]

LOVE that hair!!! I am new to your channel. Love it

[@lisadurre8258]

Great content, thank you.

[@kathybarnett1905]

I wanted to suggest you do the map again for feb. And see if you remember them this time!!! Lol😂

[@NashTV8]

Ebay's been heavily throttling every aspect of my store for 2 years now. I'm just waiting for the CEO to be fired.

[@mikec3949]

What's really messed up to me is that they don't even care that they killed the platform. That they're shooting themselves in the foot especially with all the new competition in e-commerce now. eBay being the biggest site in the game for pre-owned goods it boggles my mind why they haven't rolled out a live selling platform of their own. I used to be 100% eBay and in the last year they have absolutely killed my sales and store. It makes me sick

[@NashTV8]

I think it's by design,...'They' don't want independent workers do exist anymore, -they want you to give up and work at Chipotle forever. Gub-Ment wants eBay to only be Big Biz sellers and sellers that promote at 20%,...and everybody else can go bankrupt. The ends justify the means, -and if that means losing millions for a few quarters, ebay is happy to oblige it's Gub-Ment puppeteers. There's probably already a plan to merge ebay and amazon in 5 years.@@mikec3949

[@AlfaroPower]

Hi Lonnie & Candice, I have a question for you all. I know you slightly brought it up a few weeks ago, about how you were ignoring the “Add recommended item specifics” tab on some listings you have listed that don’t have everything filled out. I currently have 175 to adjust, but what I was wondering, if I don’t fix them are my listings not shown live or lower in the search results? or do I have to manually add these item specifics for each items to actually be live? I’d like to hear yalls thoughts on it. Thanks, longtime viewer from South Texas!

[@HTXVintageVibes]

Also with multi quantity listings I see mine sometimes sit a bit then sell off like you explained. However I think a lot of times the price makes sense at that time either because another listing ran out or needs changed, ext. This I see with my listings like that I can make sense of. eBay I think Definitely a “cap” eBay sets for you that slowly goes up. They trust sellers to do a certain amount I notice during Q4 when my sales numbers and metrics go way up if I hold consistent then it Carrie’s into the next year. If I try to grow metrics by increasing listing per day/ consistency or whatever I find it hard to grow organically unless it’s over a 3-6 month period before I notice a significant uptick in sales and consistency (20% increase in sales doesn’t equate to a 20-30% increase in listing or constant work on my end) if that makes sense. I think it’s more to it than be consistent and list and your sales will show equal growth.

[@ShannonEileen1000]

Do you use ebay shipping labels or pirate shipping?

[@juanita_415]

Good q&a 😎

[@kathybarnett1905]

No. On the capitals. i just think its a stitch to see Lonnie try and find a state!!😊

[@pjyast]

yes. There is no way my week to week sales numbers should be so consistent.

[@BeMoreCoolStuff-te2ow]

Do lighters have to be shipped Ground vs Air shipping?

[@brianhenry2385]

Believe it’s a question of fuel. If they are new & empty, like a traditional Zippo, there’s no fuel inside, so no hazard to a plane. If they’re fueled (lighter fluid or a gas like butane) they’re a hazard and need to go ground transport. That’s my recollection, but a search of the Postal Regs would provide specific details.

[@gatorflips]

Now that you have a pin in each state I would say start over and make it an on going event.

[@fasttalkingflipper]

EBay can and does throttle sales. I don't know that I agree with your definition of throttling though. I believe they roll back people on a performance level, not sales level. However I could see them throttling someone so they don't get overwhelmed. For instance if someone has 4000 items listed with 1 day handling, they don't want that person getting hit with 1k orders in a day if that makes sense. That's going to hurt the buyers experience because there's no way in the world that seller can fulfill that. I think the most common throttling they do is when you reach a level of negative feedback or bad experiences then they hit you so the buyer isn't at risk. I've talked about this before in my videos as well.

[@hartsmotorcompany]

Sounds freaky! 🙃😇

[@deejayaxel1860]

And another EBay lawsuit today (2 this month) this one for .. $59 Million 😮😮

[@warrenvanbuskirk1337]

If you look for it, bad or good, you will find it!

[@jeffleonard8788]

ebay absolutely thottles you in some cases. i sold 20 items a day for close to a year. and i dont mean 18, 23, 14, 27, 21....i mean 20,20,20,20,20. every day 7 days a week for almost a year. 20 sales. there is no way possible to have that kind of coincidence. it cant happen that evenly for that long. out of that period of time there were probably 10 days that were not 20, and they were 19 or 21. impossible without their interference. it sent me into a realization with my business. at that moment i realized you cant win with ebay having their foot on your neck, i went from a 6 figure seller to 2000 a month because i began shutting down my ebay store.

[@melonsager]

I don't believe in eBay affecting sales in any way except what shows up in search. I am a firm believer that quantity of sales is related to quality of product and quality of listings and eBay has no control of over those. That is on the seller. I have only a limited time selling, mostly items leftover from my late mother's estate/yard sale and stuff from around the house. I am still amazed by things that I have listed 6+ months ago that sell at random times. As far as offers go if I get an offer below what I think I need, I'll counter with an offer that is halfway between what buyer offered and what I originally asked. Lost a couple sales this way.

[@MUSKMAN2007]

EBAY THROTTLES CONTROLS MANIPULATES SALES NO MATTER WHAT SELLERS DO

[@jenniferraybaud8827]

You guys are so cute. New to the channel.

[@KB-gj5tr]

Welcome to the group!!!

[@LostinRestoration39]

I think it's all AI controlled by your interests and search history, because the more you show interest in something, eBay suggests similar items to you based off your viewed items and searches, so there AI that controls everyones activity, so over all it would be the obvious, the most popular items selling the time,so supply and demand

[@michaelking550]

You should do counties next.. probably take you years too finsh..

[@prepper1024]

Perhaps use a better US map, so we can all learn together. I like the colorful maps that show the name, or at least the initials of the state.

[@NickelNationCoinsMore]

👍

[@leilanimr]

It's my understanding throttling is ebay hiding your listings. At least thats what I've read from other sellers on the ebay forums.

[@tessa.robles.84]

What if ya'll did a challenge where u see how long it takes to ship to one city or town starting with each letter of the alphabet? So an A town like Atlanta, then u cross A off. A B town, Boston, u cross off B and so on and so forth. Does that make sense? I'm with u as far as throttling. I feel like ebay is a business, and it's just like all businesses where they want to make money, period. I don't feel like they're doing ANYTHING to get in the way of that. Also, 9 times out of 10, any issues we have as sellers that are affecting our sales are gonna be self-inflicted. Everybody wants an excuse to shift blame and weasel out of the responsibility it takes to sell and make money. We should all save time and stress and just go straight to the mirror anytime sales are down or off. Love ya'll ✌️💜✌️💜

[@modandpopthrift1230]

Quick answer… no 😂

[@HardwoodSports]

I say do the state challenge again, but mark how many times each state has bought from you guys. You can see which state bought the most.

[@KB-gj5tr]

If it is a part time eBay gig, drink beer while "working" so it seems like a fun hobby that makes you beer money;) lol

[@MileHighResell]

I drink beer to make this full time gig better ;)

[@worpig]

Really people that believe in throttling don't understand demand and how your typical eBay buyer is shopping in the same one or two categories each time. If you're selling in a poor category you're not going to have consistent sales because you're not getting those repeat buyer, on top of the large amount of competition selling same item as you. Your good items will always sell first, your less in demand items will sell last, this isn't an eBay thing.. it's a retail thing.

[@itsdonenow]

I can see eBay throttling a newer seller just to make sure they are getting the items out and providing a good buyer experience.

[@davidportnoy]

it makes sense that they would throttle you because after a certain number of sales theres a higher likelihood that the buyer experience won't be as good/ Ebay is filled with a lot of non business sellers and so if say x number of items sell, these people don't have the proper infrastrucutre set up to ship thst number of goods, so I think they'kll throttle your listings after a certain point to make sure the buyer has a speedy delivery and experience and they return to ebay

[@coopsflips]

I do not believe ebay throttles. There is no upside to them doing that. I think sellers say that to make themselves feel better. Anytime my sales are down, it is because I have not listed, bad inventory, high pricing, low sell through. Sellers do not want to think that they are doing a bad job, but reality is that it is 100% on them.

[@HerculeanPickersCollecto-ep1vp]

I strongly believe Ebay throttles if your items are not good, including bad listings (pictures, descriptions). Ebay wants to put out the best products and rewards hard work. Thats it. This year lets work on improving our listings and finding good quality items with good sell through rate instead of simply just blaming Ebay.

[@ebayvideo6383]

So true. So many listing on ebay so not every item can be on first page of search results.

[@vwager]

Problem with doing State capitals is some States have some pretty small populations. Ex: Montpelier, Vt only had 8,000 people and no McDonald's. Pierre, SD only has 14,000.

[@alchemistfamilyresell2331]

Not at all. The economy sucks right now. I mean ups is laying off a ton of people right now.

[@donaldmiller9648]

Football season will be over shortly and you can get back to work on weekends again...:-)

[@brianhenry2385]

$2000 Bulk Buy: it’s an apples to oranges comparison. At the garage sale, even if you wanted 20%, 30% or even 40% of their offering you would have paid more, to take less. The Seller would have priced many items well over the $1.20 per piece bulk price you paid. It’s the way bulk buys work. A buyer is getting the deal so the seller is shifting it all, at 1 price for someone to haul it all away. The good, the bad and the ugly. There is value and time saved for the seller to make 1 deal. I used to do multi-trailer sized bulk buys and had to explain to the seller that if I took say 4 truck and trailer loads my offered price would be less, then if I cherry picked only 2 trailer loads. It confused them, until I explained that the 3rd load would likely be donated and some or all of the 4th would be a dump run. So those last 2 trailers represented a lot of labor, time and expense (gas & trash) for the poorest expected return on the entire bulk buy. Some sellers never did get it, but usually took my offer to cheery pick for more cash in hand.

[@shawnriddle8830]

Ebays promoting listings is going to cause throttling no doubt about it. its a race to the bottom. the more people promote listings, ebay has to spread the impressions around to the millions of sellers and products. they are altering the search throughout the day to achieve this goal. Its only going to get worse the more sellers promote!!

[@bnodalatino]

I live in zip code 92345 😂

[@rickrickscum2714]

I been killing it by myself almost at 30k per quarter average cost per item 4 to 5 dollars per item, avg sale price 38 dollars

[@brianhenry2385]

eBay Throttling Scenario: a seller can put the best price on a New & Sealed item, add a Promoted Listing Percentage and those more expensive, but Promoted Listings will either appear above the one with the best price or a search of the non-promoted listing won’t even come back in the search results. I’ve checked this a few times with my own listings, since I have more then 1 store. Promote 1 in 1 store, don’t promote an identical item in the second. Then wait a couple days and search for my own listings, as a buyer would. Some sort of gating/throttling is happening, but I don’t see it being done by staffers at the keyboard, as much as the eBay Algorithms and the programming.